A Week in the Bush Vol. 63
on Aug 06, 2015It has defnitely been a week for the big cats with numerous sightings being had of different lion prides as well as coalitions.
As we all know the bush is a magical and unpredictable place. You never know what you are going to find or see and that is the beauty of the game. We might have less or irregular sightings of one animal and then suddenly a couple of days later a massive influx of the same species. That is exatly what happened on the lion front. With the Fourways males being more or less based in the southern part of the property, mating with one of the Southern Pride females and being acompanied by another female, we had sightings of other lions we don’t get to see on a regular basis.
This included seeing the Charleston female’s cubs for the first time as well as having the two Charleston boys coming onto our property, roaring and scent marking constantly. This was enough to send one of the Sand River males running for the hills. Other lions spotted included three of the Ximungwes as well as two of the young Sparta males.
With a lot of lion activity and vocalisatiion, the wild dogs have been a little bit quieter, only being spotted once. The time they were spotted though, they entertained the guests and provided everyone with some amazing interactions with hyenas.
Leopard activity has been good with many of our resident leopards being found and followed. Maxabeni was found on a fresh Nyala kill, but was gone again the next day which made us wonder if his meal wasn’t stolen by lions as there was sign of them being in the area. Warthog Wallow, Little Bush as well as Nottins where spotted more than once with Little Bush roaming around in one of our camps in search of bushbuck on numerous occasions. The Mandleve male allowed us to have a good look at him, which is always special as he is a more shy and elusive cat. White Dam female was found calling in the same area a couple of times and we are hoipng that the cubs are stll alive and well as we haven’t seen them in a while.
A good number of male elephant herds moved through the property and as always, amazed everyone with their sheer size and gentle nature.
So yet another week comes to an end here at Sabi Sabi and one can only lick your lips at what the bush might have in store for us in the next week.