July Through the Tanda Tula Lens

Welcome back to another month through the Tanda Tula lens, as we sit back and enjoy some of the wildlife highlights that our guests have had the pleasure to enjoy as we move into mid-winter in South Africa's Timbavati Nature Reserve.

As is typical of winter, most days were filled with clear blue skies, warm daytime temperatures, and some crisp early mornings. Despite the lack of rain, water continued to trickle along parts of our dry riverbed systems, and there was enough moisture in the air to ensure that on clear, cool nights, we woke up to the bushveld being blanketed in a layer of mist – such conditions always make for moody scenes, and are more typical of autumn than winter.

By late mornings though, the mist had burnt off, and the sun shone down on a landscape that looked a good deal greener than we usually expect to see in mid-winter. The green grasses are mostly limited to the riverbanks and shaded areas, but peer deep enough into most grass clumps and some sign of greenery can still be found. Most deciduous trees have shed their leaves, but interestingly the red bush willows that are typically one of the first to drop leaves in winter have still got very green, albeit thinning, leaves. This abundance of food and water has been great for the game, and they all continue to look incredibly healthy.

So let us see what our regulars got up to over the past month.

The Mayambula pride continued to be elusive for much of the month, so it was great news to hear that their tracks had been found to the east of Tanda Tula one morning. A mammoth tracking effort by some of the guides led to the pride being trailed for some 12km before being located with a buffalo kill less than 1km from where the tracking exercise began! Six females, three youngsters and the Vuyela male were all looking very well fed and content around the kill as the sun began to set.

The next morning, I headed back to the area to see if any other lionesses and their smaller cubs had arrived. Whilst approaching the area, the booming roar of the Vuyela male came from the open woodlands to the south of us, but not where the kill was – this seemed a bit strange. I headed off road and soon located the impressive male as he was scent-marking profusely and roaring his claim over this land. Wonderful!

What I wasn't expecting to hear was another roar coming from a few hundred metres to our west; but there was no mistaking that this was another male…and he was close. It didn't take long for one of the Nkombo males to confidently march into the scene; he too was roaring and scent-marking each bush that he passed, in clear view of the Vuyela male!

Rather than running in to chase out the intruder, the Vuyela male continued to posture, roar in retaliation to the intrusion, and spray and rub each bush he walked parallel to the Nkombo male. Then he did something that disappointed me – he turned and walked away. This was the sign the Nkombo male wanted, and he began to pursue. This happened for a couple of hundred metres before the roles reversed, and as the Vuyela male approached the Nkombo male, he began the retreat. It was a dangerous game of chess, but one that the Nkombo male seemed to be winning. This toing and froing, and accompanying roars, eventually led to the second Nkombo male making his way into the area, and the two brothers found the remains of the buffalo carcass, but fortunately not before the Mayambula females had beat a hasty retreat. The Nkombo males did not seem interested in pursuing, and after their meal went back to the west.

How this will impact the confidence of the Mayambula Pride to visit this part of their territory remains to be seen; I am suddenly much less confident about the Vuyela male's ability to protect the pride, and if the Nkombo males decide to seek more mating opportunities, the Mayambula Pride seems the logical pride to go after. As the Sark Breakaway females are either pregnant or have cubs already, this situation might be closer to us than we realise. What we don't want is these two males going after a new pride and abandoning their protective roles for the cubs they have already sired, just like the Vuyela males did last year! Watch this space, as this story is far from over!

As it stands though, the Sark Breakaway pride remains in a very stable state. The seven little munchkins are getting bigger by the week, and as they age, their playfulness is slowly starting to wane…but it is not completely gone just yet, and most mornings or afternoons will find the seven of them running around pouncing on one another before the moms set off to hunt.

