Thieving hyenas!

Cheetahs are delicately built creatures and have literally no defence sytem at all except to run away. Especially when faced by animals like leopards lions or hyenas who could do them serious harm or death retreat is the first and only option. This puts a lot of stress on cheetah moms who have to hunt daily to feed their brood. A cheetah kill is often a spectacular sight. A high speed adrenaline charged chase across the savannah that can attract a lot of attention from far away even. So when this mom and her 2 surviving cubs were eating a group of 3 hyenas barreled right in and took over the carcass. It was my first time to see this takeover attempt and I was amazed at how fearlessly the hyenas just barged in with no regard for anything and just took over the kill. The poor cheetahs had no option what so ever to resist.

There is a reason they cant resist and that’s because even a scratch or a bite from a hyena can take their performance down by 10% or 15% for a few days. The margin between predator and prey especially for cheetah is very narrow, its prey has a 100meter head start and runs very fast as well. So if the cheetah is not performing at optimum then its likely she will miss much more and that could be life or starvation for cheetah mom and her cubs. She just walked away and gamely started scouting for her next hunt. The hyenas were the victors on the battlefield once again.

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THE HUGE MALE LION AT ROOIKOP.

This is a story about the lions of the Kgalagadi. Specifically the huge male I saw at Rooikop. I left Nossob camp a little late cuz we were moving camp and I was a little put off about missing the ‘early’ morning, it was already about 730am and I had lost an hour. But when the Kgalagadi delivers, it happens in spades. So we are driving along and suddenly I hear a low grunt/roar. And there on the left, high up on the crest of the dunes is movement. So I stop, we all watch and bingo it’s a male lion, walking parallel to the car and in the opposite direction. I reverse for a bit and then flipped the car around to drive along the same path when he cut across and came straight down the slope towards the Rooikop waterhole.

The sun caught his beard as he came through the bushes and it was then that we saw him in all his glory. 4 meters in front of the car he walked majestically unhurriedly across the road. What a lion! Certainly the biggest most magnificent Swart Manhaar of all time. Well at least for me. Swart manhaar is the Afrikaans word for black-maned lion, that’s what they have in the Kgalagadi. He was heading for a drink. I positioned opposite him and took some pictures and watched him. He came around and sniffed the ground for news of his family and as I moved the camera it caught his eye. He gave me a look that was simply heartstopping, especially as this massive lion was just 5 meters from the car. He held my eyes for an eternal minute, and then went back to sniffing.

My breath came out in a burst, I had not realised that I had stopped breathing. I pulled out the phone to make a video as he walked away roaring as he went, calling to let everyone know he was here and a message to his family letting them know where he was. The whole group in the car looked at each other, we all felt the same way. It had been an incredible experience. Kgalagadi can be tough, but as I said when it delivers it leaves you speechless.

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The portable airconditioner of the bush.

Rhinos are huge. You look at them and really wonder at them cuz they look like they are from a different time. Almost dinosaur in size and shape and the black rhinos have a mean disposition. Those have been hunted to near extinction all for the horn. These are white rhinos, so called by the early settlers who were of Dutch extraction and referred to them as 'weit' meaning wide mouth rhinos. The English came along and figured it was 'white' and we are now stuck with that nomeclature. White rhinos are more placid and considerably bigger than black rhinos. They live in the grasslands and their mouth is perfect for eating grass.

These two mother and calf, have obviously been cooling off in a mud wallow. The idea being you sit in the mud and roll around in it cake yourself all over with the wet cool slimy mud. Then as it dries off it cools you down. Like a portable airconditioner. Then the side benefit is when it is all dried up you scrape it off on a convenient tree or a rock and all those pesky ticks and bloodsucking parasites that are on your skin are sloughed off by the mud being scraped off. Exfoliation in the bush. Most Large mammals do this, in fact even warthogs who are not really that big use the same technique.

This cute little guy has been busy at it as well. Literally coated like icing on a cake. Too cute. COME ON SAFARI WITh US AND HAVE YOUR OWN AMAZING STORIES TO TELL - www.dreadlionsafaris.com

Hippo mock fighting

One thing about the bush, there is a lot of testosterone going around. These young adult hippos are no exception. There is a strict hierarchy and pecking order and it is to be maintained and followed without question. Except of course when it is challenged. Young males of most species are continuously scuffling, fighting, sparring and trying to get ahead. They show off their mouths to each other and try to dominate the other by showing how wide they can open their mouths.

The big bulls weigh in at 3000kgs and they don’t really need to do this kid stuff. They are the for real guys. The youngsters however are constantly questioning their place in the line. Hippo teeth are actually tusks meant purely for the purpose of combat. They eat grass but they do not have teeth to chew the grass. Forward pointed tusks in their lower jaw and the huge canines can do fearful damage in a real fight. Thank God this is just a scuffle and no real damage was done.

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Cheetah mom and cub on the hunt.

Early morning we enter from the Crocodile bridge gate. It’s a chilly morning and the mist is in the air, the river is literally steaming with the swirls of mist rising off the water and I said to myself Kruger rocks. Get through the gate and something prompted a left turn on to the river road. We usually go straight but today switched it up. Impala left and right with the warthogs grubbing for roots around them, a few elephants a little further in just swaying their massive bodies as they grazed. Classic Africa! Eyes peeled for cats we continue along past the open areas through the wooded section. This is leopard country and it is after all leopard ‘o’ clock. Mr. Spots moves around in the morning after a nightly prowl looking for a place to rest up before the sun gets high and its too warm. All at once a lithe body makes it’s way across the road about 100m ahead, followed by another one.

We suppress the shout ‘CHEETAH’ and scoot along a little quicker. Sure enough there they are, mother and cub. She was obviously hunting and climbed up on a fallen log to get a good look around. The little guy also did the same right after. There were some impala in the back in thicker bush and she moved off trying to get a little closer. The little fellow followed along behind her and we turned a corner to find them again which we did. The impala got spooked however and they took off. So you win some and you lose some everyday. We had some good photos and an exciting time and moved on ourselves as well. What a great start to a day in the bush!