I keep getting surprised that we have ripped another month off the calendar, but now we are throwing the whole 2025 calendar away as we make space for 2026!
Yes, it is that time of year when we get to sit down and look back over the year that was. And what a year it has been here at Tanda Tula Safari Camp!
Aside from the wonderful wildlife viewing, we’ve settled even more comfortably into our recently renovated “new home”. We continued to invest in solar power and battery systems to strengthen our long-term sustainability, and many of our staff houses and rooms have been upgraded – with more improvements planned for 2026. And, amazingly, we shared our special home with almost 1,900 individual guests over the course of 2025, amounting to 5,300 bed nights and more than 35,000 hours spent out on safari in the wilds of the central Timbavati!
Our traversing area expanded to over 15,000 ha, giving us even greater access to stunning landscapes, waterholes, and sightings. We look forward to sharing even more magical moments from this prime game-viewing area in 2026. But before we get there, it’s time to sit back and enjoy a look back at the year that was. So, as always, grab a cup of coffee and join us as we relive some of the happenings in the reserve that we were lucky enough to experience over the past twelve months.
A LOST FLAMINGO
It’s always tough to pick a single highlight of the year, but the sighting that stands out most – and will stay with me for as long as I guide – is a humble bird. But not just any bird: a greater flamingo. Yes, they occur in their thousands across Africa where alkali lakes dominate, but here in the Timbavati they are exceptionally rare. It was my first sighting in 18 years. What I thought would be a one-day stopover turned into a two-week vacation for this pink beauty, giving me the chance to capture one of my favourite images of the year.
THE KILLING MACHINE
The first seven months of 2025 were dominated by one family – the killing machine that was the Sark Breakaway Pride. Despite losing the support of their pride males, the six adult females, six young males, and six youngsters ploughed through prey like it was going out of fashion! This scene of all 18 members dispatching an unfortunate buffalo unfolded right outside camp – I watched the kill from my house! – only a day after the pride had munched through a fully grown buffalo bull (which we also heard them taking down from camp as we were waking up our guests!). Sadly, this was one of the last times we would see the pride like this.
DAY TIME HUNTERS
What surprised all of us was how often this pride chose to hunt – and succeed – in broad daylight… even in mid-summer! On this particular afternoon, we followed them as they spotted some giraffes and zebras a good half-hour before sunset. Their experience and numbers soon paid off. We heard nothing, but the sub-adults that had been hanging back certainly did, and they went sprinting off in the same direction. Following behind, we rounded a bush and were greeted by this scene.
WHEN THE VUYELA’S STILL CARED
The year started off with much promise for the Sark Breakaways. New cubs, older cubs still doing well, and at least one of the five pride males that still stayed with them and helped keep their territory safe. Even the cubs enjoyed having him around, and his patience with them was always impressive to witness.
THE FACE OF CHANGE
When the last of the Vuyela males stopped visiting the pride, their roars of dominance in our central regions became a distant memory. The absence of such roars meant that it was only a matter of time before some newcomers were confident enough to venture into this prime piece of land and seize what the Vuyelas left behind. These opportunists came in the form of two blonde-maned males from the northern Klaserie known as the Nkombo males. At first we hoped their presence would be fleeting. As the months passed we realised we would be seeing a great deal more of them.
AN OVERDUE PUSH
The arrival of the Nkombo males upended the comfortable life the young males of the Sark Breakaway Pride had been enjoying. Most young male lions leave their prides when they are around two-and-a-half to three years old. The two young Sark Breakaway males were well over four years old, and really should have been on their own a long time ago. In the absence of their fathers pushing them away, they decided to stay with the pride as long as they could, contributing in a large part to their success. Despite their age and impressive size, they couldn’t stop the inevitable pride takeover by the Nkombo males, and as a result, they are no longer welcomed in the area. It has been three months, and they are still hanging around, but we have received reports that they have started to venture south in search of their own pride…but they keep on returning back to their home and joining up with their old pride. How much longer will this take place? We don’t know for sure, but what is certain is that this push to independence was long overdue.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
With the Nkombo males arrival, the Sark Breakaway Pride split up; the six young males went off together for a period, and the three mothers with their dependent offspring formed a core unit of the pride. This left the three young lionesses without cubs as free agents, and without cubs to protect they soon gave in to the advances of the Nkombo males, and accepted them as their new pride males. Much mating was witnessed, and we can expect that new cubs should be joining this portion of the pride early in 2026 as they begin the next chapter of the Sark Breakaway Pride’s story.
