http://wildwatch.com/ All wildlife sightings andBEYOND Wildwatch <wildwatch@andbeyond.com> http://wildwatch.com/sightings/saddle-billed-stork-4 We had just stopped at a bird hide we have in the south of the reserve. It is situated on the edge of the water and surrounded by reeds and bulrushes. As we were looking over the water, some nyala that were drinking ran off and we saw a large bird come in to land. I was so surprised to see that it was a beautiful saddle-billed stork. This is a very rare and endangered species, and is not often seen on phinda. Sun, 01 August 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephant-swimming-sentation I was doing a transfer between Phinda Mountain Lodge and Phinda Forest Lodge over the middle of the day today and heard that a herd of elephants was drinking at one of the dams en route. We made our way directly there and as we arrived we were totally blown away by what we found. There were about 40 elephants, swimming, mud-bathing and playing around. Of the 40 elephants 3 were very young calves. We watched them for over 2 hours. They were sometimes even diving completely under the water, climbing on each others backs, trumpeting and thrashing around in the water. One of the babies fell into the water at one stage and the whole herd stopped what they were doing, came to its assistance and as soon as it was safely on dry land again they spread out again and continued there escapades. A sight of a lifetime. Sun, 01 August 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/so-much-to-see-so-little-time-1 On our morning game drive we headed out in the search of elephants. The herds had been seen in the south of the reserve the previous afternoon. We tried the first tracks we found but this small group seemed to be inside a large dense area with no access. Just then a herd of elephants was called in on the radio so we headed straight there. As we got to the base of a large hill we were blown away by the sight of many elephants at the crest feeding a slight way off from the road. They seemed so peaceful yet powerful and were amazing to watch. While we were enjoying the elephants I pointed out a female cheetah which was now on the road in front of us, the guests did not know which direction to look. This scene was even more of an eye-full when a female white rhino and small calf stepped into a clearing. We decided to follow the cheetah as she was on the move. We followed her into an area of long grass where you could just see the backs of her ears and tail. To our surprise a male cheetah then popped his head up about 100m from the female. At first she did not notice him but his eyes were fixed on her. When she did spot him she just sat down and they both starred at each other for about 10 minutes from a distance. The male then slowly got up and started moving towards her. When he was about 30m away the female jumped up and ran away with the male in hot pursuit. They were moving through a densely thicketed area at this stage and we could not follow them. They were seen later in the day lying peacefully under an Acacia together. In the mean time we headed off and watched as the herd of elephants came down to a waterhole to drink and play, this herd included a small calf of about a month in age. Wed, 28 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/on-the-move-1 The cold windy weather and dying grass in the South of Phinda has caused many of the antelope like nyala, impala to move towards the Mountainous region of the game reserve. And the predators have followed. This morning we followed very fat full-bellied cheetah cubs (roughly 4 and a half months old) and the female. At this age the cubs are very inquisitive, and it is when the female will bring a live prey to practice there killing technique on. All the family members had most likely killed under the well light moonlight last night, and moved through the mountain region to find a more open safer place to rest up for the day. Suddenly the body language of the female changed. They watched intently, then she stalked and ran off! We did not know what she was chasing, until a loud Kudu bark echoed from the gully below. She missed. It was all over in a flash, and the eager cubs called for her and joined up again to catch her breathe under an Acacia Tree. Tue, 27 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-kill-1 My guests had arrived late and so we only left on game drive a short while before sunset. As I left the lodge I heard on the radio that the female cheetah and her two cubs had just been left unattended around the quarry. I decided to head straight that way so we could get a quick look before it was dark. When we arrived the female got up and started moving. I explained to my guests that this is common behaviour for this time of day as she needs to find somewhere for herself and her cubs to sleep for the night. We followed her and as she reached the top of a hill she spotted some Nyala below. Her stance changed as she listened and watched. She started running down the hill leaving the cubs some way behind her. We drove around quickly, hearing the nyala suddenly start alarming and rushing off. I switched off my engine and could hear bones being crunched. We managed to find a small opening through the dense Tamboti thicket and could see as the female sat close looking around and panting after the kill and as the cubs ate frantically, their small faces covered in blood. What a start to an unforgettable safari. Tue, 27 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/discovering-leopard-up-a-tree-in-a-lion-sighting We were up one morning early before sunrise to see if we can find 2 lionesses at a watering hole. We saw them the previous afternoon there and decided to go back there the following morning. After an hour search we decided we are going to carry on and look for something else. As I just said that we found 1 lioness lying next to the road. On the other side we heard this funny alarm call and it almost sounded like geese. This was a group of banded mongoose alarm calling for the other lioness close buy. Eventually the 2 lionesses lay down next to each other and we were really enjoying the sighting. After like 10/15 minutes my guest Jason Lewis said: “Leopard up the Tree” There it was a young male leopard up a Black monkey thorn with no leaves on it and it was a good view as well. You would think afterwards it’s such a clear view, so why didn’t we see it but just makes you realize how well they can camouflage themselves. We watched this for over an hour and eventually the lions moved off and the leopard moved down the tree very nervous and into a much bigger tree close by. Mon, 26 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/baboon-and-leopard-stand-off We were heading towards the open grassy plains, looking for some general game, when Kudu alarm calls were called in on the radio. I knew that area was often frequented by a resident male leopard and so quickly made my way across there to investigate. As I arrived we just saw his back bounding through the grass. We thought we had lost him until we heard baboons barking on the koppies. The large male baboon could definately see him as he was barking, bearing his teeth and jumping up and down in a very threatening way. He continued doing this for about five miniutes and then just turned around and ran. As he left the scene, the leopard jumped up onto the rock giving everyone a great view. He lay down on the rock looking at us and at his surroundings. It was such a reward. Sun, 25 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/buffalo-by-moonlight-1 The sun had set and it was just dark, as we found a herd of buffalo in Tshabalala loop pan. As buffalo are diurnal animals we refrain from shining the spotlight on them. Luckily however it was a beautiful full moon evening and we could see the animals quite clearly without any lights. I switched off the vehicle and we must have spent over half an hour watching as the dark figures sloshed around in the water, both drinking and playing. We even used our binoculars to get a closer look at a few individuals, namely certain large males’ horns and a few babies. Although this was not your average buffalo sighting it turned out to be one of both my guests and my highlights of their stay. Sun, 25 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-treat-1 We spotted this Black Rhino mother and calf pair and had the privelage of watching them for ages. Sat, 24 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lion-kill-8 One morning as I left the lodge I heard that three lionesses had been found close to the airstrip. I decided to go straight to that area and follow up. As we arrived we saw them crossing through a large drainage line, which we were unable to cross. I looped back to an open area in the direction which they had headed. As we arrived we saw them come out into the open. They were playing with each other at first but then continued walking down the road. After about a kilometer they all suddenly stopped, ears pricked. They stood dead still for about 10 minutes and then slowly started looping around this patch of grass, although I knew they were interested in something I could not see what it was. By the way they were looking down I said to my guests it could be warthogs still in their burrow. We moved forward and saw as the youngest female stuck her head into a hole. In a split second the whole scene changed as warthogs came racing out. The young female first grabbed a piglet which was squealing madly, but when the large female appeared she threw the youngster down and went for the large warthog. The other two lionesses were jumping up and down trying to catch any of the approximately eight warthogs which were all scattered and bolting in different directions. The young lioness had, in the mean time, caught the large warthog and had it in her claws. One of the older lionesses ran over and bit onto its throat to suffocate it. They managed to kill it after about 10 minutes and all tucked into a delicious feast, this was not without much snarling and tail swishing at one another. Fri, 23 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephant-watersports We came across this herd of elephants playing and swimming in the dam. They were amazing to see! Someone said that they were behaving like circus elephants and we loved that because it was so descriptive of how silly they were being. It seems strange to call such massive animals cute - but these were definately the cutest elephants we have ever seen! Thu, 22 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-backed-jackals-seen-on-phinda-for-the-first-time-in-years Jackals play an important role in the ecology of a natural area, both in their role as scavengers and as hunters, and their nightly song is amongst Africa’s most moving calls. Phinda is home to a large side striped jackal population, but although black backed jackals are known to occur here, they are seen here very infrequently. Thus it was with delight that my tracker Alson and I found a sub adult black backed jackal trotting down the road towards my vehicle early one morning. Curious at our presence, yet unafraid, he foraged for many minutes around our vehicle, before being viewed by other guests and rangers. I have seen this same jackal on subsequent mornings, and am delighted to say that he seems to have taken up permanent residence outside Mountain Lodge. This morning I found him asleep in the lodge parking area. Fri, 16 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/2-prides-give-birth-to-new-lion-cubs-on-phinda The arrival of new lion cubs is cause for great celebration, and has eagerly been awaited at Phinda, where two lionesses of different prides had denned in anticipation of new life. After months of cloistered shepherding by their doting mothers, these cubs have been brought out into the open to rejoin their respective prides. Both the North pride and Zuka prides have swelled with the arrival of new lion cubs. Three cubs were born to the youngest of the North pride lionesses around Christmas (two males and a female), and three young males were born to the eldest of the Zuka pride lionesses around November 2009. All six cubs are playful and healthy, and whether mischievous, bold or shy, are already showing the character traits that will be reflected in adulthood. Fri, 16 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lions-and-hyenas-in-titanic-struggle-over-zebra-carcass Inter-predator conflict is amongst nature’s most spectacular and moving spectacles. Lions and spotted hyenas are fierce and regular competitors for food resources, and neither species will tolerate the other’s presence at a kill. Returning from morning drive, my tracker Alson and I saw a single lioness suddenly sit upright in long grass, listening intently towards a distant thicket. More lions sat up, all looking in the same direction; still we had no sign of what had incited the lions’ bristling alertness. A haunting and peculiar chorus of hysterical groans, squeals and grunts rose as a clan of hyenas cantered into the fray. Evenly matched at three lions and three hyenas, these eternal enemies roared into a battle as old as Africa. Salivating thick masses of foam from her jowls, the eldest lioness froze in a standoff with the hyena clan’s dominant female, unmistakable due to her permanent toothy grimace caused by her flapping facial skin. For over an hour the two species fought for the remains of a zebra carcass, the upper hand changing multiple times during the conflict as the lions pursued the hyenas around and around an ilala palm, before inevitably losing the kill to an artful hyena and beginning the battle again. Battles between these two species can end in death for individuals of both species. In this case the lions emerged victorious after earlier losing the zebra carcass, leaving the hyenas to linger expectantly on the fringes as the lions resumed feeding. Fri, 16 July 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/bird-watching-for-the-month-of-june Winter has set in and the vegetation his thinning out, allowing quick glimpses of altitudinal migrants along the gullies and drainage lines. One such bird is the White-starred Robin, which has been spotted, creating an air of competition amongst the guides. Crowned eagles begin to display their territories by circling and soaring nearby to their nest site. These monogamous breeders are specialist hunters of mammals and we witnessed one flying away from the road with a tree squirrel in it's talons. My fellow team mate Brian arranged for Professor Digby Cyrus, the Head of Zoology Department of University of Zululand, to come and visit to set up "mist nets" to catch birds during this time of the year. By catching the birds we could identify, sex, weigh, calculate wing length, and process this information into a international database. Thus enabling guides and conservationists to learn more about the distribution in Phinda, breeding habitats, longevity, seasonal movements, migrating patterns. On this morning we caught two Terrestrial Bulbuls, one Scaly Throated Honeyguide, one Blue-mantle crested Flycatcher, and one Black-backed Puffback, adding to a total of 28 birds and 13 species caught. We think due to the cold weather the number of birds caught was low and we plan to perform the same exercise in October. Wed, 30 June 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/sunbirds-delight Winter time is flowering time for the aloes in and around the mountainous regions of Phinda. Daryl, Grant and I, armed with our cameras lay in ambush to see which birds and insects would fly and feed on the nectar of the aloes, namely the species Aloe vanbelenii and Aloe chabaudii. We were in luck. Numerous Vine-leaf Vagrant butterflies flittered around the flowers. Then a shy White-bellied Sunbird came to join in the feast, but this was short lived. A bigger more brightly coloured Scarlet-chested Sunbird flew in, dive bombing the White-bellied and chasing him away from the flowers! The Scarlet-chested proudly sang out his song to keep the competition away and then landed right in front of us to feed. We captured this moment of a Sunbird's Delight and after some minutes the bird seemed to be so occupied with the nectar, our movements did not frighten him away. Thu, 24 June 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/squeal-of-death The sun was setting over Phinda Game Reserve as another delightful day came to an end in the marvellous Maputuland. The day-dwellers of the Sand Forest were slowly but surely quieting down as the splendid golden hour of sunlight peered through the Forest giants. As the two enormous tawny shapes of the North Pride lionesses were silently strolling on the road ahead of us, we welcomed the distinct feeling of nervous energy of following lions on the hunt. They soon veered off the road and onto the massive Vlei infront of Phinda Forest lodge. Darkness descended and anticipation rose within our vehicle. The lionesses suddenly went into stalking mode. With heads low, eyes fixed and steps precise, they moved forward towards their unknown prey. We switched off the spotlight to give both parties an equal opportunity in this moment of life or death. The next 10 minutes felt like a lifetime as the lionesses got into the correct position for the inevitable attack. Without any warning all hell broke loose. The sound of pounding pads and running hooves broke the long held silence. With a flick of the spotlight the scene was revealed. The two lionesses we charging after a massive warthog boar. The 3 parties sped over the vlei with astounding pace. The pig altered his route slightly and ran into a thicket to try and shake off his attackers. Big mistake. With an almighty thump followed by an agenising squeal, the hog ran straight into a massive natal mahogany. Within a second or two the lions were on him. One lioness had the boar by the throat and the other was already trying to start eating at the rump. The pig must’ve broken his back when he smashed into the tree because he couldn’t fend off the lions with his back legs at all. 15 minutes passed before the courageous hog gave up the fight and gave his last breath. Dark, yet magnificent Africa at her best!! Fri, 18 June 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/mating-giraffe Seeing animals interacting or displaying some sort of behaviour for the first time is always special. This day I witnessed for the first time mating giraffe! A tall older giraffe bull shadowed a giraffe cow. There was no calf present. Moving very close to her, even nudging his body against hers, I noticed he started salivating and soon she pushed her rump against his chest. A younger bull was close by and the scent of the female in oestrous caused him to walk closer to investigate. When the older bull saw this he quickly turned toward the younger male and chased him off a couple of metres. Then walked quickly back to court the female. We waited 30 minutes, even deciding not to go look for the lions. Then it happened. It was very brief. The male sort of jumped up towards the female and after a few seconds it was over. The male slowly moved away from the female, who stood still for a few minutes. If the male was successful after 457 days (the only ruminant to have a gestation longer than a year) the cow would give birth to a single calf roughly a metre and a half tall, weighing a hundred kilograms. Truly a once in a lifetime experience! Fri, 18 June 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-very-rare-mammal-sighting On Phinda there is a very special mammal called the Four Toed Elephant Shrew. If you are lucky to see it will be very brief with no photo opportunity. Also what makes it hard is to get a good sighting with them being so strictly nocturnal and shy. This sighting was remarkably different from the 3 other sightings that I have had in 4 years due to that it was sitting still and quite relaxed. This is for us one of the great specials to be seen as a guide or guest on Phinda and there are numerous guides that haven’t even seen one before. This time I was so lucky that we even managed to get 3 pictures. Sun, 13 June 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/felines-of-phinda As the rose-red sun started it’s ascend above the outline of treetops of Phinda game reserve, we made our way south from Forest lodge. The morning rays were welcomed by rangers and guests alike as the early chill subsided to give life to a very pleasant morning in Maputuland. The morning’s goal was to follow up on lions that were heard roaring the night before. After a lot of tracking, listening and correspondence with other rangers, the two male lions were found quite a far way off from where we found ourselves. With the level of anticipation rising and hearts beating a tad faster, we started making our way there. After winding up one of the many hills that forms part of the Lebombo mountain range, we came upon the most breathtaking sight – the rolling Zuka plains stretched out before us. The descend was rocky and bumpy but no gaze was removed from the vastness in front of us. As we reached the bottom we suddenly heard the very distinct sound of monkeys chattering – a definite sign that a predator was in the area. We found the monkeys and followed their gaze to a very thick piece riverine forest. With adrenalin pumping, hearts pounding and a certain zealous sense of anticipation we started to scower every tree, shrub and bush. We had just turned a corner when a sudden flash of rosettes caught our attention to the left. In a split-second a female leopard had jumped from a tree into the thick undergrowth. Excitement reached fever pitch on the vehicle with broad smiles and awestruck facial expressions the undisputed evidence. We had just started to follow her into the bush when some movement above us was seen. Two beautiful feline eyes were staring down at us from a mere 5 meters away. A gorgeous leopard cub! It soon became a bit nervous and followed mom’s example and disappeared into the undergrowth. We decided to move out of the area and follow up on the male lions that weren’t too far off. In the meantime the male lions had moved and were a mere 100 meters away from the leopard and cub. The midmorning heat soon caught up with the lions and they decided to camp down under one of the few trees on Zuka plains. We had just left them when word came through that a coalition of three male Cheetah were found, wait for it, a 100 meters from where the lions were sleeping!! We arrived at the sighting just as the males found a nice shady spot with a perfect vantage point of the plains. They afforded us some quality viewing and photographic opportunities before they decided to take their midmorning nap. Phinda is famous for it’s divine diversity but to see these 3 majestic feline predators in such close proximity is truly amazing! Sun, 06 June 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephants-also-can-do-londry-and-reper-the-pool If you never being in Phinda, when you came don’t forget to book for room 5 or 6 at Vlei lodge may be you will have an opportunity to see what the elephants can do. Plus minus 40 animals decided to drink from the individual pool of rooms 5 and 6 but not only that, one bull found something maybe wrong placed on the pool of room 5 the animal have to fix it. A blue plastic pool pip wish the elephant pull it off from the pool and break it in pieces and sheer with his younger friend and chaise game start with peace of pip holding with trunk and step over it. On the other side, on the room 6 other bull found that have to rearrange one of the towels may be the housekeeping put them on wrong place. He took it and starts to play with it, but that attracted attention to others to tack part nod the game. To make his friends happy he wraps the towel in pieces and others had a peace to play with. It was beautiful sighting. Sat, 24 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/thaks-to-a-with-rhino THANKS TO A WITHE RHINO After being informed about a coalition of tree cheetahs on open area of Zuka plains, we went to relocate them. Likely enough we found them laying on tall grass about 50m off the road, almost impossible to see them besides rising their heads up or checking for anything around them. After 15 minutes waiting for better view the cheetahs their seems to be faster slip, and a white rhino we went pass earlier, came pass beyond our vehicle and walk strait to animals slipping. When we expected to see them disturbed, the rhino change the direction... Ohh Nooo! That came from my guests, Their carry on saying (We all had the cameras ready for an action shot) their said, but after that, just like the rhino was listen to my guests desire the animal immediately change the direction once again to satisfy my guests, the rhino change the direction again this time walks straight towards the cheetahs end disturb them from so nice and enjoyable slip there were having. It was marvellous and pictures were taken. Thanks to a rhino. Thu, 22 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/mother-worthog-vs-cheetah-family Leaving the lodge for morning safari, after we asked for updates the first message we had was that tracks of tree cheetahs moving south on the forest airstrip, obvious the ones we had them on the night before. Then we moved to the area, but before we get there another message came to confirm that the animals were located, and then we went to join the sighting. It was so beautiful to look at them moving undisturbed on their business, but more excitement came when few impalas came running unaware of cat’s presence. Their tried but were twice unsuccessful. We expended about one hour with these animals but before we left them, we notice that one of the cheetah were chased by an warthog, simultaneously two others were chasing a piglet and their cot it just beyond of our vehicle, but with loud scrim of the piglet probably asking for mothers help, she came at full speed and the forced the cheetahs to release the piglet she took her baby away leaving the cheetahs empty handed. By Walter Wed, 21 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/introductions Island Dam, in Phinda Game reserve, often hosts many hippo and we have seen wonderful territorial displays of the hippo bull's massive jaws and tusks, and loud grunts and snorts. This afternoon all was calm and quiet. We drove around to the Northern end and were pleasantly surprised to see a tiny hippo calf resting on the back on the hippo cow. This cow gave birth in the dense reed-beds or thicket cover around the dam and then introduced her calf to the rest of the hippo herd "raft" between 10 and 14 days of age. All of the other hippo were absent except the bull who, at distance, inquisitively chomped at the water to taste and identify the new family member with his vomeronasal organ. After a quick snort from the cow the bull drifted off, whilst the tiny calf continued to sleep on the cow. Wed, 21 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/tracking-down-a-meal The Fagolweni Pride (5 lionesses) strategically rested high up, on top of Ntanbankosi Mountain in the morning. This gave them prime viewing of there territory, and possibly prey to hunt later in the afternoon! In the afternoon we came across two lionesses both very excited to see each other, licking and smelling each other intently. Suddenly the younger of the two headed off. With her nose to the ground see tracked an invisible trail of scent left by the other lioness. She was onto something, and all we had to do was keep up. She stopped to smell the strong scent left by the older lioness and scent-marked on the same spot. She repeatedly gave out soft contact calls during her tracking but did not change her intended direction. Slowly we headed up the smaller slopes of the Lebombo Mountain range and there it was! A fresh kill! A dead warthog! The lioness carefully looked around to make sure that no hyenas nor lions had moved in closer to steal the warthog. She moved in and we were incredibly lucky to see her open up the warthog carcass from the rear end and slowly work her way toward the stomach. Suddenly she got up headed back toward where she had came from. This two and a half year lioness may have felt vulnerable without her other pride members present and this could be the reason for her searching them out. She contact called them and we even saw her climb a tree on two separate occasions to try spot the lionesses as the sun set. Wed, 21 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/the-hunters-lookout We