One morning that showed that they are becoming more "proper lion" than "cutesy cub" came when we followed one of the females back to the den site. However, as we approached, we saw tracks for the second mother leading the cubs away from the den already, on top of where we had just driven! We cut through the different blocks of land until the tracks led us to the mother determinedly heading back north at some pace, the little cubs running to keep up with her. They crossed a riverbed and then began a long, fruitless search to pick up on them again, but with some help the pride was eventually found with a giraffe calf kill, but the Nkombo males had also arrived and commandeered the meal. This selfish seizure of the kill did not however extend to the cubs, and the male lion allowed all seven cubs to feed as he lay close by digesting his share of the spoils. It was fascinating to hear how their growls had gone from high pitched whines to dark, guttural sounds over the past months – while they might not look like it, at least they are sounding like real lions now!

We have spoken of the struggles the pride have had of late with the Nkombo males constantly taking kills off of them, not leaving a great deal for the moms to eat – fortunately this month seemed to be better for them, and aside from being found with a number of larger kills, even when we didn't see them feeding, the lionesses were looking well fed more often than not, and that is good news for the cubs.

The third lioness is at last pregnant, and while we cannot be certain of exactly how far along she is, by the end of the month her belly was beginning to swell, and you could see that she was producing milk. We can likely expect some new cubs in the pride at some point in September.

We mentioned last month that the pride had been split, and on many occasions when they were found, there was at least a member or two missing. I was worried when the one young male failed to be seen with the pride for over a week, but felt better finding him walking around on his own looking in good shape. The good news was that during this month, he did reunite with his brother and the rest of the pride.

At some point, the oldest, injured lioness also became separated. One week passed and she didn't reunite with them. Then another, and still no sign of a reunion – she was seen on her own a couple of times, and each time I enquired about her condition and was told she was getting skinnier and skinnier. Under normal circumstances, a single adult lioness would not have trouble finding a meal, but with her historic injury leaving her unable to run, she had no chance of feeding herself; she needed the pride, but their paths were just not crossing. I can only imagine the roars that we would hear from the north-east were her, desperately calling for the others, but to no avail.

The last update we got was that there were some hyenas feeding on a lion carcass in the area she was last seen. She put up an amazing fight for survival for the past year and a half, but in the end, the inevitable outcome was reached. A sad end to a mighty lioness that taught me to never underestimate an animal's will to survive. For the pride, it is a loss, but not a catastrophic one – as a lioness, she was unlikely to be contributing significantly to the pride's hunting success, but consumed resources. She no doubt had experience and leadership in her role, but over the past months she has looked to struggle, and in the end I believe that the kindest result was that of her passing. Thank you for the years of memories; RIP.

We caught up with some of the other young males of the central Timbavati this month, and in looking at their photos, it was so pleasing to see how these lions have gone from young lions to proper lions! The Sark Breakaway nomads were living up to their adopted title, and were not regular at all this month, but we did come across five members of the pride, including one of the Sark males – while he and his brother have looked like proper lions for some time, it is still always good to catch up with them and see how the Vuyela genes have remained in the area.

The other male that is looking constantly more impressive is the Mawondane male. He continues to stick with his 'sister', and the two of them seem to have found their space in the northern reaches of our traversing area, and whenever we see them, have to explain how they have defied odds, and gone from a group of desperate lions always in need of a meal, to a desperately handsome lion! The future of this duo remains uncertain, but as a handsome young male, we are hoping he has a bright future ahead wherever he ends up.

Another month, and from reports, another litter of cubs! While I did not get to see them, it did not stop me from asking the question: "are there any white ones?" Sadly the answer was 'no', but we still have a handful of females that need to give birth, so the chances remain! For now, we are more than content with the growth of the young white male as he approaches eight months of age. He was seen sporadically across the month with a portion of the pride that seemed to quite consistently consist of four or five lionesses and six or seven of the older cubs, with one or two Birmingham Breakaway males following behind.