SISTERLY BONDS
These three girls are a united team, and we hope that they will be as successful in raising their next generation, just as their mothers did with them.
LATE RAINS
Central Timbavati started 2025 dressed in a brown coat after a hot, dry December. We worried that it would be a drought year, but the rains in early January helped recover the bush and within days a lush green layer was blanketing the Timbavati, much to the delight of all of its inhabitants, both big and small!
LATER RAINS
Despite the good late rains, the bush was still struggling due to the extended periods of hot, dry weather that interspersed the rainfall. Waterholes were drying, grass was dying. Then out of the blue a blessed 110mm of rain fell with almost no forecast – this completely changed the look and feel of the entire summer rainy season and ensured that the animals had plenty of water and food going into the dry season.
MINUTES OLD
One morning Jack pointed out a newborn elephant calf – as we approached, we realised just how newborn it was. The placenta was still hanging out of the mother, and the little one could barely walk. What followed was a moment that I shall also not forget in a hurry. The calf stumbled over the vehicle and tried to suckle from the Land Cruiser! Mom casually wandered over to the calf, put her trunk on its back and gently pulled it closer to herself.
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
After some good rains in January, we were able to witness the seasonal Nhlaralumi riverbed flow right past Tanda Tula Safari Camp; whilst enjoying a sundowner on a cliff overlooking the usually dry riverbed, we watched a herd of kudu tentatively walk across the river – not a sight we are often privy to!
SPLISH SPLASH
The rain left hundreds of wallows filled with water and mud, and this delighted the larger herbivores, especially the buffalos that did not have to wander too far to find a muddy spot to cool off in.
DROWNED GIRAFFE
There was no evidence suggesting what had happened to this male giraffe, but the Vuyela males were not asking too many questions when two of them stumbled upon the intact carcass. Despite not being fans of water, the lions braved getting wet to get to their free meal.
LATE MORNING PARADES
Late winter mornings are one of my favourite times in the bush, especially if they are spent sitting at one of the few remaining water points in the Timbavati, as these moments will almost certainly be spent enjoying a parade of wildlife coming down to quench their thirst.
FRACTURED PACK
We did not have the busiest year on the wild dog front, largely as a result of our resident pack splitting up for a reason we are still trying to determine. What this meant was that the pack went from 20 down to only six dogs, and they completely missed their winter denning season. The one portion of 8 pack members spent the first half of the year running around before disappearing east into Kruger National Park, and they got replaced by another six members of their pack that have continued to visit us with some regularity. Interestingly, the larger portion of the pack had pups inside the Kruger National Park (not terribly far from our southern boundary) in the early part of summer – maybe we will get to see those pups as they become mobile around Christmas!
PUPPIES!!!
This splitting of the pack did not mean that we did not see any wild dog pups, and our western pack did treat us to a number of special sightings when they introduced their 11 pups to us after the denning season. Sadly, at the time of writing, the pack was down to only five remaining pups – such is the tough job that these packs have in raising their young.
BLACK AND GOLD
Last summer was another very good one for zebra viewing at Tanda Tula, with many zebras being found across the Timbavati. We enjoyed the sight of this stallion dust bathing in the last light of day on a hot summer’s afternoon.
DUST BATH
As this herd of elephants approached the River Pride feeding on a giraffe carcass, the matriarch stood 30m away constantly throwing dust on herself – the stand-off, the tension and the light all worked together to make for another magical moment!
OWLET
Winter is always a busy time for pearl-spotted owlets, which is good news for us – it means we get to enjoy more daytime sightings of these diminutive owls and their piercing yellow eyes.
