On the morning of the 5th one of the guides found a dead Aardvark close to an old dam. I went to have a look and saw my first Aardvark ever. Pity it had to be a dead one. The Lions had killed it during the night, but didn't eat much before they left and killed a Wildebeest close-by.
On the morning of the 6th I found 3 Hyenas at a pan close to the tented camp. I've been trying to ID all the Hyenas so that we can know exactly how many we have and one of these one's was missing the tip of its nose. Strange.
On the morning of the 20th the staff from the Lodge saw 3 Leopards on the hill behind the Lodge. There was a cub that was climbing around in a tree and we think 2 Adults. If there were two Adults then it's very strange, since a Male and Female would only get together if they were going to mate and this only happens when there are no cubs around. I was thinking that it could be mom and daughter that met up and that one of them has a cub, but I'll have to read up a little more on Leopard behavior.
I have seen the new Rhino Bull a few times since his release on Thanda and I must say he looks very healthy. When he came onto Thanda he was skinny and I thought that it was the smallest 8 year old bull I've ever seen, but now he has gained weight and looks much bigger. I'm really glad he is doing so well since he's one of the two Adult Bulls we have here.
On the afternoon of the 20th the vet Dr Chap Masterson came to Thanda and darted our one Elephant Bull with Anti-musth vaccine, because he gets a little grumpy when he's in musth. We've done this before and he's supposed to be darted once a year. What's nice about the procedure is that the Elephant doesn't have to be put to sleep to give him the vaccine. The vaccine is put into the dart and the dart falls out almost immediately.
On the morning of the 23rd I found our two Male Cheetahs on the South-Eastern side of the reserve. Since their release on Thanda they've spent most of their time along the Northern boundary and the North Gate close to Base Camp. Now they were almost on the opposite side of the reserve and it's really great to see them getting to know their new home and being more relaxed with the environment.
On the morning of the 24th I took the people from the Leopard project out to go and check the cameras. On our way to the first camera we found a Female Leopard with her cub and a Porcupine. The Porcupine disappeared into the bushes and the Leopards went into the bushes on the opposite side of the road. We watched them lying down in the bushes for a while before they disappeared into the drainage.
On the morning of the 26th I heard a Southern Banded Snake Eagle close to South Gate and I saw a young Gymnogene trying to catch frogs at a dry dam. It was quite funny seeing this big bird trying to dig the frogs out and losing his balance a few times.
On the afternoon of the 28th I went out to look for the Lioness with the old collar, but could not find her again and I was getting a little worried since nobody has seen her for quite some time now. On my way back I decided to take a detour passed a dam to look for Leopard. Just before the dam I spotted a Leopard cub lying flat close to the road, but he/she then disappeared.
I drove onto the next road and when I got back there I found the Adult Female Leopard at the same place just across the road. She walked in the long grass next to the road and was about to cross the road in front of me when another vehicle came up the road and she darted off into the bushes. It was about half an hour from when I saw the cub to when the Female went into the bushes and it really was a great sighting.
On the morning of the 29th I found the Lioness with the old collar at a dam close to South Gate after I was there 3 hours earlier. She was alone, but the tracks showed that her two cubs were also in the area. I watched her chase a Warthog into the water and in her second attempt she caught an Adult Female Warthog. She dragged the Warthog passed me into the bushes towards the river and I knew her cubs were there waiting. The vet Dr. Chap Masterson arrived with Russell and Paul and we went off-road to find the Lioness.
We found the Warthog and after a long time the Lioness and her two Male Cubs came out the bushes and the cubs started eating, but Mom stayed hidden in the thickets. While we were waiting we tried to fix the rifle that Russell realized wasn't working and this rifle was our only back-up if something did go wrong. Anyway, mom came out to fetch the Warthog and just before she disappeared Dr Masterson darted her. She went to sleep after a few minutes and we had to chase the "not so small" cubs away by throwing sticks into the bushes.
We removed the collar and she had a bad bump on her shoulder. Chap extracted a bit of the fluid and told us that it was like a big blood blister and that she must've received a very hard knock on her shoulder. He drained the rest of the fluid and we loaded the Lioness onto the Land Rover's bonnet. It was quite a mission to get back onto the road, but we finally got to a clearing where we left her to wake-up. There was also a bump on her back which we noticed quite some time ago and the vet said that it was from bone that she must've broken a long time ago, but now that it's healed it doesn't seem to bother her. Amazing how well these animals heal. It took quite a long time for her to find her feet again before she got up and moved back into the bushes to where her cubs were.
Mariana Venter - Wildlife Monitor/Researcher
