24 February - 25 February

24-25 February 2014

  Animal interaction is the next logical step in game viewing.
It is one thing to watch wildlife go about their day-to-day activities, but another to watch various species interacting with one another for example; lions and leopards or, leopards and hyaenas, which was the exact case both yesterday and today.

  Early yesterday morning we were watching Thandi (female leopard) resting up in a Marula tree where she lay on her guard, keeping a wary eye on Mvula (male leopard) who happened to be lying at the base of the very same tree.
Almost like a Mexican standoff the two leopards watched one another when suddenly hyaenas entered the fray and chased Mvula up the Marula and startling Thandi in the process.
Aggravated by the notion of Mvula’s close proximity she hissed and growled leaving no chance of misinterpretation for Mvula. The message was clear, stay away from me!
Eventually the tension began to subside and Thandi closed her eyes to rest. That was a very big mistake...
In three amazing bounds Mvula took the fractional advantage in Thandi’s poor judgement and sprang from his perch onto a parallel branch, then without breaking stride leapt to the next limb and in one final leap launched himself onto Thandi. Before she realised what had happened he gave her a mighty swat with talons raking the side of her face and all she could do to escape his wrath was to plummet from her perch and fall a staggering eight meters to the ground below. Unfortunately she did not land with any elegance and crashed to Earth landing on her back and side with Mvula landing on top of her.
Here fortune favoured her. If it were not for the hyaenas sprinting into the fray she would have been pinned down and at Mvula’s mercy. AS it were, he saw the hyaenas closing in and jumped off Thandi and up into the very same Marula he had just fallen out of giving Thandi the split second she needed to run away.
Concerned that she maybe injured we left Mvula and searched for her. We soon found her up a different Marula, about a hundred meters away. She seemed to be okay, and without serious injury other than to her pride.

  Last night we returned to the scene but couldn’t find any sign of either, though other guides returned after sunset and found Mvula feeding on a waterbuck carcass nearby.

  By this time we were already deep in the western sector where we first found the Robson’s male leopard, extremely skinny it looked like he hadn’t had anything to eat in at least two weeks. His stomach arched and nothing but skin between it and his spine. He was extremely skittish which leads me to surmise that he may well have been ousted from his territory by another male and was now beginning his life as a nomad. We left him as he disappeared into the rhino ring block.

  As we drove down in to the Manyeleti riverbed we found Tingana (male leopard) walking up and down the riverbed itself, nose glued to the ground as he followed the scent of a female that had walked through the area, the only evidence thereof was her tracks left behind in the soft sand.
We spent the remainder of the evening with Tingana as he searched and searched, regularly waling within centimetres of the vehicle doors and repeatedly calling in his deep gruff voice. A sound reminiscent of a woodcutter’s blade sawing through a particularly hard piece of wood...

  This morning started off without respite when we found a massive male leopard on the Kruger Park boundary as he walked northward and eventually disappeared over the rise.

  We headed westward from Kudu corner and soon found Mvula again, this time drinking water from a temporary pool of rainwater. Once his thirst was quenched he lay up next to the pan but was soon interrupted by a hyaena charging through the bush straight towards him!
He gave way and ran down into the Mulwanini riverbed where we found him lying down and panting, his full stomach protruding uncomfortably around the sides.
Once again his interval was short-lived as two hyaenas pursued him down into the riverbed and chased him up a thin Tamboti tree where he balanced his paunch precariously on some rather flimsy twigs.
He looked terribly uncomfortable but I can’t say I felt sorry for him, not after the way he treated one of his ladies yesterday... His comeuppance a just reward!

  Other then leopards two of the Styx lions were found in Safari donga and one of the Majingilani male lions seen heading south from Londoz boundary.