I made the long trip to the far western reaches of our concession on a handful of afternoons to see him, and would usually arrive a little after sunset, just as the pride would begin to stir. Not only did that give us a chance to see them moving around a bit, but it is also the time of day where the difference of colour of his coat really begins to show. Whilst his sister and cousins blend into the background, his coat glows white and he stands out like an aberration, an aberration that he is unlikely aware of, yet. One of my favourite sightings of this chap was towards the end of the month when we headed down to Savannah Plains to see them; buoyed by the descending darkness, the youngsters began stalking some impalas on the plains – the tawny cubs blended in and one managed to get fairly close to the bachelor group, but as the white cub made his supportive moves, the herd started alarm-calling. He will soon learn that he needs more cover to conceal himself than his cousins! After failing in their attempts at being lions, they resumed being cubs and chasing one another around before settling on the plains as a full moon rose behind them – just magic!

One of the good things about heading west for the Giraffe Pride this past month was that whenever I did, there was usually a leopard or two around, and they are always welcome these days. On the first occasion, the murderous male leopard (that killed Nkaya Dam female's cubs last month) had an impala kill, but he was lying in such a thicket of grass that it made viewing impossible, despite only being a few metres from the road! I was not too disappointed, as while I was waiting for this male to pop out, another guide found Savannah female, an old friend that I had not seen for some time. I arrived a little while later just as she ascended a tree in the last light of day, displaying her full beauty. Later in the evening Tristan followed her as she carried a scrub hare kill back towards her cub, but as it was after dark and the cub was still quite young, he let her be and left the area, confident that he would get to see the relaxed cub at some point in the future.

Almost three weeks later, I got to see the cub. Not in the way that I ever want to see a cub again though. The day before, the guides had found Savannah had been chased up a tree by some members of the Giraffe Pride. When they went to follow up the next day, they found her up another tree not far away. But there was something disturbing in the tree with her – the half-eaten remains of the cub. Killed by lions. Eaten by her. I had only ever read about this behaviour, but never witnessed it myself; leopards that sit eating their dead babies, but at the same time sitting up and calling for them, showing a complete disconnect between what they were doing and what had happened to the cub.

I headed to the west to see the white lion in the afternoon, but heard that Savannah was still up in the tree with the dead cub, and sensitised my guests to where we were going, and what we would expect. Arriving at the tree, it was a saddening sight to see yet another dead leopard cub in a tree, as mom lay resting on the other side. We watched her and were about to make our way out as we stopped to look at the cub and process what we were watching. While looking at it, it moved – not in an I'm-still-alive way, but more of a gravity-works-on-everything way. We were all a bit shocked, and looking at it when the whole carcass fell out of the tree! Savannah didn't take long to climb down and go and investigate. She cautiously approached, sniffed the remains and called softly for the cub. It didn't respond. She then picked up the dead cub and while in her mouth, she was still calling for it, looking around for an answer. None came. She stood up and walked over to the tree where she jumped up and went to lay the carcass on a branch, the same way she would if it were an impala.

I drove away not knowing how to feel – I had seen something that I had not witnessed in almost twenty years of guiding; Jack has been doing this a decade longer than me, and he had not seen this before. It was rare, but it was not a natural looking scene. I never think twice when a leopard carries an impala into a tree, but this felt different. In many ways, the life of that leopard cub is no different to that of an impala's, but that was not how it felt at that moment. We drove away in shock, awe and wonder. Nature is unscripted, and you just never know what she is going to do.

Well, technically it is the Rockfig lineage, and the unnamed mothers before her, but as this revolves around Nyeleti's three daughters, we will stick with that title. I also type this as for the first time, I am unsure of Nyeleti's fate. Since her altercation with N'weti at Machaton Dam, she has not been seen in the south, and I do not believe there have been sightings of her to the north either. Leopards are good at hiding, but she should have shown herself by now. Before I write an obituary to her that I then have to recant, let us rather look at her daughters that did grace us with their presence this month, even if their mother did not.

The enigmatic N'weti was her usual self – there one day, and gone the next until who knows when. Tristan found her resting up a marula tree one afternoon when he was out doing some bushwork, and fortunately I was not too far behind him, and got to see this sleek cat in action as she descended the tree and went on the prowl for her next meal.

