JINXY’S ANIMAL SIGHTING STATICS – YEAR 2012

SAVUTI - BOTSWANA

Leopards – 211

Lions – 89

Buffalos – 63

Elephants  - ?

Jackals – 47

Hyenas – 45

Cheetah – 3

Impalas - ?

Hippos – 96

Crocodiles – 2

Monkeys – 8

Baboons – 0

Hone-Badgers – 5

Pangolin -1

Lapet-faced Vulture – 10

Marshal Eagle – 43

African Fish-Eagle – 101

African Marsh Harrier – 23

Ground Hornbill – 77

Giant Eagle Owl – 43

Kori bastard – 143

Woodland kingfisher – 6

Pied kingfisher – 99

Sandle Billed Stork – 57

FOLKS I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT I HAVE A HAD A GREAT SAFARI THIS YEAR, BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR MORE STATISTICS ON OTHER AREAS…

 

THE POWER OF PREDATION SERIES

 

 

This was a day like no other, I woke feeling tired and did my exercises and went to do some daily checks on the land cruiser. My guests were only going to be active an hour later and it was six in the morning.

During breakfast with them, so decided they wanted a short drive and then everyone bought the idea. Rocksan the land cruiser was waiting in absolute silence.  After the meal, they went to fetch their photographic equipments and in ten minutes we were on a wild dusty bumpy road doing it easy and reminding ourselves of a few scenes we had witnessed the previous day.

As we were approaching the stork pans I saw something in a distance but could make out what it was and didn’t bother to pick my binoculars, it wasn’t necessary, I thought. As we were getting closer I realized that it was rather something great, it was a pack of wild dogs, and they were on serious moves. When I got there, the pups were disappearing into the bushes and I followed them, meandering well through the bushes. When I got to the open five of the wild dogs had already blocked a female kudu against the linyanti lagoon. It was unbelievable. The kudu never had a chance to escape its tactical attackers.

 

What I have learnt from the great teacher; the bush, is that predators are never too sure that they will catch their prey and so some of them like to engage into a series of ways to either just wait, stalk or ambush.  Crocodiles for example the good at waiting as compared to wild dogs which really don’t like wasting time on stalking, surely this bunch know that they can run distances but still, you can see from how they start that they prefer making sure that they are in the right position, sometimes they don’t judge the distance that well. Cooperative hunting is a great solution to those who live in a group but still there is a lot of feeding competition. Wild dogs are an example. I have seen in many occasions whereby one dog or two, sometimes three, tear the bodies of their prey, sometimes this happens before their quarry is rundown. It’s a great sighting at the end of the day but watching it happen is dangerous for sensitive people because the amount of brutality and mercilessness engaged is really heart touching but yes, that’s nature.

 

I have also learnt that those who like stalking are their main way of hunting like doing killing their prey in maximum silence. Leopards are a better example; they quickly clamp the wind pipe of their prey to suffocate it as well as making sure that its distress call does not invite any other predators in the area.

                                                                Notice the teeth marks on the throat of this impala.

Lions in a very big pride seem not to be very worried about this issue, they are certain that when they bring down their prey, their number will automatically ward off any other predator which will take interest in stealing from them. Sometimes only bones are left behind or nothing at all.

 

I have seen many lone lions having a remarkable successful hunting in an open area, and on other occasions the tables getting really turned.This male kudu didn’t see the lion as it was coming down to drink on a very hot day. The lion also nearly lost it because it was walking straight into the direction where the kudu was coming from. Then it was too late for the kudu to escape.

This cheetah lost its prey lost its prey to two notorious hyenas of Mombo. All her hard didn’t go to waste though; she had eaten enough before the intruders showed up. This is the power of predation.

CAMP SAVUTI – THE ELEPHANT TIMES

MEMOIRS OF A RANGER

 

                                                                  Prepared By: Jinxy Sianga Luther T Jr.

