July 2008 : Sabi Sand Reserve

It’s official. We’re approaching Spring! Rejoicing in this slight seasonal change was a Cape Clawless Otter (Aonyx capensis) that appeared in the river in front of Ebony Lodge on three consecutive mornings at 06h20! It was an absolute delight to watch this playful creature duck and dive in the water, chase fish, tease a hippo, roll in the sand and unzip the water with his wake as he curiously swam about.

On a much sadder note it seems that four of the five leopard cubs I wrote of in last month’s journal have lost their lives. Other marauding predators seem to be the culprits. This is a never ending chapter in the story of survival – predators try to eliminate the cubs of other predators to safeguard themselves against too much future competition that could see them lose their own lives.

Did you know?
Singita Sabi Sand lies at a latitude of 24 degrees and 45 minutes South.

Paws for thought…

Here’s the baby bear I mentioned last month – aka a Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) cub!

He/she (it’s too early to tell) had a close encounter with a male lion this week. The lion sniffed menacingly around the hole within which the cub was stowed. The cub’s dark
brown colour, which is very different to that of the adult’s, kept it well hidden within the dark confines of the den. Eventually the lion strolled off and no harm was done.

Just look at the size of those paws that this little one needs to grow into! The hyena’s tracks are identified by two lobes on the pad, four toes, claws unsheathed and bigger front paws.

Lion cubs make their first unexpected kill!

They were walking nonchalantly down the road. Two lionesses and their six cubs. We were following from a safe distance. Mid stride the two mothers stopped. So did the cubs. The cubs were given an inaudible command to ‘sit and stay’ as the lionesses split up in a pincer maneuver. Their concentration was focused on a drainage line thick with foliage. They encircled the area. Seconds later the bush erupted as an impala bolted and a lioness pounced and sprinted in pursuit. She missed.

Simultaneously another impala dashed to the open “safety” of the road. Right into the virgin claws and jaws of the eight-month-old cubs. Instinctively they reacted. The impala crashed to the ground. Some of the cubs looked to the lionesses for help - but it was not forthcoming. The impala struggled to her feet. The cubs clung to it. The lionesses returned to the scene but this was an important lesson for the cubs, and the mothers let them learn it for themselves. One cub took up a muzzle grip of the impala. Others jumped on the terrified animal’s shoulders.

The sixth cub at the back tried to trip it (all strategies that they would only have practiced on each other in the past during “play” – and only then did the lioness demonstrate how this was done with a swift swipe of her paw. With the impala down on the ground it was quickly dispatched. Steam rose from its body cavity as it was torn open and the feeding frenzy began. They fought and gorged on the spoils.

The fine and unexpected line between life and death having been crossed by a misplaced hoof.

The first four photographs are kindly supplied by our guest Andy Mohr of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Odd eating habits…

From the distance we could see this giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) tossing her head back and forth as if she were chewing on something – but there were no trees in the area for her to have been browsing from. As we got closer it looked as though she had a cigarette in her mouth!

But close inspection confirmed my suspicions – osteophagia. Osteophagia means bone eating. During the dry season some animals don’t get all the minerals they require from the parched plant fibre. By chewing on the old bones of a kill this giraffe was able to obtain a vitamin supplement of calcium and phosphorous.

She carried on chewing the bone, picked up some others and then finally discarded them and ambled over to the tasty little leaves of a thorn tree.

Cheating the odds

It’s rare to see the fastest land mammal in a tree – but there he was, the male cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) we occasionally see in the open grasslands of Singita.

Cheetah’s claws are unsheathed and blunted like an athlete’s spikes in order to give them good traction when they’re running down prey. This, along with their long limbs, however, does not make them very nimble tree climbers…

From his high perch his amber eyes stared far into the distance. Once down from the tree, he made soft chirping contact calls. I was desperately hoping that a female cheetah was passing through his territory but unfortunately there didn’t seem to be any obvious sign of another of these highly endangered cats in the area.

The Secretary at work

We were driving along when we came across two beautiful Secretary Birds that were foraging in the grass looking for something to satisfy their appetites. Seeing that snakes - their favourite prey - are not so abundant in the winter months, anything might be on the menu.
To the left of the vehicle was a small family of Dwarf Mongooses that were also happily foraging for any insects to feed on. One mongoose then decided to cross the road not realizing that there was a very hungry large bird on the other side…

As he crossed he realized that he’d made a gigantic mistake and froze, deadstill, in the grass. The bird had still not seen him. As the bird came closer the mongoose tried to make a run for it, but the Secretary Bird with its long legs made easy work of the mongoose. With one fell swoop of his long leg and a quick bite to the neck it was all over.

The other Secretary Bird joined to see if it could share the spoils but with no luck the victor quickly ran down into a drainage line and fed quietly on the meal.

Photographs kindly supplied by our guest Michael Tilley of Australia.

By Donovan le Roux, Guide, Singita Sabi Sand

Interview with Field Guide, Coleman Mnisi

Q: Where and when were you born?
A: I was born on the property next door, Exeter. That was way back in 1966! As a young boy I worked as a shepherd. My father was a chef and my mother a housekeeper at Exeter.

Q: Are you married and do you have any children?
A: I am. Eight children – the oldest is 21 and the youngest is 3.

Q: How long have you been a field guide for? And how long at Singita?
A: I’ve been a Field Guide all my adult life - 22 years! I’ve worked at Singita for 10 years now.

Q: If you could be an animal what would you choose to be and why?
A: An elephant. Everything they do is human-like. They even have a memory like a human too!

Q: You win the lottery! How do you spend your millions?
A: I would buy a game farm and run a lodge on it. It would be on a smaller scale than Singita though and many South African people and the youth would visit.

Q: Your most nerve-wracking moment as a field guide was when…?
A: I was charged by a lioness and my Tracker ran! The lioness had cubs and was very aggressive. My Tracker fled, leaving me behind, but I managed to get away when she went back to her cubs. I inched my way back through a drainage line and into the vehicle – where my Tracker was waiting!

Q: Do you have a specialist interest?
A: Mammals. And medicinal uses of tress and shrubs. And the stars.

Q: What makes your heart beat a little faster?
A: The hunt and the kill. But I even enjoy watching the impala killing the grass!

Q: Your favourite meal is…?
A: A Boma dinner – meat cooked over flames, pap and sheba.

Q: If you weren’t a first-class field guide what would you have been?
A: I grew up wanting to be a Professional Hunter as there was hunting going on all around me. But now I’m happy I’m not.

Q: What’s been your favourite sighting in the last two weeks?
A: A leopard with a kill in a tree. A pride of lions chased the leopard up the tree, and then two of the lionesses climbed the tree and stole the kill!

SING-ITA NEWSFLASH!

We extend our fangs to the Three Tenors who made an unexpected appearance at Sing-ita this month. A couple of Doh - Ray - Me’s (pictured at right) had them in perfect pitch before the mane event – popular favourites from the musical Cats.

Breathe one last time
Your wild breath into me
That I may not forget you,
That I may remember who I am…

Barbara Fairhead

This entry was sumbitted by Jenny Hishin
Singita Sabi Sand
Thirty-first of July 2008