It was the 1^st of October 2012, we were busy with our afternoon game drive. So far the drive had been pleasant, we had seen two nice herds of elephants, harry the hippo, plenty Impala and a few interesting birds. It was getting to that time of the day when a “sundowner” stop was needed, I had planned to stop at the bottom of graded road for “sundowners” and we were almost there.  On our way though we found a fantastic big male giraffe, we noticed that he was just staring into one direction not paying any attention to us. Giraffe have great eye sight and because of their height they often spot predators at quite a distance. When they do this they will often just stare in the direction of the predator until it is out of sight. I have found many big cats by following the stare of a giraffe. The area he was looking into was very thick and although we tried there was no possible way of getting the game viewer through the bush without damaging the car. We decided to have our “sundowner” and then return to the area later on to see if anything pops out.

After a quick 15 minute stop we were on the road again, we passed the area the giraffe was in but could see nothing. I must say I was a little disappointed, I suspected the giraffe had spotted a Leopard and had been confident that it would make an appearance after sundowners. We carried on up the road hoping to get lucky, and then there it was. The unmistakable shape of a cat lying in the middle of the road, a young male Leopard. I was ecstatic! This is what we had hoped to find. He seemed very relaxed and was not bothered by us at all. After about 5 minutes he got up and started walking down the road, it was obvious that he was interested in something he could hear or smell on the right side. Every few steps he would stop and look. After a short distance he started moving into the bushes in the direction he had been looking. He was moving very slowly and cautiously, at first I thought he may have picked up the sounds of an Impala herd and was thinking about making a kill, but he was not in a stalking position at all, he was just being cautious for some reason. Eventually he walked through a large bush, we were forced to go a

Leopard Kill

long way around to and I worried that we may not find him again, but as we came around the corner we saw the shape of a big cat eating in the grass. It took a good couple of seconds to realize that we were actually looking at a lioness now and not the Leopard any more. We quickly shone the spotlight around the area to find the Leopard, he was lying about 30 meters from the Lioness but she did not seem to notice that he was there, she was much too interested in devouring the Warthog she had managed to catch for herself.

We quickly took the light off the Leopard as we did not want to give its position away to the Lioness. At this point in time we were sitting about 10 meters from the Lioness and the sounds of the bones crunching were all you could hear in the dark still bush. Every now and again we would quickly shine the light over to check if the Leopard was still there.

The Lioness continued eating for about 15 minutes without even looking up, then all of a sudden for no reason at all she stood up and walked away, this was the opportunity the Leopard was waiting for. He quickly stood up and moved in. There was still one nice piece of warthog left and this is what he was after, as he got to the kill sight I remembered my camera, luckily I was able to get one quick picture because he grabbed that piece of warthog and made a run for it, a very wise tactic when stealing from a Lion! Well we unfortunately did not see the Leopard or the Lioness again that evening but I tell you there was a lot of chatter at the dinner table.

On a lovely July morning, while on a game drive in the Timbavati Game Reserve,  my guests and I picked up on a rather displeasing smell.  Now, as all guides know, the smell of rotting flesh usually means that there is a kill close by. This particular smell caught my attention as just yesterday, in the same spot, I had seen a handsome male lion.

I called Peter on the radio and he shortly appeared at the smelly area. His Tracker got off the game viewer and disappeared for a few seconds, moving in the direction of the smell, but came back empty handed. We did notice plenty of hyena tracks and started to assume that the hyenas must have cleaned everything up and the smell was just dragged into the grass; we carried on with the game drive.

During the whole game drive, the smell nagged at the back of our minds. On the way back to camp, Peter stopped again in the area, to try once again to locate the cause of the awful smell. This time when he parked on the same spot, he found that the odour was coming from another direction on the opposite side of the track.

Male lion, Shindzela Tented Camp

He told Sam to stay with his guests, took a rifle and followed the smell…. as he started to smell this rot more intensely, suddenly, he spotted the source; about 50metres from the road in a trench there lay a dead, little eaten Buffalo. Peter approached it a little closer to try and see exactly what could have happened. Suddenly, before he could investigate thoroughly, he suddenly heard a low growl. Looking to the left, he saw a fairly young male lion, watching his every move. Peter automatically stopped in his tracks, and started moving very slowly backwards till he reached the safety of his game viewer.He told his tracker where it was and they slowly went off road and drove in to see it with the guests. The only problem was that this particular lion wasn’t from the area and therefore he was very weary of the vehicle. As soon as you moved within 15 meters he would move from the kill and hide in a thicket. Peter sat with the carcass for a while but the lion had stage fright, so they decided to go back to camp for breakfast. After breakfast I took my guests to have a look at the lion as well, but he was shy, and we only caught a glimpse of his tail.