SUNSET OF A DIFFERENT KIND
Oftentimes she is an enigma, at others, she is a star. Sunset female can go from providing regular quality sightings, to suddenly disappearing for months at a time. Luckily, we caught up with her one afternoon as she sat in gorgeous leadwood tree with her steenbuck kill – this day, she was a star!
A MIXED YEAR FOR NKAYA DAM FEMALE
Our once slightly nervous leopardess from the west grew into her own this year, continuing the transformation that begun in 2024. From a leopard that would not allow us to get too close, Nkaya Dam female grew into one of the most viewed leopards in the area. This was partly due to her hunting prowess that helped fuel the growth of her daughter, Rhulani. In this image, she was dragging a fully grown impala kill into a thicket for her and Rhulani to feast on. She had done the hard work; Rhulani was over a year and a half old, and knocking on the door of independence when tragedy struck. It was a radio call no one ever wants to hear. “Stations, this male leopard is feeding on a dead leopard – it looks like Rhulani”.
THE MALE IN QUESTION
I had been sitting with the male in question, at the very sight of the incident the afternoon before the radio call. It was my first viewing of him, and until that moment, I had been most excited about his arrival! His name was Xivati – meaning ‘scar’ – due to a now healed scar that he sported on his face; a testament to his fighting nature. Unlike most new male leopards in the area, this boy was different. He was completely unphased by vehicles – a clear sight that he had grown up around them. He sat on a ridge close to where Nkaya Dam and Rhulani had been with a kill in the morning. Xivati spent all afternoon there, and I thought it odd that he was found in the exact same spot the next day. When a hyena approached the area, the reason why became clear; he ran to some thick grass and grabbed a carcass to hoist it hastily up a tree. Only once in the tree did we realise that this was no ordinary carcass. It was Rhulani. A few days later, he was seen mating with Nkaya Dam female – his ploy had worked.
STILL HANGING AROUND
It has taken longer than I had hoped, but Nkaya female leopard has slowly started pushing deeper into our concession, and moving around the area in which she was raised. Not to be confused with Nkaya Dam female, Nkaya female is the daughter of Thumbela, and after five years of absence surprised us by returning to the area at the end of 2024. We had a dozen or so sightings of her this year, but each one was a little deeper into her natal range. And each time, we were always delighted to see that she was still equally comfortable with vehicles.
MARULA JUNIOR
Our long-standing return guests still ask about our beloved Marula female leopard – a stunning cat whose life was cut short by lions, leaving her two 10-month old cubs to fend for themselves. Miraculously, both son and daughter survived, and the little girl – Marula Jnr – is still seen in the area today! Whilst she is not always around, it is always a delight to cross paths with her, and we were lucky enough to have had a few sightings of this pretty feline this past year.
RUNNING AND RIDING FOR RHINOS
This year saw another successful Timbavati Traverse event be held in the heart of the Timbavati, all in the name of conservation and raising funds for the Timbavati Anti-Poaching Unit. This year saw 4 events kick off as runners and riders explored the wilds of the Timbavati for a good cause; a 21km walk, 21km run, 45km run and the newest event, an 80km cycle route were all a great success, with participants seeing lions, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, zebras and many other species whilst out on the trails. Next years event is already sold out – so if you are keen to participate, be sure to get your name on the waiting list for 2027!
LUNAR ECLIPSE
In early September, we got to enjoy a gorgeous lunar eclipse (when the moon passes through the earth’s shadow) on a crystal clear night, creating for a spectacular scene in the skies about us.
SHARING IS CARING
Summer is not summer without the call of the woodland kingfishers, and the only thing more beautiful than a woodland kingfisher perched in a tree while its blue feathers catch the light is two woodland kingfishers perched in a tree!
KING OF THE HILL
I won’t forget driving along our access road to Tanda Tula and seeing this beautiful kudu stood atop a mound surveying his surrounds – a real king of the hill.
