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.
