Singita Kruger National Park
Lebombo & Sweni Lodges
South Africa
Wildlife Journal
For the month of November, Two Thousand and Fourteen
Temperature
Average minimum:
Average maximum:
Minimum recorded:
Maximum recorded:
Rainfall Recorded
18.3°C
30°C
12°C
38°C
(64.9°F)
(86°F)
(53.6°F)
(100.4°F)
For the period:
For the year to date:
35.5 mm
316 mm
Spring has sprung Article by Barry Peiser
Spring is actually still springing… we've had some rain and there are some areas where the grass in the burnt
areas is emerging, only to be grazed by the eagerly awaiting animals. The more we approach the summer, the
warmer it gets and the better the chances are of some substantial rain falling due to the clouds building each
day. But in order for us to receive some rain we are expecting more hot days to come - scorching days that feel
like one is walking in a furnace. Some storms have danced around the concession to the south, moving
westwards to the Sabi Sands. Lightning displays and the roll of thunder tease us and the odd Burchell’s coucal,
also known as the 'rain bird' calls hopefully. The impala are starting to drop their young and even the
Mahlangulene leopardess has given birth to two cubs, which were briefly seen on the Xhikelengane drainage,
near the stream shortcut. A number of buffalo and elephant calves have also been seen on the concession. The
summer migrant birds continue arriving and the landscape is simmering under the hot summer sun. Heat waves
are already present by 08h30 on game drives and many of the trees have used their reserves to sprout new
leaves.
A number of vervet monkeys and chacma baboons are visiting the lodges in the hope that they can make off
with some high tea or morning snacks, due to the food shortage in the bush now. It's hard to imagine this barren
landscape having lush green grass that can conceal the smaller antelope from sight, flowering plants
everywhere you look, brightly coloured birds flying and perching on all the trees and the sounds of water flowing
down the N’wanetsi and over the weir.
Soon enough we will have those rains, the earth will drink it down deeply, the grass will grow tall and golden orbweb spiders will spin their webs across the roads and in the bush between the trees. There will be an abundance
of insect life emerging and all the 'creepy crawlies' will be out and about. The roads will be muddy and slippery,
morning mists will return, ponchos will be taken out and cobwebs cleaned off as the rain pelts down. Crocodiles
will wait patiently as the barbel and tilapia are washed over the weir into their ready ‘spring loaded’ jaws. Swifts
will wait for the flight of millions of termite alates as they take to the air after and during the rainstorms, sweeping
in swiftly to snatch them out of the air, along with a crowd of other bird species as the frenzied feast begins.
When the predator becomes prey…
Article and photos by Nick du Plessis
The general rule out here is that nothing eats or hunts
a meat-eater. For example, a leopard does not actively
hunt a cheetah as food. Yes, they may and will kill and
hurt each other, if given the opportunity, to eliminate
competition, but that is that - or so I thought! On an
afternoon drive we followed up on some vulture activity
along the N’wanetsi River not thinking too much of it
because at this time with all the impalas lambing many
vultures' diet consists of the afterbirth that is left
behind. We could not believe our luck when we found
at least a hundred vultures squabbling over a sub-adult
giraffe carcass that had been brought down by some
lions. A lioness had fed and left to collect the cubs that
weren’t present during the hunt. All game drives out
that afternoon where eventually treated to two lionesses and six young cubs from the Shishangaan pride literally
gorging themselves, but as the light faded we had to leave the cubs and promise the guests to return first thing
in the morning to see how things had developed.
The next morning all game drives headed straight back to the scene. When asked along the way what we would
find there, I thought that all eight lions would still be there in a food coma, with most likely a male or two which
had heard the commotion and come to investigate what had happened... I could not believe my eyes when we
got there only to find tracks and scuff marks on the ground. There was not a sliver of evidence of anything that
had happened the day before, no lions, no cubs and strangely no giraffe! Normally, even after finishing a
carcass, you’d find parts of the skull or spinal column, parts which are simply too hard for even hyenas to devour
so quickly.
But just a few hundred meters up the road we pieced together the story which had transpired during the night.
The one eyed male lion from the Shishangaan pride was feeding off an adult crocodile. This was the first time
I’ve seen anything like it! The whole rule of never eat a meat-eater was thrown out the window, and I know that
many things we think we know are often just theories and ideas. Clearly none of these animals read any of these
books that we’ve written - this was just amazing behaviour!
It just goes to show how you cannot underestimate any animal and what it will do when there's any chance to
feed or breed. By having a closer look at the tracks to get a better idea of what happened that night it looked like
the male lion must have overpowered the lioness and cubs and bullied them off the kill, then a few large
crocodiles had made an attempt to steal the carcass and drag it back into the water which was only about 30
meters away. The crocodiles managed to steal most of it successfully but not so for one of them who must have
tried to take on the big male lion.
