April 2010 : Sabi Sand Reserve, South Africa

Winter is certainly upon us with each crisp, early morning drive starting off with a captivating African sunrise. Following sunrise, a sluggish sun produces a golden light that makes for incredible wildlife photography for almost the entire morning drive. The mid-day temperatures are just perfect, allowing for comfortable daytime activities.

The game viewing has been as fantastic as ever - the seemingly continuous sound of the impala rams rutting and herding harems of females can be heard all day and well into the night. The highly territorial and possessive rams have been providing great sightings as they chase each other, clashing horns and chasing females endlessly.

Fairly large herds of elephant are everywhere with great sightings of herds moving along the Sand River in front of the lodges. The great cat sightings have continued, with lion, leopard and a fascinating serval. The lion prides’ seem to be in a period of turmoil, as they re-establish their territories. The great news is that the Castleton Pride have been paying us regular visits, together with their two new cubs, and have frequently been seen with three beautiful males. The Othawa pride has been moving further South and East, making Singita the centre of their territory, with their three cubs providing much entertainment. The impressive Southern Pride, which has sixteen members, has been around the large herd of buffalo, which seem to be moving further south and splitting up as the birthing season comes to an end.

The Sparta and Selati prides have also been seen regularly. Overall it has been a sensational month of lion viewing, from discovering new cubs, to hearing five males call from different areas of the reserve. The wild dogs have been in and out for a while now, but they should be settling down to den shortly and we are holding thumbs that they choose to spend this time with us.

The crisp, clear evenings have made for fabulous stargazing and the sky can only be described as breathtaking. For the month ahead there will be two beautiful planets on display: Saturn and Mars. Some of the interesting stars that are visible in the evenings are: Sirius (the brightest star visible from earth’s night sky); Canopus (the super white, super bright giant that is the second brightest star we see); Betelgeuse (the red giant and one of the largest stars in our sky) and Alpha Centauri (the closest star to us, 4.3 light years away). This period is also a unique time of the year as you can see both Orion the Hunter and Scorpio. The other clear constellations visible are Canis Major, Canis Minor, Virgo, Leo, Gemini and the famous Southern Cross. An added special is a clear view of our nearest neighbouring galaxy, the large Magellanic Cloud.

LIFE
It had been just another perfect autumn afternoon in this predator rich corner of the South African Lowveld. Our afternoon game-drive had already proved incredibly productive, having being treated to great sightings of elephants, white rhino and a male leopard. It was with much satisfaction that we slowly began carving our way through the Bushveld, back towards the lodge. Nobody expected the sleek, muscular figure to dart out of the dense thicket in front of us.

The powerful cat startled us as she bounded across the dirt track and quickly disappeared into the lush undergrowth on the opposite side. As our initial surprise subsided, we realized that this expert huntress had her quarry in her sights. We sat quietly and listened, nobody daring to break the deep silence that had enveloped the vehicle. The seconds felt like minutes as we strained our every sense to decipher the outcome. Suddenly it came.

The death-cries of an unfortunate antelope filled the air. It was intense, but brief. An impala ram is no match for an adult lioness. With adrenalin coursing through our veins, we began crashing through the thickets in search of the action. The ferocious sound of four lions feeding led us to the scene -the big cats were gorging themselves, having not fed in over a week, this pride was desperately hungry. Spine chilling snarls crackled through the air as each lioness defended her piece of the prize. The frantic feeding continued and within 45 minutes, the once regal impala ram had been reduced to a scattering of crushed bones and a few tufts of hair.

It is interesting to note that in April every year, the mature impala rams in the Lowveld area begin their rutting season. During this six-week period each male begins establishing his territory, which is fiercely defended against incursions by other males. Testosterone levels in the impala rams soar and fighting is incessant. This behaviour leaves the rams vulnerable to attack by predators, as their attention is often focused on either the females or rival males. In the past month almost every kill I have witnessed has involved an unsuspecting, impala ram.

GUIDED BY A GREATER HONEYGUIDE - JAMES CROOKES, TRAINEE GUIDE

We were having a morning of mixed success. From camp, we had heard the rasping call of a male leopard, so we made our way towards Camp Pan to try and locate him. The calling continued and we isolated the block in which the animal was moving.

Another guide went in on foot and managed to locate the animal, which was being pursued by a rival male. Having achieved our goal of locating the animals for the guests to view, we decided to move on and put our trailing skills to the test on an elephant bull we had seen earlier. We located the tracks without much trouble, but after a couple of hundred meters we lost the trail and spent the next 45 minutes trying to relocate them without much luck.

Just then, we saw a Greater honeyguide (Indicator indicator). This bird is not very common and was a ‘lifer’ for me, so I was very excited to see the bird. She was calling almost frantically. Not the usual call of a Greater honeyguide, which is a bi-syllabic WHIT-purr that can be compared to saying VIC-tor, but more of a continuous chattering call. There was a sense of urgency in the call, almost as if the bird was saying ‘Hurry up. Come quick. Follow me’. This was the guiding call of a Greater honeyguide, something I had never heard before.

