WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA PAMUSHANA, ZIMBABWE For the month of April, Two Thousand and Seventeen

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1 WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA PAMUSHANA, ZIMBABWE For the month of April, Two Thousand and Seventeen Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 24,1 C (75,3 F) For the month: 60.4 mm Sunrise: 06:12 Minimum recorded: 16,6 C (69,4 F) For the year to date: 595 mm Sunset: 17:29 Average maximum: 25,4 C (97,8 F) Maximum recorded: 34,9 C (109,0 F) We had a lovely visit this month from a relative of this little mopane squirrel, being the Easter Bush Bunny. She was secretive and savvy so we didn t get any photos, but she did leave the most delicious treats dotted about. Autumn is finally on its way after our long wet summer, and we ve had some misty mornings that make for

2 interesting and unusual wildlife photography. Here s our wildlife overview for April Lions A lovely surprise was seeing three new lion cubs which couldn t have been more than two months of age. The full-bellied, roaring, territorial males have been seen often, as have the different prides. It s great to find a complete pride we have one totalling ten lions (two adult males, four lionesses and four cubs). Leopards The trophy sighting of the month went to an adult female leopard stalking prey in the valley below the lodge. She caught a spurfowl right in front of our eyes and enjoyed her meal without giving thought to our vehicle. Then she turned her attention to a main course of impalas and gave chase to one, catching it just two metres away from the game viewer. As we tried to move away to give her space, nine hyenas exploded onto the scene and fought her for the kill. She left the impala to them and wisely left the scene for safety. In stark contrast was this male leopard who had indeed eaten a whole impala, as evidenced by its meagre remains and a tree nearby. He had then hauled his bulging spotted belly into a tree and found a hammock-like configuration to hang it in.

3 Elephants I m happy to report that as the vegetation thins out a little we are finding the breeding herds of elephants with their youngsters again. On the subject of breeding, the sighting of the month went to mating elephants. Head Guide, Brad Fouché, says it was the first time in his 25 years of guiding that he s witnessed this; We had some hair raising moments with competitive bulls chasing other bulls that would run blind towards us. We, at one stage, were surrounded by cows and had a huge musth bull approach. It was havoc but they left us alone! A big tuskless cow approached with a calf at foot and what could only be her older child. They came right up and investigated us for some time before moving on. It was epic! Guest Kira Hartmann took this incredible photo. Rhinos Rhino sightings here are always excellent. Some of the highlights were two black rhinos being chased off by a bigger bull. Then a brief encounter with a mother white rhino and very young calf. Buffalos All is good on the buffalo front, especially with the bachelor bulls who are making the most of the drying pans to wallow in the thick mud. Wild dogs We have seen the pack this month, but they are in the southern area close to our border with Gonarezhou, and this always makes us concerned that they ll cross out of our reserve. Hyenas All is good with the hyenas too, and they have some lovely young cubs that are very curious to meet us and our chewy-tyred vehicles. Cheetah Fortunately there were cheetah sightings again this month, this time of two males seen on our southern boundary. They were very relaxed and grooming themselves all the while with guests taking some amazing pictures. Plains game There always seems to be plains game aplenty, thanks to the good and well-managed grazing on the reserve. Here s a medley of a zebra mare with her successive foals, a nyala bull with his mouth full, some giraffe just hanging around in the road, and a long-lashed wildebeest calf posing for the camera.

4 Rare sightings What will probably end up being the sighting of the year was, on the 20 th of April, a juvenile pangolin. All guides and guests rushed to the scene of this once-in-a-lifetime sighting. The scaled little creature walked around a grassy area, found a log that was covered by termites, cracked it open and started feeding. Not bothered by the onlookers it continued about its business and slowly disappeared in the thick grass. Other unusual moments were of a large crocodile trying to catch a mouthful of queleas from a swooping flock, while a pair of hippos mated nearby! Birds Many of the migrants have left already for their quest of an endless summer and insects. We had extra special sightings of a little pearl-spotted owlet, and of a malachite kingfisher catching a frog. Fishing One group of keen fishing guests were lucky enough to catch many and brought them back for dinner. This included a filleting lessons with the chefs and how best to prepare their catch of the day. Boat cruises As you ll see from the first two stories the sundowner cruises have been absolutely awesome. They really are the best safari experience and a unique feature of Singita Pamushana.

5 Aqua elephants We watched the most enjoyable scene of two fun-loving elephants play in the shallows of Malilangwe Lake. We were on the sundowner cruising boat, so had a unique perspective from the water. It seems as though the games began with a mutual salute before the splashing, squirting and dunking began.

6 Then when the second elephant showed signs of bowing out gracefully, we were included in the game. This bull elephant repeatedly slapped his trunk across the top of the water, causing wonderful waves and spray. It was so clear he was having a great time, and we laughed in delight at his infectious joy.

