The month has seen some fabulous sightings and although the weather at times, did put a dampener on things, the wildlife and scenery that has been on show has more than made up for the odd wet game drive!!
The rainfall for the month has been approximately 180mm and this has led to the Manyeleti River, flowing twice. Day time temperatures have been good with some very hot days being experienced; the highest temperature this month pushed the mercury to 44 degrees, although the average minimum of 21 degrees Celsius and a maximum average of 34 degrees Celsius have made it comfortable.
We have had 2 new guides join the Simbambili guiding team; we welcome Matt Porter and Alistair Leurner.
Leopard
The spotted cats have provided some fantastic sightings this month with all of our guests leaving with having seen at least one leopard. The more memorable of these sightings was the sighting of three leopards in a single sighting, Mafufunyane, Tyson and Safari seemed to be caught in a love triangle. Safari, was in estrus and had attracted the attention of the two dominant males. They appeared to have had a scuffle and moved off in opposite directions.
Two pairs of mating leopards have also been seen and it was once again Mafufunyane and Safari, who was the first to be seen mating and this was followed late in the month by Tyson and Nyeleti being observed mating. Hopefully these two mating sessions will produce two new litters of cubs from both leopardesses!?
Lion
The Mapogo Males have visited us on regular occasions this month and we think that this is due to the fact that the southern part of their territory is inaccessible due to the large amount of water that is present in the Sand River. They were seen early on in the month on a wildebeest and zebra kill.
The Robson's Pride, have been seen on three occasions this month and were seen killing a juvenile wildebeest on a morning game drive. There are 6 cubs in the pride 4 of them are male and the remaining 2 are female.
Elephant, Buffalo and Rhino
The big grey been having been an ever present theme on the majority of the game drives with large breeding herds of elephants moving through the concession daily. Buffalo have been seen almost daily at the pan in front of camp, wallowing away the midday hours.
A large breeding herd of buffalo moved into the concession and are still present. The herd numbers in excess of 250 animals. Rhinoceros have also been seen regularly and crashes of 5 animals are not uncommon.
The general game is also a great attraction with large herds of zebra, giraffe, impala and wildebeest being seen regularly. The impala rams are also preparing for the yearly rut and all of the bachelor rams are looking in peak physical condition, this is thanks to the abundance of good graze and browse available.
There was great excitement on the 28th February when Matt and Doctor found a Pel's Fishing Owl. This large owl is a bird famed for its scarcity and has not to our knowledge been recorded in the northern Sabi Sands previously.
Regards
The Simbambili Guiding Team
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