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

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1 WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA PAMUSHANA, ZIMBABWE For the month of September, Two Thousand and Seventeen Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 15,5 C (59,9 F) For the month: 3,2 mm Sunrise: 05:31 Minimum recorded: 11,4 C (52,2 F) For the year to date: 635,7 mm Sunset: 17:53 Average maximum: 30,6 C (87,0 F) Maximum recorded: 36,3 C (97,3 F) We often have guests visit us repeatedly, and it was an honour this month to welcome one of our guests back after she d last visited 18 years ago! It s really been a fantastic month of sightings, and intense multiple sightings have been had at our underground photographic hide, at the edge of a waterhole. One of these was when a guide and his guests spent most of an evening there during the full moon. They saw more than 27 white rhinos, ten elephant bulls and six buffalos. Dinner was delivered to the hide and as the guests dined they listened to all the animal sounds of the night.

2 Another group of guests had a similar experience later in the month, but on that occasion they were also joined by five lions lapping the cool water! Here s our wildlife overview for September: Lions We ve had sightings of lions every day this month. Apart from their usual sleeping activity our guests have witnessed prides on a buffalo kill and a zebra kill. Two mating pairs have also been active so 110 days from now some new cubs could be making their debut into the world. Leopards There have been several leopard sightings some quick glimpses of skittish individuals and some of more relaxed cats. However, it has been the month for multiple sightings. First there were the two leopards on an impala kill south of one of our scout camps; then two leopard cubs were seen feeding on an impala kill at a spring, and winning the bragging rights for the guide and his guests was when they found a male leopard at a pan he tried to hunt impala but failed, then he began calling and a female leopard arrived on the scene. Everyone watched as the two leopards interacted with each other in a very tense manner, but then the male called again and again and all of a sudden another female leopard arrived! Everyone sat in quiet disbelief as the solitary cats socialised. Rhinos Finding white rhinos can be done on any day here, so the challenge is to search out the far more volatile and elusive black rhinos. A bonus is when you see a couple together, such as the bull and cow pair that both had extremely impressive horns, that posed a little while before running off. An interesting sighting of a white rhino was the bull that was seen drinking and then mud wallowing. He had wounds on his face and neck that were consistent with a fight he may have had with another rhino, which resulted in some horn puncture marks to the neck area, the loss of his second horn and a partial snapping of his front horn. The bull was in good spirits and should heal well.

3 Elephants Bull elephants have been seen drinking and mud-bathing with delight. Guests in the underground photographic hide had to close the windows at one point as a bull elephant was getting so carried away with his bath that everyone was getting splattered with mud! We have some big tuskers on the reserve, some of which are known to us. Our head guide was viewing three elephant bulls and realised one of them was Mapunzawaya, one of our named big tuskers. The youngest of the three bulls was rather intrigued with the vehicle and approached with an inquisitive mind. He seemed to think it was rather funny to start throwing sand and stones at the game viewer! Luckily no one was adversely affected. He moved off shortly after giving the guests a sand bath, which then gave them a great photographic opportunity with Mapunzawaya. Buffalo Herds numbering up to 600 are still being seen converging on the permanent water sources. Cheetahs We ve seen a female and a coalition of two males this month. One group of guests were enjoying morning coffee when they spotted vultures descending in the distant trees. Their guide took them on a walk into the area and they located a freshly finished impala kill. The tracks surrounding the scene were of cheetahs so they followed them on foot and eventually located two adult male cheetahs, with full bellies. So as not to disturb the cats they returned to the vehicle and then drove closer to the scene where they enjoyed some real quality time with the relaxed predators. Wild dogs There have been sporadic sightings of a splintered pack throughout the month. Hyenas One of the highlights was when five hyenas were seen running on the road. By following them they led the safari to some wild dogs, which was a real bonus. One dead hyena was found, and a closer inspection revealed that she was killed by other hyenas. Hyenas live in a strictly matriarchal society so the fight would have been to do with clan dominance. Plains game Highlights are seeing sights like a herd of 16 sable antelope. We saw a young zebra that had had a close shave he was bleeding heavily on the sides of his rump from lots of deep claw scratches.

4 Unusual sightings We ve seen a chameleon, porcupine, genet, leopard tortoise and slender mongoose, but the prize goes to the sighting of a caracal that didn t wait around to pose for a photo. Another interesting sight was that of this beehive that was revealed after an elephant knocked the tree over and split the trunk.

5 Birds The warmer weather welcomes many of our summer visitors and we ve had excellent birding, but not to be overlooked is the iridescent beauty of a rather common greater blue-eared starling. Fishing and boat cruises The warmer water has also resulted in better tiger fishing with a couple in excess of two kilograms being landed. The boat outings have been splendid and bonuses are when they include big ticket animals like the sunset cruise that offered up about forty elephants, three black rhinos and two buffalo bulls drinking. Walking on the wild side We just love taking bush walks on this reserve, and there is no better time than now for walking. Guests were blown away when their two-and-a-half hour walk ended with a surprise breakfast at Chikwete Cliffs, overlooking the Chiredzi River. An epic all day walk, especially requested by guests, had them out in the field for seven hours! Guests were with their guide, Mark Friend, when they heard a hyena calling in the distance, so they went off to try and find it. Mark takes up the story, While sitting listen for it, I heard a hyena call towards Sosigi Dam. Judging by the call I suspected there was something happening at the dam area, so we headed off there. Upon arrival everything seemed in order and quiet, but sitting listening carefully I could hear guineafowl sounding irritated on the north bank. We continued to investigate and saw a hyena track that indicated the hyena was running in a northerly direction. We continued to follow this and saw the guineafowl perched in a tree. As there were no roads there, we got out and walked through the brush to investigate and found an adult male lion and lioness resting up. The cats moved position after a bit and we followed. We saw them a few more times and then another sub-adult lion came into view and sat watching us for a while before moving off calmly. I could see he was fat and had blood on his fur. We followed and were led to a fresh buffalo kill where other lions were. As the bush was very dense, we stayed well back and made a plan to come back in the afternoon.

