WILDLIFE JOURNAL SINGITA KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH ... · nearly 2 metres! All the bats in the region are nocturnal as this eliminates most competition for food (most birds are

Photo taken by Margaux le Roux

WILDLIFE JOURNAL

SINGITA KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH AFRICA For the month of August, Two Thousand and Nineteen

Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 15.17˚(60.26˚F) For the month: 0 mm Sunrise: 06.31 Minimum recorded: 11˚C (51.58˚F) For the year to date: 250 mm Sunset: 17.28 Average maximum: 31˚C (87.85˚F) Maximum recorded: 38˚C (100.4˚F)

The promise of summer is upon us, with warm winds and slightly warmer mornings, waterholes diminishing daily as the ever climbing temperatures suck up the remaining pools of water. As we head further into the dry season our concentration of animals becomes very apparent, with massive herds of zebra and elephant frequenting the N’wanetsi Concession daily, having to make the long arduous journey from the surrounding dry grazing grounds towards the rivers and the ever productive Gudzane dam. Flame creepers drape over riverine vegetation, fireflies are out, yellow-billed kites are back early, and the majestic morning glory flowers bloom; all sensing the seasonal change.

Here’s a Sightings Snapshot for August: Lions

• We had a total of 110 different lion sightings for the month of August.

• Three of our lion prides are denning at the moment, with the Shishangaan Pride, Mananga Pride and Mountain Pride hiding cubs around various denning sites across the property. We are looking forward to the mothers bringing out their cubs and introducing them to the respective prides.

• The Kumana Males were seen on 13 different occasions, still in association with the Shishangaan Females. They have primarily been spotted around the lodges, and their roars have been heard filling the night skies on most evenings.

• The Shishangaan Males were seen on 19 occasions, mostly in the company of the Mountain Pride and Mananga Pride. All three males are still in very good condition.

• The Shishangaan Pride have been seen on 14 occasions. On the morning of the 26th several guides witnessed the pride set-up and ambush a zebra as it made its way towards the water.

• The Mananga Pride was primarily found around Gudzane Dam. A den-site was also discovered earlier this month, but it is uncertain as to how many cubs have been born as the mother is still hiding them in a thicket.

• The Mountain Pride is still doing well, and they too have new cubs that the lioness is hiding close to Two Tekwane Drainage.

• 23 Members of the Southern Pride have also been seen venturing into the territory of the Shishangaan Pride. The majority of this pride consists of very inquisitive sub-adults and cubs. On the evening of the 25th they were found chasing two honey badgers, and after an epic battle, they managed to subdue and kill one of the badgers.

Leopards

• Leopard sightings have been a bit sporadic this month, with a total of 31 seen, possibly due to the increased number of lions in the area. The N’wanetsi Male was seen on numerous occasions in and around the N’wanetsi River. The Nhlangulene Female was also seen and provided some great photographic opportunities.

Cheetah

• There were five sightings of cheetah recorded in August. Two male cheetah were seen around the Central Depression.

Hyenas

• A sub-adult had been killed by one on the Kumana male lions, close to Tortillis Clearing. The carcass was scavenged by a fellow clan member, and even a leopard fed on the remains.

Elephants

• Elephants are plentiful this time of the year due to the dry conditions and abundant water on the concession. Gudzane Dam in particular has been very popular and numerous herds are seen daily coming down to drink and cooling down with mud from one of the many wallows around the water’s edge.

Buffalos

• As is usual for this time of the year, very large herds of buffalo are seen making their way down to the available water on the concession. A very large herd of around 1 000 individuals has been moving in and out providing great photographic opportunities as they create large plumes of dust as they speed up to get to the water’s edge for a welcome drink.

Plains game

• There are large herds of zebra, wildebeest and giraffe present at the moment, particularly in and around the area of where the management burn took place recently. Large groups of waterbuck are also present all along the N’wanetsi as well as the always present large groups of impala.

Rare sightings

• A coalition of two male cheetahs was found near Impala Lilly where they had managed to kill an impala ram. The commotion soon attracted the attention of a family of black-backed jackal and a flock of vultures, and within minutes, a Mountain Pride lioness came in to inspect. Once she saw the cheetah, she charged in and stole the kill from them, and the two brothers could do nothing but run off and look on at a distance as their hard-earned meal got devoured in front of their eyes.

• We also witnessed two young Shish lionesses robbing a leopard of its fresh impala kill. While the leopard retreated into the canopy out of reach of the lions, a young lioness climbed the tree and awkwardly started to feed while her sister waited patiently at the bottom for the carcass to fall down.

Birds

• A yellow-billed kite was seen scavenging from a carcass on the 1st of August. This Intra-African migrant is usually the first to arrive, heralding the arrival of summer.

Photo by Mike Kirby

Some exciting and informative Bush Stories follow, as well as an August Gallery of images.

The art of tracking By Margaux le Roux A vital part of the safari experience is the guide and tracker team responsible for taking guests out on safari. Many guests are enthralled when out of the corner of the tracker’s eye, a seemingly insignificant smudge is detected on the soils. With a flick of the hand the vehicle grinds to a halt, and the tracker climbs off to inspect. “Lions walked here, and the tracks are fresh…” To the untrained eye it takes a while to see the pug marks, some of which might be partial imprints that the tracker is inspecting. “These lions were hunting… 3 males and several lionesses.” How does he do that? It’s all due to the Art of Tracking. Tracking is not a mystical and mythical skill, but in actual fact it is something each one of us does on a daily basis. Yes, one might not necessarily look at lion footprints in New York, but you might be tracking your budget, or your weight loss, or when your next holiday to Singita will be. We all track, it’s just the ‘language’ that differs. Tracking consists of two components: Tracks and Signs, and Trailing: Tracks and signs refer to looking at the signs left behind by animals and birds, whether footprints, signs of feeding, scratches on trees, scat and dung or feathers and fur left behind. This is the basic foundations of tracking, and is helps us determine which animal was around and what it was doing. Trailing on the other hand refers to following the footprint of the animal until you find it. There are certain key elements to consider when looking at tracks and signs, and it can be compared to reading a book: First of all, you can’t read a book upside down, and the same applies to track identification. One needs to determine which direction the animal is moving into. Secondly, one cannot read a book without sufficient light. In this case, it is advisable to ‘place’ the track between yourself and the sunlight, as the shadows cast will help to bring out the finer details in the print. At times however, especially during midday, the sun casts too much light on the track, and then one might want to deliberately cast a shadow over the track. Thirdly, one needs to analyse the tracks. This is where you look at the actual ABCs in order to make up a word. Is the track made by a cloven hooved animal, was it an animal with padded feet? Are there toenails present, what is the size and general shape? All of these elements are then taken into account, before the final element of “Looking at the Bigger Picture” can be implemented. When reading a book, it makes no sense to read one paragraph on one page, and then read another paragraph in a different chapter. If that is done, the full story will never be understood. It’s also vital, that one does not assume one knows where the author is taking the storyline, and the same can be applied to tracking - never place preconceived notions on the animal that left the track. Trailing is the fun part of tracking, and that is where one then follows the footprints of the animal. It is important not just to look at the tracks closest to you, but to scan as far ahead as possible. This will enable the tracker to scan for potential danger of other animals that might be in the area. Listening to calls of other animals, whether soft chirping of birds or alarming of monkeys will also play a role. When all of these elements are joined, guests can embark on a magical journey alongside guide and tracker, as they follow and interpret the comings and goings of animals, and tell the stories of what a creature was doing, all from pug marks in the sand.