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The area of Savuti has been changed dramatically on the past weeks. It hasn’t been raining that much here and the month of October kept its extreme heat tucked in until towards the end when it reached 45 degrees and 51 degrees but never stopped us from taking our guests out, we just had to find the right time to do so.

Predators have their own characters and some are crowned as kings and princesses of the mighty bushes of Africa. These past months (September and October) the tables seemed to have been turned against all odds of nature, and it was great to see.

Height of Bad Manners:

It was a nice cool morning and we all knew that there was a dead elephant at the Linyanti Vlei area which is located north of camp and about 12 – 15minutes drive and I wanted to be there very early with hope to pick up something on the carcass.

When I was approaching the area, I could see there was a bit of action going on but this was far from the dead giant so I hurried to the spot. As they say “first bird catches the fattest worm”, this time it was a good big juicy caterpillar.

 

As I was getting closer I learnt that it was a pack of eighteen wild dogs with about six pups and they were killing a Steenbok, which they left for the pups to finish up the job as a way of training them. The pups seemed confused before they engaged into the ordeal.

Little did we know including the dogs, that there was a leopard nearby and surely the leopard was ready for what the dogs didn’t expect?

Before I could get a question from my guests, the leopard bolted from behind the bush and snatched the kill and hauled it up a tree leaving the pups bewildered and the adult dogs giving the best to try and scare the thief by barking and jumping up and down at the bottom of a tree but it was too late. They finally gave up and walked away.

Later many other vehicles from the lodges arrived and we decided to go and look for more, the journey was headed for the famous Savuti marsh. As we were getting closer to the marsh, I saw a red-billed francolin which looked like it was gunned out of the bushes. I stopped and switched off my engine. A few seconds later, another leopard showed up and started walking towards us.

For sure this leopard knew what it was doing and it really made me wonder what it was up to. When all the cameras we hooked on it, it stopped and sat down as if to ask us if we were looking for her.

 

 

When the cameras were going quite and people asking questions, it continued its journey and this time coming really close and personal while all the cameras were simultaneously engaged to work by my valuable guest. She walked right close to rocksan (my beloved game-viewer land cruise)

 

 

 

 

She headed off and into the grasses. I knew she was on a mission so I followed her. After driving around a small bend we found her on an elephant carcass, it was a juvenile one and I wasn’t sure what had killed it and the leopard seemed skeptical about the surrounding before she started on with the business.

 

We watched her eat and eat. It was beautiful and I believed that I was a bit closer to her on that road and I backed up rocksan and parked a reasonable distance away from her next to a termite mound so that she could engage into her eating safari at ease. It was indeed a leopard morning.

There were a lot of bird alarms around the area.

When she was done I thought she was going to disappear into the thickets which were not too far from where she was but rather she found it better to come closer to us.

 

 

 And of course we were the friends she had at that time so she really needed company. She walked to us and got up on to the termite mound which was not far from the vehicle and admired our kind of safari.

 

 

We could count the spots. She was very calm and all my guests started feeling that they were part of nature, a part of the leopard and its life, a true friend who didn’t want to go without saying good bye.

When the second vehicle arrived she got down from the termite mound and started walking away. In a few seconds she flew to the ground and started rolling. She was a happy leopard.

 

 

She got up and disappeared into the bushed down the Savuti channel. It was a thrilling hour and half. We decided to get to the marsh for a more spectacular view of the flood plain. My target was to see the huge paddling pelicans which congregate on the eastern side of marsh. When we were about sixty to seventy meters away from where we saw leopard. There was another predator; this time it was the king. He was resting under a nice cool shade of a very small apple leaf tree bush. There was a big problem; the king was on the road.

 

 

We had no way to pass but we decided to do the right thing, we switched off the engine and admired his highness. His stomach was full and panting for breath. I recognized him. He was the leader of the “Sandridge Boys,” a coalition of five males, brothers who live together as owners of the Savuti area. I started wondering where the rest of the boys were. As I looked to the side of the road, one was approaching, it was the youngest. He came and sat next to the elder. His stomach was also heavy. Later common signs started showing up.

