Pom Pom was a lush, thriving wilderness of young antelopes, warthogs, and breeding herds of elephants during December. The predators picked off the weakest (or those simply not paying enough attention to their surroundings). Still, the herbivore populations remained strong, and the biodiversity easily handled the efforts of Pom Pom’s prolific hunters.
Cheetah roamed the plains
One morning on the eastern side of the airstrip, guests were graced by a striking male cheetah exploring the area. We followed him on his inspection of the floodplains, and it seemed he was enjoying a stroll because he looked well-fed and ignored the ample prey.
The hyenas were still thriving. However, with the abundance of hunting opportunities nearby, their campaign against the other predators in the area has calmed. One of the clan males living at the airstrip habitually walked past the front of camp first thing in the morning during our coffee around the fire at sunrise.
African wild dogs take down a red lechwe near camp
African wild dogs were seen throughout the month. Still, the most memorable sighting was discovering them scattering a small herd of red lechwe on the staff volleyball court and then taking down four calves near camp.
Elephant herds continued to move across the Okavango Delta islands in large numbers, and we enjoyed getting to know the young ones, each with their own personality. Some feisty youngsters made great sport of mock charging the vehicles, only to turn tail and hide behind their mother, realising they were closer than intended.
It’s been raining baby cats and dogs! And impalas. And both young serval cats and little Black-backed jackals were logged too. Then there was the heronry to the north of Pom Pom that has attracted much broody birdlife. At sunset, a veritable parade of waterbirds fed in the nearby waters during the day before returning to the breeding site for safety.
The buffalos also moved through the area in their hundreds. While impressive and sizeable brutes (the serious face has been said to look like “a face that you owe money to”), Buffalos are often overlooked regarding the finer points of wildlife viewing. They have strong social bonds and are a match for virtually any lion pride — if they are organised and can avoid panic. However, they were constantly threatened by the marauding Pom Pom lions who stalked their every move. We saw the tables turned on more than one occasion when the herd rallied together to protect each other, but they were by no means immune from the lions.
The Pom Pom lions feasted well this festive season
We found the lions on buffalo kills on several occasions this month. Near camp, we had a pride with four cubs and another with nine cubs we regularly saw throughout the month. We also located them on other antelope kills but the easiest target of the month came to one of the pride males known as Rude Boy. He was resting in the shade near a waterhole when a small sounder (group) of warthogs ventured too close to him. Given that a male lion can weigh considerably more than 150kg, the speed with which he got up and flung himself at the warthogs was truly impressive. This started a mad dash around the water hole but, with all the momentum on his side, he quickly pounced on to one of the piglets and the brief hunt was over.
Leopards were equally active, and we found them at various times with impala young picked out of the creches that sprung up throughout the area. One afternoon, the alarm call of the vervet monkeys also brought us to a leopard that had only recently taken down a red lechwe. The leopard fed briefly on the animal before stopping and looking around nervously. She went through this pattern of behaviour of stop-feed-stop until she eventually abandoned the lechwe and headed for the tree line. We were curious to see what had scared her off. This was answered later when we returned to find spotted hyenas finishing what must have been a lovely surprise on a warm summer afternoon.
(Please note: For the safety of the animals, we do not disclose the location of either rhino or pangolin sightings. Accompanying pictures are from our Kwando Photo Library which consists of all your great photo submissions over the years, it may not be the most up to date, but we felt it was worthy of a feature alongside this month’s Sightings Report!)