It’s possible that fewer otters have been seen at Londolozi over the last 10 years than pangolins! And we hardly ever see pangolins…
So the recent sighting that one Londolozi ranger and two returning Londolozi rangers had was simply unbelievable.
Ranger Kevin Power takes us through what happened:
We almost didn’t go out on that particular morning as it was raining and pretty cold, but Andrea Campbell and Garrett Fitzpatrick – two former Londolozi Rangers – were visiting for the night so we decided to brave the weather. Deciding to head into the north of the reserve, we were coming down towards the causeway across the Sand River when we saw something small running towards. “Otter!”, was the simultaneous shout from all of us!
Together we had a collective 15 years at Londolozi, and this was the first Otter any of us had seen here. Needless to say, we were thrilled.
The otter looked like it wanted to go after some Egyptian Geese goslings that were bobbing in a large hippo pool with their parents, but the 20-plus hippos were quite a deterrent.
It disappeared into the reeds for a short while, and by the time it returned, all the Geese were up on the causeway.”
What happened next can be seen in the video below:
“The most incredible thing for us was the way in which one of the adult geese (it looked like the mother) was pretending to be injured to make the otter come after here, which bought time for the goslings to make an escape.
A couple of minutes was all it took for the goslings to hid themselves in the thick reeds, and by that time the otter had given up trying to catch the big geese.
It put on one more show for us by harassing a small crocodile halfway across the river before it disappeared donwnstream.After Andrea had spent many hours in the Sand River putting up camera traps to try and catch an otter during her time here (she never got a photo of one), she of all people deserved a sighting like this…”
Filmed by former Londolozi Ranger Garrett Fitzpatrick.
Amazing video! Great sighting Andrea. It is Londolozi magic.
What a great morning for the three rangers- I had no idea otters existed within Sabi Sand. We have some here in the Bay Area, but they can be quite elusive and very camera shy!!
What a brilliant video! I have HEARD of mother birds pretending to be injured to lead away a predator from the babies but have never actually SEEN it – until now! Thank you all SO MUCH for this….. Also a view of the Otter as well. Fantastic! Come on guys. Give us more videos like this. You can do it if you try! (Just teasing).
Wendy M
When the clip finished playing, I found myself on the edge of my seat! What an awesome sighting to have caught on video! That was no small otter, either – typical size for that region?
Hello!
What a sighting! Good film Garrett! Smart escape!
Fantastic sighting–never even heard a discussion about otters.
Andrea was my guide when I visited Londolozi for the first time in 2015. I remember she was sure there were otters around amd had a project trying to photograph them with a camera trap. How wonderful that she was there to be vindicated!
Fantastic video of an extraordinary event! What a large otter! I noted that the adult pair never split up while the babies found a safe zone. Thanks!
Fantastic video of the family protection unit at work – guess it’s what Mums and Dads do for babes! Thank you – much enjoyed. It was a scary looking Otter!
That is absolutely incredible!!!! Never seen footage of an otter actively hunting birds before!!!
How cool!
Amazing footage. Amazing parents! A shout out to Andrea Campbell – our guide from another Lodge. So please you made an otter sighting!
So amazing how beautifully they worked in tandom. hen the otter got to close to the one pretending to be hurt the other one dive bombing the otter in perfect synchrony. So impressive! Thank you 🙂