Wild Adventures Blog
Journey to the wild
Rixaka meets baby impala
One of the best parts of November is waiting for the baby impala to be born. Each season you forget how small and helpless they are until you get to see them again.
One of the down sides to their helplessness is that leopards and most predators take full advantage during this initial period.
I spent the afternoon watching Rixaka pick up on the scent or sound of a herd of impala nearby. For such a young leopard, she has very quickly figured out that time is of the essence. She swiftly dashed across a clearing, headed for the tree line and weaved her way through until she could get to a tall Marula tree. She scaled the tree effortlessly and used it as a vantage point to locate the impala herd.
From this point she could easily pinpoint the position of the small nursery herd. One could see how focused she was as she calculated their movements and assessed what her next movements would be. Once her route was planned she descended the marula tree and bolted towards another thicket.
I watched as she navigated scores of silver cluster trees. At one point it seemed as if she got close enough to make her final move. Unfortunately the impala kept moving along, further away from Rixaka’s calculated path. Eventually she gave up and caught her breath. I left her and decided to follow up again the next day.
I returned to the same area the following morning. It did not surprise me that she was found in a tree feeding on a young impala.
Rixaka has already left the company of Boulders for quite some time. Even before leaving her mom she already managed to hone in her hunting skills. With all the unsuspecting baby impala around, Rixaka will quickly refine her technique.
Out and about during October
Even though it may feel as if time stands still in the bush, it is hard to believe that October has already showed its face.
Tisela is found snoozing on a log after hoisting a scrub hare kill in a nearby bushwillow tree. She has grown into such a fine feline and has finally carved out a neat little territory for herself.
One thing I really love about viewing elephants is that that are always doing something. They simply love water and I waited patiently for this one to cross the Sand River to meet mom on the other side.
The larger Plains Camp male lion polished off half a buffalo before coming to look for his brother. Watching this beast muscle his way straight towards you is quite an experience. He could just about walk in a straight line with such a large belly swaying from side to side.
One of the big sightings for the month was finding a fallen giraffe that had only just been fed on. Looking at its condition, it most likely died from old age rather than being taken down by a predator.
When I first arrived on the scene there was a lone hyena feeding on the carcass. One could feel a sense of nervousness in the air. The hyena kept looking up and scanning around after each bite. It must have been thinking the same way as I did, “when will the lions rock up?”
Once the hyena moved on from feasting, a frenzy of vultures descended from a nearby lookout post. They wasted no time tucking into the free meal.
Throughout the course of a couple of days, it was most surprising that no large cats made their way to the giraffe. This was rather odd given that the Plains Camp males, Thumbela male and Ximungwe lionesses were in the general area.
With some of the days warming up nicely now, many reptiles are using the opportunity to warm up their bodies. This enormous crocodile was no exception. It even opened its mouth wide open to show us how pretty its smile was.
Catching up with the wild dogs (aka painted wolves) is always a treat. They will provide you with one of two options. Either moving at a frenzied pace while hunting or settled down after a hunt and being as lazy as can be. The latter is not the worst option, as it does allow you the chance to grab a few photos before they fall asleep.
Not all days can be sunny days. When the clouds pull in, aim that camera at the sky. Shooting into a blown out cloudy sky offers a great opportunity to play with monochrome or even high key photography styles. Eagles and vultures can easily be found perched on dead trees and will bed down until the sun arrives again, making for easy posed photos.
This Hamerkop bird spent a great time wading through some shallow waters. It kept skimming through the water and flicking something up. I could not see what it was until I saw my images. The bird found the small shoal of fish I have seen (zoom in to see its catch of the day).
It is always worth scanning through the multiple Marula trees while out on a safari drive. These trees have relatively soft wood. Once the heart wood is exposed, they are prone to having cavities dug out by woodpeckers and other birds. With these cavities in place, smaller critters like snakes, lizards, birds and squirrels may use them as their homes.
Some spring specials
After a long dry spell, the rains have finally arrived. A good number of leaves have already started to emerge on the trees, but this rain will certainly kick-start the spring spin around.
Boulder’s female leopard has done it yet again, raising another cub to independence. She has recently been found mating with Ravenscourt and left the youngster to enjoy its new found freedom.
The likelihood of these young leopards making it to independence is usually quite slim. Therefor it comes with a huge celebration when their mother’s let them go. We usually wait until they move alone before assigning a name to each individual. Boulder’s cub has finally been named “Ruxaka (pronounced Rushaka). This loosely means Family.
It is nearly impossible to create a post without Ravenscourt making an appearance. The times that I have enjoyed with this super cat is endless. He still delivers and puts on a show, when I can actually find him.
Love them or hate them, the cheeky smile from this young hyena keeps melting hearts. The various hyena dens are currently extremely active and the little ones are already plotting their next set of mischievous escapades.