7 Then when his friend left the water he really stepped up the show for us. He demonstrated the funniest back leg kicks while simultaneously swatting the water with his trunk. Come to think of it, it could have been a new Aqua Pilates move. The stage was his and he was showing off in spectacular fashion with melodramatic bluster!

8 Zooming in with my largest lens the expressions on his face were clear. He was loving every moment of his game, the cooling water, soft mud underfoot and the attention of a very appreciative audience.

9 Backlighting After watching the bull elephant leave the water as the sun began to set, we slowly cruised upstream and found a large pod of hippos snorting with laughter. The sun was setting behind them, their whiskers shone gold, their ears turned rose and we were provided with some incredible backlit opportunities. For a successful backlit photograph, you need to pay particular attention to your exposure. You may want the animal to be well lit, in which case its outline may be blown out a little. Or you may want to expose specifically for the rim-lit areas creating a semi silhouetted effect. Or you may choose to expose somewhere between these two options. A tip is to bracket your exposures (it s easy on all camera s so check your manual to do so), then review them quickly and choose the look you like. Then set your camera to the exposure compensation of your choice (again, it s easy, just check the manual or Google it). So, you may have bracketed it at -1, 0 and +1 and chosen -1 as your best result, then you just flick your exposure compensation to -1. But remember to check your results often as the sun is setting (or rising) and the light is changing rapidly. Also, make sure you have the lens hood on to prevent unwanted flare.

10 I d consider this the most effective photo of the series, and these are the camera settings I used: Nikon D750 camera; 400 mm fixed lens with a 1.4 teleconverter; shutter speed 1/200 sec; f 7,1; manual mode; pattern metering.

11 Emotionally draining The photo file on my computer from this sighting is titled Emotionally Draining Wild Dogs. We d found them in the late afternoon, just as they were getting ready to hunt. The vegetation was tall and the dogs shotgunned off in all directions, to scare impalas into panic behaviour. With the antelope running blindly one could be singled out and chased to its death. We stayed on the track and for a while lost sight of all the pack members. Then every now and again we d see one leap through the long grass in the distance as we scanned the area with binoculars. All of a sudden a young impala lamb came sprinting and leaping through the long grass straight towards us. A dog was on its tail and just missed catching the impala mid-air in front of us. The only thing that could have slowed the dog for a fraction of a second was a fallen tree that the impala had jumped. As the impala landed the jump, it hit the track and fell, tumbling head-first over itself into a very tall clump of vegetation a few metres to our left. The dog landed its jump in the road and was faced with a wall of vegetation and nothing else. My guests and I held our breath. The baby impala held its nerve. The wild dog began trotting down the road looking for the missing impala whose hocks had been within snapping distance of its jaws a moment before. It decided the impala must have run down the road. Two more pack members closed in on the area, and now all three stood in the road looking puzzled.

12 Further sniffing and looking revealed nothing, so they trotted off out of sight. Our baby, that we had instantly developed protective feelings towards, unbuckled itself from where it lay in a tangled knot of long legs, jumped up, burrowed out of the vegetation, and ran off in the opposite direction from the painted wolves. We gasped for air and sighed in relief that it had missed death by a millimetre and survived to live another day. The pack did eat that afternoon, then milled about in this meadow of flowers, and a baobab, as a vulture found its roost for the eve.

13 Pecking order Usually vultures have to sit and wait for predators to finish feeding from a carcass before they get their chance. But on this occasion it seemed that the buffalo calf had not been killed by predators, and could have died from illness or some other natural cause. The only problem now was that the carcass hadn t been torn open by predators, and this left the birds with a great conundrum. The pecking order needed to kick in. The vultures with the hide-cutting beaks are the lappet-faced vultures, but they were nowhere to be seen! They are the rarest of the rare scavengers in this region, with white-backed and hooded vultures outnumbering them significantly. The whitebacked vultures beaks are good for tearing bits of flesh, and the hoodeds are good for stripping the smaller bits of meat and sinew from between the bones. So, while a dead buffalo with no predators seemed like a banquet waiting to happen, they had to hop around hoping for a lappet-faced vulture or a small predator like a jackal to open the carcass. Alas, neither appeared that afternoon (although the carcass was finished the next morning) and it led to a lot of squabbling and skirmishing. You can almost hear the bickering spat of these two:

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15 All a twitter This purple-crested turaco (Tauraco porphyreolophus) also practiced its Pilates routine with back leg extensions, just like the elephant in the water. The southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri) was singing the most beautiful booming wood-toned chorus. These calls can be heard at distances of up to 3 kilometres (1.86 mi) and are used to define territories, which must be as large as 100 square kilometres (40 sq mi) even in the best habitat.

16 In closing Isn t this the most beautiful arch of umbrella trees? Trying to outdo these two were two others that lured a pack of wild dogs under their arch with a pool of rainwater. Adding to the arms outstretched sculpture of this tree were a possessive pod of hippos. Written and photographed by Jenny Hishin, unless otherwise indicated Singita Pamushana Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve Zimbabwe Thirtieth of April 2017