This is also not the first record of this pride bringing down a giraffe and it is again some interesting behaviour
and probably stems from the large giraffe population we get to see on the concession. Why it is interesting is
that usually when lions hunt and catch a prey species they target the throat/wind pipe, back of the neck/spinal
cord or muzzle the animal, and with the shear height of a giraffe none of the above are possible. What they’ve
learnt to do, using the terrain to their advantage is simply chase after the giraffes and attempt to herd them to an
uneven or rocky area where hopefully they will loose their footing. Once a giraffe falls down it is very difficult for it
to get back on its feet, and if down for too long the giraffe will simply knock itself out. The biology of the giraffe is
that to work against having such a long neck it needs an excessively large heart (up to 12 kg, almost 24 pounds)
to work against gravity to pump its blood all the way up the long neck. If the head is in line or below the heart for
too long, it simply faints.
The infamous badger
Just the other night, whilst driving back towards Lebombo from game drive with my guests, after having
encountered breeding herds of elephants, a young caracal and many other wonderful game species, we came
across a pair of honey badgers that were foraging on the roadside, under the fall of night. The vehicle that
located them left and the badgers continued excavating, paying scant attention to us. One badger then came
closer to forage and, realizing just how close to the vehicle it was, decided to swagger over and try intimidate us.
Needless to say the guest on my vehicle having had no experience with honey badgers shifted very quickly to
the other side of her seat, almost sitting on top of her mother! The little rascal stopped just a metre from the
vehicle, looked up and with a growl turned to walk back to where it was last foraging to continue looking for tasty
treats.
I have heard some amazing stories of how tenacious these animals can be and their reputation for fearing
nothing is well known. This is without a doubt one of the bravest animals I know - it doesn’t let its diminutive size
disadvantage it in any way and is not scared to take on a lion, elephant or even a highly venomous snake like a
Cape cobra.
The honey badger, reminds me of the David and Goliath bible story where young David, with just his faith and
belief to keep him calm, was able to bring down a giant of a man. He wasn’t afraid to face danger or something
far larger than himself.
Honey badgers have thick skin to protect them from bees when breaking into a hive for the sweet comb and
larvae. Their lose skin allows them to turn in the jaws of a lion or twist under the hoof of a beast to bite back.
They are good climbers and very strong for their size, squeezing and manipulating their body to go through small
holes and climb trees. The badger has a really strong immune system and is capable of recovering from a highly
venomous snakebite, simply by falling asleep and slowing down its bodily functions, denaturing the proteins,
only to wake up hours later and continue to consume the snake it mauled some hours before. They are active
night foragers, but can be seen having crepuscular behaviour in the colder regions of the Kalahari Desert where
night temperatures drop below zero and foraging for food is done during the afternoon and mornings. If attacked
they release a terrible odour from their anal gland, and can be seen anal rubbing on plants to leaving a territorial
marking that wards off other badgers that may move into their territory. We are seeing badgers more frequently
than before and also have a badger at the staff village that patrols the grounds, visiting bins and a number of
staff while exploring for food.
Successful teamwork
Article and photos by Barry Peiser
Why are organisms so much more successful working
as a team than by themselves? This is because each
organism in a team has a defined role to play.
Lions are more successful working as a pride to bring
down and kill prey due to their numbers, distraction,
power and ambush. If one of the pride members is
injured during the capture of a big and dangerous prey
animal such as a buffalo, hippo or giraffe the injured lion
can continue to follow the pride and regain full strength
once its injuries have healed.
Matebele ants march as a unit and these insects are
known to be so successful, due to their different caste
roles, sociality and design.
Vultures are successful in devouring an entire carcass in minutes, cleaning every scrap of meat from it, and
eagerly wait their turn at a kill.
Frogging
Article by Barry Peiser, photo by Barry and Jani Lourens
Nick Du Plessis found this painted reed frog on Lebombo Lodge's
boardwalk, at the turning circle for game drive, and it was literally the size
of his thumb.
This is a medium-sized painted reed frog (Hyperolius marmoratus) yet it
only has a body length of about 33 mm (just more than an inch). Their
pupils are horizontal and the adult colour pattern is extremely variable
from distinct stripes through to dots and splotches, and the colours of the
patterns vary from dark brown or black through to yellow and peppermint
green. Juvenile males appear to be overall brown during their first
breeding season.
Reed frogs are distributed across most of sub-Saharan Africa. The adults aestivate during the dry season, and
have been found sheltering some distance from their breeding sites in vegetation or under logs and stones.
During this time they often take up residence inside houses, where they conceal themselves behind cupboards
and in toilet cisterns. Although males will call after rain at any time of the year, breeding normally takes place
from October to February.