set off from Vlei Lodge to search for the three sub-adult Cheetah that had been seen around the Mziki Marsh/ Junction Dam area the day before. During our search we came across a Crash of 5 White Rhino and a few Cattle Egret birds. These birds enjoy following big mammals to catch any grasshoppers they disturb whilst grazing in the grassland, but the rhino were just waking up and starting to stir. After roughly 10 minutes three rhino slowly got up and moved to start grazing. One of the egrets flew onto the back of the rhino and happily caught a ride probably using the rhino as a lookout to dive after insects. The three Cheetah had been spotted at the dam and we shortly joined in the sighting. The group consists of two young males and one young female, and they looked hungry. There was a great opportunity to photograph these speedy land mammals on the dam wall, who kept on high alert for the chance to catch any unsuspecting antelope passing by. We patiently waited for forty minutes, and nothing happened. We decided to return in the afternoon to find the cats, and see if they had hunted during the day. Just as the sun set the group of cheetah's killed a small Reedbuck not too far from the dam. On this day the cheetah and the egret benefited today from a basic strategy of using higher ground to quickly locate their prey and move into killing positions quickly, and we were lucky to witness all the action! Thu, 15 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-and-white We had spent a majority of the game drive in the most southern section of Phinda looking for a Lioness and her two juveniles in an area dominated by tall grasses. With the abundance of Zebra and Wildebeest we thought we may be lucky enough to find the lions on a kill. We followed the lion tracks and saw a few spots of blood and where the lions had slept. Suddenly close by we spotted a young male cheetah. Possibly the lions had stolen his kill as there was very little evidence of a lion kill. We were unable to find the lions. John spotted a Crash of White Rhino in the distance and we headed off in their direction. As we rounded the corner out burst two Black Rhino being chased by a White Rhino! The sub-adult white rhino continued to chase them off a few metres and the black rhino cow headed off the charge to protect the calf. It was my first black and white rhino sighting ever! The black rhino cow and calf moved off and started to browse on the acacias some distance off. I also witnessed for the first time the black rhino cow defecate and kick open the bolus of dung, different to the female white rhino that won't break open her dung. The calf looked to be of 4 years of age and will possibly leave the female shortly if she successfully mates again with the territorial bull, hopefully growing the population of this endangered species. Wed, 14 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/air-claws I set off on game drive in search of a young sub adult male leopard that is still mingling around within his mother’s territory. I went straight to the last place he had been seen the previous evening. On entering the area I started to drive slower and eventually to a stop to let a herd of Impala across the road. As they crossed into a patch of grass a young Impala leaped into the air and a leopard shot vertically into the air and with a flash tackled the impala. Rolling it in the air and landing on top of it pinning it to the ground. The leopard started to suffocate the impala when all of a sudden it felt very venerable with the land cruiser and darted off it to the thickets. Sat, 10 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyaena-causing-a-stir What a morning, as we left mountain lodge this morning we were very excited to find a female cheetah lying next to the road right infront of the lodge. She soon got up, walked across the road and went and sat on a termite mound, as though she was posing for us. We were very surprised when a large female hyaena arrived on the scene. Hyaena are not a commonly seen species on Phinda, especially not during the day. The hyaena and cheetah stared at eachother and the hyaena slowly approached, not in aggressive way but it seemed more curious than anything else. When the hyaena was very close the cheetah started hissing and baring her teeth but the hyaena kept approaching. Eventually when the could almost touch noses the cheetah lept off the termite mound and ran into the long grass, hyaena still in tow. The hyaena soon lost interest in this game and ran off, calling as she went. What a phenomenal start to a brilliant day. Sat, 03 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cross-pollination After been given the opportunity to work at Phinda for 6 weeks I am looking forward to observing the abundant bird species, tracking Black Rhino and witnessing the interaction of the stable cheetah population. So far I have seen a pair of Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills in the south of the Game Reserve. This part of South Africa is at the very end of their distribution and they are very uncommon in this region. I also witnessed an African Crake (a summer resident) hunting for earthworms around Island Dam. This bird usually begins it's migration in April back to East and Central Africa. This week 70mm of rain fell and possibly this has kept the bird here longer, hunting the still present insect life. Sat, 03 April 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/white-rhino-action Often when you see white rhino they are just walking around slowly, grazing. So this morning we were pleasently surprised when there was action. It all started with two young females of which I suspect one must have beeen coming into estrus and thereby attracting the males attention. This particular bull that was first on the scene was very large and quite aggresive, he is easy to recognise by a torn left ear. The male was approaching the females who would turn their horns in his direction, ears flat against their heads, open their mouths wide and make a very loud bellowing noise. The male at one stage was chasing them round the big open grassy plains, as they ran away squealing. Eventually he could not contain himself anymore and bounced in circles whining before running off. Im sure he will be back for more though. As we were leaving to see three male cheetah we had spotted while all this was going on we saw another larger male rhino approaching the females, guess they are in for a busy day. Wed, 31 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/4-great-carnivores-in-an-afternoon To track down and spend time with any of Africa’s great carnivores is a pleasure but on this particular day it just kept rolling. We got to the mziki marsh I search of a north pride lioness and her cubs. We circled the area they had last been seen and picked up tracks and drag marks of the lioness. They disappeared into a thick num num thicket. We listened carefully and could hear the youngsters scrapping over the carcass. Through gaps in the bush we watched the lioness move the impala carcass and with patience the youngsters eventually came out and played around the vehicle. During this time 3 sub adult cheetah, 2 males and a female had been found near by. We spent sunset with them as they chased each other and cane rats through some thatching grass. After drinks stop we started our leopard search. Driving through the woodlands we found fresh hyena tracks which we followed to a watering hole. We found the hyenas playing in the water; they bit, tackling urinated, sniffed each others genitals and came right up to the vehicle to investigate us. During this entertainment a young male leopard was found near us. It wouldn’t surprise me if the hyenas had been following them in search of stealing the leopards kill. We watched him for a while before he slinked into the thick woodland and darkness. In 3 years of ranging that was a first. Tue, 30 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyena-steals-leopards-kill Sunrise in the tropical broad leafed woodlands is always beautiful. We move into an area where we had tracks of 2 young male leopards the night before. To our delight we found the two leopards and a hyena. The males’ hair was up as they circled around the hyena who had stolen their kill. Too nervous to attach they watched as the hyena wagged his tail and crunched through the remaining warthog bones. When the hyena was finished it came up to the vehicle had a look and then ran off into the woodlands leaving us in awe and the leopards’ meal less. Tue, 30 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rogue-lioness-found-after-weeks-in-the-wilderness Lion social dynamics are dominated largely by the succession of power amongst males. The change from a stable dominant male or coalition of males to a new male or set of males dramatically affects the pride structure, with cubs facing infanticide and sub adult males often being forced to flee the bringers of new male blood. Lion prides within Phinda have undergone tumultous change within the last 12 months, with the death or translocation of a number of powerful males and the rise of two new rogue males. Phinda’s Zuka pride sub adult lions, consisting of two lionesses and their brother, all of the same mother, have disappeared entirely for over two months, no doubt hiding in the mountains in order to avoid confrontation with the new males. Rumours were rife among the rangers and trackers that perhaps some or all of these lions could have been killed in fighting unbeknownst to us. Thus it was a great thrill to me to discover a single lioness of perhaps two years of age bathing in the afternoon sun on a rocky outcrop on a seldom traversed hillside within the mountains of Phinda’s Zuka region. Having not seen her for over six weeks, it took some time for me to recognise her. Most encouraging was that she was vocalising, roaring with the power of an adult lioness despite her tender years. This vocalisation would most likely have been a call to communicate with her brother and sister, a sure sign that they must still be alive. No doubt the day will come perhaps a year from now when the young male will come of age and return into the sunlight to challenge his right to power. We wait expectantly. Mon, 22 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/sandforest-campout Working at Phinda allows rangers rare opportunities. To camp in the sandforest has always been very high on my Phinda ‘bucketlist’, and over a quiet evening my brother and I spent a night out under the stars, sheltered by the canopy of 500 year old Lebombo Wattles and a millimeter of canvas. Phinda’s sandforest is rich in life, and a night isolated in the forest is truly a thrill. During the course of the night I heard the wooping of spotted hyena, the rasping cough of a leopard, the twittering of innumerable bats, the haunting cries of a bevy of bushbabies, and of course the snoring of my companion. Dawn brought a chorus of birds heralding the new day, and a triumphant return home to camp in time to plan our next adventure. Mon, 22 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rhino-causes-rather-unusual-vehicle-insurance-claim Wildwatch is all about chronicling close encounters wild in nature. A recent off-duty altercation with an adult White Rhino bull must rank as my wildest - and most intimate - experience yet. Late one afternoon as the last of the evening light was catching the hills of Phinda, I was driving my own private vehicle alone through the reserve en route to Durban for three weeks of leave. Blocking my route through the reserve was a White Rhino bull 1.8m at the shoulder and approaching 2 tonnes in weight. He stood proudly across the road, head erect, showing interest in a nearby female, who was disdainfully disinterested as she wallowed in mud adjacent to the road. The Rhino was abnormally restless, and I waited patiently with the engine turned off perhaps 35 metres from him. With a sudden change of heart he turned his mighty frame to address my vehicle, and without warning barreled towards me with all the unstoppable purpose of a derailed steam train. An adult Rhinoceros can gather significant momentum in a run of perhaps thirty metres, and it was with some relief that I watched him skid to an ungraceful halt in a cloud of dust perhaps two metres from my vehicle. Before I had drawn breath he launched two powerful charges into my stationary vehicle before trotting away with the poise of a Russian icebreaker. Fortunately my vehicle is as large and almost as well built as a two tonne Rhino. All tallied my collision with an enraged Rhino required a new bumper, new bullbar, new numberplate, new radiator, rewired lights and some creative panel beating. And a rather comical insurance claim. Mon, 22 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/day-old-buffalo-calf-stuck-in-the-mud Spending months at a time in an area allows the observer a strange familiarity with wild animals, at once both distant and intimate. Thus the perilous arrival of a new buffalo calf, perhaps only a day old, stirred me. We identified the young calf bewildered among the hooves a herd of buffalo making their way towards a muddy wallowing hole. His umbilical chord still soft, calling for his mother, he followed her into the thick chocolaty mud. His young body struggled as it sucked through the quagmire, stumbling to its knees innumerable times but always surfacing to follow his young mother. After watching the calf’s personal battle in silence for some time we moved away from the area, concerned that our presence may be disturbing the mother. Returning later, we were pleased to find that he had managed to escape the wallow which could have posed a very serious threat through drowning or exhaustion to such a young animal. Mon, 22 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/dramatic-late-afternoon-cheetah-kill The drama and tension of a hunt must rank amongst the greatest thrills for a naturalist to witness. All the better when your guests are your own family, as was the case this fateful afternoon. My guests and I had been birding around a marshland bathed in the apple glow of late afternoon in Phinda’s South. Caught in the light, a single adult cheetah was spotted (no pun intended), sitting alert after lying flat in the long grass unbeknownst to us. We followed her over difficult terrain, hoping that she might show interest in the herd of nyala drinking on the steep bank which lay perhaps 100m from her, a stream separating the predator from the prey. Making little effort to conceal herself, she moved towards the prey, her body lean. Rushing through the dense reeds towards the nyala, she made her intentions very clear. Surprise was not her strongest weapon in this hunt, speed was. From our vantage point we lost sight of her as she crossed the stream, before seeing her streak up the slope. It was unclear which animal she had targeted, until she turned suddenly towards a young lamb. Losing sight of her temporarily, we found her again seconds later alongside the road, suffocating a still struggling nyala lamb. Once the lamb was dead, she waited over 15 minutes to begin eating, allowing her body to recover from the effort. Watching her feed, it appeared that the cheetah has been suckled, which is greatly encouraging as she was not known to have cubs. We still await sight of the litter, which she may keep concealed for several months until even the rangers have thrill of seeing them for the first time. Mon, 22 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyena-den-3 Over the years hyenas’ have been a much persecuted species in Northern Natal and in particular on farm lands around Phinda. Hyena and leopard are the 2 species never to be reintroduced back onto Phinda. Due to our conservation efforts and the available protected land the hyena population is slowly recovering. Sightings in the northern woodlands are on the increase and a den sight has been found in the south. For the first time in 3 years sitting and watching hyena pups play around the cruiser has been a long awaited treat and added extra to the Phinda experience. Sat, 13 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/catch-of-the-day-at-sodwana-bay One of the many adventures offered at Phinda is Deep Sea Fishing on the Indian Ocean in a coastal marine reserve off, near by, Sodwana Bay. Guests first try their luck at catching one of the common predatory fishes in the hope of using one of these as a bait for a prized bill fish as part of a monitored catch and release program. Sodwana Bay is one of the few places were you can catch Blue, Black, and Striped Marlin as well as Sail Fish in the same area. Although to catch any one of this fish is quite rare and a dream of many amature fisherman. Needless to say, when we arrived at the beach that morning I wasn’t that confident that our guests desire to catch one of these awesome bill fish was going to be forfilled. In the last 5 years I haven’t heard of anyone catching a bill fish on our deep sea fishing adventure and all of the other boats out that morning were coming back empty handed. To add to this the sea was very rough and the only vision I was getting was that of some very sea sick individuals. But shortly into our trip my spirits were suddenly lifted ; after an hour and a half trawling suddenly we had four reels going tzzeeeee…. all at the same time.! We lost one but Anton (Our guest), Bernard (Our tracker) and I (Our ranger) each caught a Skip Jack (From the Tuna Family) of around 5kg each. The smallest was released and we kept two for live bait for the elusive bill fish. Johan Scholts, who has represented South Africa for Deap Sea fishing, was our host and captain. He proceeded to set up our live bait on the Big Rod and Reel to try for one of the bill fish species. This was now the only Rod out and all our hope rested on it. After no time at all Johan suddenly jumped up. His experience allowed him to instantly pick up the attack of a bill fish on the live bait. He started feeding the line to the fish to give it time to run and swallow the bait he then skillfully maneuvered the boat, opened up the throttle and we had our selves a fight! Five minutes later and an excited radio call came through from a boat on the horizon to say they just saw a large marlin jumping on the end of our line! We were now all very excited and quickly got our guest Anton strapped down into the fighting chair. It was incredible to see how strong a fight these fish put up. A level of which not even the guy who engineered the fighting chair had anticipated, As after only 15 minutes the welds securing the fighting chair came lose and it was just Anton and the fish battling it out “gloves off”! Bernard and I were recruited to keep a tight hold of our guest, however after 25 minutes Anton was finished and it was up to me to take over.. Firstly I had to have faith that Berard and the now exhausrted guest would be able to hold me on the boat and then I had to draw every once of energy I had for the 30-40 minute fight that lay ahead of me (two weeks later and I am still feeling the pain!). As the fight neared the end I was considering handing over the real as I was finished but just then the fish jumped and the sight of a 80-100kg black marlin gave me a kick of adrenalin that got me over the line and enabled me to land the fish. We then proceeded with a successful tag and release. It was truly a great team effort! After the excitement and realizing we still had plenty of time remaining on the ocean we decided to set about catching some dinner. Our guest Anton definitely had brought the luck with him that day as he landed us a beautiful 5kg yellow fin tuna which we all enjoyed for dinner that evening. Fri, 05 March 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/incredible-4 INCREDIBLE On this day, we went on early morning drive disperately to found north pride lionesses witch was repoted going north/west on previous nigth, after unsuccesfull attempts on the area we decided to go somewhere else, and for surprise, just in front of us 2 birds was chaising one another then I stoped a car to ID the interesting birds in action. It was an African gashawk (accipter tachiro) chasing a Trumpeter hornbill (bycanistes bucinator) with determination we looked at those birds whch they even flew over us several times, I never saw a Trumpeter hornbill flaying at INCREDIBLE speed for long time before, then I notice the bird getting tired and the hawk geting closer and closer we weer ansious to see the end of the chase but unfortunately end up both dissapering in the thick forest. I wonder what could had hapen to the Hornbill? Sun, 28 February 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/back-to-back-spotted-hyaenas On Phinda its always been special seeing Hyaenas. Recently there was a Spotted Hyaena den discovered in the southern part of the Reserve. In General the Hayenas on the reserve is fairly shy but normally at dens is where one can have great sightings. This afternoon in particular we planned to go on a boat cruise and then follow up at this den afterwards. Initially sitting and waiting 20-30 minutes some ears popped out of the big dug out termite mound which they use as their den. This was a great sighting but this was not the last&hellip;.. The next morning we were driving in the northern part of the reserve. Suddenly we heard monkeys alarm calling. We drove in the direction of the alarm calls and there they were walking in the road, 4 hyaenas (2 adults and 2 sub adults) in broad daylight. They were so inquisitive that from time to time I had to start the vehicle to prevent them from coming to close. We then called in some other vehicles to get a viewing opportunity and they followed them towards a watering hole where they were wallowing in the mud and eventually disappeared into the thickets. This was incredible hyaena viewing in two drives with Spotted Hyaenas can be one of the hardest predators to find on the reserve. Tue, 23 February 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/relaxed-hyenas-in-the-early-morning This early morning we found fresh leopard tracks. While we were following the tracks we bumped into this clan of 4 Hyenas. They were very inquisitive and was even coming up to the vehicle very close. On Phinda most of our Hyena viewing is at night time with very few good sightings in broad daylight. They were very entertaining and we finished the sighting off where they were rolling inside the mud at a pan system close by. Tue, 16 February 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/henis-dam-butle Henis dam BATLE On sanday morning the 14/02/10, myself and Sam were watching 2 lionesses at Henis dam, when a heard of +- 25 wildbests arraived at full speed on the dam, unaware of big cats presence. Then the hunters started what they know best. The yonger lioness stoked for short time and run down from the dam wall chasing the wildbests to the water, their avoided but it resulted of 1 female wildbest ending on the claws of the big cat. As she batle to bring down her prey, the heard relised that a member of the heard was in trouble then they went back for assistance, and I assume that was the liding male of the heard, who ran directly to assist the victim gorring 3 times the cat, ending up relising her prey and the male wildbeest continued to chase the the lioness for +- 50m before it return and drive the heard away. Sun, 14 February 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lioness-and-cubs-on-a-zebra-kill At last, after 2 and half months of waiting in anticipation, tracks of the young North pride lioness and 3 distinct cub tracks. We follow the tracks and to our delight find a sub adult zebra kill. As the heat of the day gave some relief she brought her cubs out of their hiding place. Three very young, inquisitive healthy cubs stared at us as we did them. The lioness hadn’t been seen since Dec 3rd looked in good shape and seemed to have filled out watching our and their every movement, she softly calling and reassured them. The wonderful part was her been so relaxed with our presence and over the next few days with lots of meat left on the kill we spend many hours with them. Cute, curious, naught and playful are just a few word to describe these bundle of joy. On the 3rd morning my guests and I arrived in the area just after sun rise, to my excitement the rest of the north pride lionesses had joined up. They lay out in the open plains of the marsh. The cub seemed to have been accepted but not tolerated. They approached their gran and aunts to be snarled at and ran back to moms’ side. Interestingly they spent another 30 minutes together and then split up but as they moved apart the older lionesses continuously kept calling (my guess she was looking for a male). The litter looks like 2 males and a young female. They are still at risk as the new dominant males are not their father but the lioness has done a great job so far. Fri, 12 February 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/single-lioness-kills-giraffe On the 11th of November the youngest of the north pride lionesses left to go den a liter of cubs. Still today we don’t know how many she has. Sighting of her have been rare and evidence of her killing even rarer. This all changed yesterday, just before sun set my guests marveled at a young giraffe making comments like ‘ahh cute and that’s adorable’. We said our good byes and drove not 100m when Barry stopped me saying he thought he saw something moving behind us, we stopped listened and waited … next minute there was a thundering sound and the most blood curdling bleating, an unsighted lioness had charged from a nilotica thicket and launched herself at this young giraffe calf. We moved into position and watched the chaos unfold, the mother ran around at first attempting to kick the lioness and then losing her nerve and moving away. The lioness with every muscle in her body taught fought as she stayed out of the way of the kicking legs. Slowly the calf lost the battle and it was all over, dust settled, the mother stared on in vein. I recognized the young lioness immediately, her mammary glands full of milk. She was far from where we think she is denning cubs. It’s amazing that she has cubs as a 2 and a half year old animal and now making kills of exceptional difficulty and danger. The difficulty of attaching yourself to the prey animal’s death is reduced knowing that the lioness will feed well and be able to look after her cubs. Mon, 25 January 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/chased-from-the-pride Separated from his pride, for 2 days the a young male lion stayed in the Zuka plains in a catch 22 as he make low contact calls trying to reunite with his sisters but instead drew in the attentions of the new comers. The Tswalu males are bigger than him, 3 year old males and there are 2 of them. We watched as the 2 Tswalu males closed in on him. The 2 young lionesses made an appearance but only in the distance as they made there way back to an old giraffe carcass to claim a free meal. The Tswalu males where distracted as 2 White Rhino chased them but once they had been negotiated they closed in, the bigger more golden manned brother took the lead and started the chase. The Zuka male seemed not to run for his life but rather trotted away towards ludiritzia thickets. At one stage the young male stopped and confronted the bigger male who in a moment of drought looked back and made contact called almost like saying to his brother “where are u back me up brother”, seeing the 2nd male was enough and that gave the young male motivation to loose the intruders. Using local knowledge he ran through some thick ludiritzia and a drainage line and up onto a rocky ridge. The Tswalu males in victory and as a sign of dominance began to roar repeatedly. We found the Z male on the ridge looking less worried for how close he could have come to death, just sitting cleaning himself and watching the intruders. Thu, 21 January 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/north-pride-kill-at-pipeline-pan Notorious for killing in the day the north pride had us on a mammoth tracking session. I had a group of Indians whose comments and accent kept the motivation going. When I though I knew where they where heading I had it wrong but in the end they must have been hungry and we found them at their favorite hunting ground pipeline pan. The guest hadn’t had the time to get over the wow factor of seeing these 3 amazingly beautiful lionesses. A mixed herd of nyala came down to drink and the lionesses sprung into action, it was on. I got