Ranger's Report - May 2006
Winter has arrived in the bush. Mornings are chilly and afternoon¡¯s mild, becoming cooler again as the sun goes down. The average temperature for May was 26¢ªC and no rain fell during the past month. The month of May can most definitely be called the month of lions with sightings of two new prides. The one pride, called the Five Cannibals consists of five males and the other pride, called Three Plus One consists of three males and one collared female.

Elephant: The herds are still moving through the area, continually searching for better foliage. Herd numbers are slowly increasing with herds of up to 50 individuals being sighted regularly.

Rhino: It seems that the group of four rhinos (one cow and three sub adult bulls) have moved out of the western sector. They are now often spotted in the eastern sector of the property. It is not unusual for these grazers to move around to other areas. Rhino cows and sub adult bulls do not have any specific territories, but rather a home range. The home range can include the territories of up to four territorial rhino bulls. Londoz and Shorthorn are still spotted regularly and it seems that they succeeded in banning the unknown bull that was invading their respective territories. There have been a few sightings of the bull on the outskirts of the western sector.

Buffalo: The herd of about 120 is still moving in and out of the area. Our regularly spotted bachelor herd has been hanging around the camp, spending most if their time on the open area in front of the lodge.

Lions: Lion sightings are great at the moment and all five residential prides, as well as the two new prides, are spotted regularly. The Five Cannibals originally consisted of six males, three full mane and estimated to be about 6 years old and three half mane, estimated to be about 4 years old. This pride moved up north from the southern sector of the Sabi Sand, creating havoc under the lion population. They are fighting other lions in the quest to increase their territory. We have learned from sources that this coalition killed a rhino bull west of our traversing area and the latest news is that they also killed a full grown hippo. The Three Plus One pride consists of three males of about 4 years old and a collared female of the same age. Animals often get collared in Kruger National Park to study their behaviour and the territories they move through. The Three Plus One pride killed the Manyeleti male this month during a territorial fight.

Leopards: Safari¡¯s cubs are six months old now and because they are now well habituated to the vehicles, we have started viewing them with two vehicles during the day, even when Safari is not around. Their personalities differ and we can easily tell them apart with the one cub being more bold and curious and the other one quite shy and skittish. We have not been able to sex the cubs yet. Whitecloth, another female leopard that is rarely seen and resides in the eastern sector also has two cubs, presumably the same age as Safari¡¯s. Saseka has been leaving Salayexe by herself for longer periods of up to 3 days at a time. It seems that she is deliberately distancing herself, forcing Salayexe to fend for herself. Salayexe has grabbed this opportunity to test her fierceness against bigger creatures as we saw her chasing an old hippo bull the other afternoon. It seems that she still has a thing or two to learn! She did however, make her first successful impala kill. Saseka and Nyeleti had a territorial fight and even though Nyeleti is another daughter of Saseka she is still viciously protecting her territory. We believe that she was also protecting Salayexe who is still a lot smaller than Nyeleti. Mafufunyana was seen mating with an old but very relaxed female, presumably from Londolozi. They stumbled onto Saseka and Salayexe at Bushcamp and the two females had a stand off, but luckily nothing came from the situation. It was quite amazing to have four leopards in one sighting, though!

Special sightings: At the moment we have a residential hippo in Leeuwkuil that comes and joins us for breakfast every now and again, lying in the sun in the riverbed in front of the camp. He has probably been pushed out by a younger, stronger bull from his residential dam. It is not unusual to see hippos out sunning themselves during the day in wintertime as the sun is not as harsh at the moment. We also had a sighting of two mating honey badgers at Tree House Pan. It was interesting to see as these animals are usually very shy and illusive. All the rangers and trackers of EP were involved in the tracking and darting of the collared female from the Three Plus One pride of lions. The collar had to be removed as it was becoming too tight around her neck. The other two males that were with her at the time also had to be darted. It was an amazing experience to be involved and to get so close to these magnificent creatures.

Until next time, when the bush calls you back to Elephant Plains!

Stephen Pieterse

Replies: