WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA PAMUSHANA, ZIMBABWE For the month of April, Two Thousand and Sixteen Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 18,9 C (72,6 F) For the month: 35 mm Sunrise: 06:13 Minimum recorded: 14,7 C (65,1 F) For the year to date: 383.5 mm Sunset: 17:27 Average maximum: 30,1 C (91,9 F) Maximum recorded: 36,6 C (103,4 F) The grass is shoulder height at the moment, thanks to the late March rains, and game viewing is at its most challenging. That said, there are still many spectacular sightings to see. This is one of the more unusual ones, taken directly from the sighting report log that morning, "The highlight of the morning was the 3.5 metre python, camouflaged in the grass just on the side of the road. As we tried to move the vehicle away to get a better view, the monster snake bolted and slithered under the vehicle, nesting itself on top of the fuel tank! This sent everyone who was still on the vehicle flying out in a matter of seconds. Twenty minutes later, we
managed to get the python out from underneath the vehicle, and everyone had a good and much-relieved laugh." Here are some of the 'tamer' highlights of April: Lions Very good lion sightings - thanks to our dedicated lion tracking team. The highlight was a pride on a giraffe kill - the full story follows. Cheetahs Excellent sightings of a coalition of two males. Cheetahs prefer areas of open space and short grass, and these areas are few and far between right now, so it narrows the playing field of where to look for them. The month's highlight was when guests watched two cheetahs chase and narrowly miss a wildebeest calf. Leopards Again, the tall grass has its advantages - leopards prefer to move about on the roads at dusk and dawn, to avoid the unforeseen dangers of tall grass, the noise it makes and the parasites it holds. It's been one of our best months for viewing leopards because of this. Here's another extract from our sighting report log where a hyena and the open area around a pan provided an unforgettable experience, "Had a short game drive to Nyari Pan for a sundowner. Enjoyed sharing the view with a hyena coming close to the vehicle, although its jumpy behaviour raised some suspicion. We traced the bush with the spotlight to see what was upsetting it and found a healthy-sized leopard hiding in the thick grass. He walked gracefully to come and drink at the pan, right in front of the vehicle." Wild dogs We don't want to count our chickens before they hatch, but we've been catching glimpses of a pack of wild dogs and it looks like the alpha female is scouting about for a den-site! Hyenas Hyenas have been seen here and there at dawn and dusk - but the highlight was to see seven of them hassling a pack of wild dogs on the open area of our airstrip. Rhinos The black and white rhino population is well concealed in the long grass and thick bush. The best way to see them now is to do an approach on foot. This is recommended for viewing white rhinos, but black rhinos are a different matter - for that your tree climbing skills and nerve of steel need to be honed. Elephants and buffalo There are vast herds of both species to be seen at the moment as all the related family units join up to feed on the abundance of grass. Fishing and boat cruises The ratchets have been zinging in this perfect fishing weather, and many tigers, bream and barbel have been landed. For a more relaxing experience on the water there is nothing in this world that can beat a sundowner safari cruise! Plains game There are wonderful sightings to be had every day of zebra, wildebeest and giraffe, but the shyer plains game like sable and hartebeest are well concealed in their preferred habitat:
Sea of grass April safaris took place in a sea of grass that engulfed the wildlife, washed over the plains and rolled in waves with the wind. It's so late in the season and is thanks to the soaking March rains we'd expected in November. This green lifecraft should hopefully take us to safety over the long dry winter that's on the horizon. The grasses lent a wispy frame to many of the mega fauna species:
This female nyala's coat stands out against the gravel road, but to a predator it mimics the shafts of light between blades of grass. Remember, nocturnal predators like leopards and lions see well in low light but don't see the range of colours we do. They see more in shades of grey, and the stripes and dots of this coat pattern disrupt the 3D form and look like an area of dappled light. It's heart-warming to see a long-legged young animal frolicking about - especially in long grass when they have to leap over the ticklish fronds. This wildebeest was frisking about, doing just that. However, you really cannot take any chances at this time of year. Have a look at the photo on the following page, and see if you can spot one of the two predators that were lying in wait...
A feast fit for kings It's hard work for lions to hunt at this time. The plains game are at their fittest and there's surface water all over which means they can drink whenever and wherever they are - they are not forced to the permanent water sources where lions can lie in wait for their 'meals' to come to them. Before this kill the Hippo pride were looking terrible - very thin, angular and hungry. The heavy wake of vultures weighing down the surrounding tree branches led me to this scene. There we found the Hippo pride feeding on a giraffe carcass. A giraffe is an enormous kill to make and a rare prey species, but with the long grass about it makes perfect sense to hunt them. Firstly, they can't conceal themselves, and secondly they can't have sure footing when they are being chased due to the groundcover. Lions can't take giraffes by surprise either - they need to chase them, tire them and ideally get them to trip in a donga or over fallen branches and tree stumps. Exactly how the Hippo pride caught this giraffe will remain a mystery, but they were
making no bones about feasting on it! It looked like they couldn't take another bite, and yet they kept at it, resting between feeding bouts and chasing off the presumptuous vultures.
What elephants eat Imagine having to eat 150 kg of grass a day. And then producing about 100 kg of dung! Elephants eat any plant material: grass, forbs, leaves, branches, bark, roots, fruit, seeds, pods, wood, reeds, sedges - you name it, they eat it - especially commercial crops! There are many 'acacias' trees here and when browsing these they swallow more wood than leaves. At the moment their diet is about 98% grass and they are reaping huge trunkfulls of it while chewing the previous mouthful. In winter they'll have to live off the woody plants.
Elephants also eat soil, salt encrustations and rocks to obtain sodium and essential trace elements. Elephants are largely responsible for cycling nutrients from plants to detritus. In many ways they are 'ecological engineers' because they create and maintain ecosystems by physically changing a habitat. Their activities modify a habitat in a way that affects other species. By pulling up grass and knocking down trees they change the shape of the landscape. That 100 kgs of daily dung also contains many seeds already embedded in great fertiliser, so their dung gives rise to new plants that rejuvenate a landscape.
Brothers in arms I was driving along the one public road that connects our reserve to the Gonarezhou National Park, musing to myself that apart from a massive herd of about 600 buffalo it had been a relatively quiet morning. Then I slowed down for a cheetah. I snapped back into the moment thinking that cannot possibly be true - a cheetah, Africa's most endangered cat, just lying in the dappled shade on the side of the one public road. Making a slow and cautious approach in the gameviewer I saw it was a male, and was sure there would be another around - and there was, he was just in the grass fringe. I sat with them both for some time, and the one got up from the fringe, strolled over to where I was parked near his brother, flopped down and initiated a mutual grooming session. They were so content, but this ended all to soon when a public vehicle came past. They immediately got up, crossed the road and disappeared into the bush - an all too clear reminder of how slowly and cautiously we all need to drive when in a wildlife reserve. There is a Cheetah Conservation Project for Zimbabwe that aims to conserve cheetahs through applied research, education, collaboration and capacity building. When they started their project it quickly became apparent that there was little reliable information available on cheetah distribution in Zimbabwe, which is why they are currently carrying out a countrywide cheetah population survey. By sending them ID photos (side-on view of their bodies for the spot pattern) they were able to tell me that these two males are about 7 years old, and are related to a female cheetah with a short tail that we see on occasion. If you'd like to find out more about this conservation initiative visit http://www.cheetahzimbabwe.org.
The autumn colours have crept into the canopy, and the last of the late summer flowers are being pollinated. Written and photographed by Jenny Hishin Singita Pamushana Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve Zimbabwe Thirtieth of April 2016