We have received a little respite from the dry conditions this week with us having had a fairly substantial downpour. The landscape itself, as well as the animals within it, have responded positively and one can almost sense the huge sigh of relief experienced by all. The biggest change has been seen in the landscape, with new shoots of grass having emerged within 48 hours of the rains falling and thus providing some much needed grazing for a host of general game. We have seen a large influx of plains game such as zebra, herds of wildebeest and large aggregations of buffalo, all moving in to take advantage of the sweet grasses available.

The week’s game viewing has been pretty exceptional and my hope is that you enjoy this recap of the sightings highlights.

We started off the week with the Southern Pride and Charleston males finishing off a recent kill, which lasted them several days. The rain came bucketing down and as a result we suspended off-road driving so as not to damage the environment, allowing it around 48 hours to dry. During this time, it was difficult to keep up with the lions, but we did witness the larger Charleston male attempting to mate the youngest lioness of the Pride with limited success and amidst all of this they enjoyed a bit of sport...chasing around hyenas and vultures at the carcass. We watched from a distance, but it was still a great sighting. The vultures, after enjoying a good meal, also enjoyed the fresh water on offer around them.

Once the off-roading status returned to normal, we were able to catch up with the lions again and have been happy to see most of them together quite frequently with the exception of Floppy Ear and the 3:2 lioness. Floppy Ear has been staying close to her cubs and the 3:2 lioness we suspect has also ventured off to den somewhere, although we are not certain on the location. Still, there are more exciting times ahead.

We also witnessed an incredible saga with some of the leopards this week. For those of you who may follow us on a daily basis, you may have noticed an increasing frequency of Mahlathini male leopard sightings and as such may have expected some trouble, I know I did. Well, the day came. We had sighted the Little Bush female very close to Bush Lodge one afternoon and she had successfully killed and treed a young bushbuck. She finished off the kill and left by morning.

Then Mahlathini entered the picture once again the following afternoon, sniffing around the area and looking for either the female or the kill. He eventually found remnants of the latter and while there, was found by the resident male, Maxabeni. Needless to say, a fight ensued and Maxabeni emerged victorious, but not without some minor scratch marks. He was furious with the rogue male and eventually chased him up a large Leadwood tree. He would keep him up there for almost two days before they both disappeared. It’s an amazing thing to watch two cats vying for domination over the other, especially when they have a history.

In other leopard news, we have been seeing the Flat Rock male fairly frequently as well within our area and if he doesn’t move on soon, he’ll also be having a problem on his hands from Maxabeni.

The Kigelia female has been quite active as well over the last week, pushing further east as her territorial has shifted alongside her mother’s. It’s great to have seen this young leopard grow up and to see her doing so well now after such a rough start. She is looking amazing!

The Little Bush female’s cub is also growing in confidence and we were lucky enough to see her on her own one day as she waited for her mother to return after a hunting mission. She was relaxed with us, but not so much so with some large male waterbucks that were grazing very close to the termite mound she was resting upon. This naturally led to her ascending a tree, which we were not complaining about.

Elephants have been quite plentiful as well and it is very clear just how much more relaxed they seem to be now after the rains. I’m sure they were starting to struggle with the lack of quality food available for them, and now that we’ve had some decent rain that’s all changed. They are however, starting to target the root systems of various tree species as a result and it won’t be long before they start stripping bark from these trees as well in order to gain access to the nutrients within the trees’ cambium layers. We spent some time with a very relaxed trio the other morning, consisting of a female, her calf and a sub-adult male. They were so calm around us that they spent 45 minutes right next to our vehicle, drinking, feeding, suckling etc. It was an incredible experience for us and one my guests will not surely forget very soon.

Giraffes have been moving through the area in fairly large herds as well, targeting the Tambotie Trees in particular. We spent a great deal of time with a group a few mornings back and were amazed with how close they felt they could approach us. We had a spectacular sighting of them and particularly enjoyed a couple of young males fighting as well as a very persistent male trying to gain access to a female in estrus. Great to see...

There were also a number of rare sightings to be had this week. Most of these have been of the more elusive nocturnal species such as Lesser Bushbabies, White-Tailed Mongooses, African Civets, Spotted Genets, Honey Badgers and even a Serval! These encounters are seldom long enough that one can action a photograph, but I managed to capture at least two of these creatures while out on safari.

The other rare sighting was of a Bataleur Eagle that we found devouring the remains of a Speke’s Hinged Tortoise. The tortoise had clearly died some days beforehand as the smell was terrible, but it was amazing that the eagle had spotted it in the first place. Being an opportunistic hunter, it didn’t waste time feeding and even allowed us to watch!

As you can tell, it’s been another amazing week here at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve and I’ve enjoyed sharing the highlights with you. I will leave you with an image of one of my favorite things to do out here at this time of the year, sharing the beauty of the African night skies with friends from all over the globe. Have a great week everyone!