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.