6 It s a dog s life

7 A splintered pack of wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) spent their afternoon resting on the sandy riverbed after a morning hunting. I say splintered because this pack numbered in the high twenties, but we are now seeing about a dozen together as the others have gone off to join new packs or establish their own. In this way they prevent in-breeding within their natal packs. A few vultures were hanging around waiting for a most unsavoury business The dogs eat only meat, and as a result their faeces are rich in partly digested meat and protein. The vultures eat the dogs faeces to supplement their carrion diet. The act of eating faeces is called coprophagia and is not uncommon in wild animals and insects, even domestic dogs, and is done to possibly rebalance their microbiome or to ingest missing nutrients. This wild dog had had enough of the annoying vultures and set about chasing them off. To err is human, to moo bovine That s one of my favourite observations and doesn t have much to do with this story, other than the two buffalo bulls on the next page were sparring while the rest of the herd was standing around, mooing and chewing the cud. Adult bulls spar in play, dominance interactions, or actual fights. A bull approaches another, with his horns down, and waits for the other bull to do the same thing. When sparring, the bulls twist their horns from side to side. If the sparring is for play, the bull may rub his opponent's face and body during the sparring session. Actual fights are violent but rare and brief. Calves may also spar in play, but adult females rarely spar at all. The horns of bulls are fused at their bases, forming a continuous bone shield referred to as a "boss". This leads me to another of my favourite observations which is that females don t have bosses.

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9 A quiet drink at the bar This lone bull elephant was in a cranky mood when it arrived at a waterhole, and insisted on chasing all the doves away by shaking his ears and swishing his trunk at them. He soon settled down to a long drink and then didn t seem to mind the three buffalo bulls that made their way to the water.

10 Long in the tooth We estimate this female cheetah with the short tail to be about 13 years old, which is a fantastic age for a wild cheetah. She had some wounds on her right shoulder which she cleaned thoroughly by licking. Even her nasal passages got a good cleaning as you can see in this photo below.

11 Above, below and on the water When you come and visit us at Singita Pamushana, make sure you book enough time so that you can enjoy the water safaris as well as those on land. It is just so beautiful and tranquil to be out on water, and putter along taking in the sights and sounds. Binos in one hand, a sundowner in the other and a visual feast for the eyes and ears as hippos honk, fish eagles cry, terrapins plop and kingfishers call. This large crocodile was sunning itself on the banks, and then hoisted itself off the mud and slithered into its inky realm. On average, adult male Nile crocodiles are between 3.5 and 5 m (11 ft 6 in and 16 ft 5 in) in length and weigh 225 to 750 kg (500 to lb). Females are usually about 30% smaller than males. I find it fascinating that they have a potential average lifespan of 70 to 100 years, and that they ve been on our planet since the dinosaurs roamed 240 million years ago!

12 These waterbuck were feeding near the water s edge, as they like to do, and as the sun set the rim light accentuated the shaggy coat on their necks. Their coats become darker with age. Waterbuck secrete a greasy substance with the odour of musk, and it assists in water-proofing the body when the animal wades into water. All is revealed The sunrise shone its light on this mother and calf white rhino that were feeding on the open central grasslands. But as their dark disguise dissolved they headed into the concealing and protective thickets.

13 The red-headed weaver For ages I ve been trying to get a photo of red-headed weavers (Anaplectes melanotis), so I was delighted when I found a small colony with their nests in a young baobab tree. As you can see the male has the most striking orange-red head. He was slaving away building a nest to impress, but as you can see from the female s expression on the right, she found his workmanship wanting. They are monogamous but sometimes polygynous, as one male may mate with multiple females within a colony. The nest is built solely by the male, and is this rough oval with a vertical entrance hole at the base, made of leaf midribs, twigs, grass stems, broad leaves and tendrils. Once it is approved by the female she lines the interior with bark fibres, feathers, dry grass or leaves. It is typically strung from a few twigs beneath the canopy of a tree and, while they show a preference for baobabs, will also use man-made objects such as windmill vanes, telephone wires and the edge of thatched roofs. Egg-laying season is from July-February, peaking from September-November. The female lays 1-4 eggs, usually 2-3 eggs, which are incubated mainly by the her for about days. The chicks are fed by both sexes but mostly the female, and leave the nest after roughly 17 days. It is a host of the Diderick cuckoo, meaning that the cuckoo will lay its egg in the weaver s nest and leave the raising of the cuckoo chick to the weavers.

14 Quintessential Africa

15 Did you notice this young male lion on the rock? It was such a beautiful setting a pack of wild dogs had spent the afternoon resting on the sandy riverbed north of this lion, two bull elephants had wandered through eating the phragmities reeds to the south, massive flocks of quelea ribboned through the sky all while this lion and the baobab s vultures surveyed the scene. Written and photographed by Jenny Hishin, unless otherwise indicated Singita Pamushana Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve Zimbabwe Thirtieth of September 2017