my camera ready and told the guest to brace themselves and enjoy. The young lioness was in a bad position so just lay dead still. The big 7 year old moved into some shade while she watched her younger sister move a loop around the back of the drinking animals. It all went still… the nyalas all burst into full flight but one male was caught day dreaming, the lioness bolted at him, the first grab she got the back end, but the nyala launched forward and she just held on, pulling herself within distance to get a grip around the neck. Her daughter and sister arrived as she bit into the animals back. The big lioness made an attempt to grip the jugular but the nyala wasn’t giving up and went into a full scale thrash. Horns narrowly missing the lioness, hooves flying around but all in vain as the lionesses got the strangle hold and finished him off. We watched the lionesses feed on their hard earned meal and not 10 minutes after we had left them they had made a 2nd kill. Tue, 05 January 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/north-pride-kill-1 Notorious for killing in the day the north pride had us on a mammoth tracking session. I had a group of Indians whose comments and accent kept the motivation going. When I though I knew where they where heading I had it wrong but in the end they must have been hungry and we found them at their favorite hunting ground pipeline pan. The guest hadn’t had the time to get over the wow factor of seeing these 3 amazingly beautiful lionesses. A mixed herd of nyala came down to drink and the lionesses sprung into action, it was on. I got my camera ready and told the guest to brace themselves and enjoy. The young lioness was in a bad position so just lay dead still. The big 7 year old moved into some shade while she watched her younger sister move a loop around the back of the drinking animals. It all went still… the nyalas all burst into full flight but one male was caught day dreaming, the lioness bolted at him, the first grab she got the back end, but the nyala launched forward and she just held on, pulling herself within distance to get a grip around the neck. Her daughter and sister arrived as she bit into the animals back. The big lioness made an attempt to grip the jugular but the nyala wasn’t giving up and went into a full scale thrash. Horns narrowly missing the lioness, hooves flying around but all in vain as the lionesses got the strangle hold and finished him off. We watched the lionesses feed on their hard earned meal and not 10 minutes after we had left them they had made a 2nd kill. Tue, 05 January 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/young-cheetahs-vs-male-reedbuck Two weeks ago a Female Cheetah with 3 sub adults (16-18 months old) came all the way from the southern parts of the reserve (more than 25km) up to the northern part where the marsh/grassland is situated. It only took the mother 2-3 days to cover this distance and I think she knew exactly where she wanted to go with them. When they arrived on the mars/grassland area the mother stayed with them for like a week and then left them. We saw her once after that in the area. These sub adults consist of two males and a female. One of our concerns was how well would they be able to hunt on their own. Well that was easily answered after we found them this particular morning making this spectacular kill. They did battle killing the Common Reedbuck but after a big wrestle they brought it down. This all took place in front of us in the open and the photos speaks for itself. Special thanks to Jad and Susanne Sherif for supplying the photos. Thu, 10 December 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/aardvark-at-zuka-lodge Leaving Zuka lodge around 22h00 (after dinner and a glass or two of port with my charming guests) I came upon an aardvark in the road perhaps 50m from the lodge. The aardvark, Orycteropus afer, is a creature so rarely seen that it has attained a quasi-mythical status. Some rangers have worked in the bush for many years and have never seen one these strange nocturnal insectivores, and this was my first sighting. The aardvark - which in appearance is large, hairy brown and black with an elongated tail, snout and ears - was walking around with its nose to the ground, smelling for insects, unperturbed by my presence. The entire sighting lasted only 2 minutes and unfortunately I was not carrying my camera, nevertheless it was a ‘lifer’ mammal for me. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/young-cheetah-young-lions-and-young-leopards-in-one-day Clearly the good rains that fell over Maputaland between January and April 2009 have had a positive effect, as many cheetah, lion and leopard females have been successful in raising litters of cubs this year. Morning drive yielded a fantastic sighting of sub adult lions, as we watched the joy and excitement of the two female cubs of the Zuka pride female reuniting with their brother, from whom they had been separated earlier in the morning. Afternoon drive delivered more of Phinda’s famous cheetah, as we watched three 10 month old cubs playing all around our vehicle under the watchful gaze of their mother. After nightfall we were lucky enough to see two young leopards interacting very close to our vehicle. The leopards, a male and a female of about 18 months, were exceptionally relaxed and were watched by different rangers for over 2 hours despite being leopards that are seldom seen. It is thought that they are the offspring of a shy resident female leopard seen most often along the Mzinene river, and we suspect that this female is now preparing to den again with new cubs. As if those sightings were not enough, the following morning we found and viewed a different cheetah female with three cubs approximately six months of age. We were delighted as the mother, who was sitting at the roadside, called the cubs out of a thicket and led them to lie on the road, climb a fallen tree, and walk with her as she looked for prey. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/unusual-mantis-seen-at-phinda Insect sightings seldom make it onto wildwatch.com, and seldom receive the recognition and wonder which they deserve. The camouflage of this mantis, designed to blend into the lichen in which it makes its home, is flawless. I am unsure of the species, and will update this post once I have a positive identification, but the insect is worth admiring nonetheless. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/foam-nest-frogs-nest-again-as-summer-blossoms-at-phinda The long awaited summer rains have come to Maputaland again, and with them have returned migratory birds and a myriad of creatures that have been absent through the dry winter months. Mud wallows that were cracked and dried are now awash with colour, sound and life, as restless buffalo and rhino share the water with insects, reptiles, fish and amphibians. Few amphibians are as conspicuous as the foam nest frogs, which have begun to construct their meringue-like nests on vegetation overhanging the newly filled pools. These nests are formed within hours as a female and her many male suitors kick a slimy secretion into a thick white foamy mass, into which the female and her successful partner will deposit their eggs and sperm respectively while mating. These eggs, after fertilisation, will grow into tadpoles within the safety of the cocoon-like foam, before wriggling free and dropping into the water below to continue the journey to adulthood. The tadpoles, and even the foam nest, are a highly desirable food source to birds, reptiles and even mammals. There are many hurdles to the success of an individual tadpole, but enough will succeed each year to continue the circle of life for the foam nest frog. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/midday-sighting-of-secretive-african-broadbill Birding can be bewildering to the uninitiated. In order to made birding more accessible to the inexperienced birder, each of our &Beyond lodges has a list of 10 ‘Star Birds’ specific to the area. Some birds are selected for their beauty or eccentricity, some for their rarity, and some because they are endemic to the area and thus particularly special to see. Over 415 bird species can be seen at Phinda, and because of the great difference in habitat between the mountain grasslands of the south and the sandy woodlands of the north, two separate Star Bird lists were created for Phinda, one for the south, one for the north. A particularly secretive bird on the north Star Bird list, the African Broadbill is a shy woodland dweller. The Broadbill calls only at dawn, and only for a period of around 15 minutes. As it calls, it makes a short looping flight, somersaulting back to its perch. The high-pitched ‘call’ is not in fact a vocalisation, but a sound made by the bird’s wings as it flies. Outside of this dawn chorus, the Broadbill is silent and sits concealed by dense foliage. It was thus with some surprise that on a midday rangers-only elephant photography mission we spotted a Broadbill sitting metres from the road, exposed and in the sun. The Broadbill allowed us to follow it on foot for the best part of 15 minutes as it flitted from branch to branch, before eventually flying away, leaving us more than satisfied. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/white-rhino-and-calf-interfere-as-lions-kill-warthog For many visitors to Phinda the ‘ultimate’ sighting, the sighting most coveted, is a kill taking place, the epic battle between predator and prey in which the former must be the ultimate victor. For those guests who are lucky enough to witness such an event, few are prepared for the sound, the gore, and the sometimes uncomfortable intimacy of a kill. Such events can often arise without warning. Around 07hr30 one overcast morning, while viewing hippos on drive, we heard the unmistakable squeals of a warthog coupled with alarm barks of impala. Heading rapidly towards the source of the sound, we found a bloodied warthog standing five metres from an indignant white rhino cow and her small calf in open grassland. Competing the story were three bewildered young lions, metres from both the rhinos and the warthog which they had been in the process of killing before it had escaped and run unknowingly toward the rhinos. For a silent moment all three parties stood and looked at one another in an uneasy standoff, unsure of what to do and clearly as surprised as we were to be found in this unusual situation. Without warning the rhinos turned and trotted away from the scene as the lions rushed to the warthog, all three tearing into the squealing animal. Death came quickly under a dark sky. The lions fed ferociously, within 25 minutes leaving only a bloodied warthog head as evidence. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephant-darting-at-phinda Working at Phinda allows rangers a privileged window into the world of animal and environmental research. Several major research projects are in operation at any one time at Phinda, some running the course of many years. A number of world firsts in elephant veterinary science have taken place at Phinda. Wildlife veterinarians from around the world congregated at Phinda recently to work with Maputaland’s elephants. As part of the project, a number of African elephants were darted in order to run numerous tests and to draw sperm samples. Mature bull elephants were located by helicopter, darted from the air, and tracked by Landcruiser on the ground in order to establish a working team around the elephant within moments of the animal’s collapse. Well oiled teams then began working on the slumbering pachyderms, as tests were run and samples drawn. The particular bull elephant with which I was involved had been showing signs of discomfort in his trunk, and after darting the source of the irritation became clear as the veterinarians dug a chunk of bone the size and shape of a wallet from the animal’s trunk. The bull was then given temporary identification markings so as to avoid redarting the same individual. With the wearing off of the sleeping drugs and the onset of the wake-up drugs, the elephant rose slowly to its feet and wandered off none the worse for wear and no doubt glad to be rid of the discomfort in its trunk. It is interesting to note that from the sperm samples drawn, there seemed to be very little correlation between age and size of an elephant and the volume or quality of its sperm yield. A small number of the bulls darted appeared to be infertile. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephant-bulls-fight-in-the-water Elephants occasionally enter water to cool off on hot days. Taking to water often stimulates an unusual frivolity and playfulness amongst elephants. In a recent sighting this playfulness had a more serious undertone. After a lengthy search for elephants on the Zuka Plains area of Phinda, my tracker Alson spotted a single bull at a distance of over a kilometre. Moving into the area, we discovered that the elephant bull was moving in the company of another bull towards a large watering hole known to be the home of a substantial raft of over 25 hippos. The bulls browsed for some time around the water’s edge before beginning a playful test of strength. The younger of the two bulls then took to the water, only to be pursued by the other. Within minutes the two bulls were fully submerged, rolling over in the water and displacing waves of water as they surprised hippos beneath the surface. Their playful meeting of heads escalated into a more meaningful contest of strength, as the two elephant bulls collided with ever more force, the noise of their tusks colliding and the rushing of water creating a strange and lasting memory. The two bulls then moved into the shallows before taking their disagreement to dry land. It is in this way that dominance between elephant males is ascertained. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/young-black-rhino-chases-buffalo-herd Young animals often provide some of Phinda’s most unusual sightings, as their curiosity and foolhardiness occasionally lead them to bite off more than they can chew. While sitting amongst a large herd of buffalo grazing peacefully alongside a white rhino cow and calf, we spotted the distinctive profile of an adult male black rhino disappearing into an inaccessible thicket ahead of us. Though encourage by seeing this brief glimpse, we were also secretly frustrated by the brevity of the sighting of this very rare animal. Suddenly there was renewed excitement as we spotted a young male black rhino standing directly behind the vehicle. He began moving rapidly through the buffalo herd, stirring up clusters of resting animals as he playfully pursued small groups of exasperated buffalo through the newly green grass. Whether he had come out from a far away thicket without our knowledge, or whether he had been present and invisible within the herd the entire time, we will never be sure, but he certainly provided one my best black rhino sightings. We later found the original adult black rhino which had vanished from view, and followed him for over 20 minutes. Black rhino have historically been known for their aggression and for their unpredictable temperament. What is particularly noteworthy and encouraging is that both of these black rhinoceros showed little or no concern at our presence, in fact both approached the vehicle. Surely this is an encouraging sign for the future. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/first-impala-lambs-born-at-phinda The rains have come early to Maputaland, and with the rains new life has come in myriad varieties. Perhaps the most significant marker in the change of seasons is the birth of certain mammal species. A number of mammal species synchronise their births, meaning that all of the young of a particular species are born within a short time period at the onset of the rainy season. This offers a greater chance of survival for the individual young of impala, wildebeest and warthog in particular, as predators have many young animals from which to choose. The first impala lamb was seen in the north of the reserve by ranger Lucky Ntuli on the 5th of November, the following day I saw lambs in the south of the reserve. Several females have since dropped their young, however we still await the sight of the nurseries of young which will appear after the remainder of the impala ewes give birth. Young zebra and giraffe have been appearing for some time now, and a single litter of warthog young were seen several days ago near Mountain Lodge, heralding a time of plenty for carnivores such as lions, leopards, cheetah, jackals, hyeanas and wild dogs. Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rare-caterpillar-species-discovered-at-phinda An outbreak of an unusual caterpillar species has been plaguing AndBeyonders at Phinda. Though known to science, this rare species (scientific name Snorhirsuta Ronburgundii) has not been seen in great number since the 1970s. Throughout the month of Movember, rangers reported having seen this bristling hirsute invertebrate around the lodge, on game drive, and even in the boma during meals, where it has sought out nutrients and moisture by adhering to the facial skin of rangers and other (predominantly male) staff. A larger and more striking subspecies of the Snorhirsuta caterpillar, the Snorhirsuta Mexicanus, has also been sighted in the reserve. There are now concerns of a worldwide epidemic of Snorhirsuta Ronburgundii. *AndBeyonders worldwide are growing moustaches for the month of Movember in order to raise funds for our AndBeyond Foundation projects in Botswana’s Okavango delta.* Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/frogging-5 Anyone who has spent time at Phinda in the summer and been close to one of the many waterholes will remember the amazing sounds of the many frog species which occur in the region. One Evening we were stopped a small system of thickly reeded waterholes known as “Ngulubeni Pans” listening to the frantic advertising calls of many different frogs including Red Legged Kasina, Bubbling Kasina, Red Banded Rubber Frog and Painted Reed Frog. All of a sudden, out of the darkness five Hyenas appeared. After watching them for a while I started to explain how rare it is to see Hyena in this area. Minutes later they started to approach the water with ears cocked towards the sound of the frogs. Next their intensions became clear as they rushed into the water and started to eat the frogs. After a while the Hyenas seemed to have had their full and started to move into the thick bush. Just as quick as it had begun, it all ended and we were left knowing that we had witnessed something truly amazing! Wed, 25 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/spring-is-in-the-air Well spring has definately arrived, two days ago we ahd reports of the first baby Impala and then today on my way to the airstrip I saw the first two baby warthogs. They stand only about 10cm tall but already lift their tails when they run off. Hope to have some photos soon of all the little ones. Tue, 10 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/pygmy-geese-on-phinda Since arriving on phinda I have been looking for pygmy geese, which have been recorded in both the rivers and the dams. After almost a year of eager anticipation yesterday afternoon prestented me with a beautiful pair of these exquisite geese. I could not belive my luck, as the sun was setting the were still in the water feeding and calling to eachother but would have soon left the water to roost somewhere close for the night. These geese nest in trees now in summer, I really hope they choose to make Phinda their home. Will keep you updated:-) Mon, 09 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-magic Black rhino not only are rare but they tend to live in thick vegetation. On my latest safari my guets and i where privilaged enough to see 7 different black rhino in 2 days. First we found a male and female in the acacia savanna of the mziki marsh, the follwoing pm we found the female with here 2 month old baby (what a treat) and an hour later as we climbed through the lobombo mountains we came across a big bull who in typical fashion charged off into the brush. The following moring while tracking 2 male lions we found a differnet male and female. I was dumb struck but delighted with our luck it felt sureal. Fri, 06 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-and-white-magic These sightings are also recorded by Pip Mortlock. We couldn't believe our luck in seeing 7 different black rhino in two days. We'd never have done so had it not been for the fantastic team of Pip and Sipho. We had a feast of rhino viewing in general as, in addition to the black rhino sightings, we saw 25 white rhino, of which 5 were babies. Here are a few of the pictures we took which won't win any competitions, but have a special place in our photo album! Fri, 06 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/side-striped-jackal-pups While we were watching three white rhino this morning we noticed a side-striped jackal running in the grass. At closer inspection we saw two small pups playing close by. They were only out in the open for about 10 minutes before going back into their den. I will definately go back to that area now that I know where the den is and try to get some photos. Thu, 05 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/sundowners Another gorgeous South African Sundown, wildebeest enjoying it with us. A great photo opportunity Gareth, our thanks :) Tue, 03 November 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-calf Phinda is fast becoming one of the best reserves in Africa to view black rhino. A calf was born in the last 2 weeks taking our numbers to 25. This is the 5th calf born on the reserve. Clearly the available habitat and environmental conditions on Phinda suit these ancient animals and to have them breeding well in the wild is great for their future. The carrying capacity is believed to be double our stocked rates allowing for great expansion in the years to come. Thu, 15 October 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hippo-breach On a drive with Bruce, this bloke wanted to say "G'Day" Sat, 10 October 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-calf-1 On a great morning drive with Bruce, this lady & her babe Sat, 10 October 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/our-1st-elephant Bruce took us to this great sighting; our first elephant Sat, 10 October 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/wildebeest-dual We drove around a corner, at Forest, on our last drive with Gareth and there they were locking horns & fighting over their territory. Fri, 09 October 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-lady-her-cubs Gareth's eyes pick this lady & her cubs up from 300+m, on the airstrip but well sighted. Thu, 08 October 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-kill-on-bishoffs It’s only been a few months since the latest land addition to Phinda happened. Already the land is teaming with game, Black Rhino and Lions and now the Cheetah are starting to make it their home. We watched a young female running happily around the plains. She seems to be in between playing and hunting - chasing some impala and then bounding half heartedly after some warthogs. She kept going in the direction of a group of nyala who where feeding out in the open, she was perfectly down wind and the nyalas never saw her. She never stalked but ran inline with a large termite mound and when she was 20 m away she put on the gas. Singling out a young male she jumped on his back at this point he kicked a few time and she let go, on her second attempt she brought him to ground and then they both just sat there almost like a time out. (Inexperience showing) The nyala in shock was panting heavily but make one last dash, she was fast to react and this time killer instinct kicked in she gripped the nyala around the throat and brought a very exciting hunt to an end. With blood all over her chest her behavior was like an excited kitten jumping on the kill and pretending to kill again. She later fed till her full and by night fall had smartly moved well away. Thu, 17 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/giant-kingfisher-steals-a-kill This morning on the boat cruise we stopped to watch a Pied kingfisher which was hovering above the water looking for fish. In an instant it swooped down und dived under the water. As it surfaced we noticed it had caught a small fish. While it was flying across the river a Giant kingfisher flew past and stole the fish out of the Pied kingfishers beak. WOW!!! Tue, 15 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/wahlbergs-vs-red-duiker We had bearly left the lodge when we noticed a small red duiker running along the edge of the sand forest. As we watched it a large Wahlberg's eagle swooped down, talons out, straight at the duiker. As the eagle touched the duiker, it fled into the thick grass and the eagle pulled up.The duiker was so distressed it continued to race around for about 5min. I suspect that the wahlberg's eagles have a nest in that area as I saw the same bird flying with a branch in its beak that afternoon. This is a very unusual sighting as wahlberg's eagles usually only feed on small rodents, birds, reptiles, termites and large insects. They have also been known to molest chickens. Mon, 14 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/subadult-lions-kill-buffalo While we were watching some birds at a waterhole I noticed a herd of buffalo crossing a drainage line not far from where we were. As we approached them I commented that it would be awesome to see lions come and give us some action. As I finished my sentence, three subadult lions came bolting out the bush with the whole herd of buffalo chasing after them. This was unexpected but fabulous. The young male looped around the back of the herd and grabbed one of the calves. Its distress call alerted the rest of the herd and they turned around and raced down the hill towards the calf. The male left the calf and was chased off by some of the larger bulls, but the calfs fate was determined as it was too injured to walk and blood was coming out its nose. For an hour and a half we watched as the herd would move off, the lions would grab the calf, it would distress call and the herd would come back chasing off the lions. It was amazing to see the herd dynamics and how they worked together to fight off the lions. Two big bulls kept returning to the calf, licking it and encouraging it to walk. Eventually the male lion took the calf in his mouth and dragged it to the otherside of the drainage line. One of the bulls tried to follow but could not climb up the steep bank, and quickly realised it was in a compromising position being below three angry lions so retreated. One of the lionesses bit onto the throat and the calf was killed. Mon, 14 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-pair This morning we were ecstatic to find a pair of black rhinos in an open area feeding off a thicket. They usually move alone but I suspect that this female is currently in estrus, receptive to being mated with, and that is why she is being followed so closely by a large bull. They stayed very close together, sometimes even feeding off the same small shrub. The male would stop at intervals and spray urine, a way of marking his territory. Lets hope that in 16mths time we will have a calf. Sat, 12 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-cubs-fun-and-games This morning we went into an area of the reserve dominated by large open grasslands. We were delighted to find a cheetah and her three cubs, about 10 months old, in one of these areas. They had made a kill the previous afternoon and while we were watching them the cubs managed to remove a large bone and meat. They then proceeded to play with this bone for hours, using their paws to throw it through the air and kick it to one another. We were all in hysterics watching them chase after eachother. While all this was taking place the mother just watched on from a nearby thicket. It was evident from their behaviour that they were using this as an opportunity to practice their hunting skills. Fri, 11 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/serval-seen-at-phinda At Phinda we are privileged to enjoy some of the best cheetah viewing in the world, however one felid (cat) we seldom see is the serval (Felis serval). Thus it was with much joy that late one evening, after a fruitless search for a particular female cheetah with young cubs, I