February 2009 : Kruger National Park, South Africa

It’s amazing to see the power of water - without water, everything dies. The green grass attracts plenty of grazers, and with that, we have had consistent lion sightings. It’s amazing to see the change on the concession from two months ago. The Sweni river flowed for a brief time, but we are still waiting upon the N’wanetsi. With a little more rain, that too will soon be gushing with water. Watch this space.

Leopard
This is such a prized animal to view. They are very secretive, and you will easily overlook this animal because of it’s amazing camouflage. Since they live solitary lives, they leave very few signs of their presence, with only one set of tracks, . They will also regularly hoist kills into trees, making it difficult for vultures to spot. Some of the rocky, inaccessible areas on our concession are ideal habitat for these shy animals.

This month was great for leopard sightings. With the lions spending some time away, they gain confidence to wander out into the open plains. We were extremely fortunate to view a relaxed female with her young cub. This was a special experience.

Elephants are everywhere at the moment. Some good rains and fresh greens have attracted these giants all the way aross the Kruger, right to us. The large breeding herds have lots of youngsters and provide us with hours of entertainment. Some large bulls have also been moving through the area in search of females in estrous.

There’s lots of water around in the central and northern areas of the concession, making it an ideal time for these giants to be around as they need to drink daily.

Boys will be Boys
These two young bulls are jostling for dominance, without even knowing it. These are mere play fights, but they remember these encounters many years down the line. Bulls love sparring, because you learn about your opponents strengths. When it comes down to the real deal, serious fights can be avoided because they already know, from previous encounters, if they can beat their opponent.

Struggles of the Southern Pride

After not seeing any members of the southern pride since Christmas, this young cub and a female appeared on the scene. We found them in the thick rocky areas to the south of the lodge. The cub was feeding on remains of a young kudu, presumably caught by the female. The male is still young, only nine months old and he is the only survivor of at least seven cubs. This shows what a hard life lions go through and how resilient they can be.

The lioness looks in good condition. She is still young and fit, and obviously hunting well. The 9-month old male cub is looking rather scrawny, and we can only hope that they will survive, and possibly join up with more lions. We are not sure exactly how many lions of the Southern pride are still around. The dynamics in a pride change all the time and they go through seasons. This might be the toughest season they’ve ever had to face.

This big old male lion belongs to the Southern pride. His partner has not been seen in months. He had a injured leg, and possibly lost too much condition due to lack of nourishment, since he could not keep up with his brother or the rest of the pride. This male is old though, and probably past his prime. Male lions hold good territory for roughly three years, after which younger newcomers replace them. A lonely future awaits this old male. His life has not been in vein though, having sired many cubs, including the young sub-adult males in the Mountain pride.

Mountain Pride

Sightings of the mountain pride have been less consistent than usual. There seems to be a change going on within the pride. They hardly spend time together as a whole unit. We recently had 12 of them together, with all the young males present. Could they be starting to split off on their own?

Generally this happens when males reach about 3 of 4 years, and that’s exactly where these young lions are now. The time for them to seek out an existence on their own might be approaching. That will change many things for the females. New male lions will move into the area, and a whole new pride might come to existence within this year. It is all very necessary though, and very exciting. Watch this space for the dramatic developments within the famous Mountain pride.

Red-billed queleas

Hundreds of thousands of Red-billed quelea’s flock together each year with all the new grasses and seeds. This annual event draws thousands of predators, many of them migrating to Africa especially for the abundance of these small birds.

Marabou storks, Lesser-spotted eagles, snakes and many others prey upon these birds during the summer months. Hundreds of Lesser-spotted eagles can be seen around the nesting sites. It’s a spectacular sight to see these tiny little birds fly together in flocks numbering tens of thousands, so many that they almost block out the sunlight.

Images worth a thousand words…

Emotions driven by excess testosterone run through this male elephant. He just stood there, blowing the dry red soil over his worn down tusks. He is on a mission, he needs to mate. He stops everything, and just listens, listening for signs of females, and able to detect them many kilometers away though special senses. Then, as if commanded, he turns and ambles off in the opposite direction. His world of communication is beyond us, and as long as he is in this state of musth, he will follow this drive to reproduce, not stopping for anything in his way.

There is nothing that quite compares to the cold stare of a lion. As he looks into your eyes, deep into the depths of your soul, something happens within you. You realize that you are no longer simply a spectator sitting on a vehicle. In that brief moment…the two of you create a life long bond…you become one.

A lonely marabou stork watches the close of another day in Africa. Whilst the sun sets gloriously on the horizon, the diurnal animals settle in for the night, hoping to avoid the many dangers that await them. Somewhere out there, the lions are “sharpening their claws” against a rough tree, stretching those lean muscles at the same time. Such is life in the African bush.

The leopard slowly emerged from the reeds, as if by magic. She looked around, making sure she was unnoticed. She blended in perfectly with her surroundings as she made her way to the pool of water that had gathered on the rocks after last nights rain. Again she looked around before letting her guard down for a couple of seconds to drink from the fresh water. Amazingly, she was not alarmed at our presence.  After drinking her fill, she effortlessly disappeared into the long grass, as if she was never there. It’s a moment in time shared with one of natures most elusive and beautiful creatures.

This entry was submitted by Marlon du Toit
All photographs were taken on location at Singita Kruger National Park by Marlon du Toit
28 February 2009
Singita Kruger National Park