Posts Tagged ‘lions’

Nocturnal

1.

of or pertaining to the night ( opposed to diurnal).

2.

done, occurring, or coming at night: nocturnal visit.

3.

active at night ( opposed to diurnal): nocturnal animals.

Let’s look at the last one on the list, night animals. These of course include the nocturnal predators such as lion, leopard and hyena. I have seen these many times in the day, I have even seen them hunt during day light hours, early morning or later afternoon, but they are classified as nocturnal, being more active at night. And more often than not they are active at night.

Currently our resident male lion has been ousted (see earlier telegraphs) this has left a vacuum for other male lions to stake there claim.

One such stake claiming is being done by 6 male lions that have moved into the area, they have snuck in under the cover of darkness and for a few weeks now, have been living-in and tasting the “what was” forbidden pleasures this area has to offer.

A while ago, they were loudly proclaiming this area, calling there trademark roars from the waterhole in the front of my camp. That very next morning I found them 10km away, on a buffalo kill, that 10km is still within our area of operation. Still within a prime territory for them to hold.

Lions often travel vast distances at night. That 10km at night and then have time to kill a buffalo was easy for them.

Less than a week ago and a week after there first buffalo kill here, they killed another big buffalo male, this time at my camp! Less than 100 meters from my front door! A racket and a big fight in the early hours of the morning, told us of there presence.

At 3.30am it started next to my house, and the fight took them thru the staff quarters to a site in the open where they performed the coup de grâce.  A site where we could view the remains the next morning, And the sleeping cats surrounding there prize carcass.

Only had a little sleep that night and the next, as lions and foreign guests sharing the same camp can be tricky.

Lion on buf

Last night whilst hosting guests for dinner, a hyena strolled through camp, unfortunately only the waiter and I saw this lonely male make his way through camp.

Lion on buf2

Every morning I read the signs (those that my limited tracking can decipher) to see who or what has been visiting us late at night and early in the morning while we people are still counting impala in our sleep.The lions have left the camp, and headed south again.

Other tracks also tell a story of noctunral vistors.

Civet is a regular to us at night. and on occasion hyena and leopard tracks.

Line up for lunch

The killed buffalo bull soon attracted a host of vultures; these fantastic birds (I like vultures) were adorning the surrounding trees at the entrance to our camp, waiting for the large cats to leave.

Viewing our camp from a little distance had a foreboding look about it, could make one feel uneasy.

On carcass

When the lions did leave,(there was plenty meat still on the bone) at this point a new spectacle was seen, the remains of the carcass covered and smothered by loud hungry vultures. They had waited patiently all night and a day for there chance, as did I. if you can stand the rotten smell, watching vultures squabble and fight over remains is a fantastic sight.

fighting for space

my share of the carcass

I am constantly amazed at what happens in the bush at night. We miss so much and can only deduce and hypothesis on what happened the following day.

Bushfire’s due to lighting strike, we are in the fire season at present, show a horizon glow from afar, three nights ago we saw a impressive fire in the reserve next to us. The horizon was orange and yellow from kilometers out, closer inspection saw a line of fire stretch as far as the eye can see. We hope that not too many creatures were caught up in this display of mother nature cleansing the bush.

End of the feast/day

Waiting for more

The sightings have been pumping, really well in the bush of late; can not even decide where to go on drive. We may plan a rough route to take, but within half an hour of game drive, the radio is buzzing. An awesome week to be out on game drive.

Shhh…crackle…pop..lions have killed… or 4 cheetah brothers next to the road..static..crackle… relocated on leopard cubs at…static

Really all the cats have been out and active, rhino, elephant, antelope and giraffe are all begging to have there photos taken.

Wanting to head north for a birds and trees drive, to relax and enjoy the smaller less talked about parts of the African bush, but the sightings keep calling us back, and we head off south or east to find again a beautiful creature.

At this point I must stress that these sightings and conditions is not the “normal”, the bush has just come alive this past week, and we rangers are taking full advantage.

There have been 6 male lions, a strong coalition of 5 young males along with a older and wiser male, they were first sighted and heard at the water hole outside our camp late at night, the next morning we tracked them down they had covered a considerable distance, about 10km from our water hole over night and still had time to kill a old buffalo bull, we converged on the scene as they were lazing about there kill with full extended stomachs. An awesome sighting

The two leopard cubs around the river road area, were hanging around the same patch for a few days so we could relocate them and view them on a few different occasions, one such occasion I took a chance in the morning and headed to that area, the reward was to witness the young female leopard execute a stalk on a herd of impala, we sat patiently for about a hour as we gauged her progress, in the end she failed in the final charge, but for that hour we had her, the adrenaline and excitement were palpable. Such a beautiful young lady in stalking mode, I was reminded again how hard it is to keep with them as she would stalk in and out of view as she used the local vegetation as cover. After having a good look at the leopard thru my binos,I explain that this female is still very young and  inexperienced, and may be punching a little over her weight class. Awesome morning