Dzindza annoyingly started showing the same unpredictable traits as N'weti, and whilst we don't believe her territory has expanded to be as large as her older sister's, she made us work to be able to find her. However, when we did, we were always rewarded with some great viewing; none better than a sighting that Tristan enjoyed of Dzindza and the Airstrip female leopard having a territorial altercation high up in a knobthorn tree that saw both parties tumbling towards the ground from over 20ft high! Both cats amazingly landed on their feet and continued their spat. I can't confidently state who the victor was, but we have not been seeing the Airstrip female as frequently since the incident, so perhaps she has opted to move her still-unseen cub(s) more to the west. Dzindza has continued to be seen in the area, and is looking to have some cubs of her own – her roars signalling to us that she is in oestrus and looking for a male. She did find one, but with only skittish males around her territory, we seldom get to spend too much time with them on honeymoon!

Going against the grain, it has actually been Rihati that has showed the most promise this past month, and the less-confident of the two sisters is slowly developing a nature more similar to Dzindza; we saw her with a couple of kills this month, and when we did, she was pleasingly comfortable with our presence, and allowed for some good viewing. We will continue to respectfully work with her and hope that as time passes, she becomes increasingly habituated to allow us even better game viewing going forward.

My first impression was that the male leopard that I was looking at in the western sector, as he lay uncomfortably bloated in a marula tree next to his impala kill, was the same murderous male that we alluded to earlier, but upon checking the photos, realised that he was not the same. Some colleagues did some investigation and found out that he was in fact a leopard from the Thornybush Game Reserve, the south-western neighbour of the Timbavati. Sired by one of their famous male leopards, Malewane, he carries strong genes and has clearly moved north in search of a territory of his own. Having grown up with plenty of vehicle exposure, he is very relaxed around us, and has the potential to give some great viewing in time. The problem is though, that Xivati is already the dominant male here, and the Lebombo male's territory lies to the west of this. We also have the murderous male hanging around the same area! This already crowded area does not leave room for yet another male leopard, so it is difficult to imagine him staying too long. It would be fantastic if he could move further east and displace one of our less obliging males in the eastern sections! As always, only time will tell what is going to unfold!

Yes, the cheetahs visited us this month! And I amazingly got to see and find them a few times. I should be so much more excited, but we sadly got to see why they are the fastest land mammals on earth, but not in a good way! After spending an entire morning following up on tracks for a single male, convinced it was Ximuwu, Allied excitedly pointed ahead to a small open area, and I was hoping like mad the next words from his mouth would be "cheetah!". They were… followed by a headshake. The cat saw us, stood up and ran off into the densest thicket you could imagine. We tried a little longer, even finding where he had crossed out on top of our tracks, but he simply did not want to be seen. Annoying.

Not a week later, Steven had just left camp when he radioed that he had found two cheetahs in a similar area – I was right around the corner and excitedly headed towards him, only to hear the same news: "they're running away". These two males though would run off 100m away and then lie down. We saw them at a distance but left them when they headed into a thicket. That evening we spotted them resting on a clearing and decided to head out first thing in the morning to try our luck again. It was proving fruitless, and I had given up, and went in search of other animals when Allied again suddenly pointed ahead of us in an excited manner – it was the cheetahs… and again, they ran off, demonstrating their speed. As they did the day before, they did not go far, and we spotted them at a distance resting on a termite mound. A very slow, measured and respectful approach led to us at least getting a good view of them with binoculars, but they were cats that amazingly had clearly not had much contact with vehicles in all of their wanderings – perhaps they come out of the wilderness block of the Kruger National Park adjoining the Timbavati, a massive area without any roads, and thus no contact with vehicles?

While it was frustrating to have found three different cheetahs in a short space of time and only see them running off, the good news is that we are having more cheetahs moving through now that the Moya brothers no longer rule this area; and also that this is evidence of the fact that there are still large tracts of land where these animals can live without seeing people. Not many game parks can offer that much space with low vehicle numbers, and while this didn't give us good viewing in these instances, it is a wonderful state for the animals to be able to live in peace.

