August 2010 : Sabi Sand Reserve, South Africa

AUGUST OVERVIEW

August has traditionally been quite a windy month and this year has proved no exception. On most days, you were woken to the sound of rustling leaves and the smell of dust as we move into the dry part of the year with the rains of the previous summer all but a distant memory. All that remains of most pans and dams are small mud wallows and scattered pools of water. The days, especially the early mornings and evenings, are becoming noticeably warmer; an indication that summer is just around the corner. A further indicator is the gradual return of some of the migrant bird species, with the Red Breasted and Lesser Striped swallows and the Wood sandpipers having been the first to arrive back as well as the Walberg’s eagles on the last day of the month.

The windy days, however, haven’t detracted from the game viewing and in terms of predator activity, likely enhanced it. This can be attributed to the fact that the wind increases the likelihood of predators making a successful kill. The wind makes it more difficult for potential prey to detect the predator as the sound of the approaching predator is muffled by the wind and the predator can use the wind to its advantage and ensure that its scent is blown away from the potential prey animal. We have had wonderful viewing of the Ravenscourt female leopard as well as her remaining young male cub, now just over a year and four months old, and the Xindzele male, the surviving cub from her previous litter, in the vicinity of the lodges. In one instance, she killed an impala and hoisted it in a Leadwood tree not more than 10 metres from the walkway at Singita Boulders Lodge. She remained in this area for two days, which made for interesting walks between the suites at the lodge.

After quite an unusual course of events, we can safely say that we are one of the few lodges with a tracker who has tracked a tiger in Africa after Johnson Mhlanga, one of our senior trackers, helped track Panjo the tiger. Another exciting development during the month is that the wild dogs have abandoned their den sites and the pups have started moving with the pack. Both of these stories will be covered in more detail later on in this edition.

THE SENSORY EXPERIENCE

Any guide understands the value of the emphatic power of utilizing a full spectrum of sensory props to enhance a guest’s safari experience. Up until recently I was of the opinion that, although backed up well by the other senses, a wildlife experience was primarily a visual one. Throughout my career as a field guide I have looked after people with many physical disabilities that have challenged what the “normal” exposure may be, and have had enormous admiration for the individuals and how they overcome these challenges. I have recently been afforded the great pleasure of looking after a blind man on safari over a period of two days.

In my opinion, blindness must be one of the most devastating and debilitating of disabilities, but I learned that nature is powerful enough to overcome even this in her ability to deeply touch individuals. I was really quite unsure of how I was going to manage the safari experience with a blind person on my vehicle, and how to portray wildlife with the same degree of enormity that is so simple visually. As it transpired, I needn’t have been even remotely concerned, as nature would divulge herself in a cacophony of sounds and non-visual prompts that left me bewildered.

We began by crossing the Sand River, and aural experience in itself, as the Land Rover waded through the crossing and the water cascaded around us. Switching off the vehicle to listen to the soothing current – suddenly a large Nile monitor lizard scrambled from a rock where it had been sunning itself, it’s long, sharp claws grinding against the rock as they sought purchase; its gravelly belly and tail scales rasped across the surface portraying its size and swiftness. Had I heard this before?

Next we encountered a lone buffalo bull in the reed beds on the opposite side of the river. This I was certain was to be a “sighting” that would be only for the benefit of the sighted as there was little I could do to try and improve it for my blind guest. Just as I was about to start the vehicle this great general steered towards the water’s edge and proceeded to wade out into and across the river, quite audibly depicting his huge bulk as he laboriously heaved himself, splashing and sloshing, across the river.

