WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS #61
The lions took the spotlight this week with many incredible moments shared with Africa’s biggest cat.
In the beginning of the week we had a mating pair of lions in the western sector that spent about three days in one area. Hopefully in the near future we will have little lion cubs from a different pride. As long as they stay near the Olifants river in the west they will most likely avoid confrontation with the Kudyela pride.
The Kudyela pride with all their cubs have been searching for food non stop, all together they are 21 and if you add the 3 big Machaton males that’s 24 lions. So to feed that many is no easy task and it means for serious hunting because an impala will simply not be enough anymore and at this stage large prey animals would be ideal. The 2 youngest cubs are absolutely adorable and are very curios about the our presence and often approach the vehicle for a better look.
A herd of buffalo moved in from the west and it was the first time in nearly 2 years that I’ve seen a buffalo calf and it seems they are doing well. There was definitely some tension between the bigger bulls for mating rights over a few cows.
The spotted hyenas have been elusive this week and the rain coupled with elephants moving past the den have made it difficult in finding them. One morning we had 2 males sniffing around one particular area, our hopes were high that they might lead us to something but they soon lost interest.
Nkanyi was seen moving down a long straight road leading to a dam where she eventually quenched her thirst. She first spent a bit of time around the water following a scent trail that was left by a male earlier in the afternoon.