At low altitudes male calling behaviour is inhibited by temperatures below 16°C, while at higher altitudes
breeding has been observed at temperatures below 10°C. During the day, adults usually move into the canopy
of surrounding trees or bask in the sun, utilising a wide variety of breeding sites, ranging from temporary ponds
and seepages to permanent bodies of water such as dams, marshes, reed beds, sluggish rivers and streams. At
dusk they descend to the pond where males take up specific call sites only to return to these on consecutive
nights and call consistently from dusk to just after midnight. Where present, tall emergent plants such as reeds
and sedges are favoured as call sites, but males will also call from trees, grasses, bushes, floating vegetation or
even bare soil at the water’s edge.
Gravid females enter the pond shortly after
dusk and usually select a mate within a few
hours. After several hours in axillary
amplexus (in which a male grasps a female
with his front legs as part of the mating
process, and at the same time or with some
time delay, he fertilizes the female eggs as
they are released from the body. In
amphibians, females may be grasped by the
head, waist, or armpits, and the type of
amplexus is characteristic of some
taxonomic groups. Amplexus involves direct
contact between male and female,
distinguished from other forms of external
fertilization such as broadcast spawning,
where sperm and eggs are freely shed into
water without direct contact by individuals),
the eggs are laid in water. Females have been observed to lay more than one clutch of eggs per season with a
month-long interval between laying.
Between 150 and 650 eggs are laid in flattened clumps of about 20, on the surface of submerged leaves, stalks
or stones or amongst the roots of aquatic plants. Tadpoles hatch within 5 days and metamorphosis takes about
6 to 8 weeks. The painted reed frog is locally abundant and sub-populations often consist of hundreds or
occasionally thousands of individuals. They occur in many protected areas including national parks and appear
not to require any further conservation action.
Source: http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Hyperolius&where-species=marmoratus
Photo Nick du Plessis
Game viewing
Lion:
Leopard:
Cheetah:
Elephant:
By Deirdre Opie
A total of 70 sightings, 39 of which were of various combinations of the Mountain Pride; however
the commonly found one were two lionesses and six cubs. The Mountain Pride was seen on a
number of kills, namely two buffalo, a warthog, two wildebeest, one impala and a giraffe kill.
The Shish Pride is also splintered with different sets of females raising cubs in different places.
At least six additional new cubs were seen in the sticky thorn thickets close to Gudzane Dam.
The white lion cub was only seen once when the Shish Pride killed a zebra around Nuthlwa.
They were also seen on a giraffe kill which they lost to the crocodiles at Dumbana pools and the
male killed one of thieving crocodiles.
A total of 24 sightings. The Mahlangulene female has two new cubs of about four months old;
they were seen on an impala kill, although the female is relaxed her cubs generally take a while
to become accustomed to the vehicles. Another unknown female was also seen in the Nyokene
area with two small cubs, all the animals are skittish. The Xhikelengane female seems to have
moved out of the Nyokene area, possibly due to the pressure from the unknown female and has
started to move along the N’wanetsi from Dumbana pools north towards the Xhingwenyana
crossing. This area is almost her old territory from about three years ago. The Tingala female
has been seen around the lodge a few times and seems to not be too fussed by the presence of
people. Both the Ndlovu and N’wanetsi male were also seen on a few occasions scent marking
their territory. Four of the leopards were seen on impala kills and the Xhikelengane female had
an impala and a Sharpe’s grysbok kill in the same place.
A total of 29 sightings. A very high number of sightings mostly concentrated around the
depression and the northern open clearings. Both females and their two cubs are doing well, the
older set is learning to hunt and with impala lambing having started here it is the perfect time to
learn. They were seen on four impala kills and one kudu kill.
There were 74 sightings of breeding herds and 25 sightings of elephant bulls. Anywhere there is
water we are finding them. They have been spending a good amount of time in the newly
Buffalo:
Birds:
flushed burnt areas of the north. One sighting which the guides will remember for a long time is
that of a newly born elephant calf struggling to stand, the whole herd gathering around it as it
tried to suckle. Whilst this was going on a lioness arrived to eat the afterbirth as she had
followed the vultures in, and then, low and behold, a pair of rhino walk through the sighting in the
background!
There were 7 sightings of breeding herds and 15 sightings of buffalo bulls. The northern areas of
the concession have had slightly more rain than in the south so the buffalo herd and bulls
sightings are concentrated on the recovering burnt areas in the Mbatsane block around Sisal
Nkhayanini.
Most of the migrant birds are back, we have heard the woodland kingfisher and the very well
known ‘Piet my vrou’ announcing summer. We eagerly await the arrival of the carmine beeeaters in mid December.
Photo Nick du Plessis
Articles by Jani Lourens, Deirdre Opie, Barry Peiser and Nick du Plessis
Photos on site by Jani Lourens, Barry Peiser and Nick du Plessis
Singita Kruger National Park
South Africa
Thirtieth of November 2014