FORGETTING ABOUT HER WORRIES
To say 2025 was a tough year for the River Pride would be an understatement. Luckily the adult lioness that was injured at the end of 2024 survived, but never quite made a full recovery. One of two healthy adult lionesses died. We found one of the sub-adult male half-eaten. The Vuyela males all but abandoned them. They were pushed out of their territory by the Sark Breakaways and the Mayambula Prides. As I said, ‘tough’ is an understatement, and not the term I had in mind when watching this youngster playing around in a tree at the start of the year. May 2026 be better for them.
A DISTANT MEMORY
Sightings like this were a common occurrence for us – this was a scene that greeted us not 5 minutes out of camp as a portion of the Sark Breakaway Pride drank at a seasonal pan close to Tanda Tula. We found them in the area on a regular basis prior to the arrival of the Nkombo males. Our hope is that as the new splinter pride grows with the birth of their new cubs, we will again have sightings like this waiting for us outside of camp!
A GLORIOUS JOURNEY
In the most amazing afternoon light, a herd of over 20 giraffes strolled across a green field – their attention all focused in the same area as they kept a close eye on a pride of lions resting nearby. It was a scene straight out of a safari brochure, and one that will stick with me for a long time to come.
DEATH IN THE LONG GRASS
Spending time following the Sark Breakaway Pride on the trail of a buffalo herd usually results in an action packed morning – this morning was no different, but luckily for the buffalo herd, the pride had split during the night, and with only a fraction of their full force, the lions did not quite have enough to overcome the united front of the buffalos.
A MIRACLE IN THE NHLARALUMI
Another morning spent with a larger portion of the Sark Breakaway pride was destined to end in success. The pride – mostly youngsters – was in an optimistic mood. A calf in a nearby crash of rhinos bore the wounds of a lion that had chanced its luck, but to no avail. When a herd of 800 buffalo moved into the same area, we knew the lions would not be able to resist. We waited for close to an hour before the pride made its move; they ignored the females and calves in the mass of the herd and targeted a straggling male. It took ten minutes to get him on the ground, and his fate looked sealed. It was sealed. These lions knew exactly what they were doing…until they didn’t! Distress calls drew in another curious buffalo bull, and his presence startled the lions who briefly released their grip on the fallen bovine for long enough for him to struggle to his feet. It was the only chance he had, and he took it. Exhausted from their exertion in tackling the 750kg of muscle, the lions couldn’t not find the energy or skill to get him back down, and the injured warrior went trotting off back to the safety of the herd, leaving the lions licking nothing more than their lips.
CUTIE PIES
We had varying success with our hyena den sites this year – a few popped up for brief periods of activity before the clans moved the cubs to new, undiscovered locations. Some stayed active for longer, but with the lions around, the hyenas were forced to move regularly. These two cutie pies pitched up at a den in the west for a short while before their mom moved them to a new home.
JACKAL PUPS
As the summer approached, two different pairs of black-backed jackals had litters of four pups each, and we got to enjoy their antics as they frolicked around the open plains in which their dens were situated. The one skulk (the collective noun for jackals) consisted of eight jackal members – the biggest I have seen before! We hope that both sets of parents will be successful in raising their broods.
A TIMELESS VIEW
A year in review would not be complete without at least one scene of the timeless landscapes that make up the Timbavati against a backdrop of the Drakensberg mountains.
WANDERING THROUGH
It is the nature of young male leopards, but we were hoping that this young male would be doing more than simply wandering through as he searched for a space of his own. By male leopard standards, he was somewhat relaxed as he came to quench his thirst at Machaton Dam, dodging elephants as he did so. He was the first leopard I got to photograph with my new camera, and made for a most obliging model – my only complaint was that he didn’t show himself again to give me another opportunity!
MARCHING ON
Despite the hardships the River Pride faced this year, the pride marched on. The three sub-adults became more adept hunters, and eventually added positively to the prides hunting success, but the loss of one of the males towards the end of the year was a massive knock to the pride. Following that discovery, they became very removed from the eastern sections, and seemed to no longer feel comfortable moving around the core of their territory. We hope that they are able to march on, irrespective of where they choose to do it.
