What an amazing week to be in the bush. With the New Year came numerous rolling thunderstorms, bringing downpours of serious amounts of rain. The waterholes are at their capacity, roads have turned to rivers, and the bushveld is looking as lush as it ever has.
We have enjoyed some great sightings of the Ximungwe Duo as they have feasted on many a kill together. Three of the Ndhzenga Male Lions have returned and made a name for themselves as they were found with a single Ntsevu Lioness feeding on a large female giraffe carcass. We are unsure whether the four lions had killed the giraffe themselves or found it dead. It’s a feat that I am sure wouldn’t be too difficult for three large male lions and a female to pull off.
This morning we were lucky enough to find a large male cheetah in the southwestern grasslands, where we could spend some time admiring him. A few giraffes in gorgeous afternoon golden light find their way into the picks this week. Along with the Picadilly Female, an elephant, a handful of hyena cubs and some gorgeous birds.
Enjoy this Week in Pictures…
After having a brief tussle with his brother over one of the Nstevu Lionesses this Ndzhenga Male began a territorial patrol, roaring constantly.
As the sun broke through the clouds on the western horizon, the gentle golden light made for the perfect opportunity with this female giraffe. with the dramatic clouds in the background.
As the mother stood tall keeping an eye out for any danger this young giraffe was showing off its flexibility and scratching the outside of its front left leg with its mouth.
This Woodland Kingfisher sat still for just a moment before it went back to its courtship behaviour with its partner flying around the canopy above our heads.
Whilst demarcating her territory through scent marking on various bushes and stumps, the Piccadilly Female came across a scrub hare that was using a thicket for cover. She got as close as she could whilst barely making a sound, but unfortunately for her, Fork-tailed Drongos blew her cover by alarm calling at her which caused the scrub hare to dart off into the distance.
This female is most often encountered near the Sand River to the east of the Londolozi camps.
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MId scavenge on the water tops, another view of the Greater Painted Snipe.
One of the Ndzhenga Males rests in the shade of a guarri bush next to his brother in between periods of feeding on a giraffe carcass.
Marula trees are fruiting at the moment drawing in elephants who love to feed on the fallen fruit beneath the trees. Silhouetted against the dropping sun the grass around this elephant was beautifully illuminated.
The Nkoveni Female and her youngster watch on from a pushed over marula tree as the second cub was hurtling its way towards them. These open clearings serve for great leopard viewing.
A gorgeous female who is found to the east of camp. Easily recognised by her 2:2 spot pattern she is often to be found in Marula trees.
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In amidst the walk across the crest, one of Nkoveni’s Cubs had run ahead and climbed this marula tree only to shortly after, descend in order to interfere with its sibling and mother as they share a tender moment.
The Piccadilly Female snarls at a young hyena that was following her movements intently. Usually, both species will choose to avoid conflict as the risk of injury is high, which would render them vulnerable. With this being said leopards generally would prefer for hyenas to not be around them, especially when they are trying to hunt. In this scenario, the Piccadilly Female reminded the hyena of what she is capable of, should it get too close.
This morning we were lucky enough to spend some time with this large male cheetah. With the ground being fairly wet underfoot the black cotton soil was sticking between his toes and encompassing his feet making it unpleasant to walk. He eventually settled under a large knobthorn tree in the shade to rest.
A very rare and shy Greater Painted Snipe, ended up putting on a full display for us where against their normal behaviour this one spent a long time out in the open, feedingon many of the insects that the recent bout of rains had caused to emerge. This particular bird ran up and down the flooded road ahead of us for a while before pausing on the side of the road allowing for us to get unusually close.
With the Ximungwe Female making a number of successful kills in the last few days, it has provided some great viewing of her and her sub-adult male. Here he is seen feeding on an impala lamb in the branches of a large marula tree.
Having been viewed by vehicles from an early age, this leopard is supremely relaxed around Land Rovers.
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A stunning scenic shot of the Maxaben River flowing after a midday thunderstorm, this is the same afternoon that caused the Tugwaan River to flow so strongly that we were unable to cross it.
Surrounding a giraffe carcass were hundreds of vultures, all roosting in the limbs of many a dead knobthorn that had been drenched overnight with a storm. As the sun broke through the clouds, the vultures all simultaneously turned their backs to the sun and spread their wings to dry out.
Four hyena cubs rest at the entrance to the den while waiting for their mothers to return at the end of the day. All looking incredibly content with life.
Cheetah are magnificent animals and sadly we do not get to spend as much time with them, so when an opportunity presents itself the rangers all scramble to get there. Here a male props himself up on his forelimbs as he scans the surrounding areas for prey or danger.
Interrupting this elephant bull, who happened to be in musth, while he was enjoying a drink at a large waterhole. Musth is a state of elevated testosterone that males periodically enter in order to mate with females. One of the giveaway signs that bulls are in musth is the constant dribbling of urine from between their legs, which has a strong, distinctive odour. This state also drives them to walk vast distances in search of sexually receptive females, and for these two reasons, continuously having to hydrate is essential, which is exactly what we found this bull doing as we drove around the corner to a hidden waterhole.
With all this water around at the moment, we are noticing a further spread of amazing birds around Londolozi. This Malachite Kingfisher sits patiently for the best moment to dive down and attempt to catch one of the small fish that swim below.
Happy New Year to you all at Londolozi. Thank you guys for these amazing pictures! I don’t always comment, but I do enjoy looking at these beautiful animals that we are so Blessed to have on our Planet. Stay safe all. Cheers
Happy New Year to you too Wendy. Thank you so much. I hope 2022 is an amazing year for you and your loved ones.
Thank you Sean! Lovely twip………… 🙂
Those little hyenas….. really nice!