Our four cheetah brothers are back in our area of operation after not being seen for a month or two, they have returned from Kruger and are scent marking there old stomping ground, next to a leopard the cheetah is as beautiful and graceful. We may be lucky and they may stay in our area. Awesome again to see

Duikers, steenbok, stately giraffe, noisy zebra and other antelope are around, with the dry season not broken as yet, they are a little more few and far between but still there. And as much as the cats, predators and other big 5 are the most sought after, these others can not be ignored. We bumble thru the bush, me happily throwing a piece of information or two about the fauna and flora found here. I try to depart a piece here and there, but honestly the bush has spoken for itself and my guests are happy to simple drive around and enjoy the sightings.

We rangers have a little knowledge on the bush and always wish to share and show off, at the same time, the more we guides find out the more we need to find out more. A good guide will recognize that he/she does not know it all and learn everyday.

would love to have all the answers for the bush out here, but nature simply does its thing and we are the observers, who sometimes wonder and ask why…sometimes it is nice not to have natures answer and simply say ”Nature does as nature does”

Awesome week

Currently I am sitting in the sweltering heat, it is 37 degrees in the shade and it is only spring! I sit here cursing the fan in my office that does not work and contemplate the sightings and the bush around me.

Even though I am not out driving guests, not on drive as someone has to keep the camp running, that someone being me, I still get to view magnificent animal sightings.

I wish I had my camera with me at all times, I Drove to morning meeting at 7:30 this morning, and found two leopard cubs chilling in the road, stopped fairly close to them and admired there beauty, only then did I notice mum leopard keeping a eye on her cubs as well as us. After about 10 minutes she decided it was enough, collected her cubs and disappeared in the bush, three leopards on the way to work.

I write this in my aforementioned sweltering office, and I do so with a smile on my face, I smile because there are three elephants drinking out my pool, right now.  They are three male jumbos arranged in a neat line next to the pool, from biggest to smallest, slurping and spraying water all over the pool deck. Loving it, did I mention this is also lunch time for the guests, have an African lunch with the elephants, this could be scripted.

With no guests two days ago, I managed to organize an old land rover for a staff drive, two rangers and myself headed out looking for four legs and a heartbeat to photograph, we sat with fourteen lions in the shade for a few hours, yep fourteen lions lazing in the shade a mere three meters from our vehicle!, pity it was so hot and bad lighted for good photos. Still awesome to sit and observe.

Not so awesome was a resident territorial holder, our big male lion called mandevu (mandevu means bearded, or big big beard, hair thing) he decided to take away a legitimate kill from three youngsters that pop up in our area from time to time, this three youngsters are not so youngster anymore and did not want to share, would love to have seen the fight, but it was late at night, I caught up with him the next morning, he looked like he had been dragged over broken glass, very sore and sorry for himself, blood and lion hair dotted the road at the scene. He will make it but will not roar or advertise his presence for a while. In fact he may be lucky to survive this one.

Beaten up lion

Late afternoon traffic at the waterhole in front of the lodge, currently we have a hippo bull in the shallows, trying to keep cool and count a few sheep, or is that count a few hippo cows? The water barely covers half of him, alongside him and amazingly he tolerates it, is a small herd of buffalo bulls. Drinking and mud wallowing around the sleeping hippo. The baboons circle the trees around, a few impala and wildebeest are coming and going, drinking albeit a nervous drink. In the shade are some waterbuck, desperately trying to stay out of the direct sun.

And watching me watch this menagerie of animals is my resident bushbuck, cute little fellow eyeing me out from five meters away.

Ilana on the way back from morning meeting saw a yellow billed hornbill, eating a mouse, a kill was seen! It counts as a kill to us.

Not out driving, but still so much to see…

Lions everywhere or none

Some days are slower; this morning was one of those days, not much happening in the African bush, not much at all.

Seems that someone forgot to close the gate last night and all the animals left? That is how we roll, and this morning was more typical, not always do we have four legs and a heart beat parading around for a photo. In these cases we can cruise, observe the smaller fauna and birds, and trees and… It’s nice to be out there wind blowing you back, listening for that faint rustle or call, smelling that fresh dung in the morning.

But not always… Read the rest of this entry »

Sun is shining and a mild day today, but has not all been like that, had a period of rain and overcast for 5-6 days, horriable game drive weather.

On my birthday, I got a very big very dead white rhino (she died the day before, but I only saw it on my birthday) head ranger and I went up alone to take a look… Read the rest of this entry »