and my tracker Bongani spotted a young serval walking out in the open in acacia savanna. The serval showed little fear of the vehicle, despite the fact that in Maputaland this species and thus certainly this individual is very seldom seen and thus has not become accustomed the presence of humans. The serval appeared to be a young female, just old enough to be separated from its mother. This is excellent news, as it shows the serval population is growing. We sat with her in the dying light, as she darted after what appeared to be a small rodent. Hopefully rangers and guests will be seeing her and other servals again soon. Thu, 10 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/3-lion-kills-in-a-day It is often said that predators may use windy conditions to aid them in hunting, as prey animals are less able to use smell and hearing to detect danger. True to the theory, three different prides of lions killed within the vicinity of Phinda Mountain Lodge all within the same blustery day. During the previous night the Harrowgate pride killed a zebra within 300m of the lodge, around midday the Zuka pride killed an adult male wildebeest approximately 2km from the lodge, and just after sunset 2 lionesses (an independent splinter group of the now disbanded South pride) killed a young nyala less than 100m from the lodge boma, all providing excellent viewing. Thu, 10 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lions-attack-white-rhino-calf Although lions have killed white rhinos at Phinda, adult rhinoceros seldom fall victim to lion attacks. Most adult lions will know through experience to leave rhinos alone, and younger lions can learn a painful lesson from interaction with rhinos. Both lions and rhino calves can occasionally be killed in encounters between the species. Early one morning my tracker Bongani and I came across an unusual animal pairing on the Zuka grassland plains. The three cubs of the Zuka pride lioness (a male and two females, approximately 30 months old) were sitting within 20m of a white rhino cow and a her calf, which looked to be less than six months old. The lions would playfully stalk to within metres of the rhinos, only to be chased away by the calf which clearly felt confident in its mother’s presence. Time and again the lions would crouch in front of the calf, with the adult rhino showing no interest. Eventually the young male lion crept close enough to swipe at the hide of the calf, which ran off to shelter behind its mother, lesson learnt. To the observers it appeared as though both the young rhino and the lions were testing their strength and mettle. Although young, these lions have recently been seen attempting hunts of buffalo and other large prey. It will be interesting to see how much longer the male spends with his sisters before moving off to try and establish a territory of his own. Thu, 10 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/saving-leopards-with-the-munyawana-leopard-project The north of Phinda is predominantly broadleaved woodland interspersed with pockets of sand forest. This area is home to numerous leopards, many of which are shy and rarely seen. An unusually bold pair of male leopard cubs (offspring of the Ngoya female) has been delighting guest and rangers with excellent daytime viewing in this part of the reserve. The Munyawana leopard research project, based in and around Phinda, follows many of the leopards in the area 24 hours a day in order to understand and lessen the impact of human activity upon this persecuted leopard population. Many leopards are fitted with tracking collars to assist in monitoring their movements. In the seven years that the project has been running the leopard population density in and around Phinda has doubled to almost 12 leopards/100km sq. I had the opportunity of accompanying a film crew making a documentary about the relationship between wild leopards and a traditional group in KwaZulu Natal which makes use of leopard skins for ceremonial dress. The crew was filming the darting and collaring of one of the Ngoya female’s cubs. Tristan Dickerson, who does much of the fieldwork for the Munyawana leopard project, succeeded in darting and fitting a VHF collar to one of the 10 month old cubs shortly after nightfall, the second cub will no doubt be collared soon. Hopefully our better understanding of the relationships between leopards and people will ensure the continued survival of these enigmatic animals. Attached are several images of the young male two days before collaring, as well as a number of images of the darting operation. For more information see www.leopardresearch.org Thu, 10 September 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/honey-badger-in-daylight Approaching one of the watering holes to investigate if a single lioness was still present in the area. She made a wildebeest kill which was mor or less 3 days old carcass. Myself and Thembinkosi jumped of the vehicle to go and look if the lioness is still around or any fresh tracks around the carcass. We got to the carcass, approximately 10m away and suddenly Thembinkosi grabbed my arm and said: "Look, Look Honey Badger there" I saw the movement arond the neck area of the wildebeest carcass in the thicket, but didnt realize immediately that it was a Honey Badger. The Honey Badger saw us and slowly moved away out of the back of the thicket. We then went to the vehicle, which wasnt too far away in order to establihs a sighting. The Honey Badger didnt move far off but went lying down flat on its belly in another close by thicket. Wed, 19 August 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopards-at-the-homestead the African Homestead is Phinda latest addition to our exclusive luxuary lodges. whats more of a luxuary for me is the female leopard and her 2 young male cubs that are frequenting the area. We have had numerous sighting from the lodge deck and this moring i photographed them playing in the near by pan system. Sun, 16 August 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/tails-up Yesterday was a busy day on Phinda being our annual game count. We were lucky to find one of our female black rhinos in the open grasslands of the northern parts of the reserve. She was clearly not her relaxed self, and was trotting around with her tail up. I suspect it was the noise from the helicopter which was alarming her. We watched her for about half an hour. It was fantastic to see how agile this massive animal looked and how fast she could move. Sun, 19 July 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/sunrise-playtime On yet another crisp cool morning we headed out to the western end of the reserve in search of beautiful scenes and whatever we could see! with the golden sunrise warming our backs, we all got quite excited from a call on the radio of a family of cheetah- not too far from where we were! on arriving we were delighted to find a mother cheetah and her 3 sub-adult youngsters basking in the early morning warmth. not 10 mtrs away stood 3 zebra and a white rhino and her calf. To the utter disgust of the very lethargic zebra , one of the young cheetah(apparently bored of lying around ) decided to try and chase the zebra. Only to be repused and have mommy cheetah intervene and hold the zebra at bay with some very aggressive hisses and spits! this cat and zebra game continued until as usual the youngsters got bored and moved onto the more challenging task of sleeping again! Sun, 12 July 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lionesses-on-the-hunt This morning we found the three lionesses which dominate the northern territories of Phinda. They are magnificent. They have been looking to hunt since yesterday and were moving quickly through the woodland. We eventually lost sight of them in some thick bush but I'm very eager to go and see if they have managed to make a kill during the day. Mon, 06 July 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/big-five-in-a-drive This afternoon we set out on a scenic drive, but as always in the bush you never know what you might find. We were just blessed to see the big five aswell as a female cheetah and her three cubs in one drive. Sun, 05 July 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-cubs-3 Early this morning we found tracks of a female leopard who had crossed the road just before we had gotten there. We know that the female that moves in that territory has two male cubs so we decided to follow her tracks back to where she had come from hoping to see the youngsters. We assumed that she was probably going looking for some water. Eventually we found an area where her tracks aswell as the cubs tracks went off the road and when we looked into the area of sand forest we could just see the cubs playing on the forest floor. We sat quietly watching the cubs and once they noticed us they slowly began to move closer. They seemed very relaxed with our presence and were soon close to the vehicle playing with eachother and climbing up into the trees. We watched them for well over an hour before leaving them. Sat, 04 July 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/what-a-mouthfull We were lucky to come across three sub-adult lions on the move this morning. There was one young male, just starting to develop his mane, and his two sisters. It was the first time I had seen these three without their mother. They seemed to be walking looking for her and softly calling, probably trying to find out where she had gone to. As they were walking, the male suddenly left the road interested in something on the edge of a thicket. We could not see exactly what was happening but the squeals of a piglet quickly confirmed our suspicions. Within a miniute a very proud lion ran out the bush with a warthog in his mouth. He feasted on it and when he was finished his sisters devoured the scraps. It awesome to see the lions hunting successfully without their mothers help. Tue, 30 June 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-bull-attack-sub-adult-female This was a morning drive where we were heading towards the northern territories of the reserve. In the northern part there are big open marshland areas. As we approached one of the main watering holes, I suddenly stopped and spotted two black rhinos running in the distant grasslands. My initial impression was that it is a mother with a sub adult calf. The black rhinos carried on running but this time the animal we suspected or assumed to be the mother was a bull who was hitting the sub adult female with his horns. This hitting was all taking place around the genital areas and she was bleeding quite severely. The sub adult was also squealing quite a lot but eventually got away from the bull. This sub adult might have been a stranger in the bulls territory or he might have wanted to mate with her. She didn’t look interested and are still very young which could have led to all the aggression and fighting. Special thanks to Paul Kinsella for the photoghraphs. Sat, 20 June 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-on-foot To see cheetah in close proximity is always a breath taking experience but when you are on foot it is just that much more amazing. This afternoon another Phinda ranger and I decided to go and look for two male cheetah which had been seen earlier this morning. We parked the vehicle and decided to walk into the woodland where we believed they might be. We had been walking for about fifteen miniutes when I heard the grass moving and spotted one of the males walking off about 50m away, the other male was close but remained lying down, merley lifting his head as to acknowledge our presence. Just being there, able to watch them was awesome. What a privaledge!!! Thu, 18 June 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lethargic-lions There is a coalition of three male lions on Phinda. These brothers are in their prime, approximately five years old, and are absolutly exquisite. They seem to be ruling Phinda and move around the entire reserve. This morning they were seen in the south and as the day warmed up they found a Guarri thicket to rest under and fell into a deep sleep. They lay side by side, very close to one another. I sat for about half an hour just watching them sleep and admiring their incredible size. Its quite something to see them looking so peacefull and knowing their unbelievable strength. Even though they were not active just being in their presence was fantastic. Wed, 17 June 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/interesting-giraffe-behaviour Passing by a group of giraffe on drive I noticed some peculiar behaviour. As I stopped for a closer inspection I was amazed to see one adult female giraffe drinking from another adult. This was something I had never seen before. The one that was suckling was bent over in a very strange, uncomfortable looking position, with its legs splayed and neck contorted so as to reach the teats. The other female was just standing, seeminly quite relaxed with this. I enquired about this with our researcher and she informed me that giraffe and rhino both exhibit this behaviour when one of the females has begun to lactate, before the birth of her calf. It may possibly be a mechanism by which the pressure in the teats is relieved or the females which drink the milk are just making the most of the nutritious colostrum. Tue, 16 June 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/so-much-more-than-expected Phinda has recently dropped fences with one of its neighbours and we are all very excited about the new property. This afternoon we decided to go spend some time exploring this area. Not expecting to see anything but rather just spend time and watch the sunset over the open grasslands was the general idea. We headed straight there and as we arrived we were greated by a beautiful pair of Black-breasted snake eagles, what a sight. Their eyes and white bellies glowed golden in the sunset. We stopped to look around and see if we could spot anything and in the distance we saw a small herd of buffalo, and quickly made our way there. We also saw reedbuck, nyala, impala, and warthogs. As the light was fading we decided to start making our way back to the lodge. I was absolutly ecstatic when we noticed a big grey figure in the road infront of us. It was a black rhino and her small calf. They quickly turned around and put their heads in the thicket leaving one BIG and one cute little bum in the road for us to admire. Not wanting to upset mom or baby we decided to turn around and go another route home. What a surprise, I could not wait to get back to the lodge to tell everyone about our lucky find!!! Sat, 13 June 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/what-a-walk Morning walks can turn out to be much more than expected. We left camp around nine and drove to an area of broad-leafed woodland and open grassland. About 100m into the walk we were surprised by a cheetah which ran off through a clearing into a thicket, what a start! We spent a lot of time birding and althogh it was fairly hot there was a buzz of activity. Among the species spotted were Yellow- bellied greenbuls, Terrestrial brownbuls, Yellow- breasted apalis, Rudd's apalis, Long- billed crombec, Grey penduline tit, Collared sunbirds,Diederiks cuckoo, Chin-spot batis, Black- crowned Tchagra and Black Cuckooshrikes. We also found tracks of a Bateleur eagle which had been walking on the ground, and while following them a large male bateleur flew up infront of us and circled above. Later an old bateleur nest was found with bones underneath it, evidence of previous feasts. Other animals seen on the walk were Nyala, Impala, Red duiker and Grey duiker. Tracks of an Antbear, lion, honey badger, porcupine and leopard were also seen. And all that in a short walk:-) Fri, 05 June 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/action-round-the-waterhole Winter always seems to bring about a lot of excitement around the waterholes. As we arrived at one of the pans in the northern end of Phinda we found a pride of four lionesses feeding on a Nyala. What a great sight, two of the lionesses were sleeping off their meal while the other two continued to feast on their kill. While we were watching them we heard branches breaking and tummies rumbling which let us know a herd of elephants was moving into the area. We quickly moved away from the lions and watched as the elephants came past them, trumpeted and chased the lions off. The elephants then proceeded to eagerly run down to the water and drink their full. The herd was made up of about twenty individuals, large cows all the way down to small calves. Once the elephants had left the lionesses came back into the open aswell as three large white rhino cows and a small calf, not much older than three months. We were absolutly blown away by everything going on around us. On our way back to the lodge we found fresh male leopard tracks which moved into the woodland. We switched off the vehicle and after about two miniutes of silence we heard the leopard roaring only about 60m off the road. Although we did not see the leopard it was awesome to hear him and know that he was so close. Again an absolutly fantastic afernoon on Phinda. Wed, 03 June 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/incredible-leopard-sighting Coming back from morning drive we were pleasantly surprised to pass a leopard lying, in the shade of an acacia, next to the road. It was a young male and he seemed very relaxed with our presence. While we were watching him he moved into a large open clearing and began stalking some zebra with young foals. The zebra were alerted to his presence due to the alarming of cissticolas flying above the leopard. After the zebra ran off the leopard moved into the road infront of our vehicle and then slowly made its way into the shade and lay down. We managed to watch him for over an hour and a half which was spectacular. Being in morning light this leopard caused great excitement for eager photographers. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-1 As we arrived at a large open grassland area we were ecstatic to find a black rhino bull feeding on some young acacias. While we watched, he moved around into a thicket stopping regularly to spray urine. A young wildebeest walked right up to the rhino and put his head down in an almost challenging manner. The rhino quickly asserted his dominance by giving the wildebeest a small charge which left him running. The rhino then peacefully carried on browsing. It was awesome to get a close up look at his prehensile lip in action and to hear him chewing through twigs. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/total-domination Coalition of 3 The 3 male lions born form the Sutton pride and taking Phinda by storm. They are 3 very testosterone driven males. Having dislodged the North Pride Male it’s now the turn of their father. Nature is cruel. I was privileged enough to be there the day these males chased the north pride male out and by chance we followed these males tracks all the way into the southern depths of Phinda where we witnessed the same chasing aggression this time towards the old south pride male their father. Over the lat few weeks everything is on the run cheetah, lion cubs and even whole prides are dodging them and the ones that are found are mating with them to create diversions for their cubs. Take over are cruel but a fascinating part of the natural system. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-and-cubs Nothing get rangers more excited than fresh leopard drag marks early in the morning. Mlu and i followd the drags on foot untill we saw 2 other sets of tracks that of cubs. We returned to the vehicle and made our way in. we where greeted by 2 very inquisitive youngsters. while mom lay in the thicket near to her hard earned nyala kill we enjoyed the company of the cubs. The tropical bush veld of Phinda make lepoard viewing tough but with increasing densities and sighting like this the future is exciting. Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lioness-chased-of-her-zebra-kill One of our main watering holes there was a lioness spotted. She was on a fresh zebra kill. At the same time there was also audio of a herd of elephants in the distance. It sounded like the herd was making its way down to the watering hole. A few minutes collapsed and through the thickets the herd approached the water. The lioness made the kill right next to the water and as she heard the elephants she just backed off like 50 meters from her kill. One of the matriarchs picked up the scent of the lioness and went to investigate. As the matriarch realized there was a lioness in front of her she picked up speed and ran straight towards it. The lioness was in threat and jumped up and ran away. The matriarch didn’t stop and was crashing bushes as she was chasing the lioness. The rest of the herd came for back up, as if it was needed?. They were all standing in one line behind the matriarch. This was great interaction between these two species and amazing to see how much elephants dislikes lions. Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/new-bird-on-phinda On an afternoon drive, we came across a number of birds larming and my tracker and I thought it was a snake. And at a closer look we came across a Pearl Spotted Owlet. (This bird's distribution does not occur in this area). Which had been mobbed by Scarlet Chested Sunbird, Chinspot Batis, Goldentailed Woodpecker, Cape Glossy Starling, Yellow Canary, Forked Tail Drongo. Too name a few, this is strange because these birds do not come across these predators often. Mon, 20 April 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/three-male-lions-against-four-white-rhino The 3 male lions was seen the morning on drive and this afternoon we decided to go look for them that same day. We search for quite a while, went for sundowners and eventually between 19h00 and 20h00 these males appeared into the open areas. They must have been sleeping the whole day in one of the thickets on the edges of the marsh land. The amazing thing was they were lying not further than three meters from 4 white rhino. The White rhino would get closer to the lions and the reaction from the males was short growl and grunt. With the rhinos not being intimidated the males would back off a couple of meters, but not far away. The white rhino carried on and on doing this to these males. The white rhino was definitely not scared and it was great interaction between the two species. The most interesting thing was that the males kept backing off only a few meters all the time as if they were waiting for a opportunity to move in on the white rhino. The white rhino were in control at all times with their big horns pointing in the direction of the lions. Sat, 04 April 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/unusual-nocturnal-interaction Having found the distinct pug marks of 2 lionesses in the morning, short of time we promised to return to the area that afternoon to continue the search. It didn’t go too well. We spent the entire afternoon, driving, tracking, planning, strategizing, imagining exactly where the 2 lionesses might be, only to know avail. Close to admitting defeat, we stopped for drinks amidst the glow cast by the setting sun, hoping the lionesses might show themselves under the cover of darkness. A mere 15 minutes after our break, we found them steadily pacing along one of the many roads we had thoroughly searched earlier. The 2 lithe cats passed a couple of meters from us, and we slowly followed them in an eerie glow cast by the rising full moon. We followed them into an area of long grass where they suddenly stopped, peering at the ground. We followed suite and switched off the engines and spotlights. Suddenly there was a piercing scream and in the light provided by the moon we watched the ghostly forms of the lionesses chasing something in the grass. 2 small forms hurtled past our vehicle and we came to the realization that they were white-tailed mongooses, normally solitary and secretive nocturnal predators, which the lions had scared out of a burrow. The screeching eventually came to an end as a lioness caught one of the unfortunate creatures and killed it with a crushing bite. After briefly playing with the limp mongoose, the 2 lionesses melted away into the darkness, leaving us contemplating an unusual and uneven interaction between 2 nocturnal hunters. Thu, 26 March 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/phinda-on-youtube I found this clip of Phinda on Youtube! (You need to click through to the see the clip...) Wed, 25 March 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-in-the-grassland-marula-tree This morning we were doing the long trip from the north to the south in search of some big herds of elephants. We spotted some elephants in the far distance of the open grassland savannah. We were trying to work out what route will be the easiest as the elephants were still far away. This route that we took and turned onto had a little ridge that consisted of grassland mainly. In the far distance down the road was a small marula tree. As we got closer one of my guest said. Stop, stop what is up the tree there! I looked through my binoculars and there it was, a male leopard lying on one of the branches. Suddenly our eyes were off the elephants on the far ridge and everybody going wild with their cameras. Leopard sightings in the day is a rare sighting for us on Phinda especially so in the open, but what a luck and a day not to be forgotten with still a big breeding herd of elephants as second prize. Mon, 09 March 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/what-a-surprise-of-the-day After the breakfast we took our guest back to old mountain gate they did spend three nights with us at the lodge the coach was waiting at that gate we were driving very slowly on main road and one of our guest was keen birder so we spotted the eagle flying high in the sky we all took the binoculars to look at that eagle which was flying at high speed, the other end they was troop of monkeys under the tree making a lots of noise we thought it was the predator cheetah or lions but is was the crowned eagle coming down with full speed we stopped driving we wanted to see the actions a few second later the crowned eagle had a monkey on its claws struggling to fly, the eagle went down again and again try to fly final he did manage to fly high the monkey was still alive we could hear the noise coming from the sky, the guest were delighted with the sighting what an excitement of the day we won’t forget that what a surprise for the monkey. Thu, 19 February 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyaena-vs-lions-1 It was around six thirty in the evening spending the entire afternoon looking for the lions with the report from our fellow rangers that they have been some three lioness around five ways area killed two zebras and one male nyala those lioness usually come from the northern side of the reserve we have four different pride in the game reserve so we searched for the tracks all over the area going towards Ndabani open area going forwards and backs wards with no lucky we could only smell the carcass of zebras it was starting getting dark the sun was behind us going down ubombo mountain to the west of the lodge and the sky getting red in horizon our tracker mduduzi come with the plan to go and quench our thirsty so we drove towards ammonite dam for drinks break soon after the break the francloins we calling from the other side of the ammonite dam and we heard hyaena calling again we told our lovely guest to get into the vehicle so that we could go and look for the hyaena which were calling between kaths road and twin river as we were about to turn to the other road our tracker with full of joy sported the two lioness running down along the road for their life and we waited to see what was happening to our surprise we saw eight hyaena also come out of the tall grass chasing those three lioness and one lioness went back into the bush as soon as she disappeared we had the interaction of the hyaena and two female lions and the hyaena come out strong they chased the two lioness off the zebra carcass we waited for any hour and half thinking the lioness will come back to the carcass but with no lucky we drove around the area heading to the three old carcass where the old female lioness were sighted as we arrived we saw all three lioness lying in the tall grass and other end the hyaenas were enjoying the other carcass of the zebra this is one of the most successful pride in the reserve when it comes for