Thank you so much, Irene. The hyenas are really cute.
What gorgeous photos from you all, a wonderful TWIP to start 2022. What happened to the Piccadilly female’s cub? – I don’t remember seeing anything about it for a while. Nkoveni has done really well to raise her 2 cubs so far, they must be almost a year old now?
Thank you so much, Suzanne. As far as we are aware the cub is still doing well. It is at the age now where it is nearly independent, if not already independent from its mother. So they are moving around separately. Hopefully we will see her soon and can put a story out on her.
Hello Sean,
What a beautiful photo the female giraffe! Artistic!
Also the greater painted Snipe, beautiful photos!
The Marula tree and the elephant, what a light!
I also liked very much the Nkoveni female and her youngster.
Last but not least the four hyena cubs so sweet! Love them!
Thank you also for telling news about the Piccadilly 3:3 female.
Thank you for this TWIP.
Thank you so much, Ann.
Hi Sean. Is this the same male cheetah on the southern plains that was in residence in 2019? I saw him then and he provided some great photographs!
Hi Lisa, I think it might be the same cheetah, sadly we don’t have as good a record of the individual cheetahs as we do for the leopards. As well as I feel we probably see a few different individuals that we don’t realise at the time.
What lovely and stunning pictures from the tiny malachite kingfisher to the big elephant bull.
The lions are impressive males and the hyena cubs are really so cute, which cannot really be said of grown hyenas.
It is wonderful that the leopard females have been so successful in raising their cubs. I specially love the picture of the Nkoveni Female and one of her cubs on the dead tree. It shows so much love between the two.
Thank you so much, Christa. The female leopards have been doing very well and it is so m=nice that they have managed to raise a number of their cubs to an age where they are nearly safe from the threats of being killed by other males.
Hi Sean, such a diversity of pictures this first week in 2022. The leopards pics are always a winner for me. So lovely to see Cheetah, such graceful cats. That ele bull looked quite upset having his drink interrupted, wouldn’t like to get in a tussle with him. Hyena pups looked quite content. What beautiful colours the two Kingfishers display.
Thank you so much, Valmai. Leopards are such magnificent animals, so any photograph of them is stunning. A great photographic week I would say.
Photo team! Thanks for the update on the weather and some of the ways to can cause havoc! The images are stunning, especially the Piccadilly Female snarling! We enjoy seeing the cheetahs as they cross you paths. The bird shots were beautiful and seeing the Maxaben River flowing is a rare sight!
Thank you so much, Michael and Terri. It was a great week indeed. The bush is looking stunning at the moment as a result of all the rain.
So many good photos! The Greater Painted Snipe, the hyena cubs, and the magnificent cheetah with those deep amber eyes are favorites for me. 😁
Thank you so much, Marcia. Those are some good choices. I love the cheetah’s eyes too.
Such a wonderful collection of images this week Sean- impossible to choose a favorite! Saying that, the Nkoveni female and her cub posed on the fallen tree ranks at the top as does your cheetah. Beautiful little Painted Snipe as well. So many opportunities, so many choices, so much enjoyment. Thank you, Robbie and Pat for this week’s plethora of photos!
It is difficult to choose a favourite, but glad you love them all.
Excellent week in pictures! Looking forward to the virtual safari on Sunday!
Thank you so much, Darlene. We look forward to sharing the Virtual Safari with you tomorrow.
Wonderful pictures, thanks Sean. TWIP never disappoints.
Thank you so much, William. TWIP is always great to put together as it is a fantastic way to summarise the week.
Love this week’s array of images! The Greater Painted Snipe is amazing-looking and the male cheetah magnificent! The snarling Piccadilly female is a great capture. Thanks!
Thank you so much, Mary Beth. It was so exciting to see the Greater Painted Snipe, and then to have it hang around for so long was the icing on top.
Lovely photos. It’s been over a month since we got back from londolozi and we still can’t stop talking about it. It’s been only a month since we got back from londolozi and we’re already planning for our next trip. Such is the magic.
Thank you so much, Malavika. That is amazing news that you had such a great time here and we can’t wait to have you back with us.
Great selection of photos Londolozi team! Are the Ndzhenga Males associating with all of the older lionesses from the Ntsevu Pride or do some of the females still have cubs? Any sign of the daughters of the Birmingham Males beginning to come into estrus for the first time. Also which of the three clans seen on Londolozi do the hyena cubs belong to and is it a den previously utilized?
Thanks so much for your time and great photos again!
Thank you so much, Michael. As far as I am aware, the Ndzhenga Males have only been with two of the Ntsevu/Kambula Lionesses. Well, that is what we have seen on Londolozi. Then in chatting to the guys at MalaMala, there are apparently about four or five cubs still alive.
We haven’t seen any signs of the Ntsevu Sub-adult Females coming into oestrus just yet but I am sure it will happen in the next few months.
This particular den was one on Marthly, in the north.
The g
GReater Painted Snipe is a lovely surprise! Gorgeous male cheetah and lions and leopards. I love giraffe, it’s always uplifting to see them as well as elephants and other creatures. Happy New Year!
Loved the Cheetah shots – if I’m not mistaken they started appearing the same time as the Ostriches ?
I’m looking forward to the Serval and Caracal photos ????
Best wishes and thanks for these wonderful blogs
What a fabulous selection of photos to start the new year Sean especially the Cheetah, as that is a rare sighting indeed ❤️. Magnificent shot of the Piccadilly Female looking so threatening and all the beautiful bird shots to add colour to a super mix. Thanks to you all 🙏🏻
Thank you so much, Cally.
Such amazing images!
Gorgeous photo of the young hyenas.