It was then the turn of the most silent and elusive of all, the leopard. Having undertaken some rather hairy off-road manoeuvring, we came upon a sighting of a female leopard with a young impala kill. The visibility for the rest of us was fairly average, but she was feeding on the carcass as we located her. The ripping of flesh and skin and the cracking of bones, coupled with the olfactory element that accompanies dead animals, gave more than enough stimuli for the mind to paint a picture. The cards continued to fall perfectly as we came across a young male cheetah lying in fairly long grass. Again it began as a mediocre scene with little potential of improving for any of us, being especially enigmatic and challenging to try and describe this lithe feline who is significantly more famous for its high speed chases than its vocal repertoire or raucousness. Just then, the cheetah stood up and walked straight to a tree a few metres from us and proceeded to reach up the trunk and claw the bark audibly. This was followed by a flurry of circular sprints in the fallen leaf-litter of the deciduous woodland that it had been lying in, which appeared to be completely for show, and provided another amazing display of aural tangibility.

It was then the turn of the mighty elephants. I would surely get some audio from these giants and felt quietly confident as I approached a herd that was just finishing off a drink at a water point. “Elephants!” I announced somewhat unnecessarily as two fabulous bulls jousted with one another mere metres away; clattering ivory, slapping trunks and ears, growling and bellowing, pushing and shoving through bushes which tore at their tough hide. Calves squealed in the background, others slurped audibly at the cool water and sprayed trunks full over their bodies in a drenching shower. Sand was then kicked loose and sucked up with the trunk and blown across their sides. Trunks wound around thorny acacia branches and slowly and purposefully stripped along the length of the branch to de-nature the lignified thorns, creating an almost “hissing” sound. Deep, guttural rumblings reverberated around us.

I disembarked the vehicle with my blind guest so that he could get a better cognizance of this experience away from the relative sanctuary of the Land Rover. I then closed my eyes to try and share in his perception, albeit from a different level. His grip was firm on my arm but not with fear, it was rigid with the power of the experience, formulating images and harnessing the sounds and smells. Aromatic herbs released their scents as they were trampled and the dull thuds of dung bolus as they hit the ground emanating rich animal scents, not unpleasant. We could have stayed all day with this group, sight or no sight it was a very special scene, but the pressures of a short safari determined that we continue to explore further.

A pride of 11 lions had dispossessed a leopard of its kill and now lay lazily at the base of a large Marula tree whilst the disgruntled leopard wiled away the time high up in the branches above them, offering disapproving looks to his fat relatives down below. Visually this was an extraordinary scene. Rather dreamily, I wished that one of the lions would unleash a mighty roar, a sound so encapsulating and powerful. Deep down I really expected the lions to fail me and I was spot on. There were one or two grunts and a belch as they lazily flopped from one side of a fully-loaded belly to the other. The busy and excited narrative on the vehicle would have to suffice in this instance.

Our senses were stimulated by so much of what was around us: hippos wheeze-honking; impala snorting in alarm and uttering their nasal bellowing in remembrance of the rut and rhino and herds of buffalo tearing at tussocks of grass within touching distance, their heavy scents permeating the air around us. We kicked elephant dung balls and felt the giant circumference of the footprint of a great bull. Once all was done out in the field it was time to tie up all the loose ends. Delicate fingers roamed over the huge ostrich eggs and spiralled kudu horns.  The skulls of giraffe, rhino and hippo; the pitted bone, occluded canines and over-sized incisors. His face was a picture of amazement as he pieced together the final elements of his mind’s image.

Nature had been on show, but as I consider the many hundreds of game drives I have taken, I cannot recall any being so loaded with non-visual stimuli, or maybe my vision had simply deafened me to it. Do not underestimate the sounds, the smells and the textures.

Alan Yeowart – Field guide and Guiding Skills Facilitator, Singita Sabi Sand

TRACKING TIGERS IN AFRICA

Towards the end of July, the headlines in the South African press were dominated with the story of a tiger (Panthera tigris) that had escaped from the back of a vehicle while being transported by the owner. The tiger was being transported to the vet in Mpumalanga when it escaped. After a couple of days with the tiger on the loose, the authorities had tried many tracking methods including helicopters and aeroplanes with infrared cameras. Having not had any luck using this advanced technology, they resorted to more traditional means and contacted Conrad de Rosner from the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, together with his dog, Zingela, who is trained to sniff out wounded predators as part of the anti-poaching unit in the Kruger National Park.

