May Safari Highlights Through The Tanda Tula Lens

With the turning of another calendar page, we should be saying goodbye to autumn—but the Timbavati Nature Reserve doesn’t seem to have received that memo! We’ve continued to enjoy incredible weather this past month. Days were pleasantly warm after crisp mornings, and clear blue skies greeted us day after day.

Despite the lack of rain, the expansive surroundings of this region of the Greater Kruger Park remained relatively green. Only towards the end of the month did some of the tree species begin to lose a bit of their summer vibrancy, giving way to autumn shades. The pans stayed full, and the grass cover remained lush—something none of us expected at the end of a rainy season that, until March, had offered little hope for an easy winter.

Given how good the conditions at Tanda Tula are at the moment, it’s no surprise that the game viewing remained exceptional this past month. Here are some of the highlights from our May safaris!

Once again, our lion prides dominated this vast wilderness, and we were treated to multiple daily sightings of these apex predators. With nutritious grazing available, large buffalo herds began moving through the area regularly—playing right into the paws of the Sark Breakaway Pride.

The month ended with the pride taking down a large buffalo bull right outside camp—in the middle of the day! Earlier in the month, nine members of the pride provided what was easily my sighting of the month: they caught, but then lost, a buffalo late in the morning. It seemed the poor animal was down and out, but the unexpected arrival of a companion caused the lions to flee from the buffalo they had pinned down for over 15 minutes. With the lions distracted, the buffalo got to its feet, fought them off, and ran back to rejoin the herd—leaving the lions exhausted and looking a little deflated.

The River Pride had a tougher time and looked hungry for most of the month. Despite this, the pride held on and managed to feast on the occasional large kill as the month drew to a close. We enjoyed watching a wonderful parade of scavengers clean up after the pride’s wildebeest kill.

The Sark Breakaway Pride spent much of the month split into various factions. The mothers of the year-old cubs and the mom of the newest litter spent most of their time away from the rest of the pride, only occasionally joining up with the full group. The three cubs (two females and one male) continue to grow rapidly but haven’t yet lost their playful side.

In the west, the Giraffe Pride introduced the first of their new litters, with three more bundles of joy on display. With the Birmingham Breakaway males being very active with the pride, we’re expecting even more cubs in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the Mayumbula Pride also showed off their cubs for the first time. This pride hasn’t been particularly active in our Tanda Tula concession over the past few months but has started pushing deeper into our area—as they often do during the winter. One of their visits included three cubs of around four months old. With all the mating the Vuyela males have been doing, we can look forward to seeing many more cubs this year.

It had been so long since we last saw all five Vuyela males together that we weren’t even sure if all of them were still alive. That was until a couple of weeks ago when all five mature males were found with the Mayumbula Pride—conclusive proof that this formidable coalition is still going strong.

We had a few more sightings of the Vuyela males throughout the month, possibly just in time. Already, we’ve seen a Birmingham Breakaway male and a new group of three young males (along with a young female) venturing deep into Vuyela territory. Hopefully, the presence of these intruders will pull the Vuyela males back into the western section of their range, where they can defend it. If not, their absence could lead to serious consequences for both the Sark Breakaway and River Prides.

After returning in April, the large buffalo herds stuck around for much of May. One especially large breeding herd from the Kruger spent extended time within the Timbavati, likely thanks to the late rains that gave our grasses one last growth spurt. These nutritious conditions should help keep the herds in the area throughout the winter—much to the delight of the lions!

It was a great month for hippo sightings across the reserve. The dams in the west hosted multiple hippos, and even the central areas near Tanda Tula had several hippo bulls scattered around the waterholes. One bull took up residence in the camp dam. After a recent fight, he’s healing well and can often be seen grazing nearby during the day—giving our guests a front-row view of just how enormous these herbivores really are!

It was a solid month for leopard sightings. While we haven’t yet glimpsed Nyeleti’s cub, we did see the old girl herself several times. She often walked right past Tanda Tula (about 6 km from her den) while out hunting, offering wonderful sightings.

Around camp, the Dzindza female was seen regularly, and her sister Rihati made far more appearances than in previous months. While still not fully relaxed around vehicles, she’s definitely improving. The same is true for the Airstrip female, who continues to be spotted every few days. Most of the males we’ve seen have remained skittish, though Scotch did find the more relaxed Nkhari male feeding on an impala along our access road, which gave us two days of excellent viewing.

In the west, the Sunset female made a rare appearance with an impala kill. Her youngster was nearby but is still getting used to vehicle presence. Nkaya Dam female and Rhulani also continue to be seen regularly, often with kills.

It wasn’t just the leopards showing their spots—cheetahs made a couple of exciting appearances this month too. The young female cheetah we first saw a few months ago returned after being seen multiple times in the northern Timbavati. She’s growing into a stunning cat! We also saw the Moya male towards the end of the month.

Our large wild dog pack was only seen a couple of times this month, but with their massive range, we were lucky to see them at all! We haven’t confirmed whether the alpha female is pregnant, but the female from the smaller pack of three looked very pregnant and will likely den soon. In the far west, a pack of five wild dogs made regular visits.

What makes a safari at Tanda Tula truly special isn’t just the big game—it’s also the many other incredible species that call the Timbavati Nature Reserve home. From impressive bull elephants to lively families of banded mongooses running around with their babies, the smaller creatures always manage to captivate our guests.

We had plenty of giraffe sightings this month, including a few newborn calves!

As the last of our migratory birds departed (with the woodland kingfishers leaving around mid-May), we still enjoyed an abundance of resident birds. Highlights included nest-raiding harrier hawks and a pair of nesting martial eagles—Africa’s largest eagle. We also welcomed back the region’s ostriches, whose booming calls echoed through the open woodlands in the east.

We hope you enjoyed this round-up of the month’s sightings. Be sure to check back again next month to see what these extraordinary creatures have been up to in the Greater Kruger wilderness.

Until then, cheers for now,

Chad