Believe it or not, some of the larger animals blend in incredibly well in the dull and dry winter bushveld landscape. Trying to spot some of the smaller critters can be an even greater challenge. Every now and then your eye might catch a glimpse of a silhouette that seems completely out of place. This flap-necked chameleon tried its utmost best to blend in with the lifeless bare bush-willow branches. The chameleon matched the colour and various blotches of the surrounding branch structures perfectly.
Watching the two Othawa lionesses set their own paths has been such an amazing journey. They are healthy, fighting fit and simply keep moving forward.
My driving cycle could not have ended on a better note with a sighting from this charming cheetah. Not a cat that I get to see too often in my area of operation so each sighting with these regal cats is highly treasured.
Mhangene lionesses show off their cubs again
It has been a couple of weeks since I have last seen these cubs. It is scary to think how quickly they grow within just a few weeks.
The Mhangene lion pride is known for one thing in particular, hunting buffalo. Not only are they hunting buffalo regularly, but they are doing so without the help of a male lion.
It is no surprise that they are capable of taking down buffalo bulls on their own. These females stand tall and flex some serious muscles.
Although viewing lions feasting on a buffalo may not appeal to everyone’s taste, the amount of cute cubs currently running around aid as a distraction at a smelly sighting.
It can be hard to focus when around ten balls of energy keep moving about in different directions.
Some of the little ones have already learned to strike a pose.
Others have gorged themselves to the point where passing out is the only option.
For the rest, a meal is a meal and they wasted no time tucking into the Buffalo carcass while the adults were resting.
Others would wait and watch to see what the rest are doing.
One of the cutest moments of this entire scene was when the new addition to the pride showed its face.
This little cub could just about walk. It spent most of the time suckling and watching the larger cousins create chaos around it.
One of the females finally woke up from her slumber. She made her way back to the carcass. Some of the larger cubs tried their luck at getting in mom’s way. A quick snarl and a flash of teeth quickly assured them who gets to enjoy the lion’s share.
Family trip to Kruger – June 2023
After a successful first trip to the Kruger National Park, my family decided to join on their second adventure to the infamous park.
Watching a troop of baboons going about their day will always provide some type of entertainment or comedic relief. We watched as a tall bridge provided the necessary vantage point for these animals to calculate their movements for the day.
No matter where you parked along the lengthy bridge, there were baboons surrounding you. Some were thawing in the morning sun. Some youngsters were up to their usual shenanigans, chasing each other around and biting each others tails. Some babies held on tight to their mothers and watched as the cars passed by.
After almost two days of missing various predator sightings, the urge to see one of the large cats grew tremendously. I received word that there might be a pride of lions close to Nyamundwa dam near Phabeni gate. We were already moving down the S1 road en route to the dam. I chatted to another vehicle passing by and they mentioned that there is a pack of African Wild Dogs on the move between Doispan dam and Nyamundwa dam. Could we hit two birds with one stone this morning? Excitement levels grew. We moved further down the road and ahead of us we saw a few cars clustered together. We scanned the surrounds and turns out that we had just missed the wild dogs by one car in front of us.
Surely our luck would not disappoint us twice in a row. We persisted and moved down to the large waterhole. Then as luck would have it, we spotted a figure on the dam wall. It was indeed a lion. A gorgeous male lion stood up shortly after arrival and walked up and down along the wall.
We cherished the sighting as we could feel the morning heat creeping up on us. We knew that the lion would soon plonk down for a snooze and call it a day. For a moment he crossed over the dam wall. We thought that was the end of the sighting, but then he returned with a lioness. This made missing the wild dogs by seconds all worth it.
With the variety of birds that the Kruger National Park has to offer, there is always something to stop along the road for when sightings may be a little slow. Whether it is their brightly coloured plumage, sheer size or odd body features, something will catch one’s eye.
With Impala being the most abundant species in the Kruger, it can be easy to fall into the trap of taking them for granted and bypassing herd after herd. Challenge yourself and stop at a decent size herd and marvel at their beauty. Remember to capture at least one memorable photo of this species.
This trip also provided many sightings of male kudu’s wandering out in the open spaces. I do not recall seeing this many during previous trips.
The amount crocodiles that we found sunbathing on the banks of the rivers and edges of the waterholes was astounding. We struck it lucky with exceptionally warm and sunny winter days. We spotted this XXL beast while taking a moment at Sunset Dam.
The buffalo herds and lone males also did not disappoint this time around. We had multiple occasions where we witnessed herds crossing the roads, moving along the Sabie River or covering ground in the distance.
There is always something to witness while moving around the various rest camps too. Scan through the trees and be on the look out for various reptiles, birds and insects species hiding in plain sight.