 

 

Here I learnt that the leopard knew that the lions were around since he might have picked up their scent at the elephant carcass. The question was whether the boys are the ones who killed the elephant. It was hard to tell but the boys surely have killed uncountable elephants around the area, especially juvenile elephants and this left me with the conclusion that they were responsible.

After a good while we moved for the marsh and I was darting my eyes all over the place looking for last three members of the royalty. I knew though, that lion social life is more complex than most of predators which live in groups. Each member is able and allowed to go out of the pride or coalition to attend to their personal business and come back to the family whenever they are done. In some areas it’s been discovered that it can take months before an individual comes back.

In the case of the Sandridge boys, this long period wasn’t necessary as they needed to stay close because they keep on having challenges from two big males from the southern side of the park, the longest they normally stay away from each other is either a week or two so I was still convinced that the other three were somewhere not far. It was beginning to heat up and the Pelicans were still a priority. We drove on slowly and looking. There they were scramble to a shade of small mopane trees.

 

 

The number was complete and it was so exciting to see all the boys were still together on the land of birth and still protecting it. They were so relaxed and feeling so lazy because of the weight of their stomachs.

When we got to the marsh we were greeted by a sight of dead pelicans and my guests were not feeling comfortable because they thought we were in a bird flu red zone area until I told them that they were killed by a leopard but they were not convinced until I showed one that was up on a tree.

 

 

 

 This was the art of another leopard we have named Big-boy. He is a very adventurous one. I told my guests a story when Big-boy hides under Rocksan as he was stalking on guinea fowls.

Live pelicans were much better after watching this scene for about a couple of minutes.

One of my guests spotted the jackals as we heading towards where we could see the Pelicans. It was an adult and it’s young, possibly deciding whether to go for the dead elephant killed by the Sandridge boys ten minutes away or not. They were calm.

As we were approaching the area, we ran into a surprise, there was Big-boy, resting calmly and looking innocent as if he was not responsible for the lives of the dead Pelicans we just saw twenty minutes ago. This time he was right on the opposite side of the unknowing mass number of Pelicans and other aquatic birds of different kinds.

 

I have nick-named him the clean one not because of what he does for a living but rather for the look of his everlasting coat. He is one of my favorite and my guests loved him too. The feeling was like it was the first leopard that morning. It was new again and this time, a big male.

Just under a few minutes later he proved my story right. He stood up and slowly walked towards where the Pelicans were. He stopped and was just looking at the birds; possibly was deciding what to do but that was enough for the guests to understand and realize that he was the individual who kills these birds in the marsh area.

 

We waited for such action but couldn’t see one, the birds had out smarted him this time around and he walked away but he kept looking back even when he was in a distance.When we got to where the Rangers have named the Pelican pool, we saw a leopard tortoise, it was another special moment. This animal belongs to the small five of Africa.

As usual, it was a beautiful sight indeed. The birds we in large numbers, a true sign that there was life in the Savuti Marsh for them. Successful breeding grounds, and plenty of food for them and their young.

One of the heavy giants were in the vicinity, enjoying the goodies that Mother Nature provides. It was great to see a buffalo walking through water up close.

 

 

 

 

We had to go back to camp and the sun was getting more and more unfriendly. I decided that I was going to take the eastern road and that’s where Big-boy was headed. We drove slowly. We were all happy and feeling the heart beat of African under the huge tyres of Rocksan. It was a great safari morning by far. As we got off the marsh area and driving along the road leading to the side of the channel, we saw Big-boy on a mission, this time a real hunt was on. It was him against a herd of the not-easy-to-catch, the impala, and Africa’s most successful antelope by far. As we got just a bit closer I realized that it was not Big-boy. It was a different leopard and he was up to his name, I could see a lot of experience but I was more worried at this point that the guests were possibly running out of battery powers at such a top exciting scenario. He moved in, slowly, stopped, moved in again but the birds around were not really making a lot of noise for him but he was great at his game.