hunting all ways getting two different animals per hunting what an amazing animals. Mon, 16 February 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyena-den-on-phinda Phinda has a Hyena den In the south of the reserve, we have a spotted hyena den. As the sun is setting and there are hues of orange and purple. As you arrive at the den, in the darkness of the hole in the termite mound, and if you sit dead quiet you will be rewarded with reflection of the cubs’ eyes. There are 3 cubs, two of which are spotted, and the third is still dark. These cubs are very playful and given the time can be very curious even coming up to the vehicle to investigate the strange object. And if you sit there long enough the adults will return to the den and you may see interaction between adults and cubs. Fri, 13 February 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyaena-vs-lions It was around six thirty in the evening spending the entire afternoon looking for the lions with the report from our fellow rangers that they have been some three lioness around five ways area killed two zebras and one male nyala those lioness usually come from the northern side of the reserve we have four different pride in the game reserve so we searched for the tracks all over the area going towards Ndabani open area going forwards and backs wards with no life and we waited to see what was happening to our surprise we saw eight hyaena also come out of the tall grass chasing those three lioness and one one the most successful pride in the reserve when it come for hunting all ways getting two different animals per hunting what an lucky we could only smell the carcass of zebras it was starting getting dark the sun was behind us going down ubombo mountain to the west of the lodge and the sky getting red in horizon our tracker mduduzi come with the plan to go and quench our thirsty so we drove towards ammonite dam for drinks break soon after the break the francloins we calling from lioness went back into the bush as soon as she disappeared we had the interaction of the hyaena and two female lions and the hyaena come out strong they chased the two lioness off the zebra carcass we waited for any hour and half thinking the lioness will come back to the carcass but with no lucky we drove around the area heading to the three old carcass where the old female lioness were sighted as we arrived we saw all three lioness lying in the tall grass and other end the hyaena was enjoying the other carcass of the zebra this is the other side of the ammonite dam and we heard hyaena calling again we told our lovely guest to into the so that we could go and look for the hyaena which were calling between kaths road and twin river as we were about to turn to the other road our tracker with full of joy sported the two lioness running down along the road for their amazing animals. Tue, 10 February 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/kudu-faces-a-cat-astrophe Everyday in the bush is full of exciting action and incredible interaction between the animals. There is never a dull moment and a recent gamble into a remote section of the reserve paid off with an amazing lion hunt and kill. We headed out with a Rangers Breakfast so that we could spend more time out in the bush with the hope of seeing some action. It was a hot, dry morning so we decided to check a pan of water. As we approached the area we picked up fresh lion tracks and decided to check the waterhole for the lions. It paid off and we found two huge lionesses lying against a thicket alongside a large game trail waiting in ambush for the general game coming down to the waters edge to drink. We parked in the shade of a large tree on the opposite side of the pan and watched for the next hour and a half as the lionesses stalked and chased numerous warthogs and nyala without any luck. Eventually as the heat rose to the low 30”C the lionesses headed down to the waters edge for a drink and then settle down and rest for the day. While the lions were crouched at the waters edge an old female kudu came down to drink on the opposite side of the pan. The lions crouched down staring intently at the kudu. As soon as they realized the poor condition and vulnerability of the kudu the hunt was on... The lions flanked out going in different directions to surround the kudu. The younger lioness sprinted from cover to cover stalking closer towards the unsuspecting kudu. Finally without even breaking her stride she exploded from the bush up above the kudu and came barreling down on it. There was an incredible splash as the kudu sprinted for cover but the lioness was already upon her. It hit her from the side and the two of them were sent spinning in the dust. The lioness then jumped up and pounced upon the kudu pinning her to the ground. The older lionesses came racing in and grabbed the kudu by the throat ending the struggle with a swift bite to the neck. It was an incredible hunt and struggle to witness. We sat their stunned by the cold, cruel precision of the hunt and the lack of mercy of nature but what a privilege to have witnessed such a rare sighting. Fri, 06 February 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-killer-time When one thinks about kills, images of powerful lionesses or swift cheetahs ending the lives of some unfortunate ungulate come to mind. However when one drops from the heavyweight to the lightweight corner a whole new world of carnage is revealed. On a cloudy afternoon, just before game-drive, a couple of us rangers were alerted to the presence of a snake near the reception offices. We quickly made our way to where the snake was spotted. As we approached it darted rapidly across the path in front of us, heading for the cover of some dry leaf litter and rocky area. Suddenly it changed direction and in a flash had a large skink clamped tightly in its jaws. We watched as within minutes the writhing skink became limp. We struggled to identify the snake but at quick glance it appeared to be a Mozambique Spitting Cobra. The following day, while out on game drive this time, we were alerted to a small flock of Cape Glossy Starlings calling furiously near the top of a Scented Pod Acacia. Our tracker John, then spotted a medium sized (approximately 1.5m-2m long) African Rock Python right at the top of the tree. Myself and John took a walk to investigate further. On closer inspection we saw a Red-faced Mousebird within the coils of the snake, slowly being constricted. It was an impressive catch for the obviously relatively young snake as it would’ve required extreme patience and expert ambush techniques for the snake to make the kill. Either that or a little lapse in awareness on the unfortunate bird’s behalf. Thu, 05 February 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/happy-times During a morning game drive to the marsh we came across a bull black rhino, which wanted to mate with a female white rhino, which had a small calf and the was bull white rhino in the area and as the bull black rhino, came to mate, it got chased by the female white rhino. In the same area we came across 2 Secretary birds trying to catch a larger snake looking like 2 panicking people who had just won the lottery awesome! Wed, 04 February 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/baby-hippo-takes-first-swim This morning we went to one of the usual spots for hippo viewing. After approximately 15 minutes sitting at the dam suddenly one of my guest said. “Theres another one out of the water!” As we looked we saw behind her on the dam wall this tiny calve. She was very aware as she was making her way into the shallow water. In the water the calve was trying to get onto the mothers back. The other hippos started approaching the mother to see who is the new member of the raft. The mother was very protective but not too nervous with all the other hippos coming closer to investigate. Mon, 02 February 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/water-sports On a hot afternoon drive we went out looking for lions. After a while we came across a pan, where there were 8 lions resting in the shade, one of the lionesses was lying away form the rest of the pride and she was well camouflaged, against a old grey log next to the dam, where she was watching a number of nyala coming down to drink, waiting patiently for the nyala to come and drink. As the nyala put their heads down to drink the lioness would get up and stalk. Being such a hot day the nyala drank for a while, so the lioness got really close. Then with a bolt of speed she ran for the nyala, but not making a kill she returned to the pan for a drink, another lioness which saw some Zebra coming down to drink, where she stalked the zebra , but also not making a kill. Also giving up the lioness returned to the pan. An older lioness came down to have a drink, whilst she was drinking a crocodile, surfaced near to her and she growled at the crocodile. Near to the lioness was a Water Monitor, which was spooked by the lion, went into the water, thus interesting the crocodile in the water monitor, at the same time, the crocodile, got a paw to the head and the Water monitor got away across the pan, through a raft of hippos, towards where we were parked. Managing to get out of the water, the water monitor rested near to our vehicle. Mon, 26 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/the-leopard-on-the-termite-mound The leopard on termite mound It was on the 26th of January 2009 when we left the lodge heading to north of the reserve looking for elephants, we drove for the whole afternoon with no success decided to go the sand forest to show my guest one of our preserved area in the reserve we did spend just half an hour into the sand forest and than we proceedered further north towards the marsh as we were about to turn into main zinave we picked some tracks of elephants heading in easterly direction towards pipeline at junction bushbuck and gundwane we took hyaena line the short cut into mziki marsh as we approached the antbear south we headed further more south towards bischoff boundary just about hundred yards to the western side of the road one of my guest with an excitement pointed to the right where the Male leopard was lying on top of the termite mound we watched the animals for about twenty minutes that male leopard was so relaxed and the other end we had two black magic which is black rhinos also very relaxed few minutes later a male leopard was starting getting nervous looking both side of the area we noticed something coming through the palm trees few minutes later the whole breeding heading of elephants came out of the thicket bush going towards we were picked, the leopard disappeared into the grass running away from the king of the jungle elephants and we also left the area going to quench our thirsty for celebrations of the three out of big five.. Mon, 26 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/saved-by-trumphet what an amazing sighting it was the afternoon game/drive as we left the lodge searching for some elephants, we were about to cross the mhlosinga river going into sutton one of my guest saw a head of elephants hearding south along mangos alley we did follow them for a while and few minutes later we saw some six cheetah come down the hill at full speed stalking some head of impala we had a choice of sighting as my guest were interested in seeing elephants so we waited to see what cheetahs where upto to our surprise the cheetah chased the impala into the head of elephants and the drama started, the elephants stormed at the cheetah charging, trumpheting towards the sixcheetah which one the cheetah did already catch the ewe impala, they took them for distance before some few elephants come back to the area to check and protected the half dead impala for some seconds the ewe impala got up and disapear into the dry river bed but we did not get a chance to go and check the area because some elephants were still around the area so we left for some sundown break, what an interesting sighting to see. Thu, 22 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-strange-encounter As Brett Drew and I were driving a group together, we came across a female cheetah and 2 cubs, near a large dry water hole early one morning drive. The 3 were lying down on an open piece of ground, rolling around in the sand, when one of our guests spotted an animal that we don’t see with a lot of frequency on Phinda, it was a Spotted Hyena. The hyena are elusive animals on Phinda due to there large territories and nocturnal forays for food, evidence of which is always betrayed by there tracks, dung and chards of thick bones scattered around the remains of a carcass. Sighting of these shy animals are rare and cherished even if for a brief moment. These to large predators took no notice of each other nor did they even see each other when the hyena walked passed at close proximity to the cheetahs. We were all anticipating an epic battle of the spots! As we took a closer look at the hyena, we noticed that it had been rolling in mud and some of its spots were obscured by the drying substrate. The hyena lay around a bit in the middle of the road before disappearing away with no further appearance of this special animal. The guests were relieved that the hyena did not harm the cheetah. It was a sighting to remember. Wed, 21 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-chase On a hot afternoon game drive we were following up on 3 sub adult cheetah. This ended up on the inkwazi flood plain. We watched them drink and then the 3 cheetah started to hunt around a small clump of bushes, after a while the cheetah had gone quite far then the cheetah spooked another cheetah and then ran after it. 2 cheetah stayed at the river not allowing the female to return to her young cubs, and the 2 sub adults returned to where they found the young cubs, the sub adults growled at each other for 20 minutes lying down with the young cubs. In total there were 8 cheetah in this area. Making it a very strange but very interesting watching the interaction between all the cheetah. Sun, 18 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/more-and-more-honey-badgers Recently there have been a lot more sightings of honey badgers at Phinda. Interestingly, research has shown that honey badgers are in danger of becoming endangered, and in the most recent South African Red Data List (2002) they are listed as Near Threatened. The south of the reserve is where an increase in activity has been most noticeable. I have been fortunate enough to see a number of these amazing nocturnal animals, both during the day and night. Majority of the honey badgers that I have encountered have been walking along roads or crossing them into the thickets. I have also had the opportunity of coming across two different males during broad daylight, once in the morning and the other during the afternoon. Their relatively small size, frequently solitary and nocturnal behavior, make these generalist carnivores difficult to record, and when one witnesses them it is very often a brief experience. In the last three weeks I was lucky enough to see 3 different honey badgers. The first one I saw with my guests was near a water pan during the morning, not long after leaving the lodge. While the other two were seen together a few nights later, this sighting was the best sighting I have had of honey badgers at night. My guests and I watched a male and female walking down the road together. Then suddenly they would start growling at each other and end up engaging in what looked like a fight, as they rumbled in the sand. This took place a couple of times before they disappeared into the darkness. Sun, 18 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-battle-of-two-kings it was on 16th of january we left the lodge for early game/drive with my six guest looking for cheetah, we took about an searching for them around Harrowgate south as we were about stop for coffee break.our tracker sighted female cheetah and three cubs on top of the termite mound, we approached very slowly to get a look at them but the mother moved slowly into the thick bush stalking, we thought she was stalking an antelope like nyala, but it was a young male leopard coming through the grass than the interaction started, the young male leopard was a little bit nervous he went up on the tree and cheetah come so close trying her lucky to climb the tree which she could not and the cubs went missing for about half any hour in into the bush. we waited for sometime to see what was happening the leopard come down with full speed chasing the cheetah but she did not move she kept on coming towards the leopard hissing final she won the battle because the leopard disapeared into the thick bush. that was a wonderfull sighting for seeing one of the weakest cats being so successful. Sat, 17 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-bull-interaction One morning on the marsh we spotted two black rhino in the distance. At first we thought it was a bull and cow pairing up for mating. However, on arrival we discovered it was two bulls interacting. They first slowly moved very close to one another where upon their horns touched. Surprisingly, following 15 minutes or so of gently sniffing each other, it was the bigger of the two bulls that turned and ran off, with the smaller one, initially, in hot pursuit. Only once the bigger black rhino had opened up a gap of a couple of hundred meters did he stop and take count of his pursuant, who, by that stage, appeared to have lost interest in the game. Once again it appears that size doesn’t always count! Thu, 15 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/mother-cheetah-teaches-young On an afternoon game drive, Leonard my tracker sees a female cheetah and her two young cubs in the shade of a White Saffron. The young cubs were showing a lot of interest to something at the base of the tree. On a closer look one of my guests discovers that the young cubs had cornered a young warthog that must have staid to far from its mother. The cubs were very unsure of what to do with the little thing and seemed content to slap it around which evoked a loud squeal from the piglet. This persisted for a while until the warthog managed to creep deep into a nearby thicket. After a while, the cubs lost interest. At this, the mother got up and promptly went to look for the next unwary meal for her cubs to practice on. This didn’t take long and within half an hour the mother had caught a baby impala. The mother only subdued the poor youngster before encouraging the cubs to practice their killing technique. What an incredible sighting the guests experienced in the middle of the Zululand bushveld. Wed, 14 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/african-rock-python-and-monkeys On a morning game drive we stopped to look at a small breeding heard of buffalo, and in the distance we heard a troop of monkey’s alarming so we followed up, on the monkey’s and we stopped to listen where we heard an animal in distress. Trying to find the predator and myself and my tracker went and followed the alarmed monkeys and the bush got thicker and our theory of which predator it was that had caught the animal. We came across the thicket where we found the alarmed monkey. But we could not find the cat. So we looked again and we came across an African rock python killing a grey duiker. Tue, 13 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/crowned-eagle-demonstrates-his-power On returning to rock lodge after a pretty quiet morning in the bush,we were blown away when we heard a very strange noise. My tracker Pat, said that it was perhaps a leopard busy suffocating he's victim, but as we got closer the truth reveals that a juvenile eagle (crowned) has hit the jackpot. An nyala fawn not older than 2 weeks was so severly concussed that he couldn't even stand on his wobbly legs. The eagles impressive talons penetrated just behind the victims ear and the eyeball of the little baby was clearly out of its socket. It was the maternal instinct that suprised me,when it was actually the confused mother nyala giving the destress calls. The crowned eagle was sitting in a fever tree not far from his slowly dying target and waiting patiently for him to blow out his last baby breath. Mon, 12 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-lays-low-up-a-marula-tree Leopard sightings on Phinda are a very special occurrence. On our way to a favourite sundowner spot Zakele knocked on the bonnet and indicated very fresh female leopard tracks (Earlier we had seen three male lions in that same area.). We were following the leopard tracks onto an adjacent road when one of the other rangers, coming from the opposite direction and only one hundred or so meters away from us, informed us that they had just located a female leopard up a tree. As he called us on the radio we picked up the three male lions again, this time lying on the road in front of us!...So we sat and watched the lions while the others watched the leopard. The leopard was no doubt aware of the lions close proximity as she continued to sleep very soundly despite the calls of a distressed young impala, stuck in the mud, just thirty meters from the base of the tree. However, the lions seemed oblivious to the leopard’s location as they paid no attention in her direction at all. Fri, 09 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/over-ambitious-cats The glowing sun began to slowly sink towards the distant horizon. A magnificent golden hue was cast across the rolling plains that predominate this expansive corner of Phinda. A very good area to find herds of buffalo and white rhino. We were were searching the area for a few lions which form part of the pride that dominate this area of the reserve. In the dying light, after following tracks for some time, another ranger found them, 3 lionesses and 3 one-year old cubs. We quickly made our way to the big cats. While watching them, a white rhino and her 2 year old calf strolled into the scene. This was too much for the lionesses to take, and soon enough all 3 were stalking the lumbering grey rhinos through the tall grass. If separated from its mother, the calf may have been a serous target for the cats, however the constant presence of its 2 ton mother turned the stage into a comedy. The rhinos struggled to sense the lionesses which got up to within a couple of meters of their unsuspecting targets. A short rush and as they leapt for the prehistoric animals the rhinos quickly spun around, and the apearance of the horn was enough to change the lionesses direction mid flight. This game of over ambitious cats and over-annoyed heavy weight ‘mice’ continued until dark, when eventually the lions lost interest and melted away into the night, leaving the white rhino in peace. Thu, 08 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/crash-of-black-rhino There are just less than 4000 black rhino left in the world- an incredibly scary thought. We are very fortunate to have 25 of these magnificent animals in Phinda, and this small and isolated population has been on the increase, with a number of calves having been born since their reintroduction into the area. In the vastness of Phinda’s myriad of habitats however, one is still considerably lucky to spot one of these elusive, predominately solitary beasts. Searching for lion one morning however, we were greeted by an incredible sight. Coming around a corner in relatively dense acacia thickets we spotted 4 grey animals. Mid-way through casually calling them white rhino, I took a very sudden second glance- 4 black rhinos together in a clearing. They got as much as a shock as i did and started to move off. We tried our best to keep them in view but lost them in some thickets. It appeared as if there was a female and calf, as well as 2 bulls in attendance. An incredibly unusual and lucky sighting to see! Thu, 08 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-magic The sun had just touched the horizon on the Zuka hills, the rays were transforming the sky from blue to rich orange. I drove onto the wide open plains, and in the distance Xolani spotted two large grey figures, this is what I was hoping for. I stopped and switched off the Land Cruiser. I raised my binoculars to get a better look, and saw it was 3 black rhino’s, a large bull, a cow and a small little calf. We edged slightly closer, and then turned around in my seat, I whispered to my guests, “Something special is going to happen”. We slowly moved into the perfect viewing position to view the animals, we just watched them, the guest asked me why the bull was there, and I responded with, I think he is there for ulterior motives. All of a sudden the cow just turned with her back to the bull, and he walked up to her and rested his head on her back and then he gave a couple loud snorts then mounted her. It seemed she wasn’t quite ready, and she took a brisk step forward, turning around in a flash, as if the bull, as all males in this situation had done something wrong. I knew that this wasn’t over, so we decided to stay see what happens from a distance. We drove up the plains to a beautiful vantage point where we could still clearly see the rhinoceros. My self and Xoalani decided that this would be the perfect spot to celebrate the end of a fantastic safari with some amazing people. We quickly set up and offered some drinks around. Just as we were all about to quench our thirst we heard squealing. I picked up my binoculars and scanned to where the three rhinoceros were left, and as I had thought would happen, the bull had mounted the cow again, and it was in fact the calf that was squealing. This went on for about ten minutes, he then dismounted and the three of them ran around in circles for about five minutes. The excitement was just exhilarating, I was at a loss of words, as I looked around, and no one had even lifted their glasses to take a sip. This was one of my most special moments on Phinda, and I can’t wait to find something that will match or even beat a moment in time like we got to witness. Thu, 08 January 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/wild-dog-pups-in-hluhluwe-zululand-rsa These Wild Dog pups were with a large pack and we were very fortunate to see them. The adult dogs were hidden away but the pups gave their position away. Fri, 12 December 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/crested-guinifowl-nest Driving through the sand forest we were looking for a cold bark(Ochna Aborea) tree. I stopped and told my guest to come have a look a this tree. As we got out on our right in a hollow dead old lebombo wattle(Newtonia Hildebrantii) was this crested guinifowl nest. I went back there after three days and all the eggs hatched but no sign of the chicks. Crested guinifowls are amazing in hiding their nest and seeing this was quite unique. Accordingly to lots of old trackers at the lodge, it is very hard to find these nests. In our case it was just pure luck! Sun, 07 December 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/banded-rubber-frogs-mating At one of the pan systems we stopped for some coffee when I spotted this movement of red in the water. As we watched it the two Banded Rubber Frogs emerged out of the water. In broad day light we saw this male and female frogs walked out of the watering hole to another one nearby, approximately 50 meters away. Frogs in broad day light, especially the male on top of the female mating as she was carrying him around was great to see. Fri, 05 December 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/banded-rubber-frogs-mating-2 At one of the pan systems we stopped for some coffee when I spotted this movement of red in the water. As we watched it the two Banded Rubber Frogs emerged out of the water. In broad day light we saw this male and female frogs walked out of the watering hole to another one nearby, approximately 50 meters away. Frogs in broad day light, especially the male on top of the female mating as she was carrying him around was great to see. Fri, 05 December 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/ebony-ivory The mziki marsh was alive with the final hour of another maputoland sunset. Golden grass was only interrupted by snorting wildebeest and the pointed tips of 5 white rhino as they casually chewed on a blade of panicum grass. In the distance 4 more white rhino lurked, smelling the wind and bathing in the sunlight. "Enough of this tomfoolery" I thought, let us persist in our quest for the rare and endangered black rhino. A short journey north and we were lost somewhere between the endless savannah