06 January: Rangers Report for November 2012

Welcome back to our regular followers and to those of you who are new, this month there were numerous amazing sightings again in the magnificent Timbavati Game Reserve. Summer seems to be in full swing as the temperatures soared again and the evening thunderstorms were absolutely amazing to watch with some spectacular lightning and thunder.

Lion

The lion sightings this month mainly comprised of the Machaton pride who are still split, but doing well. Three members of the pride managed to kill a wildebeest on Giraffe plains. The other two remaining pride members were very nomadic this month being spotted in various locations.

The two dominant males were seen numerous times during the month and were even seen mating with an unknown female. In the north east the Mafikizolo pride made a few appearances and are looking in good condition.

Leopard 

Once again the leopards in the area were up to their usual tricks. The young male Makeppies decided to do something extremely unusual and managed to kill a new born giraffe calf, unfortunately for him it was to big to hoist into a tree and it was lost to a hyena.

The old lady, Mbali, was seen on a few impala kills, proving once again experience is very important in the bush. The Rockfig female with her cub were seen a few times and fortunately her cub is slowly becoming more accepting of the vehicles. Umfana, the young male is doing very well and seems to have the phenomenal hunting skill of his mother Ntombi. The Thumbela female also provided some great entertainment with her kill near Vulture crossing. Ntombi and her cub again provided us with the majority of our sightings and were seen very close to the camp on numerous occasions. A new female, now named the Marula female was seen near the Rock Fig airstrip and seemed very relaxed around the vehicle so lets hope she sticks around.

Cape Buffalo & Elephant 

Our camp was frequented by a few ‘Dagga Boys’ (old buffalo bulls) who took up residence outside the lodge for a few days making our morning walks a little more interesting as they would often stare at us from a distance, trying to remind us whose camp it really is. We were also fortunate to see many different bachelor groups around our traversing area.

The Kings Camp waterhole seemed like a regular sundowner spot for the elephant herds in the area. We also had an interesting sighting of some elephants digging in a dry river bed to get to the clean sand filtered water. Those water holes in the river bed were then used by other animals regularly until the water subsided.

Special sightings 

The Spotted hyena dens remained active for most of the month, with the previous month’s cubs still doing well and becoming very inquisitive towards the safari vehicles. There were also a few new cubs seen, this clan seems to be very successful at the moment.

An amazing sighting was had by all when a pack of 26 Wild dogs came on to the property. Seeing so many playing around the Lily Pan area was awesome. Luckily for us they were seen regularly through out the month.

Stay tuned for next months report.

Wild wishes,

Dean & the Kings Camp guiding team

Report written by Dean Robinson

Photography by Dean Robinson