He finally sat down and thought of the way to go about it and finally made a decision to stay on the road and in front of us, we were glad to see this.

 

After a few minutes on the road the art of stalking was on. There was silence; all the birds were quite except for the cameras behind me.

 

He disappeared into the bushes. I knew the hunt was still and I continued slowly along the road and found him minutes later well positioned and very close to the impalas. He was indeed experienced and had the right set of skill at his paw tips.

First the impalas were not aware of the leopard that was lying right in front of them. They all walked by until the last two.

The male impala looked straight at the leopard but didn’t know what it was. I was sure about this because there is no way that an impala would see a leopard that close and doesn’t take flight. The male impala did a mistake of looking at the rest of the herd and the leopard shot out from its position for its prey and within seconds we heard a distress call in the bush and it went quite as the leopard clamped its wind pipe for absolute suffocation.

Minutes later we drove around and and we couldnt find him. After almost twenty minutes of searching we found him at the forked junction opposite The Rock Paintings Hill, he was already up a tree and eating like the tree was going to fall and give advantage to other predators which never contributed to the kill.

 

It was a successful hunt, and seeing it from the beginning was a mind blowing scene and by far memorable. It was time to hit the road for camp for a nice delicious brunch. Upon arriving in camp, one guest was checking in.

 

 

We ate and went for a rest waiting for the afternoon drive that was yet to begin later that day and honestly I gave myself a pat on the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BIG PRIDE A VERY NICE BIG MEAL



I heared about the pride from a Wildlife officer and I wondered which one it was. The following day some of my guides drove in the direction and never found anything. The next day finally paid off,  Josiah came across the pride on an elephant carcas, he wasnt sure whether they killed it themselves but certainly not because they wouldnt attempt to go for such a big animal,anyway they are lions anything is possible. I drove there myself and only to find them, and this was the next day. It was a big pride of four females, eight cubs and two very large males,surely brothers from the look of their social bond.

They had eaten and just resting with cubs playing around, enjoying their childhood games of throat catches, dives and growls.

The next day I went there again and I found a very big male and his cubs eating. It was magnificient indeed. There were lots of other people there. While I was watching the pride I realized that the two males which were with the females and cubs belong to the coalition of the Savute boys , the super five. It was a fantastic sighting. The previous year, the larger male was mating with the females and now they were with the cubs. The pride is expanding, more successful hunts and a great change in the predatory patterns in the area. Hyenas will have to be careful because they won’t be having more of the lion’s share as usual because the mothers will always fully protect their kill for the young cubs to be well fed. If necessary, they will kill many persistent hyenas just to reduce competition because they eat wont them.

The females suddenly got bored and walked off with the young ones and the one male remained enjoying the tasty juicy elephant meal.

Not too far from on the Western side of Linyanti Vlei, I drove past a dead baby elephant, not an interesting sighting for me since baby elephants are one of my favorite five animals. After leaving the pride on my way to camp I found that there was already another Savuti predator taking care of the little sweet elephant. I still didn’t last long there, just took one shot and drove on before I had a nervous breakdown.

My day was almost over until I decided to take a short drive towards Sable Hill. As I was driving I came across huge barchelor herds of big elephants. As I hit around a small corner next to the beginning of the marsh, I saw one very unhappy looking-suprised kind of an elephant and its calf was feeling unsafe. As I got close I saw a spotted head sticking out from the small grasses, a leopard in a hole. Huh! at first I thought this fellow might have had an accident and only to learn that it was actually intentioanl. it was stalking the guinea fowls but the birds were getting away quickly. I felt very sorry for the ageing fellow.



FIGHTS IN THE BUSH

TERRITORIAL FIGHTS

In some of the Bovids its just a test of strength because power is shared



This is mostly common in animals like antelopes, and cats as well as even our domestic dogs, especially in Africa. Males clash defending their own territories or home ranges whilst other animals do so challenging those in which are already dominant in the territory. In Impalas to be specific, this normally happen during the mating season. Dominant males will lead and mate over thirty females and before and during this period they will be challenged by other males to take over the herd of females. Lives or horns cans be lost sometime but in may cases the challenger or the challenged will flee away for dear life.