During each season there will be various trees that are blooming or flowers on show. The activity within the rest camps does not stop when the sun sets. We were fortunate to witness a honey badger as well as a genet during one of our evening braai’s.
We had quite a few drives where it seemed as if nothing was moving around for the day. One drive got us moving up a lonely gravel road parallel to the H10. The only highlight was seeing four red billed teals in a shallow pan next to the road. Once we reconnected to the tarred H10 road, a car flagged us down.
The passengers inside lit up with joy and they seemed more excited to tell us about the leopard 2 km behind them than the actual sighting that they just had. This all brought us to tears as we burst out laughing.
We found the leopard that they had told us about. What may have been 2 km felt like 5 km of searching. At first we had to make do with a cat tucked into and passed out in long grass. The heat of the day had already broken and we were nearing sunset. I knew it would not take long for the leopard to wake up.
Sure enough it did wake up after being irritated by flies biting him and buzzing around his face. We were treated to a series of stretches and swatting at the flies and eventually he got up. This is hands down the oldest and largest male leopard that I have witnessed in the Kruger National Park. He moved along the grassy field for a short while and went to lay down in a different patch of long grass. We were satisfied with him gracing us with his presence and we moved on to enjoy the sunset.
Sunrises and Sunsets are always a spectacular show in the bush. Sometimes sunsets from viewpoints can be hard to time in the park as the gates close fairly early and distances back to camp can be deceiving. We managed to make our way up to Mlondozi view point before returning to Lower Sabie rest camp. The bush had already taken on a subtle stillness and prepared itself for sunset.
Of all the memories made with the family on another phenomenal Kruger trip, ending off the experience with a view like this is priceless.
Magical moments from May
The month of May has been a confusing one, especially with regards to the weather. We are still experiencing warm summer-like days, but the temperatures are certainly dropping as soon as the sun sets.
Life in the bush has slowed down and a calming silence has taken over the landscape as the birds and insects have moved on to warmer areas.
It has been a very long wait to see a cheetah in my area again and what a surprise it was stumbling across this young boy. The plan for the day was to head out and track the Othawa lion pride, but while passing by an open clearing, the setting sun illuminated this gorgeous youngster posing in the short grass.
One bird species that does not feature often is the Ostrich. I came across a group of three and noticed that the male was in his breeding plumage. This can be seen by his pink beak and shins.
One can never go wrong with this stunner, a Lilac breasted Roller. As the bush starts to dry out during winter, these birds offer a nice pop of colour to the slightly dull surroundings.
The biggest highlight of the month was the announcement of the Mhangene lion pride with their newest set of cubs on a wildebeest kill. Four of the females entered the area and proudly showed off their nine cubs.
Trying to view nine little busy bodies in long winter grass is not the easiest thing. Just when you think you are able to lock onto one, they run around and join their siblings.
The cubs found great amusement in fighting over the tail of the wildebeest. A tug of war match quickly ensued.
This youngster seemed to be the smallest one of the litter.
As cute and cuddly as they appear at first sight, they quickly remind you of the natural instincts they already possess.
Each lion cub is already jostling for dominance and their place within the pride.
Some of the cubs took a laid back approach and knew that mom would still provide them with quality milk to drink.
Autumn takes over April
The onset of cooler mornings and evenings as well as shades of yellow, orange and brown taking over the landscape indicate that Autumn is in full swing.
Bird calls have slowed down and last seasons babies are growing up quickly. Yet there is always something new and interesting to see out in the wild.
I still find myself fascinated with chameleons and every chance I get to see one I most certainly will stop to marvel at their bizarre movements. I found this flap-necked chameleon fast asleep on a branch one evening while making my way back to the camp.
I also love how this species seems to have a smiley face as it’s markings.
While driving along a gravel road, my tracker swiftly turned around and told me to stop the vehicle. I wasn’t exactly sure why. I hopped out onto the road and I saw something most peculiar. A fresh water crab must have started traveling from the Sand River towards one of the nearby water holes. I have not seen one of these crabs around here before and I was definitely not expecting to see one on the road.
I don’t think it had seen a vehicle before either and stood with its pincers out as if to block and protect the road.
One thing to really look forward to during autumn and winter are the gorgeous sunsets. As the bush starts to dry out, dust sediment takes to the sky and acts as a vibrant filter to make those colours pop. I enjoyed a special sighting of the two Othawa lionesses playing under this colorful sunset.
Two sightings that I missed this season was new born zebra and new born giraffe. This is one of the earliest images that I managed to get of a youngster. Before you know it, the babies grow up so quickly and cute season is over.
One leopard that really has been putting on a show is the Tisela female. It seems as if each time I see her she is sitting in a tree.
The Plains Camp male lions have also been parading around the area and have given us a vocal display for the last few nights.