and the myriad of acacia thickets. A paradoxical habitat wherein the primary habitats of both the black and white rhino were to merge and, much like the merging glow of the red sun with the horizon, the pointed lip and bullet shaped head of a black rhino emerged itself from scoffing an acacia nilotica. "There it is!!!" one of my guests screamed with unequivocal delight..."and there's another 2!!!" "No...wait" I said " That's another 2 white rhinoceros with that black rhino." And so the interaction began, like a scene from ebony and ivory, where black and white meet, the 2 different species of rhinoceros nuzzled noses, sniffed each other and promptly huffed before thundering away in opposite directions. The white rhino back towards the grassland and the black rhino around the thickets straight towards another white rhino with her calf. With baited breath we sat pondering the moment and then like clockwork the same behaviour was demonstrated all over again, with a similar conclusion for the two parties. A unique encounter twice in one afternoon and only my second sighting of black and white rhinoceros species interaction. Mon, 24 November 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephant-and-nyala-share-a-branch-or-two Phinda is extremely dry at the moment as we await the first heavy rains of summer. As a result the animals are taking any opportunity they can to find some new fresh vegetation. This has provided us with some fascinating experiences watching animals change their normal behavior and become opportunistic in their search for food. This was very apparent recently when on a hot, dry day we had an extremely impressive elephant bull enter Mountain Lodge and spend the day moving through the lodge, between the rooms and even drink one of our guests plunge pools empty! What was incredible about this day was the interaction between the elephant and the nyala that have made Mountain Lodge their stomping grounds. As the elephant made his way through the camp tearing down branches and pushing over the trees in the camp there was a string of nyala following him and competing for the left over leaves and branches he dropped. It was amazing to watch as nyala came streaming into the lodge when they heard the branches breaking and gathered around the feet of this giant elephant bull trying to get some fresh new leaves that were normally out of their browsing range. At one point there were over twelve nyala gathered around the elephant until he eventually expressed his irritation with a loud trumpet and shake of the head sending the nyala scampering in all directions. Thirty seconds later however they were all back jostling below the giant bull trying to get the last remaining pieces of vegetation. It was a fascinating spectacle to watch and amazing to see animals taking advantage of any opportunity they can to feed during this last dry spell before the rains arrive. Mon, 20 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-bliss After a wonderful afternoon spent watching lionesses attempting to hunt our drinks break was interrupted by a curios black rhino cow and her calf! With lighting which seemed to be out of a Van Gough painting we watched as the Rhinos slowly browsed around and delighted us with their presence. After a good half an hours viewing we decided to return to our drinks stop and celebrate viewing one of Africa's most endangered mammals! Fri, 17 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/unusual-intimacy On morning drive with my guests the other day, we witnessed something quite unusual. It was yet another beautiful day in Phinda and our game viewing progressed from the incredible early morning chorus of birds, crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks of a water pan, while a family of cheetah lay together on a termite mound nearby. We later went in search of some rhino, which we found grazing in an open area. This is where the sighting got interesting, as we watched the white rhino feeding my tracker indicated that there were some other large animals close by. We all listened carefully, wondering what they could be. The rustling in the thicket got louder as they approach, and then one by one, four buffalo bulls appeared in front of us. It was fantastic having all these large herbivores walking around us slowly in search of good grazing. Suddenly, the old buffalo bulls realised that the two white rhino cows were staring at them. The buffalo did not take too much notice of the rhino close by, until the one rhino started walking straight up to the buffalo, with the other tailing her. It was now a stand off and this had all of our attention! It seemed as though there might be a bit of action between them, and we anticipated seeing the white rhinos’ aggression chasing the buffalo away. Instead, what we watched unfold before us was something my tracker and I, as well as all my guests, had never seen or heard of before. The rhino taking the lead walked straight up to every single buffalo bull one at a time, the buffalo unsure of the situation were alert, their heads raised high, eyes bulging and nostrils flaring at the challengers. Everyone in the vehicle holding their breath, the rhino stretched its head forward and muzzled the buffalo one after the other. The other rhino just as curious as the buffalo, did not really know what to expect next, and nor did we. Both humans and animals observed with amazement until the rhino moved a short distance away, and simply lay down in a sandy patch to rest. Surprisingly, the buffalo then grouped together and settled down to ruminate (chew their cud), and it was over! We sat with them for a while longer, just to check if anything else would take place. Excitedly we discussed this bizarre intimate behaviour and it was almost as if an interaction similar to this had taken place before. Eventually we left them undisturbed by the event, and each of us took a memory that will last a life time. Mon, 13 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/early-morning-at-phinda-near-vlei-lodge Mother Cheetah with 5 cubs - 3 hers and two adopted. We were no more than 30m away and could here the rumble of them all purring together. Magic! Thu, 09 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-little-luck-and-leopards As CCAfrica guides one always needs to emphasise the fact that being in the bush is not all about the Big 5, and it is important to appreciate all facets of the habitats we explore on a daily basis. This does not mean however, that when the Big 5 is found in one drive, there is not cause for high levels of excitement. We headed out in the afternoon with buffalo and leopard as the goal. First we found a white rhino bull grazing leisurely in the afternoon sun. We followed this up with two massive buffalo bulls which watched us very closely. Meandering along a river we were lucky enough to find a small breeding herd of elephants playing and drinking along the waters edge. After a drinks stop listening intently for the rasping call of leopard and waiting for the sun to set, we set out, focusing our efforts in an area where a young male leopard had been seen recently. With luck another ranger found the leopard feeding on a nyala carcass. We sat quietly watching the elusive predator as it fed leisurely. Still awestruck we started making our way back to the lodge. Suddenly however, we came around a corner to find 2 lionesses stalking a herd of wildebeest. We watched them intently for some time, however due to the lack of substantial cover and wind that was picking up, the wildebeests sensed the danger and moved away from the big cats. The following morning we had few expectations and set out on a leisurely drive. After seeing a white rhino and calf, and a bull elephant, we headed into an area known for its elusive lions. We heard some vervet monkeys alarm calling in one of the dry riverbeds and quickly headed into the vicinity. We stopped on a ridge with a view down into the riverbed and onto the opposite ridge. We scanned intently with binoculars. A flash of movement caught my eye and I quickly focused in on the area. A large male leopard was moving fairly rapidly across a recently burnt area. We couldn’t believe our eyes or our luck as we watched the spotted cat until it disappeared into a thicket. One can only hope that such good fortune continues! Tue, 07 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-at-breakfast Mother and cubs enjoying a small antelope as I recall. She was OK with us being there but a little wary at the same time. Tue, 07 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/brothers-fighting For the last two months the male lions on Phinda have been fighting for territory. The dominant male in the north has been challenged by the three young brothers from the south. One of the South brothers has even been mating with some of the North pride lionesses. But tension has also been building between the South males themselves. This came to a head when two of the south males discovered their third brother mating with a North pride lioness. A dramatic fight ensued right in front of our vehicle. However it was the brother who had been mating with the lioness that appeared victorious. As the situation stands now (12 Oct), the three brothers are together again but still inhabiting the north prides territory. But the North lionesses have returned to the North male who is the father of their cubs. Who knows what might happen in these following weeks.... Mon, 06 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/bee-eaters A couple of Bee-Eaters trying to catch some sleep while we are flashing them... Wed, 01 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/50-elephants A herd of over 50 elephants came to drink some water from the brand new swimming pool at Vlei Lodge's room 6, amusing the guests who had just arrived... Wed, 01 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/baby-elephant A baby elephant entertaining everyone with his cool moves! Wed, 01 October 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-getting-a-bit-cross Our ranger Jacques decided to dispel the myth that black rhino are aggressive by taking us up close! We thought that we had taken one photo too many when he started snorting and pawing the ground just 5m away. We all sat VERY quietly for the next half hour... Thu, 25 September 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/the-pipelan-pan-of-dreams Although sad to see Phinda in such a dry phase, bluntly the end result is that game viewing becomes hugely circulated around watering holes. The pipeline pan is one such hole which had a little bit of remaining water to share between the majority of the animals in the north. The north pride was stationed there for about a week and everyday I would get to the pan and sit there watching the three lionesses attempt to kill nyala over and over again. it was only on my 3rd day wherein i had sat with my guests and watched 4 attempted kills that a young nyala eventually ended up with large lioness canines through its little throat. Regardless of this the antelope still flocked to the pan in their masses with over 50 being counted by me at one stage. Over the course of the next week we would encounter a myriad of dead animals such as more nyala, red duiker, zebra, wildebeest as well as an impala. In addition to all this lion activity, extended periods of time spent at the pan also resulted in elephants drinking and mud bathing, buffalo wallowing, rhino & calf splashing around as well as a very rare sighitng of two leopards independently coming down to drink and bumping into one another. Tue, 16 September 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/old-nyala-stands-his-ground Our morning started off a little slow, it was still pretty cold, and i think all the cheetah were lying low, trying to keep warm. We had already seen one male, but he only momentarily showed his face, and a few spots on his beautiful coat, before slinking off into the tall grass. Then suddenly in the distance we spotted a family of 6 cheetah. We raced round to try get a better look, and came upon the most incredible sighting. They had come across a very old, weak in the knee Nyala bull, and were doing there best to take advantage of what should have been an easy meal, but the Nyala had other plans, he was not going to go down without a fight. A normally very placid animal clearly had experience on his side, he backed into a Lala palm thicket and every time they approached, he would lunge at them viciously, horns pointed forward, with intent to do some serious damage. The stand off lasted for more than an hour, with hungry cats scattering in all directions, until at last they accepted defeat, and moved off. The Nyala survived to fight another day. Thu, 11 September 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/easy-meal-1 Currently on Phinda it is quite dry and the lionesses in the nothern sections of the reserve spend a lot of time around one of the few watering holes. It was morning drive and while busy vieing three lonesses a very young nyala calf was approaching the water behind us. The young nyala was spotted by one of the lionesses. To the clean water section the young nyala had to walk through a section of mud. The lionesses saw the young nyala knee deep in the mud and moved quickly around where she cought her breahfast. I dont even think that this young nyala has even seen a lioness before and due to its inexperience became the meal of a very smart hunter. Thu, 11 September 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyena-on-sunday-stroll After following a female cheetah and two cubs,being unsucsessful in catching a female impala which basically escaped from her claws,she moved her young ones to the airstrip to spent the night. Arriving at the airstrip after a drink stop my tracker picked up the same cheetahs that was now running away after killing a baby nyala at night. I was amazed to see a hyena stole the kill from her and casually running down the airstrip like it was having a sunday afternoon stroll. What a exciting game drive !!!!!! Sun, 07 September 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lucky-zebra-vs-lioness In a sighting of 3 sub adult cheetahs the rest of the coalition with mother and the other two sub adults we stalking nyalas. At this stage we only had visual of these three and suddenly heard nyalas alarm calling close by. We then drove out to see what the alarm call was for. This is when we stumbled across a lioness making her way to the watering hole. She was busy stalking antelope and eventually settled down in close proximity of the water resting and looking around. This time of the year is fairly dry on Phinda. With not much water around this was the ideal place to sit and wait for her to try and kill something to eat. We were sitting with her for about 30 minutes patiently waiting. On our eastern side we saw a couple of zebras making their way down to the water. At this stage the lioness had her eyes on a warthog. She moved towards the warthog and now it as getting very excited as we thought she has got a good chance. Then suddenly she went around the corner and there it was, a zebra running towards us with a lioness on top of it. The lioness and zebra wrestled for 10-15 minutes with the zebra showing immense strength and the lioness holding on by biting the zebra on the left ear for grip. The zebra ran with the lioness into a thicket lost her grip and the zebra escaped. After this the lioness looked exhausted and moved into the thickets to find a spot to rest. Thu, 04 September 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/treasure-hunt While on a three day walking Safari through the Northern parts of Phinda Private Game Reserve, my talented tracker/friend afforded me the pleasure of a unique experience. I heard an unusual bird call that I could not identify and asked Thomas what it was. As Tom does not speak a word of English he gave me the Zulu name immediately and set about explaining to me its habits. I soon worked out that it was a Greater Honey Guide from the information Tom had given me. I had never heard it make this sound before and wondered what the matter was. Tom then asked me, in his humble way, if I would like to find the bee hive? I suddenly realised that it was calling us to a bee hive! I have heard many fabled stories regarding this bird but have never had the pleasure of finding honey. I asked Tom if he had found honey before by following this bird and his answer was, “Yes, many times!” I then informed my guests of the whole story surrounding this special bird and that we would “try” to find the bee hive. Honestly, I didn’t believe that Tom would be able to find the bee hive but thought that I would humor him in any case. Within 5 minutes of watching and following the bird, Tom said that the bee hive is there, pointing to a Tamboti tree 20m to our fore. The bird was sitting in the top of the tree uttering a slightly more intense chirping noise to its previous call. Tom said wait here while he finds the hive and makes sure that there was no danger in the thicket. After a minute, Tom emerged nonchalantly and beckoned us nearer. Deep in the thicket a branch had broken off the Tamboti tree and had formed a cavity in the tree. The bees were disappearing into this small hole where their golden treasure lay hidden. We did not rob the bees of their precious hoard and left them in peace. The guests were blown away with this little piece of bush skill, SO WAS I! It is often fabled that Honey Guides will lead you into potentially dangerous animals if you do not leave them a piece of the honey comb. I was mindful of this when leaving the hive unmolested and the bird hungry! Alas, no harm came to us and we reached the vehicle unharmed. What an experience! Fri, 29 August 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/the-hunt The goal for the afternoon was lions, and we were far from disappointed. But first we watched a cheetah with 2 cubs briefly attempt to stalk a herd of impala right outside of Mountain Lodge. With little cover available the female cheetah took one or two painstaking steps at a time. If the impala looked her way, she froze, muscles tensed. At about 80m from the target one or two of the impalas must have spotted the imminent danger and gave off the alarm call. Soon all impalas in the area were aware of her and the hunt was over. She lay down and admitted defeat for the time being. We were then notified of the presence of 2 lionesses not too far off. We quickly moved into the area and found them lazing about in some shade, but very alert. These 2 young lionesses, a split off from the pride which dominates the south of the reserve, have provided some exceptional viewing of late due to their exuberant and playful natures, and their willingness to hunt anywhere and at any time. Soon enough they were up and after losing them briefly we found them on the road moving along with purpose. They would pause briefly now and then to scan around for any sign of possible prey. On three separate occasions they spotted nyala and impala and expertly stalked them through the dense bush on either side of the road. The impala were always quick to realize the danger and dash off. The nyala however were a little slower to respond and the lionesses came within a paws length of them on a couple of occasions. They then moved into an area alongside a dry river bed. The scene was set with numerous nyala browsing the thick vegetation that lined the dry river bed. The lionesses split up. We stuck with the one sister, stalking the unknowing antelope not more than 30m away now. We watched the other sister some distance off stalking a different herd of nyala. Suddenly the lioness close to us broke cover just as an impala spotted her. Again the impala was gone in a flash but she narrowly missed a nyala bull as she powered after them. It seemed the hunt was over again. Another ranger leaving the scene however found the other lioness the other side of a thicket busy strangling a nyala bull. We joined them immediately and watched as the lioness squeezed its vice like grip tighter on the nyalas throat, and slowly the nyala stopped kicking, and eventually was still. Amazingly enough the lioness displayed the closeness of the bond between her and her sister as she left the kill to go fetch her sister. The fed briefly, without any growling or fighting one normally associates with lions. Fri, 29 August 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/what-a-game-drive-2 An afternoon and evening game drive has to go down as one of the best drives I have ever had. Both in terms of the beauty of the day but also the amount of game we saw as we explored and took a drive off the beaten track. The bush has been very dry and this provided for some great game viewing. We headed out to the south and west of the reserve to go and look for lions. On the way we explored a couple of pans of water to check if anything was around the water. We found a massive buffalo bull lying in the mud looking as serious as ever and great value as he rolled around in the mud. We left him and headed into the mountains where we found a black rhino bull feeding. He was extremely relaxed and provided for some amazing viewing as we watched him feed with his incredibly versatile prehensile lip. It was very special to see this rare animal out in the open, relaxed and thirty meters from us. Eventually we pressed on and found two white rhino bulls sparring. It was great to see them just after the black rhino as we could compare the sizes and differences of the two. It was also very interesting watching the sparring match between these two bulls and they finally trotted off into the thickets. We moved on in our drive seeing giraffe, zebra, impala, nyala, vervet monkeys, baboons, warthog and kudu along the way. We then arrived in the last area the lions had been to discover three elephant bulls drinking and sand bathing at the dam. They were having a great time splashing in the water and spraying their bodies. While we watched them we looked to our right and there coming out of the bush were the lions. One after the other the lions emerged from the bush until all nine of them were lying out in the open. Four male lions and five females - a pretty spectacular sight! While we watched the lions the elephant moved off into the bush leaving the dam with a giant crocodile basking in the last of the days warmth and a raft of ten hippo preparing to leave the water to begin their nights feeding. As night fell and we watched the lions sleeping one of the other rangers drove up a small bank to check if anything had come down to the dam for a drink. To our surprise there in the shadows on the other side of the water a young female leopard slinked down to the water for a drink. We saw her for a bout five minutes before she disappeared back into the bush, but what a great sight and “another” animal to this incredible drive. We set off home after that and saw a white tailed mongoose on the way as well as a genet and bushbaby up in the trees. Just before reaching camp we drove through an open area and there in the grass lay two spotted bodies. Stopping the land cruiser we shone the spotlight on them and discovered two male cheetah sleeping out in the open. What a fantastic surprise to end an incredible game drive. We didn’t stay with the cheetah long as it was night and we don’t view these diurnal cats at night but at least we knew where to come look for them the next day. At last we made it back to camp with some great stories and an incredible game drive experience! Grant Telfer and Tom Nsele Mon, 18 August 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/amazing-cheetah-and-nyala-interaction The morning started well when we drove onto the Phinda airstrip to find a female cheetah and her five year-old cubs. In the cool morning light the cats were rather playful and started chasing a herd of wildebeest. Fortunately for the wildebeest there were no calves small enough for the cheetah to be a real threat. After the playfulness stopped we carried on, aiming for the unique sand forest. While driving, out the corner of my eye I saw a long, yellow, black and white object behind a thicket. At first I thought it was a leopard’s tail but a cheetah moved out from behind the thicket following a new born nyala (the umbilical cord still showing!). The strange thing was that the cheetah was not chasing the nyala, merely walking behind it, every-now-and-then stretching a paw out and touching the back leg. This carried on for quite a while, moving in circles, until the cheetah lay down. The new born nyala then stopped walking and moved closer to the cheetah. At one point the animals even touched noses, as if the nyala was the cheetah’s offspring. The fawn then started walking away and the cheetah got up and followed it. The nyala then stopped and turned around which caused the cheetah to stop. The most amazing thing then happened. The fawn moved to the exact position where the teats of the cheetah would be and started sniffing her abdomen, obviously searching for her teats. The cheetah would have none of this and jumped backwards which caused the nyala to back off. The cheetah then started to get more like a hunter and started pursuing the nyala in a more aggressive manner. Unfortunately the animals moved into a thicket and we lost sight of them, hearing the odd bush move. We were all concerned as to what the outcome was, and what caused this strange behavior from the cheetah. Could the cheetah have killed the fawn’s mother and was playing with it, or could it have been like the famous lioness adopting the Oryx? Sun, 10 August 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/adult-male-buffalo-nursing Early 10th Aug 2008 on a morning game drive the temperature was beginning to rise quickly so we decided to go explore around a pan of water to see if anything had come down to drink. It paid off and we were lucky to find a large herd of buffalo wallowing and drinking. While we sat there watching them interact we noticed a large adult bull harassing a female that was lactating with a young calf. The male kept chasing the calf away and his intentions became clear when he attempted to nurse from the female. At first the female kept chasing the male off but eventually she gave in and allowed the male to nurse which he did so for about a minute. When she finally lost her temper she spun around and gored him in the front left shoulder chasing him off. This was really interesting and seeing the interaction between the three was captivating. We had never seen this before although there are reports of adult cattle and even buffalo nursing from lactating females. It was one of those things you just don’t see that often and great to witness. Grant Telfer and Tom Nsele Sun, 10 August 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-kill-in-the-lobombos The top of the lobombo mountains might not seem typical habitat for cheetah yet on Phinda they are so well adapted to the variety of habitats. We where treated to a female chase and kill a mountain reedbuck. she looped around and chased them up the valley where we sat with her 5 sub adult cubs, one of which is an adopted cub. Tue, 05 August 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/majestic-martial-eagle-feeds-on-bushbaby On my way to an area called sutton,i came across a martial eagle on the powerlines on the boundry road. After an even more carefull look with binoculars i saw it had a kill somewhere in amongst its powerfull claws. I happened to have guest that were interested in birds, and they mentioned that it was one of the best bird sightings they have had. So i have to agree with them,very cool!!!!! Sat, 02 August 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/wild-dogs-on-phinda The neighbouring Mkuze National park had recently reportes of two wild dogs possibly running around Phinda. On Phinda we dont have wild dogs so to see two wild dogs that afternoon was pretty special due to the fact that this was possibly one of the first wild dog sightings on the reserve. Wed, 30 July 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/wild-dogs-phinda Two Wild Dogs were seen on Phinda yesterday!! They are a male and female which are about 2 years old which have dispersed from a pack of dogs that were introduced into Mkhuze Game Reserve some years ago. According to Chris the Wild dog researcher from KZN Wildlife, sadly they are the only remaining members of this pack but have only recently found each other again. The dogs are siblings and are at an age where they are