THE HUNTER GETS HUNTED

Have you heard of the Hunter getting hunted and wondered if it can be possibly true. Probably the answer is yes, but if you close your eyes right now and imagine those predators of the African wild, you will surely find none that can be seriously hunted down by its prey and that is normal thought. Thoughts like the leopard ca never be hunted by its Impala prey or the Lion by what it eats. The picture above is totally true, the lion up on the small Sausage tree was not planted on there by the use of modern computer technology but rather something that actually happened.

Its a situation whereby a lion spots one Buffalo grazing and thinks that it will be a very easy to kill because its a one on one battle. Then a few minutes later only to find itself surrounded by lion hating horns and the hunter resorts to becoming a temporary climber for a very good reason. This lion stayed here for up to forty five minutes, nearly an hour even when the last Buffalo was gone, just t make sure that he was not going to land for a big surprise.  l

THE ADVANTAGES OF COOPERATIVE HUNTING



In most cases cooperative hunting has more advantages and less disadvantages. The only bad thing about is when we watch the victim being eaten alive, seeing them die because of excess loss of blood and extreme shock as they see they bodies being torn apart by the ferocious predator.

The African Wild dogs for example are successful hunters based on their number and strategies they use to bring down their prey. They have the ability to rundown their prey over long distances and sometimes they eat them alive.

In the scenarios I have seen, its seldom that they often loose they quarry due to its defence because of their number, and the way the case their prey.

My grandfather once told me that among every pack, there are breeders, which is the alpha male and female, the trackers and chasers(those who will always at the far front of all the pack when they are chasing). This is very all very true because i have seen it happen. I watched the same pack chasing many times and the same dogs will be in the front even when they are following fresh spoors/tracks of their prey.

My days are wrapped with a spectacular sunsets and of course, sometimes I am never alone.





A WELL SPOTTED CROCODILE

Normally when one says, "A WELL SPOTTED CROCODILE", people tend to think that its a name of the newly discoverly crocodile species. On the 27 March,I came across a young healthy crocodile basking into the sun on hppo grasses at the beginning of the Savute Marsh. I was shy but I managed to get this picture before before it dived into the channel deep end. For a long time we have wondering when the the crocodiles were going to arrive but now our curiosities are fullfilled beyond reasonable doubts. The other reasons why we were not be able to spot this fellow could be the fact that it could be the ony crocodile in the Savute Marsh. 

History on Croc Life and Water(Steve Irwin):

The group, which included the late Steve Irwin, better known as 'The Crocodile Hunter', spent a year studying 20 adult crocodiles in the Kennedy River in North Queensland, Australia. Implanted with acoustic devices that emit pulses through the water, the reptiles' movements were tracked by 20 receivers placed along a 63-kilometre stretch of the tidal river. The signals allowed the team to identify the crocodile, and determine its body temperature. The researchers compared their data with estimates of surface water currents from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's national science agency. They found that eight crocodiles undertook a total of 42 long-distance journeys of more than 10 kilometres per day. In 96% of these trips, the reptiles travelled with the current flow. In contrast, the crocodiles were equally likely to travel with and against the current flow when making short journeys.

When the tide was against the crocodiles' direction of travel, their recorded body temperatures rose to around 32 ºC, suggesting they were basking in the sun on the riverbank. When the tide turned in their favour, their body temperatures dropped to 25 ºC, indicating that they were back in the water.

Looking at the above scientific research result,they surely  know when the current is flowing in the direction they want to travel. It is like they are purposeful. They also seem to be making a decision prior to the journey that they will travel with the current.

In the okavango delta where I was born there are certain area which are reached by water during the Okavango's flooding season and sometimes those areas stay with water from two to three years, but when they recieve water on a good flood year, it would take only a few months not more seven months before the massive reptiles started showing up.