PREHISTORIC SCENES
Watching two young males encounter a slightly older rhino bull (albeit not the dominant male) and listening to their sounds as the trio engaged in a dance of dust and posturing was like looking back in time to a prehistoric period. Their battle is symbolic of the fight that these amazing creatures are still fighting in the face of relentless poaching at the hands of greedy humans. The Timbavati’s APU did a sterling job to ensure that we only lost one rhino to the scourge of poaching during the year, but even that one loss was hearth-breaking, as we had just passed a year since our previous poaching incident. Still, compared to almost all surrounding areas, our losses are minimal, and our rhinos continue to be some of the best protected in the country.
YEAR OF THE ELEPHANTS
Whilst lions stole the headlines for most of my blogs over the year, 2025 was the year of the elephant. The Timbavati’s population soared by almost 40 percent year-on-year, and to say we saw lots of elephants would be an understatement!
MAMMOTH MEALS
It may have been due to the larger number of elephants around, or perhaps a hot and dry winter, but we did find a couple of elephant carcasses around the reserve this year, and we weren’t the only ones to find them. A large elephant calf died in the Nhlaralumi riverbed in early winter, and this provided a mammoth feast for a Vuyela male and the Sark Breakaway pride – it was the last time we saw a Vuyela male visiting the pride. Interestingly, a few months later, the young adults of the Sark Breakaway pride were actually witnessed catching an elephant calf that had gotten separated from the herd – a rare sight in the Timbavati.
MOVING ON TO THE MAYAMBULAS
The reason for the Vuyela males leaving the River Pride and Sark Breakaway Prides was due to the fact that they had found the Mayambula Pride, and with the Birmingham Breakaway males having moved far to the west to take over the Giraffe Pride, the Mayambula Pride was up for grabs, and the five males took it. With nine adult females, the pride has the potential to grow into a regional force once again.
TRAGEDY
The thought of five males siring cubs from nine adult lionesses had me dreaming up a scenario where we had a pride of over 30 lions moving around the eastern parts of the Timbavati once again – in 2022 the pride sat at 26 – and I got excited. Nature had a different plan, and late in the winter, tragedy struck when at least two of the Vuyela males were found dead. We have seen little sign of the since then, and actually have no idea how many of the males survived the anthrax outbreak. 2026 will no doubt give us greater clarity as to how things will pan out for both the Mayambulas and the remaining Vuyela males.
ETERNAL ENEMIES
With the large lion prides fracturing, and the Vuyela male coalition significantly weakened, the hyenas have eventually had a chance to get a foothold in the predator hierarchy again. This morning we watched a dozen hyenas chase three Mayambula lionesses off their wildebeest kill – what I won’t forget about that morning was that despite the epic nature of the sighting, there were so many other lion sightings found that not one single other vehicle even enquired about coming through to witness this sighting!
OUR NEW GOLDEN GIRL
Dzindza established herself as a permanent presence in the central Timbavati this year, and was our most regularly seen leopard. She grew in confidence, and dare I say, even grew in beauty. Next year will no doubt mark the next big chapter in her life as she should – based on her age (4) – become a mother. We look forward to the next generation of our most followed lineage of leopards.
COMING OF AGE
Rihati, Dzindza’s sister also set up her territory to the south of Dzindza’s, and whilst the two do occasionally but heads, both seem settled in their space. Rihati too grew in confidence, and while still a way off from her sister’s level of habituation, she is showing positive signs of getting more confident. She too is taking the next steps in her life, and we found her mating with an unknown male leopard close to Tanda Tula one evening. We also look forward to welcoming her first litter to the world!
STILL KICKING
N’weti showed us what a large area she covers as we saw her in all parts of the reserve, but this made us realise why she sometimes eludes us for weeks at a time! With our new traversing to the north, we hope that we will be able to see more of her, especially if she has her next litter of cubs there (its her preferred denning area), and considering we saw her mating just last week, we are also keeping fingers crossed for more cubs from her in 2026!