Photo by Gert Smit

Bats By Quentin Swanevelder With spring and summer fast approaching it is noticeable that there are more bats active in the evenings as they emerge from their winter hibernation. The reason for this is that the warming temperatures are making insects more active. Bats are the largest represented order of mammals in the Kruger National Park with 46 different species. They belong to the order Chiroptera. The translation of this literally means ‘hand-wing’ and are the only mammals that are capable of true sustained flight. Bats occur in all sizes ranging from wingspans of 5 cm to the largest of nearly 2 metres! All the bats in the region are nocturnal as this eliminates most competition for food (most birds are diurnal or daytime animals). Bats are divided into two main groups, fruit-eating bats and insect-eating bats. They play an extremely vital role in the ecosystem and are responsible for managing insect populations as well as pollination of some fruits. An example of each is that a single large colony of insect-eating bats can consume as much as 100 tons of insects a year, thus controlling mosquito numbers, and one of Africa’s most iconic trees, the Baobab is pollinated by fruit bats. The majority of bats use echolocation to search for food and the system is far more efficient than any man-made echolocation system. This does not mean that bats are blind at all, and some species actually have very good vision. Bats reproduce as most mammals do and mating occurs in autumn, before hibernation. The male’s sperm is then stored in the female’s ovaries until ovulation and fertilization in the springtime. Bats have unfortunately been painted as evil, bloodsucking monsters and this could not be further from the truth. They are fascinating to watch as they swoop, catching insects or fluttering around in the large fig trees that line the rivers. You might even hear our large epauletted bats pinging in the summer evenings! Mauritian tomb bat Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat (Taphozous mauritianus) (Epomophorus wahlbergi)

Photos by Dr Megan Lofty-Eaton

History of the Kruger National Park By Mike Kirby The Kruger National Park and its surrounds have been iconic in terms of preserving natural history, fauna, flora and developing what we now know as a thriving tourism industry. To understand how it came about we need to look at the area between the Sabie and Crocodile Rivers, which was set aside for restricted hunting in 1884. The President of the Transvaal, Paul Kruger, then proclaimed this area as a ‘wildlife reserve’ in the year 1898, and in 1902 appointed legendary and first warden, Col James Stevenson Hamilton, of what was known as “The Sabi Game Reserve”. The Sabi Game Reserve grew as it merged with “The Shingwedzi Game Reserve” which was proclaimed further north (what is now Limpopo Province) and under the new National Parks Act in 1927 these two massive expanses of un-tamed Africa became known as the Kruger National Park. Historically there have been people moving sporadically throughout the region, dating as far back as 500 000 years for Homo Erectus, and San artefacts that have been uncovered have dated back from 100 000 years to a mere 10 000. As far as recent history is concerned, an ancient civilisation, The Tulamela Citidel sprang up in 1250 AD and lasted until around 1700 AD. The site shows stone walls and a whole host of unrecorded history, such as glass beads that would have derived from trade with the Arabs, as well as porcelain from China. It indicates an advanced civilisation who were even able to derive iron ore, without any European influence. The reason behind the fall of the empire is unknown, whether it be climatic, the death of a ruler, or tribal war over land and resources. What an incredibly mysterious gap in South African history! Historically the Nguni and even European settlers struggled with permanency in the Lowveld/Kruger area, due to the infestation of tsetse flies carrying sleeping sickness/nagana as well as the high occurrence of malaria in the region, affecting humans and cattle alike. Tourism started via railway in 1923, which stopped at the then Sabie Bridge (now Skukuza) and after the National Railways approached the Board highlighting the lack of accommodation, the first three rest camps were built, namely; Skukuza, Pretoriuskop and Satara. Over the next 20 years road networks and facilities developed and expanded north, and the number of visitors and the Park’s reputation grew. The thought process and management style of the park has changed substantially over the years, from shooting lions in order to control plains game populations, to banning culling of elephant in 1994, all have been done with the best intentions and have evolved according to ongoing environmental and scientific surveillance.

Ref: David Hilton-Barber This enormous tract of land covers over 19 600km2 (2 200 000ha) and boasts over 753 species of animal and

1 982 tree species. Even a bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) was recorded in the north of the Park in the 1950’s, despite being well over 300kms from the Indian Ocean. The Kruger truly is one of the last true wild places on the continent, where horizons have remained unchanged throughout time, and animals still walk the paths their ancient ancestors have throughout the eons. We are truly privileged to be custodians of a magnificent tract of land, and live the way we do here.

August Gallery

Photo by Mike Kirby

Photograph by Margaux le Roux