classified as 'dispersal' dogs and as such are highly mobile and not at all restricted by fences as they search for other dogs to form a pack. Phinda Mountain rangers Sibu and Lucky managed to show their guests this very rare sighting. Dumi Q, Simon and Jaco from the Reserve team along with Chris from KZN Wildlife and I went to get another look at these beautiful animals. Lets hope they stay! Mon, 28 July 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/got-blood Cheeta eating a baby Zebra. Thu, 24 July 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/we-three-kings Giraffes Thu, 24 July 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/zebra-2 Zebra Wed, 23 July 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/playtime While on our afternoon game drive we stumbled upon a crash of white rhinos ... boy were we surprised to see a single black rhino playing amongst them all! Tue, 22 July 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lioness-enjoying-the-breathtaking-view Could not resist snapping this north pride lioness - seems like she was enjoying the breathtaking view as much as we were! Tue, 22 July 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cane-rats Imagine our surprise when our ranger Martin spotted two huge cane rats on the way back to the lodge from our game drive! None of us had ever seen cane rats before - they were HUGE! Tue, 22 July 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/batter-luck-next-time While out on an afternoon drive at about 5 o'clock, we were fortunate enough to locate 2 lionesses from our Southern pride on an nyala kill. As we watched them, I heard the familiar chirp of an African Goshawk, overhead. I looked up to see if I could find it and was most surprised to see it in hot persuit of a bat. I quickly instucted everyone to look up, and we all watched in amazement, as the Goshawk repeatedly tried to catch ,what had now become, a whole lot of bats. Eventually after about 10 minutes and loads of giggles from all on our vehicle, we saw the disgruntled Goshawk move away. We all focused our attention to the lions again , who in true lion fashion, had not budged an inch. Mon, 16 June 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/duiker-for-dinner Duiker for dinner Sitting watching a young cheetah with 3 cubs – sunset, termite mound, perfect poses – almost the idyllic cheetah sighting. In a flash a grey duiker stood up beneath her. An explosion of action that left us all breathless as in seemingly slow motion we watched her tumble the animal to the ground not 10 metres from the vehicle. So began an education for the cubs as she left the duiker stunned and alive for the young cubs to deal with stepping in only where necessary to subdue the duiker over and over again. A truly incredible experience throughout. Sat, 14 June 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/unusual-bird-joins-lion-sighting Three lionesses from the northern part of Phinda having been spending more and more time down in the southern end of the reserve. Today they were all lazing around a beautiful pan system, with full bellies, and legs in the air, when suddenly an unusual bird for Phinda, a Rose-ringed Parakeet, joined the scene. He flew in a few circles overhead the lions, before coming to a rest in a tree nearby. This was probably the first time he had ever set eyes on lions, and for the lions, judging by the looks on their faces, the first time they had ever seen a bird like him. Thu, 12 June 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rose-ringed-parakeet 14/06/08 Rose Ringed Parakeet A chance sighting of a rose ringed parakeet during a lion sighting in Shotton lead to a remarkable shift in focus of the game drive and a rare chance to photograph this exquisite bird. Thu, 12 June 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/stand-off-2 Stand-off To watch 6 herds of elephants cross open ground feeding and playing as they went was incredible enough. What was to follow simply amazed us. At the tail of the herd a young bull was haphazardly trailing along until he spotted a white rhino mother and calf moving west away from him. Immediately he gave chase shepherding her back towards us until she could move no further because of the thickets behind her. For the next hour he repeatedly charged her and the calf from different angles all the while trumpeting whilst she roared her challenge back. Over and over again he uprooted saplings and would charge forward throwing these small trees at the rhino until the area surrounding them resembled a hurricane disaster area. The setting sun forced us to leave with 2 large antagonist still in full cry! Mon, 02 June 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/brown-hyenas-in-phinda Phinda, with its high densities of large predators, is not a very inviting home for a hungry hyena. Sightings of Sptted Hyena are not to common, although of late, have become a little more regular, but who would have thought that a Brown Hyena would be living amongst us, secretely all this time. On Sunday afternoon, Sam, our Walking Safaris guide, encountered a very relaxed, and curious Brown Hyena in the marsh in the north. The animal stayed around their vehicle for at least 5 minutes, before moving off to continue on his nighly hunt for food. To our knowledge. the second time ever that one has been seen in the reserve. Sun, 01 June 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-cubs-first-kill Monkeys alarm calling on the vlei open area, we follow up to find a female cheetah and 5 cubs. 2 and a half hours we left but what unfloded inbetween was a afternoon of photographing them in beautiful light, chasing warthogs then a slender mongoose. The climax was watchinbg the female chase a herd of impala towards the cubs. all hell broke loose and the cubs closed in on a young impala. Eventually they caught it, for ten minutes they played with it, confused at how to finish the job, but driven by hunger and instinct to catch and kill, one cub got the grip right while the others started opening it up alive. Nauture is cruel but in the end it was a meal and a virtal lesson for them. Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopards-and-elepants We were on the search for leopards, undoubtedly one of the biggest prizes on a safari. We searched high and low, visiting all the areas that we know they like to go. After 3 hours, we hand come out empty handed. We headed home, along the way we bump intoa bull elephant on a slow stroll, to a place that only he knows where. Suddenly, fresk tracks, to fresh for her to not be right there, the elephant mus have scared her off. Once again the search was on, backwards and forwards, over and over, until, there she was on the road. The coast was clear, the elephant gone, and for 10 minutes we had a great view as she prepared herself for the evening proceedings, before melting into the dark African bush. Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopards-a-kill-and-rhinos On Thursday evening we went out on a staff bumble with Tina Naylor at the helm! It was her birthday celebration and Tina was back in khakhi. The old man of Phinda, Seth "Hulley" Vorster was out on a leopard safari and called us into his sighting. By the time we got there, there was no one around and we came round the corner to see a beautiful female leopard lying out in the open. She disappeared and whilst reversing to re-position, we noticed a female leopard cub watching us from within some long grass. She stalked low towards us and eventually sat out in the open and groomed herself. Suddenly we heard a snort, and noticed a White Rhino and calf approaching the siting. The leopards hardly batted an eyelid as these huge prehistoric creatures grazed to within 10 meters of them. There was some crunching and we realized that another cub was feeding on a carcass closeby. He soon decided to swap places with his sister and left the carcass, greeted her in front of us and she went in to take her fill. He rolled around, licking his paws clean in true cat fashion! What a sighting! What a return to ranging for Tina! Happy Birthday! And all this was a 5 minute drive from the Izwe airstrip! The leopards of the South are strong! Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-kill-rm-23-again Its happened again! This time it was a female cheetah and her 3 cubs! She killed a young Nyala about 20m from Room 23 at Mountain Lodge. This female and her 3 cubs have been seen regularly by the Mountain and Rock Lodge rangers in the open area east of Mountain Lodge. About 2 weeks before this another female cheetah killed an impala and shared it with her 5 cubs outside Room 23 at Mountain Lodge. Amazing stuff to witness without even having to leave the lodge! Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/four-day-old-black-rhino While out driving in the magnificent Zuka hills, in search of a female black rhino whom had been reported to have calved on monday. Tom and Zama the black rhino team, used their tracking skills and eventually found the two in a rocky section filled with aloes. This was an unbelievable experience to have witnessed their interaction. The calf only four days old, weighs around 40 kg. We manged to sex the calf and it is a male. Which brings the black rhino numbers to 22 on Phinda, with four born on the reserve. Hopefully their will be pictures to follow. What a privellage. Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/the-bhejane-the-cheetah-and-the-porcupine-an-mziki-marsh-tale With just over 4000 black rhino (bhejane) left in the wild it is a rare and special moment to find one of these prehistoric animals. Fortunately the Mziki Marsh is saturated with them. A late afternoon sunset illuminated the beast as we watched it unceremoniously mark its territory. To the left sat 4 cheetah on a termite mound, quintessential to say the least. It was all rather serene until out of the long grass shuffled a porcupine, heading straight towards the cheetah. The young naive cubs sprang up, unsure of what to do next except chase the poor mammal straight towards the black rhino. With spines shuffling and the large pachyderm snorting outrageously, it was a comedy of errors as the three different species of mammals went thundering in a cloud of dust straight towards an acacia thicket. 30 seconds later the dust had settled and all that remained was an orange maputoland sunset on the Mziki Marsh Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lionesses-kill-pregnant-zebra As the sun set we left the lodge in search of lions. There were reports of two lionesses earlier in the day in the mountains of zuka. Approaching the area my tracker John stopped me to listen to the zebra alarming. The action had begun .... zebras rushed by the vehicle followed in hot pursuit by the two lionesses. I can only imagine the heavly pregnant zebra must of stumbled as the lionesses took her down in the darkness. Watching as they fed was fasinating as they knew exactly that she had a tender fetoes within, and went on to remove it and feed on it first. The kill attracted a dominate male lion and was food for many, including white backed vultures and tawney eagles. Sun, 11 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/how-do-you-do How do you do? This evening whilst driving on the marsh we were lucky enough to encounter a young lioness with 2 cubs playing through the open grasslands. Eventually their late afternoon activities caught the attention of a number of giraffe nearby. Imagine our surprise and delight when a giraffe bull approached the lioness and cubs and appeared to actually almost bend down and greet them. Once the 'so-called' formalities were out of the way we were further amazed to watch the lioness, cubs and giraffe slowly chase each other across the grassland in turn for a further 20 minutes or so! Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/queen-of-the-night Leopard anyone? After years in the Sabi-Sands where leopards were a speciality rather than a scarcity it has been incredible to watch the leopard viewing at Phinda develop over the last year to a point where they are not only been viewed often but are increasingly relaxed around the vehicles. This evening was the absolute cherry on the cake with the best leopard sighting I have ever had at Phinda. A beautiful female leopard not only allowed us to spend some serious quality time with her (30 mins or so) but repeatedly returned to the vicinity of the vehicle almost oblivious to the stunned silent vehicle nearby. There were no words to be spoken throughout – just the pure enjoyment of some incredible African theatre Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyena-gets-easy-meal While driving to the lodge in the early dawn light I noticed a large animal moving quickly from side to side with its nose nearly fixed on the ground. On closer inspection I saw it was a hyena moving along sniffing the ground obviously on something’s scent. It wasn’t concerned about the vehicle, which was unusual because hyenas on Phinda are generally nervous of them. It was clearly focussed on something else. In the distance I saw a group of six cheetah sitting very close to each other, some of them bending over with their noses in the grass. The hyena was obviously following their scent. The hyena then ran straight towards the cheetah scattering them in all directions. The hyena bent down and picked up a nyala ewe in its jaws and ran straight to the nearest thicket. The cheetah must have just killed the nyala as there was no blood or entrails hanging from it. I lost sight of the hyena but the cheetah sat and watched in bewilderment as their meal disappeared out of sight. After the game drive we then found tracks of a hyena on a road quite far from the killing site, and on each side of the tracks were drag marks, no doubt from the nyala it had stolen and was taking it back to its den site. Sun, 04 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/nature-reminds-us Every job, no matter how romanticized, has its seemingly mundane tasks. Thursday the 2nd May proved to be a day that I was to perform such a task. Our temperamental but ever so faithful Land Rover was having another bad day, we use this vehicle in the training of prospective rangers, and a few of the new rangers having never “off-roaded” before had induced another bad mood. So the task of getting the Land Rover in for repairs was left to Dumi and I. On route to the Phinda workshop I was feeling almost as temperamental as the Land Rover, when nature reminded me once again why I do this job, and treated me to the most amazing sighting I have yet experienced on Phinda. Dumi and I rounded a corner and not 3 metres in front of us was an African Wild Dog. Phinda has no permanent population of wild dog, though they do occasionally visit from neighbouring reserves. Dumi and I spent several minutes watching the dog investigate a troop of vervet monkeys, which were very obviously agitated by the predator’s presence. Once the dog realized that the monkeys weren’t going to present an easy meal it moved off to more promising hunting grounds. The retreating dog left me with a great sense of appreciation for giving me a few moments with a seriously endangered animal, and reminded me that my minor irritations pale in the challenges these beautiful creatures have to face. And that you never know what surprises await around the next corner! Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/sand-forest-leopard-cub My guest informed me that they only want to leave an hour later for game drive. Leaving the car park and only being out on drive for 5 min in the Sand forest, suddenly a female leopard crossed the road right in front of us. We tried to get a view but this nervous female was hiding with only a few rosettes to see through the binoculars. After a few minutes we waited on the road not to far off hoping that she might come out. A couple of minutes went by and decided to carry on. We drove 100 meters down the road and Dumi our tracker stopped me and said: “leopard calling right here”. We sat there for 5 minutes to see if we can hear it again. There, out of one of the thickets this young fluffy leopard showed itself for a quick 10 seconds and disappeared into the thickets. In two years this was the first leopard cub I saw on Phinda. What a great start to an afternoon game drive Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lioness-kills-nyala-bull Lioness kills nyala bull Late evening and no luck with the north pride who continue to push further south they seemed to have dissapeared into the mountains. Feeling a little dispondent we headed off to look for spot and watch the sunset. Mary a guest of mine suddenly shouted lion ... we turned and with delight followed her. I noticed her mammary glands full of milk and when she turned to look at us realised it was one of the south pride lionesses that had been away denning her cubs. A little way up the ridge she headed off road and suddenly hit the ground. we watched in silence, not 20m away was a nyala bull only the tips of his horns showing completly unaware of what was about to unfold. Patience the lioness waited, her tail twitching with excitemnet. Like a lighting bolt she rushed the nyala, not even a bleat or thud, i thought she had missed. Taking the corner there she was, a calm in her eyes as if duty, she drew the last beath out of the nyalas body. With a gimps into the hills she was off, we lost her in the rocky section, yet returned later to find she had lead 4 healthy cubs to the carcase. Tue, 29 April 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lemon-breasted-canary-a-special-bird-to-see This special little bird is a near endemic to Southern Africa and Phinda is one of the best locations to view this bird. One of Phinda’s seven special habitat types is Lala Palm Veld and it is in the leaves of these palms, that the birds breed. Ian Mey and I were out with guests looking for this bird and we found one nesting, typically in the frond of a Palm. These birds normally breed from December to February and this female is incubating in April, we found her on the 22nd. It is possible that the good late rains and fairly mild autumn weather, has made it possible for this bird to nest, unusually at this time of the year. Fri, 25 April 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/territorial-clash-of-leopards The Mid-day sun was baking and the call of a male Leopard close to Mvubu Pan could not be mistaken for anything else. As we neared the pan we realized that it had moved off into jungle like bush, so we decided to return a little later. The starry sky was cool and the voice of nightjars was warm, we were patiently waiting for the Leopard to give us a clue as to where he was, it was like a game of hide and seek. The timing was perfect and not far away we heard the deep grating call, the spotlight cut through the air and there it was, a large male, marking his territory. This male strolled down this overgrown road confident and secure but he was after a female who hours earlier had walked down to the riverbed. This male slinked unperturbed into some thick bush, when we found him again he was not alone, there was a lot of hostility as the growls and hissing of not just two but four Leopards rang out from the riverbed below. We were on the border of two different male’s territory and both of these males were there, a third male had joined the party and the female who was far from her territory was in the middle of the stand off, she did not seem to mind the attention and friction that she was creating. After a couple of minutes they all moved into the dense bush and continued their squabbling there. The next day there where not injuries and thankfully they had sorted there territorial bouts amicably, undoubtedly the third male was chased off and the other two males had moved back into there own territories. Fri, 18 April 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/aardvark-dances-with-death The long grass down at the river kept the female Leopard well hidden but an ear sticking out of the top was enough to keep us interested. While waiting for her to make her move the echoing grunts of Hippo’s in the Mzinene River and the croaking call of the Marsh Owl close by, was a sign that the darkness was going to be active. The Hippo’s had submarined their large bodies out onto the grazing lands and their calls disappeared into the settled night. Suddenly the dry grass started to rustle close by, what was creeping bravely close to us and had not noticed the king of camouflage the danger the Leopard? We held our breaths and slowly, slowly out of the growth came an Aardvark, this young animal had probably never seen a vehicle before because it came unafraid within meters of our vehicle and disappeared into the Fever Tree Forest, the strange looking animal narrowly escaped death, what the leopard was thinking we would never know. Fri, 18 April 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-on-a-kudu-kill Driving on the marsh, Thulani one of the other forest rangers called in a cheetah with five cubs. Arriving at the sighting, there it was, a cheetah and her five cubs feeding of a fully grown kudu cow. The carcass looked to be killed the previous day and what we know about cheetahs, they dont scavange. This single mother killed this kudu all on her own. This was a first for me seeing a chhetah eating on such a big antelope. Normally cheetahs dont kill big antelope like kudus but often goes for the medium sized ones like impala and nyala females. This female is also remarkable having adopted one cub from another female. Four of the cubs is around eight months and the adopted one around ten months. Special thanks to Laila Waters for her fotos due to Murpys law with my batteries being flat. Fri, 18 April 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/zebraelephant Upon returning from the airstrip, we stopped to view some Giraffe and Zebra enjoying the morning sunshine outside Mountain lodge. While watching a sparring match between two young male Giraffes, our attention was drawn to a zebra that had taken to peeling off strips of bark from an Acacia tree! Not only was it "debarking" the tree it was crunching it up in mouth and than swallowing it! For an animal that is supposedly a grazer this was odd behaviour indeed. It was a remarkable sighting one which I have never heard of before and it served as humourable discusion for the rest of the day. Tue, 15 April 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-kills-giraffe A Giraffe calf lay dead in the riverbed and the tell tale signs of the attack were clear in the dried mud, a female Leopard had chased it down a muddy bank and there she took its final breath. A closer look in shadow of the carcass revealed smaller paw prints of three young cubs, the four of them had been feeding on this carcass during the night and had retreated to the coolness of some dense bush close by. The night ahead promised great excitement. We returned hoping that she, under the cover of darkness would show herself and her youngsters. The hot Phinda sun started to sneak behind a couple of scattered clouds and as the explosion of colours scattered throughout this wilderness the buzzing of flies and the thick reek of the now day old Giraffe shifted our focus. Our excitement and nervousness was deathly silent. As we neared the dry riverbed and approached closer and closer, the bushes shuddered! A young Hyena cub sniffed the thick air and peered from behind the bush, not far away another cub looked on nervously. Was the leopard close by? Slowly they both approached us and seemed to forget about the large dinner that awaited them and the potentially defensive Leopard, they curiously sniffed the vehicle as we held our breaths and froze the silence was broken by the rest of the clan whooping further away. The leopards had been chased away. The two Hyena cubs moved off and as we watched them crunching bones and devouring the flesh our worried hearts were soothed as Bush babies alarming further down this meandering riverbed confirmed that he leopard had taken her cubs to a safer place and that they were well. Wed, 26 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/return-to-the-cubs we returned to the cubs this morning in the hopes that they were still there. What our guide wasnt telling us was that Dad had arrived, so we were all so surprised to see the huge North Pride Male in the river bed when we returned! The cubs were so inquisitive, watching his every move. Mon, 24 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-and-cubs-1 We went searching for the Cheetah mom and her 6 cubs who we had seen the previous evening in the failing light. After about 2 hours we were sorely tempted to give up, when all of a sudden our tracker spotted them climbing a dead tree in the middle of an open plane. We watched them playing for a long while, before mom took off after a Nyala sub adult bull, and managed to kill him. We only left after they started feeding! It was amazing! Sun, 23 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/more-lion-cubs We received a radion about lion cubs with their mother on a kill, and had a perfect view of them on the dry river bed as they played together, in the cute way only cubs can:stalking each other, biting, climbing on each other. It was magical... Sun, 23 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lion-cubs-2 We went looking for the lioness who's cubs they had seen for the first time the previous day and after searching for a while in a dry riverbed area we heard a growl. There she was, behind some trees, and as she relaxed she called her cubs out and we moved into a better position. What a wonderful sighting! Sat, 22 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/coalition-of-cheetah-and-white-rhino We stumbled upon a female Cheetah with four cubs. Close in the same vicinity also a female White Rhino with a calf. The female Cheetah with her six month old cubs was then moving in the direction of the Rhinos. The cubs being very inquisitive started approaching the White Rhino calf. It almost seems that they were trying to stalk it, as if that is possible. The Rhino calf also started showing a bit of curiosity and every time the calf moved towards the cubs, the cubs started hissing. This was great to watch the interaction between these different species. The adult female Cheetah and Rhino cow didn’t participate in the interaction and was not bothered at all with each other close by. The White Rhino cow kept on grazing close by with the female Cheetah lying down facing in an opposite direction. Special thanks for photos by Lesley Sinclair. Wed, 19 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/another-tough-day-at-the-office The past couple of days had produced a number of animals but the viewing of them was not fantastic, i.e. the rear end and tail of an elephant, a long distant view of giraffe, a quick glimpse of two lionesses, and a horn of a white rhino poking out behind a bush. My guests were booked to go on the Leopard Safari, an adventure conducted by specialist guide, Mike Karantonis, on the last evening drive, which turned out to be their last drive as they were heading off early the next day. So the challenge was on! The leopard safari was to be conducted in the northern sections of the reserve so we had to waste little time in getting there from Rock Lodge way down in the south. Not even 500 m from the lodge there in the road was a beautiful bull giraffe. At least we got to see the giraffe at close quarters. Time was ticking as we needed to get to our destination before it was dark. Not even 100m past the giraffe was another three, in the road! We bypassed these only to come around the corner to find five white rhino grazing in an open area. Not bad, lets get going. We then drove near the airstrip and were surrounded by 15 more giraffe. By this stage we were half an hour late and still had half an hours drive ahead of us to reach Mike. The shortest route then became even longer when a musth bull elephant decided to stroll down the road in the opposite direction we needed to go, at least it was an awesome view of an ele. We managed to get out of its way and eventually made our way to forest lodge where Mike was waiting (an hour and a half late). The leopard safari is conducted by a specialist guide who uses a telemetry set to find the animal. The Mun-ya-wana leopard project has been ongoing for five years and to date about 12 animals have been studied using the telemetry technique. Mike wanted to stop at a particular pan to see if he could