Honeyguides’ are unique in that they have the ability to digest bees’ wax by means of a special enzyme. The wax actually makes up a large portion of their diet, together with bee larvae, bees and other insects.

The theory is that these birds often guide humans and other animals to active beehives. The humans then evict the bees and take the honeycomb, allowing the bird access to the hive to get to the wax and scavenge for larvae and any other leftovers. This habit of guiding gives them their common name of honeyguide as well as their genus name of Indicator.

Deciding to put the theory to the test, we decided to try and follow the honeyguide and see where it led us. As we walked in the direction of the bird, it allowed us to get close to it, all the while continuing its calling with the same sense of urgency, before flying to another perch close by. If it happened to fly too far or we were taking too long, it would come back to a perch closer to us, until we were able to follow it.

This went on for about 15 minutes as we followed the bird through a Terminalia thicket. Eventually it flew to a perch in a prominent Weeping Boer Bean (Schotia brachypetala) growing out of a termite mound and continued to call. As we got closer, it didn’t fly off and hopped around in the Weeping Boer Bean. We had a quick scan around the tree for any evidence of bees, but nothing was immediately obvious.

We were about to dispel the guiding theory as a myth and head back to the vehicle, when we suddenly heard a faint ‘humming’. With a sense of disbelief we investigated further, only to find that about 2 meters above our heads was a small hole in the tree. Looking up we noticed that there were bees flying in and out of the hole, as well as a few around the opening. The honeyguide had led us to a beehive!

I had always heard the ‘legend’ of the honeyguide leading people to beehives, but had never known anyone who had experienced it and never knew how much truth there was to the theory. For all I knew, it could have been a ‘rangerism’ told to guests to fill an awkward silence. This was a really amazing experience, completely different to a leopard or elephant sighting - an adventure with an unexpected ending. What made it even more special is the fact that it is something that so many people have heard of and yet so few have experienced. Unfortunately we couldn’t get to the beehive and, even if we could have, we didn’t have the necessary equipment to evict the bees so we turned round and returned to the vehicle.

Amazingly, the bird followed us, still continuing his frantic call, almost with a heightened sense of urgency. I felt quite bad and couldn’t help but wonder if the other part of the theory is also true. The story goes that if you don’t leave some of the honeycomb for the honeyguide once you have been led to the hive, the next time it will lead you to a lion or a snake as revenge. I’m sure that leaving the hive without evicting the bees would be seen in the same vein, so I may be a bit more careful before following another Greater honeyguide.

JACKAL vs PYTHON - Scott Dyson, Field Guide
Only 2 days after discovering a Side-striped jackal den site in a termite mound, we were witness to a rather traumatising event. On arrival at the den site late one afternoon, there was no sign of any adults or the pups.  We decided to wait to ensure that they were not in the immediate vicinity.  After about 5 minutes we noticed a large southern African python, about 2.5 meters long, emerge from the access hole to the den.  The python had a large bulge about midway down its body - it had caught and eaten one of the pups. The python emerged cautiously and had moved about 10 meters away from the den site when one of the adult jackals returned.  The adult jackal immediately spotted the python and let out a piercing alarm call.  It appeared to instantaneously know what had happened and pursued the python.

The python seemed to know that it would be safe as long as it stayed curled up, enabling it to strike at the persistent jackal. If it started slithering away, the jackal would have the opportunity to bite onto, and grab it by its tail.  It was a catch 22 situation, as the python would never be able to retreat unless it slithered away, and the jackal was not letting up. Every time the jackal moved off slightly, the python would start to slither away, the newly acquired meal not making matters easy as it had a large bulge in its stomach.  The jackal would then latch onto the python’s tail, dragging it away until the python could unleash a strike, deterring the jackal for a brief moment. This carried on for about 45 minutes, until eventually the adult jackal was satisfied that the python was far enough away to cause no further threat to the remaining 3 pups.  Sadly the den site was abandoned after this event and we have not managed to locate the new one.

GRAZING HERD

Driving through such a herd can be the ultimate game viewing experience, even if they’re just peacefully grazing, which they do most of the time. Should you manage to be near such a herd, listen to the munching of hundreds of Cape buffalo and I challenge you to try and out-gaze their challenging stares. Buffalo are extremely hierarchical and form sub-units that stick together. Basically, it means that everyone has a place in the herd, with the higher-ranking groups at the front and centre, gaining the best grazing and protection from predators.         

The lowest ranking buffalo graze at the back and are the main targets of predators. Testosterone plays a major role in this class-conscious society and the bulls tend to dominate the cows. Females move up the hierarchy when they have a calf in tow. Males raise their status by using their fighting prowess, with lots of head butting, charging each other at speeds of 20 kilometres an hour and smashing heads together with a force similar to a car crashing into a wall at 50 kilometres an hour.