Male Lion at Buffalo carcass

By that evening, the lion seemed to have grown a bit braver, and we were able to view him. The next day, the sightings of predators at the buffalo kill were phenomenal.

That evening, we watched the male lion tugging at the carcass and could hear him gnawing on bone and cartilage after each feeding session, we

would hear him panting with exhaustion.Overt the course of the next few days, the male was joined by 2 female lions and a cub. They were later joined by two sub adult males, and of course the hyena’s also became interested in the buffalo carcass.One evening, there was a massive battle for the last remaining meat. A new group of 6 lions (2 cubs) moved in to feed, when suddenly a massive adult male lion came charging in to the kill.

At first he looked set to kill the 2 cubs, but brave moms came to the rescue standing their

Male Lion, Timbavati Kruger Park

ground against this male, until the cubs ran to safety. The male then moved in to the carcass and ate all the remaining meat. He stayed with the carcass for a good 3 and half days. During this time, he was harassed by Spotted Hyena’s who were desperate for some of the scraps – they finally succeeded in chasing him away and feasted on left over bones and skin.

It’s not only about the Big 5 when you come and visit the bush. There is a very special plant you must she when you come and visit Shindzela…. The Leopard Orchid, Timbavati Reserve

Orchids are an ancient family of plants comprising of about 18000 species worldwide. The Leopard Orchid is the largest Orchid Plant of the 500 species found inSouthern Africaand gets its name from its delicately scented flowers, which are yellow in colour and dotted brown like a leopard’s coat.

It is thought that the Leopard Orchid grows in higher areas due to monkeys eating the seeds and sweet canes of the orchid and dispersing the seeds in the process.

The Zulu people also use the Leopard Orchid in a love charm ritual, whereby a desired partner can be caused to think of his or her partner by chewing the canes at midnight and then spit out the chewed up bits whilst saying the name of the desired person.

Some of the largest clusters can attain a good age of 100 years, Kruger National Park.

Monika Bydlinski

Summer is a better time of year to see all sorts of interesting butterflies, but even this time of year you can find some of the following stunning little insects in the Shindzela garden, Timbavati Game Reserve.

A few weeks ago, back in the middle of July, we came across a lioness that had come across to the Timbavati Game Reserve, from the Orpen area in the Kruger National Park. We found her standing bravely on the top of a termite mound looking gorgeous as all lions do.

Injured lioness, Shindzela Safari Camp, Kruger

However, as she started walking, we realized that she was limping and that she was  looking a bit thin. She sat, not even 5 meters from our game viewer, and started giving soft contact calls – it was almost as though her pride had left her behind and she was trying to find them- it was heart breaking.

Later that evening we found a pride of 12 Timbavati Reserve lions close to our main dam area and we assumed that this was her pride family, yet we couldn’t see she her amongst them.

A few days passed, when Peter and Warren found her by the Shindzela main dam lying under some trees close to the water’s edge. They sat with her for a while until she got up; they noticed that she was still limping.

That night on our night safari game drive, we located her again, and found her calling. As we had earlier seen tracks of a large pride of lions, we had assumed she had located her pride, and that she knew where they were.

Sadly that was not the case, as about 2 days later we picked up her tracks; we followed the tracks, and found her again at the dam. She was looking terribly thin and her limp was still very apparent. We sat by the dam with her for quite some time. All she did was drink, then relax and drink some more.

Injured Lioness at Shindzela, Timbavati

Then, in the distance, on the dam wall, we saw a Spotted Hyena watching her. We all feared the worst – that seeing an opportunity, the Hyena would attempt to harm her.The hyena circled her from a distance, and as we watched, the Hyena moved closer to the lioness.Mere meters from the lioness, the Hyena stopped and started feeding on something – we then realized that the lioness must have killed something small like a steenbok or duiker by the water’s edge, and that the Hyena was being an opportunistic feeder.Even though the lioness had seemed to have eaten something, it was not enough to make her belly look large (as they do after a feed).

The hyena snatched what it could, had a drink of water and left, while the lioness watched carefully. It appears that this lioness has been injured during a hunting attack – probably for buffalo. Normally, lions spotted in the Timbavati Reserve are healthy and are a good weight.

This lioness’s injury has probably healed on the outside, but the limp has remained, making it very difficult for her to hunt, especially for larger prey. She will have to rely on catching smaller mammals, and hopefully when we next see her, so has gained weight… she has difficult times ahead in the wild.

Monika Bydlinski, from Shindzela in the Timbavati Private Game Reserve

We wanted to share some images of spotted hyena, taken at Shindzela Safari Camp in the Timbavati. Read more about these amazing animals in our earlier Blog Post.

 A very near and dear friend to any safari camp! Their Scientific name: Canis Adustus (Makes you sound very clever out on game drive with your guide, I have tried it and it works!) We have been lucky to have a paid of side striped jackals who live close to the camp, and at night we often hear their very distinctive calls.

