Month of the Leopard

Firstly just like to say that we have being very busy this past month, so apologies for no updates on the last month. This past month of September has really being quite an exciting one, and one with a bit of misery on some of the animals part!! Will get to those stories in a while.

We have managed to do a few canoe safaris, and just in time, as the water has gotten very shallow now. The other problem was that we had to battle our way through a few of the local fishermen’s “barrages”. These are obstructions that they use for catching fish at this time of the year, in the deeper pools of water. Canoe safaris take about 2 hours to get down river to our afternoon sun downer spot, but on one occasion we got really jammed up with the “barrages”, and we only got to our pick-up spot in the dark, a bit nerve racking!!!!! We have found that it’s more productive in the afternoon as game is starting to move down to the river for a last drink before the evening sets in.

Elephants on canoe safari.

Weary Elephants as we canoe past.

Coming back from morning walk.

We managed to see some good sightings of bull elephants, with some being quite large in body size, as well as some having some good ivory on them. For me, I feel that seeing such large and old bull elephants is more of a thrill and exciting, than seeing lions lying about in the grass!!! Sounds crazy but it’s true. This day and age to see large bull elephants with a large set of tusks on them is a very rare site, some of you will agree!!! Anyway other sightings whilst on the river have being of a pod of hippo numbering about 15-20 individuals. We also have seen numerous waterbuck, few bushbuck, impala and kudu. Bird sightings have also being good on the river, with sightings of Pied, Giant and Half-collared Kingfishers; African Skimmers (which is a near-threatened species), Marabou storks, Grey and Green-backed Heron, White-headed Lapwing and the odd Hamerkop.

White Headed Vulture.

Game drives have also being quite productive, especially on the “spotted cat”. No fewer than 9 sightings in September, which is absolutely fantastic for us here. We will have to call Nic, who helps out from time to time on the guiding side, the “LEOPARD MAN”. On one particular evening Nic saw some tracks of a leopard moving back towards the camp. They then moved off the main road into the bush. With the airstrip being in that direction they decided to go and have a look there. They scratched around there, when they spotted the leopard sitting on top of a termite mound. Just as they were watching some impala started to move closer and had no idea that the leopard was there, when as quick as a flash the leopard was tackling the male impala in the group. With it having the impala by the throat it was suffocating it. Then something disturbed it and it let it go and moved into the bush. Nic then decide to just wait and see what would happen next, as the impala was still on the ground. A few minutes later the impala started to stagger to its feet, when out of the bush, like lighting the leopard pounced on it again. After a few minutes it let go of its grip and moved off again into the bush so then that was when Nic decided to leave it, as they had had a good sighting already. You probably find that it has never had a vehicle watching it with its kill. Well that was Lugenda’s first and hopefully not the last time that we will see a leopard in full swing trying to kill its quarry.

Other sightings through the month have included elephant bulls and family groups, a good number of sable, Liechtenstein’s hartebeest, Boehms zebra, Niassa wildebeest have being seen this month as well, and this is quite good as these are generally quite hard to find, and the best place to spot them has being around the Dambo grasslands. But most drives we do see kudu, johnsons impala, waterbuck, warthog, duiker, bushbuck mostly along the main river systems in the dense riverine thickets. A few sightings of bushpig have also being seen by Nic and his guests this month.

Young Male Leopard on evening drive.

Two Male Sable.

Large Kudu Bull.

For the “birders/twitchers”, things have being looking good. We have found the Taita Falcons, and they are still in the same area as they were in last year. Early mornings about 30 minutes after sunrise, have being good for sightings of them, as they seem to be a lot more active then. The pair of Verreaux’s (Black) eagles are also on the same nest site that they were about 2 years ago, and we have a had couple of good sightings of them soaring above us at low altitudes. Climbing up to the nest site is not for the faint hearted, I warn you!!!!! Other good sightings have being of pair of African Crowned Eagles, Bohm’s Bee-eaters, Bohm’s Spinetail, Barred Owlet, African Harrier Hawk raiding a White-browed Sparrow-weavers nest, Southern Ground Hornbills, Bateleur, White Headed Vultures. Migrants should be starting to move back from North Africa and the continent, as our summer is well on its way now. One specie, I will keep you all updated on, is the African Pitta. As soon as the first call has being heard I will sound the alarm for all who are interested!!

Adult Verreaux Black Eagle at nest sight,

The last bit of news doesn’t end to well, for one of many elephants. SENSITIVE PICTURES TO FOLLOW.

 I decided to do a walk on the opposite bank to our camp with guests. It was also their last morning and we had a shortened morning, due to their flight. Anyway we canoed across the Lugenda River, to the confluence of the Namaquesso and Lugenda River. As we got onto the bank a short briefing was done. Then it was like reading the latest “morning paper” on the sand and it went something like this, “good morning all, the local herd of buffalo had a drink around 04h00, just after them possibly 2 male lion popped in and found that the buffalo could make a good meal so they pushed on behind the buffalo”.

So after looking to see what else had being happening on the sand, we decided to push on as well, and follow up on the buffalo tracks. My tracker, Jaime, had the “dust sock”, and this really came in good use. After about 45 minutes of being on the buffalo tracks we had a distant view of them, this is when the “dust sock” did its thing. Shaking it every so often we were able to keep down wind from the buffalo all the time. We eventually were able to get to with in 50 meters of the herd, where we stuck ourselves behind some good cover and a drainage line on the opposite side to them, where we could sit down and watch them grazing. After about 20 minutes, we decided to back off and leave them in peace, which we did. What a great sighting, especially when they are not aware of your presence.

After leaving the buffalo, we decided to move back to the river as time was running away out. Like normal, when you are having so much fun there always seems to be a shortage of time!!! Anyway we went a different route back, and after crossing a dry riverbed, there was just a mass of vultures in the distant trees. Firstly I thought to myself maybe those lions that were in the area made a kill, then something else came to mind, and that was “this could possibly be another poaching incident”. I informed the guests of my thoughts and they said that’s fine let’s see. After a quick briefing, on if anything was to be encountered, we then went into investigate. What we found was not an elephant killed by lions, but an elephant that had being poached by humans!!!! It looked about 2 days old. We walked around the carcass a bit and found that the lions had being there and moved off as we started nearing them, as their were tracks of them moving away very quickly.

 I wont go into the details of the carcass, but the following pictures might be sensitive to some people, so you have being warned!!!!

Poached Elephant.

Poached Elephant.

 We did hear that about 4-6 other elephants had being poached on the opposite bank. Walking back, it was quite a sombre mood, and I am sure the guests’ thoughts were focussed on what we had just seen.

Well that’s all for this moment in time will put another post up in the near future.

Preparing for dinner on the mountain overlooking Lugenda River.

Sunset at dinner time.