Plains Camp and Ximungwe lions on honeymoon
It has been a crazy month monitoring the movements between the various lions around the area.
The two dominant Plains Camp male lions keep patrolling their newly acquired area in the west. Most nights are filled with the incredible sound of their mighty roars.
The younger Ximungwe lioness finally gave birth to her first litter in a thicket along a sandy river bed. It is uncertain exactly how many cubs were born. A day or two later I found the two large males patrolling the river and they seemed to be hot on the scent of another lion. I am not sure whether the Tumbela male had visited the den already. All of a sudden the two males sprinted down stream and ended up startling the females at the den. There was an enormous commotion and once all the chaos settled down, all four lions came out from the den. Since then the Ximungwe female has not returned to that area.
After a few days the larger Plains Camp male has returned to the area with an enormous belly. This meal will keep him moving for a couple of days.
Turns out a good meal served him well as the Plains Camp boys finally met up with the Ximungwe girls again. Following her loss, the younger Ximungwe lioness is in oestrous again.
While the larger brother is busy mating with the females, the smaller brother does not stand a chance. He often moves off and goes on a territorial patrol.
It seems as if the Ximungwe female cannot dodge the boys at all. The Plains Camp male is head over heels for this female and has been on her tail for the past few days. They have been spending a lot of time on the warm airstrip as the autumn nights start cooling down.
Hopefully her next set of cubs will make it through and the Plains Camp males can start to secure their territory.
Marching through March
Taking a slow drive through the Kruger National Park is one way to ease into a new work cycle. Elephant traffic jams and halting for hyenas do not seem all that strenuous.
I managed to enjoy a fun walk by from this lone hyena just before I exited the park. Another vehicle passed by me and asked whether I had seen any wild dogs (aka painted wolves) in the immediate area. I had not, but wondered whether this hyena was en route to the wild dogs. The vehicle moved on and I continued following the hyena. It did indeed lead me to the wild dog pack. As it was midday, the wild dogs were resting in a Tamboti tree thicket and visibility was not great at all.
When you start your work cycle and one of your first sightings back is a gorgeous male leopard chilling in a tree, you know that things will pan out well. Hlambela had eaten the day before and simply needed a moment to rest and work off his catch.
It has been incredible spending time with Hlambela over the past 5 years. He truly has given countless moments to marvel at his good looks.
I have not witnessed so much chaos with regards to lions as I have been over the past few months. The two Plains Camp male lions have marched into the area and they show no signs off backing out soon. They have spent countless hours with the two Ximungwe lionesses and it seems as if they want to take over and control the pride. As soon as it seems as though they will, the leave again. This has caused chaos as the young Birmingham male and the Tumbela male sound move around the area undetected.
Coming from the Kruger National Park, these males have fought their way to where they want to be. Though they carry a few battle wounds, they move around with confidence.
Another great moment spent with Tisela as she posed on a termite mound at eye level as the sun was fading. She picked up on the scent of some impala nearby. I watched as she carefully positioned herself in long grass with a row of Red Bushwillow trees ahead. Unfortunately she waited until darkness fell and I lost visual of her.
The bush comes full circle
It seems like I have come full circle with regards to seasonal changes in the bush. I started my wild adventures as the 2015/2016 droughts took effect and have now experienced my first set of floods.
The rains have subsided and the rivers are slowing down. It was incredible to see the bush respond to the amount of water moving about. A lot of our gravel roads were damaged and destroyed, but thankfully very little infrastructure damage.
I have finally managed to get my camera out again and started enjoying sightings in drier conditions.
The Boulder’s leopard cub is growing up at an alarming rate. I spent the last day trying to track her down with no luck. She eventually decided to grace us with her presence the next day, casually posing ontop of a termite mound.
Another leopard that has been stealing the show recently is Tisela. She has been moving around the greater lodge area. She has grown on me and I always have a unique connection with her as she was born just after I arrived in the area.
The past two days I managed to have separate sightings of her moving through the bush and heading back to where we assumed she may have a meal stashed in a tree. The next day we managed to locate where she hid her meal, but she lost it to her brother, Hlambela and then to her father, Ravenscourt.
The general game are absolutely loving life at the moment. The rains have flushed a new growth spurt and food availability is sky high. Sometimes while watching general game, they may instantly change their behaviour. These impala caught wind of something and as I moved further down an open area I found what they were alarmed about.
Two spotted hyenas were tugging into an impala. They too seemed a little on edge. I cannot confirm whether they scavenged it from another predator or hunted it down themselves. They kept moving off the meal and then returned to it.
I have thoroughly enjoyed a morning spent with Thamba male leopard. Every time I see him, it feels as if he has doubled in size. He marches around with all the confidence in the world and does not hesitate to put on a show.
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