STILL THE QUEEN
All of these young leopards we speak of still have to answer to their queen – the leopard that brought them into the world, Nyeleti! Although she sadly lost a litter of cubs in 2025, she is looking very pregnant, and as she has done recently when nearing the birth of her cubs, she becomes very scarce and elusive. While the cubs may be born before the end of the year, we will only get our first glimpse of them in early 2026.
WHITE-TAILED MONGOOSE
It is rare that our shy nocturnal creatures pose for more than a few seconds for a picture, but this white-tailed mongoose was the most confident one I have ever seen, allowing for not only a great view, but also a chance to snap a photo or two!
REFLECTIONS
A bloated hyena sits in a waterhole cooling off after a big meal.
GUINEAFOWL
A comical bird, and one whose colours and patterned feathers always draw smiles from the guests
JUST PAWS FOR A MOMENT
I have to smile every time I look at that photo of two lions resting together – the paws of one lion cusping the face of another is just too good to ignore!
MAWONDANE MALES – A FORCE?
The two Mawondane males continue to hang around. A dead giraffe brought them into contact with the Nkombo males, but based on the wounds, the Mawondane males almost seem to have come out on top! Will they continue to be a presence that threatens to destabilise the balance, or will the Nkombo males drive them from the area? Only time will tell!
A NEW STAR
What started out as a hopeful sighting of a new, young female leopard soon turned into the realisation that she could be the next star of the area. Creeping in to the gap left between Dzindza and her mother, this young female has a calm demeanour, and a beauty that is difficult to ignore. She is showing signs of being a real star, and we all look forward to seeing how 2026 unfolds for her presence in the area…maybe she will even get a name!
CONTENT, BUT CONSISTENT?
Jack pointed out a leopard in a tree one afternoon as we bumbled through our new, northern traverse. During the day, he moved off. Returning at night, possibly influenced by a clan of five hyenas, the male leopard seemed to pay no attention to us, and gave us a wonderful sighting as he lazed in a tree not far from his impala kill. He seemed content, but will he hang around for long enough for us to continue to enjoy him?
GENTLE GIANT
As per clock-work, Apollo returned at the beginning of the winter months, but contrary to recent form, he then disappeared. It was thus with great excitement that on a quiet morning drive in early summer, we bumped into this behemoth of an elephant and enjoyed some quality time with him. He will never not be enormous. We hope he has enough energy to return in 2026!
NOVA
A year in review would not be a year in review without an update on our beloved African wild cat. Approaching four years old, he has started to show the signs of independence that I had hoped he wouldn’t show for a few years yet. Prolonged periods of absence have proven that he can clearly look after himself – a disappearance of two weeks was soon trumped by an absence of three weeks before he showed up again. As 2025 drew to a close, his newfound confidence led to a 6-week absence before he pitched up at a neighbouring camp (albeit over 3 miles away!). During these times he showed us beyond doubt, that he is more than capable of looking after himself, and we need not worry when he ventures out into the wilds of the Timbavati. Selfishly, we hope this trend does not continue into 2026, but it is wonderful to know he can life like a true African wild cat!
FEELING CHEETAH-ED
If I have one complaint about 2025 – it was no doubt the fact that the cheetahs only showed when I was on leave! There is now no doubt that this is a curse of some sorts, so if you are hoping to see cheetah, make sure it is when I am scheduled for leave, as that is evidently the only time they come out! I do definitely plan on breaking this curse in 2026!
As a little thank-you, I’ve selected one of my favourite images of 2025. Click the button below to download the high-resolution file – you can use it as a screensaver, or gorgeous wall print, to keep a piece of our magical Timbavati with you always.
And that folks, is that! I do sincerely hope that you have enjoyed reliving 2025 with us. Seeing all of this, and knowing what is in store for us at Tanda Tula makes me very excited about 2026! Please continue to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and our blog for all the latest updates! We also want to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for the upcoming festive season, and hope that it is filled with fun, laughter and lots of love. Will catch up again in 2026!
Until then,
