Another week has come and gone at Londolozi. With winter around the corner, it was rather unusual to get nearly 40 ml of rain over the past week. Although 40 ml isn’t too much, the large amount of rain we had earlier in the year, means that the water table is extremely high. Dry wallows, water holes and seep lines are all now flourishing again. With all this water around, I have even had the privilege of seeing dung beetles coming out of their state of estivation to roll their last dung balls for the season. Things are looking good going into the drier winter months.
The diversity of sightings over the past week has been fantastic. The Ntsevu Pride along with their cute cubs have been taking refuge in the southeastern parts of Londolozi. The Tsalala Female managed to take down a fully grown female kudu (her hunting proficiency is starting to resemble that of her mother) along the Sand River. The Plaque Rock Female continues to push further into her mother’s territory.
Elephants are everywhere you look! They are absolutely loving the wallows that have been refilled, caking themselves in mud. The extra water means we are still seeing the bird with the longest leg-to-body ratio around Londolozi, the Black Winged Stilt. A young male cheetah is back in the central parts of the reserve making his presence known.
And the biggest news coming out of Londolozi this week is that the Ndzanzeni Female led us back to her den revealing one cub to us.
Let us know your favourites in the comments section below.
Enjoy This Week In Pictures…
With the grass getting shorter, it allows for photographic opportunities of the smaller things such as this Steenbok.
Having the privilege of watching these Ntsevu Cubs grow is a true privilege.
One of the Ntsevu is captured in a pretty unique and interesting picture. Lying next to a fully intact zebra foal carcass, it was almost as though the two were keeping each other company, but in reality, this female was keeping her hungry cubs from the carcass.
As winter draws closer, the magnificent colours at dusk and dawn come with it.
This Black Winged Stilt enjoys the extra water while it searches for food.
This young elephant came wandering towards us, trunk in the air and feeling confident moments before it then turned and sprinted back to its mother.
Caught in the act of moving from one waterhole to another. It is not common to see hippos out of the water in the summer months, but as the temperatures begin to fall and the water cools down, this scene becomes slightly more regular.
The Tsalala story is such a phenomenal one and we are thrilled that this female is exceeding all of our expectations and thriving.
The Young Male Cheetah utilises a termite mound to find potential hunting opportunities.
Ndzanzeni Female and her cub
After finding the Ndzanzeni Female late into the morning, we then followed her back to this den and this was one fo the first sights we saw.
After sitting quietly for some time, the cub was eventually coaxed out of hiding by its mother and came to join her.
Although somewhat relaxed for a cub that had never seen a vehicle before, this cub would keep a very wary eye on us.
Being caught out in the open this cub would then dart back to safety before being called out again by its mother.
Eventually, settling down for a good feed before we left them there to go about their business.
Patrick Grealy
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