The Jackal is generally regarded as a small scavenger, but as well as scavenging, it does hunt and kill its own food. It is often thought of as vermin, especially by farmers who suffer losses and tend to persecute the Jackal as a result. Despite this, jackals are one of the few carnivore species to survive well in close contact with humans and can often be found in and around human settlements.

It’s very easy to identify the Side Striped jackal; they are a much smaller predator than the Hyena, but it is similar in size to a Black Backed jackal. The Side Striped Jackal stands around 40-50cm high at the shoulder, and although similar to other jackals, it has a less pointed face and more rounded ears. The side striped jackal gets its name from the black and white horizontal strips on its sides. These vary in visibility; some individuals have more pronounced stripes than others.

These creatures are mainly nocturnal. They pair for life and maintain a territory which they mark with scat and urine. They are vocal animals and growl when they feel threatened or alarmed and bark loudly as a contact call. There is nothing better than sitting around our camp fire and hearing these jackals calling in to the night.

Jackals prey on smaller mammals such as hares, rodents and small antelope as well as the young of larger antelopes. Side Striped Jackals will also eat snakes, beetles, crickets, spiders, fruit and berries. A pair of male and female jackal will often hunt together which significantly increases the chance of the hunt being successful than if the hunt is undertaken by a single Jackal.

Side Striped Jackals reproduce annually during the rainy season (Months November through to May). The Side Striped Jackal has a gestation period of around 57-60 days. The vixens typically give birth to between 2 and 6 pups in a den which is usually a disused burrow dug by another species such as the aardvark.

The pups are helpless at birth and remain in the den being cared for by the mother while the father hunts for food, either alone or with help from the previous litter of cubs who are now sub-adults. After around 2 weeks the pups start eating meat regurgitated by the parents, but they are not fully weaned till they are around 10 weeks old. At age 3-4 months, the pups start exploring the area around the den and gradually expanding to explore wider areas, and start learning to hunt. By the time they are 6 months old they are able to hunt well but still remain with the parents who feed, groom and play with the pups. At 6-8 months old some of the pups will leave the family unit to find a territory of their own, while some of the other pups will remain till they are 18 months or 2 years old and will become sub-adult helpers who help their parents raise the next litter of pups.

The Timbavati Reserve is home to Shindzela Tented Safari Camp, and this week we have had excellent lion sightings and would like to share our images – all taken by Monika who has been guiding in camp. Earlier, this week, lions killed a buffalo, and various different lions have been feeding off this one kill. A large male lion has been dominant at the kill, but several females (one with a small cub) have also fed off the meat. Hyena have been trying to snatch some morsels, and last night we counted 9 spotted hyena circling the kill, hoping to get a chance to feed. Enjoy these wildlife photographs, hot off the press from the bush in the Timbavati Game Reserve.

A young male lion seen on game drive

Lioness

Lioness hunting buffalo

Male lion seen at Shindzela Safari Camp

Camera trap at Shindzela Safari Camp

As most of you all will know, we recently put up a camera trap around the safari camp, hoping to catch some of the game visiting us unnoticed. So far, our most regular nocturnal visitors have been Jackal, Porcupine and Hyena. In fact they became so common on the camera trap that I decided it was time to move the camera, not because these animals are boring but let’s face it, variety is the spice of life. My goal was to catch a Leopard on the camera.

I decided that the best spot for this would be the big game path that runs parallel to our river bed in front of Shindzela safari camp. It did not take me long to find the perfect tree, a nice big Mopane, right on the bend of the path – allowing the safari camp camera to get a good shot of anything coming or going. I set the camera up in the perfect position, and for some reason decided at the last minute to switch from still shots to video mode. The next morning I started my day as usual, but I had this urge to check the camera. Eventually I gave in to the urge and walked across the river bed and over to the tree where I had left the trap. I could not see the camera. I was 100% certain that this was the right tree, but still found myself pacing the path looking at other trees.

Finally I decided to stop being silly and went back to the original spot, and as I looked down at the ground, heart sank; I knew what had happened. Oh well I thought, time to do some tracking, and off I went. Fortunately for me, my tracking expedition only lasted about 200 meters until I found what I was looking for – the SD card from the camera. At least I could enjoy the last video the camera took.  So can you guess what happened to the camera? To find out, go check out the last video the camera trap ever took at this safari camp.

We thought we would share some images from one of our walking safari activities. These walking safari images were kindly sent in from G. Toth, and guests who travelled to Shindzela in April 2012. Seen guiding are Mike and Monica from Shindzela.

Our Kruger walking safari activity takes you right in to the bush and allows you to get up close and personal with the environment and immerse yourself in the wilderness. To do a walking safari is to alert the senses, and get a better understanding of the bush and its inhabitants.

Walking Safari, Kruger

kruger walking safari