Buffalo herds are usually placid, but if alarmed, they will stampede with dire consequences to any predator that happens to be in their path. The herd actively protects its members, especially if there is a distress call from a calf. The whole herd will rush to its defence and even chase away a charging lion.

AN EPIC GAME DRIVE - James Crookes, Trainee Guide

It happened to be an afternoon on which most of us had nothing planned, so we decided to make the most of the opportunity and head down to the most south eastern area of the property. To get to this area and back, you need a good couple of hours, so for most of us this was the first time we were heading there. We got hold of a map and set off on our adventure.

Funnily enough, these drives, where there is no particular plan or objective, always seem to yield the most amazing sightings and this would be no exception. On the way down, we bumped into a crash of five White rhino (Ceratotherium simum) grazing in the open grasslands. We moved on fairly swiftly, realising that our best chance of not getting too lost was to cover as much of our route as possible while the sun was still up. Entering unchartered territory, we bypassed two large elephant bulls (Loxodonta africana) feeding alongside the road. Eventually we came to two dams, where we stooped to take in the scenery. We watched a hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) in one of the dams, while in front of us, two white rhino grazed on the nutritious grass growing on a termite mound.

With the sun rapidly approaching the horizon, we decided to slowly start heading back. As we made our way north we located the large herd of buffalo (Syncerus caffer) which spends most of their time in the southern sections of our property. This herd is up to 400 strong and it’s not uncommon to find one of the lion prides following them in search of an elusive meal. With this in mind we carried on up the road. About a kilometre further on, as we came round a bend in the road, we were face to face with 5 members of the Sparta pride, looking decidedly skinny. As they sauntered past us, completely unfazed by our presence, we turned around, anticipating that they would carry on towards the buffalo.

Much to our disappointment, they turned off at a junction in the road and carried on in the opposite direction. We decided to follow them anyway and, after showing a slight interest in a herd of impala, they disappeared into thick bush. As we were chatting on our way back, we realised that without much effort we had bumped into 4 of the big five and, how amazing it would be to find a leopard (Panthera pardus) in the last couple of kilometres to the lodge.

AN EPIC GAME DRIVE CONTINUES WITH … A SERVAL IN THE GRASS

As we drove through the open grassland areas, just past the bird hide, someone noticed an unusual shape in the spotlight. We stopped and had a look through the binoculars, only to find a serval (Leptailurus serval) moving slowly through the grassy area.  I was ecstatic as this was only the second serval I’d ever seen. As we slowly moved closer, he just carried on with his business of looking for an evening meal. The serval is the ultimate stealth hunter. It has large, satellite dish like, ears that will detect the slightest rustle in the grass. Their diet consists of small mammals, reptiles, birds and insects.

He would move slowly and quietly towards wherever he had detected potential prey, his intent focus showing in his facial expression, making sure that each back foot was placed in the exact position of the front feet. This is known as a direct register and is part of his strategy of stealth. After a couple of metres, he would remain dead still for a second or two, before leaping into the air and pouncing on his victim. The vehicle erupted with excitement and we waited in eager anticipation of whether he would emerge with anything. After a couple of seconds he lifted his head, displaying his catch, which looked to be a Vlei rat or similar murid. He disposed of his prey in three or four swift bites, before returning to his stealthy stalking, obviously not satisfied by his snack.

This entire process repeated itself with the serval again emerging successful, giving him a 100% success rate during our time there, which is a lot better than any other predator I have ever observed! After the second kill, he seemed satisfied and started moving off more briskly. Deciding that he had supplied us with more than enough entertainment we decided to move on. As we moved off, we were discussing how the serval, being almost a smaller version of a leopard, came so close to completing our big five and, with that amazing sighting, we couldn’t really hope for much more.

AN EPIC GAME DRIVE CONTINUES WITH… A CONTENT FEELING
Just then, as we came around one of the final bends in the road, we noticed a light coloured figure illuminated in the headlights of the vehicle. With a sense of disbelief, we drove on to have a closer look. As we moved closer, we saw the surreal figure of the Khashane male leopard sauntering down the road, patrolling his territory and marking as he went. Living up to his Shangaan name, which can be translated to meaning ‘far’ or ‘to walk far’, he carried on moving with a sense of purpose, seeming to know exactly where he was headed and not once stopping to take in his surroundings.

We followed him as far as we could. When he eventually moved into a thicket, we made a loop around to try and intercept him on another road but to no avail. Feeling almost invincible, the conversation inevitably moved to the elusive pangolin. Could our luck get any better? This whole experience just shows how unpredictable the bush can be. What started out as an afternoon bumble, turned into an epic game drive with all of the big five making appearances as well as a once in a lifetime sighting of a serval.