July was clearly not a good month for babies. And none more so than our wild dog pups. With the small pack having denned less than 200m north of our boundary for the past couple of months, we had been waiting for the pack to move den sites and hopefully cross into our concession. On my birthday, the pack moved several kilometres south-east and across into our area, and much to my surprise, they had the eight small pups with them! I sadly missed them on the day they moved as I wasn't on drive, but upon hearing that the pack was resting on the ridge behind Tanda Tula Safari Camp the next morning, I couldn't wait to get out and go and get my first glimpse of the pups. There were also some good mounds in the area, maybe they would settle there?

The Sark Breakaways had also been seen crossing the Nhlaralumi riverbed south of camp that morning; there were 300 buffalo a little to the north too, and elephants aplenty – it would be a great first drive back for me… that was until Steven said that he had seen the lions heading straight towards the wild dogs as he was coming back from bush breakfast. This catastrophe was inevitable, and whilst we rushed out to see if it could be avoided, we arrived to the grim sight of the lions standing around where the wild dogs had been. Blood on their faces, and the lifeless bodies of four wild dog puppies scattered around where until minutes before, life, energy and promise had been. We were devastated.

The pack headed back to the den, but within days they were mobile with the pups again. They returned to Tanda Tula less than a week later, and only one of the four surviving pups remained. The pack would run off after impalas leaving the little pup alone; it would call incessantly for their return. They did, but within a couple of days, those calls stopped. The last pup was gone. A denning season of nightmares. A year until they can try again, but with only five adults, it will be a tough year. They will struggle to avoid the other predators, and be less successful keeping hyenas away from their kills. It will be a tough year for them, but we hope they can make it through.

After a long time, it was so good to hear the news of the discovery of a new hyena den on Nkhari – not a big one, but a den is a den! There are two litters of cubs; some already quite spotty and large, and two that are black and have yet to attain their spots. It is in a lovely location, and we hope that they have better luck than the wild dogs keeping these little ones alive.

It was a joyous surprise to leave the two cheetahs resting on a mound and drive around the corner to a herd of elephants we could see in the distance and have my favourite elephant in the Kruger emerge from the mopane woodlands – Apollo was back, and for the first time ever, I saw him following some females looking to mate! He was in full musth, but this didn't change his chilled nature.

As the month progressed, he left the ladies and spent time on his own, and we all got to enjoy some special time with this special elephant. I even had a chance to examine his dung – a weird statement, but it gave me a chance to see that his teeth are clearly still in good condition due to the fact that his food is being well chewed. This means that he could still have a few more years in him! For now though, we look forward to a winter of enjoying his presence.

Winter is always such a lovely time to visit the Timbavati, and this year's slightly green coat has made it even better. Elephants have been good in the area, despite lower numbers than usual – we still saw them daily, and they always put on a show; from new born calves to some regularly seen elephant bulls in the east.

We enjoyed viewing of giraffes that became more prominent as the month progressed – I recall seeing over 20 giraffes on a bush walk as I headed back from Bush Breakfast one day, and as the bush begins to thin, these elegant models of the bush became more evident than they have of late. A few babies have also survived the predatory onslaught they have been experiencing of late.

Some good groupings of kudus, waterbucks, zebras and impalas also became more regular, and as the waterpoints start drying up, they will tend to gather around the larger remaining water points.

One interesting altercation took place at a waterhole where one young heavyweight decided to show her size advantage against a stubborn dominant male wildebeest that did not want to give up his spot for anyone – despite the size difference, he managed to hold his ground!

It was clearly a good month for owls for us – aside from the usually nocturnal ones, we also had good daytime sightings of several species. It is common in the cooler months of winter to see pearl-spotted and barred owlets in the day time, but we also got good sightings of Verreaux's eagle-owl this month too!

I was chuffed to see a number of juvenile black-winged kites – the first time I recall seeing youngsters of this species; the adults are clearly enjoying the abundance of rodents in the thick grassy areas, and did a good job raising three youngsters to a fledging age!

And that brings to a close another interesting month of sightings at Tanda Tula! I trust that you enjoyed the stories, so be sure to check back in next month to see how our animals fare – hopefully there will be more positive stories in the coming months!

Until next time!

Cheers

Chad