Johnson Mhlanga, one of Singita’s senior trackers, was also called in to assist in the search for the elusive tiger. Johnson has been a tracker for close on 10 years now and is one of very few people to have attained the prestigious Senior Tracker designation. He has spent time at a tracking conference in the United States, which involved, amongst other things, tracking bears, so he is no stranger to tracking animals that occur outside of Africa. Johnson and Conrad were called in after a passerby had a brief visual of the animal and fresh tracks were located. The team comprising a specially trained dog and Johnson, a Shangaan tracker, set off on the trail of the tiger and managed to locate the animal shortly thereafter. This just shows how tried and tested traditional approaches can often prove to be more efficient and effective than the latest in technology.

Trackers are an integral part of our guiding team and their knowledge, skills and experience goes a long way to ensuring that our guests have an unrivalled game viewing experience. It amazes me how quickly our trackers can track down an animal once tracks are located, a skill which has been passed down through generations and which, as illustrated here, cannot easily be replicated using modern technology.

RUNNING WITH THE PACK

In the June edition of the guides’ diary, we announced our exciting discovery of a wild dog den site on our property. Since then, we have been following the progress of the pack very closely and during August we noticed that the various den sites have been abandoned and the pups are now running with the pack. Although this means that we may not have the regular sightings we had when they were at the den site, it is exciting news as it means that the pups are more able to defend themselves and are becoming less vulnerable to predators. Their chances of survival have increased greatly, which is fantastic news for the wild dog population. There are 4 surviving pups, with 3 having fallen victim to lions. This has increased the pack size to 10. The pups are providing fantastic sightings as they spend a great deal of time playing with one another, which is usual among the young of predators, as this practice aids in their development of coordination and muscle mass, which becomes vital as they start to join in on the hunting activities of the pack.

On the day we followed the pups with the pack, they were located close to the lodges on the Sand river. From there, they ran all the way to the southern sections of the Singita property, a distance of about 10 kilometres. Although the pups were noticeably tired towards the end of this mission and had spent the majority of their time trying to keep up with the pack, this is an important step in their development and it won’t be long before they cover even greater distances as part of their daily existence.

BOOMSLANG

When working as a guide you get to spend a great deal of time with the larger animals, so it is often the smaller, less common creatures that get your heart racing and remind you of that passion that caused you to follow the career path of a guide in the first place. One such incident took place one warm afternoon in August while I was watching the Castleton pride of lion with my guests as they fed on the last remains of a wildebeest they had killed earlier that morning. Just as I was explaining this to the guests, Johnson, who was tracking with me at the time, noticed a Boomslang perched in a Buffalo Thorn tree above the lions. My attention quickly turned to the snake, as the lions were not going anywhere in a hurry and this is one snake we seldom have the privilege to show guests.

Boomslang is an Afrikaans word meaning Tree snake which aptly describes this arboreal species. This species is easily identified via its rounded head and in particular its large bulging eyes. Although the Boomslang possesses potent venom which it injects via fangs situated towards the back of its mouth, it is generally shy and retiring. This species, in fact, has the most potent venom of any snake in Southern Africa in that it requires the smallest amount of venom to kill a human. The venom is haemotoxic, meaning that it attacks the blood’s clotting agents and results in internal bleeding. Although extremely potent, the venom is slow acting with death only resulting after 24 – 48 hours.

This particular Boomslang was a male, indicated by its bright green colouration. Females and juveniles are browner to olive in colour, but still have the distinctive head shape and eye. The guests were quite surprised to see me turn my camera lens from the lion pride and cubs to the Boomslang, a creature which evokes a lot of negativity in many people. However, after explaining to them just how unique and special the sighting was and how although toxic, the snake posed little threat to them, they had a new appreciation for the scene they were witnessing.

‘Contentment is not the fulfilment of what you want, but the realisation of how much you already have’ Unknown