August 2009 : Grumeti Reserves, Tanzania

THE LEOPARDS

August 2009 will be fondly remembered as ‘The Month of the Leopard’

In the first half of the month we enjoyed daily sightings of leopards in a small wooded stream between Sasakwa and Faru. There were no fewer than 30 plus daytime leopard sightings this month - a record that stands us in very good stead for future leopard viewing.The vast majority of the sightings were of the mother leopard, with her 9 month old male cub. On occasion a big male was seen with them. Through sensitive viewing, just one vehicle at a time, we allowed these normally shy nocturnal cats to be enjoyed for the entire day. It was incredible to watch as they grew in confidence, accepting and tolerating the vehicles more and more.

The mother proved to be an incredible hunter, 100% of the time she was targeting the many Thomsons gazelle grazing on the nearby short grass plains. At one stage she had no fewer than 4 carcasses hoisted at the same time - including 2 in the same tree! It was incredible watching these leopards feed, walk around, groom themselves, hoist their kills, and bring them back down again!  The cub was especially relaxed and by the last few sightings the vehicles were less than 15m from him, while he lazed in the tree branches, unfazed by the spellbound and excited onlookers.

A CARNIVOROUS HIPPO

“Hippos are amphibious mammals that live in the water by day and emerge at night to graze grass”– a pretty accurate summary of the African hippopotamus, true for the majority of the time, but what we saw this month was quite different. Thanks to Ryan for some of these pictures. The resident hippo bull at Sasakwa dam has, over the past months, been quite the entertainer and we have seen him on the odd occasion chase lions off their kills. Most of the time it was just fun and games, the heavyweight just being a big bully! But he was on top form in August and showed us a bit more method in his madness. He certainly gave the Butamtam pride quite a few headaches. On at least 3 occasions he chased the lions off their kills and actively fed on the carcass! The bull was actually biting and chewing off pieces of meat! The lions were forced to sit and watch, it would be futile for them to take on 2 tons of well armed hippo!

Hippo have been recorded at carcasses near to water; mouthing the carcass (more out of inquisitiveness than hunger) and sometimes eating the rumen and its contents (partly digested grass).

We watched in amazement this month, however, as he picked off and chewed pieces of meat. His large mouth and huge teeth are not entirely suited to this task but he persevered and got precious little mouthfuls of the zebra each time.

THE CHEETAH OF GRUMETI

As always, our cheetah sightings here were both numerous and excellent. The 2 males were spotted regularly and this month a mother and her sub-adult cub were also frequently spotted. These photogenic, sleek predators are always a joy to watch and seeing them hunt is a massive safari highlight. On one occasion a young male was on the prowl, confidently ignoring this inquisitive giraffe. He was successful during the chase in very short burnt grass. He used an unusual tactic where he ran into a herd of thommies and honed in on a younger lamb that only revealed itself from its hiding position after the others began to run. The lamb is 3rd from the left in the picture. The small meal did not take him long to devour with most of the carcass disappearing within 15 minutes.

THE FARU FARU ELEPHANTS

The elephants along the river this month have numbered into their hundreds. The waterhole in front of Faru has been especially spectacular, at times there have been just less than one hundred of these giant beasts coming in for a drink, a good swim and a wallow in the mud. The daily pilgrimage of these savanna pachyderms made the viewing from the lunch deck or plunge pool second to none. Ellies of every size were visibly excited and had huge amounts of fun in their watery playground

THE VIEW FROM THE BALLOON

The balloon rides have been very popular this month and seldom did any of the rides disappoint. Floating above the masses of plains game is a nostalgic and magical experience, certainly one of the must-do’s on an East African safari. The maze of wildebeest tracks, left behind by the thousands of plodding hooves as the migration moved through, were just beautiful. We were on one lucky occasion, fortunate to fly at low level right over a pride of lions.

THE ZEBRA SLAYERS

To end off August we must make mention of the Butamtam pride of lion. August seems to be the month that this pride thrives! For 3 years running, the Butamtam pride have had a sensational August!

When not bothered by the hippo bull, they have dominated the terrain around the Sasakwa dam. Thanks again to Ryan for some of these pictures. Daytime zebra kills were commonplace this month (almost every day!) as this confident pride camped out on the fringes of the dam and waited for their food to come to them. Mid-morning was usually strike time as thousands of zebras arrived at the dam to quench their thirst. The patchy longer grass provided great ambush opportunities. The rest of the zebra herds seem to be morbidly fascinated by the events and watched from nearby as another one of their kind was devoured.

All in all it was a truly spectacular month, and we all look forward to a very exciting September!

Lee Fuller
Singita Grumeti Reserves
Serengeti, Tanzania
31 August 2009