pick up any signs of a leopard. On approaching the pan he said he had a funny feeling, but wasn’t sure what. His funny feeling turned out to be two lion cubs feeding off a freshly killed wildebeest! What a funny feeling. We left the lions and headed to a different area to work from. Mike picked up a signal of a female about a kilometre away so we headed straight there. As we approached the area, my tracker John found fresh tracks of the leopard, just then we heard monkeys alarming not too far off. It could only be the leopard said Mike. We moved off the road and followed the signals into a thick block. Right in the middle of the block, by some miraculous chance, we drove through a herd of buffalo, what are the chances? Just then John said he had a brief view of the leopard but it moved off before we got to see it. It walked through an extremely thick area which was inaccessible to a vehicle. We moved round to the other side of the block and waited for the animal to come out. It didn’t, and the signal showed it was about 200m away, so we decide to try and drive in. Finding gaps just big enough for a vehicle to fit through we eventually got close. “It’s just behind the bush” said Mike. I’m sure my guests were very sceptical but just then we heard a crunch and John shone the spotlight in the general direction and there, looking back at us was the beautiful face of the female leopard. We watched in absolute awe and excitement as she finished her kill (whatever it was) and walked off into the undergrowth. Just when we thought it was over, five minutes from the lodge, in front of us walking down the road was a Serval. The most unbelievable afternoon/evening could not have panned out any better! Thu, 13 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/forest-cobra This was the morning walk from the camp. The first two hours it was fairly quiet with not much animal activity around us in the vegetation type broad leafed woodland. Our tracker, Zakele suddenly stopped and freezed. Just in front of it we saw this shiny black tail and realized maybe a Forest Cobra, and a very big one as well. We stood there for approximately five minutes and the front half of it was in a hole. With no movement we thought the snake was dead. We then went a little bit closer and then the snaked moved. We moved back a bit and then the front section came out and stood up facing us. This was enough to make a positive ID that it is a Forest Cobra. The Forest Cobra then started sailing into the thickets and disappeared. This was fantastic seeing for the first time the typical cobra defense display. Special thanks to Stephan Bierling for the photographs. Sun, 09 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/congregating-animals Excited that the north pride male was making his way back north we went and sat with him by a body of water where he had spent the day. It was the later part of the aftrenoon as we hope to watch him wake and get moving. While we sat patiently, out of the shadows a crash of 3 white rhino came down and drank, the male graced them a glimps before resting back in the sand. not minute later my track Mr T shot up in this seat... it was a black rhino and a young calf. We wached with delight as the progeny of the Black Rhino Range expansion came down to drink. To sit in the presence of such awesome animal all in the same vacinity made for a memorable afternoon. A reminder of where these animals where in our past and with hard work they are now, the 3rd balck rhino calf has been born on phinda taking our total to 21. Tue, 04 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/congregating-cats Its been several months now since rain has fallen in northen kwa zulu natal and the pans have dried up significantly. Its in hard time like these that animals congregate around water holes like they do in Namibia. Pipeline pan is now a buzz of activity both day and night. The north pride lioness and her 3 cubs have made it their own. Driven by thirts the animals keep coming. The lioness has been killing over and over with nyala and wilderbeest been her main targets. For an animal of just under 3 years taking down male wilderbeest is quiet a feat. This particular afternoon we wathced the cubs feeding, pretending to re kill the nyala when to our delight a female leopard who has been recored dening her cubs in the vacinity came down to drink. Parked on a raise bank we watch the leopard drink on our one side and the lioness and cubs play on the other both completely unaware of eachothers presence. Tue, 04 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/photographic-safari-hunting-cheetah Over the last 7 days i have guided a photographic safari focusing on Lions and Cheetah. What came of spending hours and hours in the buch was not just amazing photos but experiences. Before the sun had risen on this partlicaular day Thembinkosi had spotted a male leopard while on our way to look for the lion pride. The always impresive array of buffalo horns glinted in the sun as the herds started to stir. After paying them their due respect we went to the prides last position, Shumungwe dam. With water been scarce they hadnt moved off far infact their only movements was away from the pride male as he harrased them trying to smiff them determine their breeding condition. The lionesses seeming irritated moved further up the drainage line and so we went serching for cheetah. With a stroke of luck and T's great eyes we found a female Cheetah with 3 cubs. With the sun warming the cubs playing had slowed down but it was now time for the female to get hunting. Some 300+ m in the distance was a herd of impala. The hunt was on, we looped around and poitioned 50m+ to the right of the impala. The morning silence was then suddely broken by a vervet monkey alarm call, several impala started trotting towards us, and then there apperaed a female cheetah at full sprint, covering 12m a stride ive never seen an animal move like that, impalas scattering all around like a bulled flew past and banked out of sight... and then silence as the dust settled. We followed her last position to find her on a young impala suffocating it as she gasped for breath herself. A 300m sprnit in a matter of secinds was mind blowing. Minutes later a few contact calls and the cubs arrived. not quiet dead the impala moved and the cubs practiced finishing it off. With over a year of guiding id finally seen a cheetah at full sprint. Tue, 04 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/collared-flycatcher-there-are-very-few-records-of-this-bird-in-southern-africa While doing some birding in the Sand Forest my guest Callum Zehner was after a Narina Trogon and while stopping to listen to a Woodward's Batis the movement of a flycatcher high up in the canopy of a Lebombo Wattle caught our attention, we had stumbled on a Collared Flycatcher! This bird allowed us great views of it darting typically out from it's perch to hawk insects, we watched in disbelief at this special little bird. A while later the bird still there allowed other guests on a Birding Safari a great view. This very rare summer visitor marks possibly the first record in Kwazulu-Natal and once again Phinda is proven as one of Southern Africa's premier birding hotspots! Sun, 02 March 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephant-thrills-and-lion-kills It was hot, the maputoland humidity drawing out the sweat and the sun draining the pride. It was around 5 PM when I arrived, the northern phinda pride was neslted in a small shady thicket, close to a dam, panting heavily and lethargically struggling to keep their eyelids open. The day wore on as the sun fell and the tepid shade inched closer still. Just before 7 PM, a herd of elephants appeared to the left, chasing the lions from their slumber, rushing in to drink and swim. The pride was awake now, hungry and motivated the big male, swung his heavy black mane and soldiered forward into the acacia savannah. The 3 lionesses trudged forward, the two young daughters followed by their elederly mother. Onward they panted as the dusk settled in and the cool breeze provided respite. The airstrip loomed closer to unveil a sprawling collection of impalas, wildebeest's and giraffes settling in for the night. The alarm call was swiflty sounded and upon hearing it, the pride settled down and patiently watched, waited, licked, nuzzled and then struck. Like clockwork, the younger female slithered into the bush and moved behind the herd of imapalas startling them into running towards the waiting pride. The murky dusk gave way to a stampede of herbivores running for their lives into the jaws of a pride in their peak physical, strategic and mental condition. A large lioness banked left for a wildebeest, whilst the older female growled at a young calve stunning it into the gaping jaws of the big black maned behemoth. The snap and crunch electrified the air as the sacrificial lamb was given and the dust settled to see the large male lion savagely feeding and tearing his nubile prey to pieces. The lionesses patiently waited, until their was nothing left but the scraps for them to fight over. Tue, 26 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-and-lioness After leaving the lodge early in the morning and having seen white rhino and buffalo bulls on top of the ridge, we responded to a female cheetah with three cubs that had been sighted on the open grassed areas close to phinda's airstrip. Having arrived and watching the cubs interacting with their mother, the female cheetah became very alert to a disturbance in the nearby thickets. After staring intently into this area, which we could not see, she suddenly launched forward at an incredible speed and rushed off towards the thicket. She had left her cubs still playing with each other and on seeing their mother run off became alert and started to move off towards where the female had dissapered. All of a sudden not 20 meters from we were viewing the youngsters, the female cheetah came out of the bush at full speed with a lioness right on her heels. I almost knocked my camera over we all got such a fright! The lioness continued to chase the cheetah a fair distance down the airstrip and then turned it's attention towards the cubs who by this stage had had the fright of their lives and had now built up enough courage to spit and snarl at the lioness. The lioness attempted to chase the youngsters but was rapidly run down by the female cheetah coming to her cubs rescue. Needless to say, the lioness gave up the chase and after giving us a quick once over, disapeared into the bush where we then heard the death gasping of some unfortunate antelope. What I think happened is the cheetah and the lioness had both been stalking the same animal and it was the cheetah who had got their first, injured the animal and was then chased off by the lioness. Not to let anything go to waste, the lioness then proceeded to drag the carcass some way into a dry river bed where it was joined by 4 young lion cubs. Sun, 24 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/relaxed-serval We were following fresh elephant bull tracks in the northern area of the reserve. We started getting audio of this animal. We then turned around to go and see if we can get a visual of the elephant on the western side of the block where we had the audio. As we came around the corner Zakele our tracker said stop. I asked him what have you seen. He then replied and said he just saw a serval in the grass to our left. We looked around for a bit and then carried on looking for the elephant. We drove around the block again and as we came around to the previous position where we saw the serval, there it was. The serval standing next to the road in the long grass. We viewed it for quite a long time. These solitary cats are normally very nocturnal and viewing it in the day without it running of was very special. There is sometimes serval sightings on the reserve but not really during daytime. Mon, 18 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/maternal-instinct I spoke recently about how the Phinda north pride had reunited and split up again. At the core of this behavour is a lion cub that seems to have ricketts. In the young lioness first littershe has 3 cubs that are now about 6 months old. acting a bit like a leopard she was very secrative with the youngsters for the first 4 months only seen occasionally on her own when out hunting. Over the past months and a half we have started viewing all the animal to discover the sick animal. Typically she should have returned to the pride and the injured would have been life for dead. With here exellent ability to hunt on her own and the high aboundance of nyala and wilderbeest on the fringes of the marsh she has stayed with the sick cub. Not only have her movements been limited but she returns from feeding to regurgitate meat for the cub and allow it to suckle it. Its pain staking listening to it cry as it watches its siblings playing with eachother yet fascinating to watch this mothers complete dedictaion to its survival. Time will tell but if this female contunues this behavoir the cub might be around for longer than expected. Sun, 17 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-disturbed-sunset The lebombo mountains, the most southern ends of the great rift valley, extends its way into the western edges of phinda. Our quiet, tranquil and breathtakingly beautiful drinks stop was interupted yesterday by vicious growling. The baboons who had been admiring the view with us, had turned on the nyala who were browsing nearby. 2 of the dominant males got hold of a young nyala, and were now fighting over the lions share. A rare and fascinating, yet gruesome sight. Sat, 16 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/phinda-in-a-day Sheldon and I had set the challenge. Walk the length of Phinda in a day from the elephant alley in the northern corner to poachers corner in deep in the far south. "Top to bottom in a day" people whispered in hushed tones, "its never been done before, its madness - they shall surely do so at their own peril." Silently we left early one Wednesday morning mid february. The time was 4:45 and we stepped out the vehicle into darkness, touching the northern most fence post on the reserve for luck. The kreosout wood left a mark on my hand, one that was to stay with me for the epic journey ahead. Marching forward into the dawn haze, we were acutely aware of the presence of lions in the surrouding areas, a low roar in the distance gave them away and we set the pace a little quicker, our stride lengthened and our senses stiffened. Down past Lion lane the fence ended and glorious maputoland woodland rose up before us. We offset west onto a game trail that led us to pipeline pan, spurwing geese glistened in the early morning sheen. The trail continued further into the woodlands, the sandy floor laced with leopard tracks from the night before. Reaching Zinave we rediscovered an old elephant track through the Nganga pans and further west towards the Forest Lodge. A brief break and like a well oiled game drive, the momentum drove us even further south. The bumbeni section saw the physical challenge start to mount as we reached the 20km mark and estimated a halfway point. The bush thickened extensively as we came off the ancient sand dunes to the firmer clay based soil that is so prevalent in the southern section of phinda. Beautiful kudu bulls emerged quietly to allow us a rare glimpse into their world, Zebra scattered as we rounded open corners and warthogs became constant companions. By the time we reached Mvubu dam, we breaked further to appreciate malachite, striped & half collared kingfishers, whistling ducks, jacana's, fish eaglyes, twinspots and various other waterbirds. The pace slowed as we reached the 30km mark and with mountain lodge in sight we stumbled onto another incredible elephant trail winding through the thick acacia savanna and revealing a myriad of insects, reptiles and small mammals. The last leg was close and we moved through mountain lodge swiftly, not allowing the midday heat to stifle our purpose. Through Mark's Garden and around Ubombo pass the fever trees greeted Sheldon and I. Discussion was on leopard populations when lion tracks appeared redirecting our course slightly through into Harrowgate. The hill after the next hill was in sight and the Southern end of Phinda rose into sight as the grasslands of Harrowgate presented further Zebras, Wildebeest, Impalas, Reedbuck, Giraffe, Rhino, Buffalo and Elephant bulls gliding slowly across the horizon. The end was close and i lifted my hand to smell the kreosout from up north, the strong aroma alivening my senses as together we grabbed the southern most pole in Phinda having walked 39.8km in a time of 7hrs and 30 minutes. All that remained was to get home... Wed, 13 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-and-white-rhino-spar After searching for the small herd of buffalo all afternoon, success as my tracker spotted the unmistakable tips of the horns of a few animals in some tall thatching grass. The animals started towards the dam for a afternoon drink but not before they where joined by a Black rhino and 2 white rhino. Like an excited child the black rhino kept running around the white Rhino untill the young animal started to spar with him. There seemed to be no real aggression as the spared and it ended in a final horn to the butt of the white rhino as its mother lead it away. During the sparing the buffalo herd moved through and around the Rhino as well as a nyala bull who came to see what all the fuss was about. Tue, 12 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rhino-vs-lion-standoff The marsh i describe as paradise on earth - the pride had begun to split up again but not before a final show down. I sat with 2 photographers including Mike Karantonis our specialist and photographic guide as he enlightened us in the art. In place we snapped away at the 2 lionesses and the pride male as they sat perfectly on a dam wall with golden light creating the twinkle in their eyes. 5 white rhino then approached ... they just kept coming. This pride has killed 2 sub adult white rhino in the last year and so our excitment grew. Today the rhino bunched together and drove the lions off the wall, snarling and a mouthfull of teeth was all the male mustered up yet the interacting was fascinating. Fri, 08 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/pride-reunites The pride re unites After 6 months of separation the north pride re united on the famous marsh. It all started when the 2 young males of the then pride of 7 separated and went south. Only weeks later the young lioness with heavy mammary glands went off to have her litter. 6 months later she still hadnt merged. The pride spent much time in the south yet dry summer conditions have lead to them returning to the marsh to hunt the plentiful zebra and wilderbeest. The dominant male only spend a quarter of his time with the pride as he continues to venture south where he has lad claim to 2 south pride lionesses and driven the South males further south. A fight seems but a matter of time, especially since he has been mating with the young loan south lioness. Time will tell, but something got to give. for 3 days we enjoyed a pride of 8 with the 2 newest members been embrached by the big male yet onky days later the male went south, female with cubs stayed on the fringes of the marsh while the other 3 lionesses kept moving. Tue, 05 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopards-badges-rhinos Pipeline pan home to thousands of amazing sightings delivere yet again. As i took the corner my tracker picked up a young leopard on the edge of the water, from excitement and adrenaline pumping went to complete chaos when a honey badger appeared chasing the leopard off staright at a crash of 3 white rhino who startled and went squeeling for the closest exit route. Within seconds all that was left was the quiet waters of the pan with the croak of frogs breaking the ambience everything had dissaperared into the quiet of darkness. (Chris Laubscher) Sat, 02 February 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/male-leopard-vs-3-lionesses There were reports of a young female leopard seen during the morning. The afternoon we went to see if we might find her. We drove around the area and suddenly my guest Arto said: “Stop there she is”. This was great as he spotted her first sitting down in a patch of open grass. We viewed her for a long time and also saw her almost killing a nyala. This was the young female that we have been seeing the last couple of months which is quite relaxed. Handing over the sighting we were very happy and excited in how the afternoon started. This was just the beginning of a day to remember. Went for sundowners and asked after the break for any updates on the radio. Some other vehicles located 3 lionesses close by. We started making our way and arrived at the sighting with three big adult lionesses sleeping. A number of vehicles have viewed her before us so we were the only ones currently in the sighting. It was not ten minutes after that and suddenly one of the lionesses jumped up and ran through a thicket to our left. Just behind the thicket came a growling sound and our tracker Zakele shouted: “Leopard, up there”. We moved the vehicle to a better viewing position. There it was, the lionesses under a tree growling at a male leopard in the canopy. After a while the lionesses gave up and moved off a few meters away. Now the male leopard had a chance to get away. He jumped out moving away in a different direction. The lionesses spotted this and followed him once more. The male leopard gave one growl and within a flash up another tree much bigger than the previous one growling at them once more. The lionesses gave up eventually and moved off. The male leopard realised that the distance is safe and he moved off in a flash in the opposite direction to safer grounds. We discovered that the lionesses killed a Nyala and that might have attracted this male without him noticing the 3 lionesses being present. The other conclusion was that he also might have just stumble upon them. This was amazing seeing two special cat species interacting with each other. Leopards are normally very shy on Phinda, but this time this male was not even bothered by our presence. Sun, 27 January 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/giraffe-with-skull Two giraffe bachelors chewing on some bones with utmost enjoyment. Thu, 24 January 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lion-stealing-a-kill-near-forest-lodge Thanks to Richard and Jabu at Forest Lodge, we were able to follow this huge male lion and watch it as it stole a cheetahs kill. Thu, 24 January 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/two-white-tailed-mongoose-in-daylight Approaching the sand forest section on Phinda during morning game drive, there around the corner we were very surprised to find two white tail mongoose (As they are solitary animals we suspect that it was a male and a female). These animals are usually exclusively nocturnal and this was definitely a first for me to see them in the daytime. I asked two other rangers and my tracker Zama, but between the three of them they had only ever had two other sightings of white tailed mongoose during the day, despite the fact they have 27 years experience between them. Sat, 19 January 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hot-demand It was one of those days when you could hear the heat as much as feel it. Every action seems more deliberate, because of the slowness that precedes it. So it was also with this elephant bull that slowly approached this rhino cow and calf lying at the edge of the waterhole in the cooling water. A rhino would usually give way, but maybe it was the immense heat that made any thought of giving way evaporate. The rhino and her calf stood their ground and this is exactly what this young elephant bull was not expecting. It made him pause and re-consider and then there was this numbing heat, which maybe helped nullify any further attempt by the elephant to establish dominance. They stood very close to one another for a couple of minutes, seemingly unsure of what to do next. The elephant took the first step, away and around the cow and calf, her horn and head following him as if he were magnetised. With one indignant headshake the elephant then proceeded to have a long and leisurely drink while ‘allowing’ the rhino pair to resettle in the shallows. Oh yes, those are lions you have spotted in the background doing their utmost to imitate heavily panting beige carpets. Mon, 14 January 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-view-to-remember After one of the most incredible safaris i have ever been on, we decided to take a relaxed morning drive, to just enjoy the surroundings. We stopped at one of the many breathtaking viewpoints on the Lebombo mountain range, and decided to jump out and have a cup of coffee and Amarula. Below us a sheer drop off of 40m with a stunning, lush river bed, sweeping grasslands, and big blu skies. As if that were not eneough though, 4 elephant bulls arrived at the foot of the cliff, going about their day eating, fighting and dust bathing. Its not every day, in just any place you get to share a cup of coffee with an elephant, in such a picturesque setting, what a privelage! Sat, 12 January 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-meal-interuption Cheetah was the only animal left to see, on my guests list of 'must see' animals. We headed out early in the afternoon, with high hopes, and a even higher sun. Was not long before we found her, with 4 cubs, and they were on the move. She looked hungry! Within an hour she had found a possible meal, young impala ram. She chased, and in a cloud of dust it was over. The cubs rushed in to claim their share, while mom caught her breath, but the fun was not over. A big bull elephant had heard the noise, and came to investigate. The cheetah scattered in all directions, to avoid been trampeled. He did not stay long though, and they were all able to once again claim their hard earned meal. Sat, 05 January 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/playful-young-cheetah-cubs My Son Rickard a keen photographer had a most wonderful Safari at Phinda, staying in the newly renovated Mountain Lodge. Just shortly before departing back to Hong Kong he downloaded these Photos to my Computer. Having had great Sightings and Photos of white and black Rhino, Wildebeest Buffalo, Giraffe and Zebras, Fish Eagles, Giant Kingfisher,Bateleur Eagle and Squacco Heron and many more. The only disappointment no Elephants this Time. I have chosen to publish this from Rickards Sightings of a very alert Female Cheetah with her two playful young Cubs Double click on "Playful young Cheetah Cubs" to see more Photos Thu, 03 January 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/suni-in-the-sand-forest We saw this tiny antelope standing in the shades close to the road in the sand forest in Phinda. I could take few prictures as the animal was quite curious and did not seem scared at all. Unfortunately the light wasn't very good, so the pics are a little dark, but I think good enough to have a look at this quite rare antelope. Mon, 31 December 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-five-white-rhino The marsh on Phinda is always great for rhino viewing in the summer time. This time we were spoilt seeing a black rhino together with five white rhinos. This was increddible to see these two species interacting and being very close to each other. Eventually the female white rhino chased the black rhino away form the others. Thu, 27 December 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/three-black-rhino The marsh is one of the trusty areas to look for black rhino. This last couple of weeks its been quiet and not finding them that often. In the distance at first we thought a crash of white rhino. With the binoculars we double checked and realise three black rhino together. Two of them was bulls going after the cow. The two bulls challenged each other and eventually the one moved off with the cow and the other one moved off in a different direction empty handed. Sat, 22 December 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/young-female-leopard Aproximately five months ago a female leopard died. This female had a cub of seven months old. Not to long after the death of the mother we saw the cub one morning and didint see her for almost 3 months.Recently we have been seeing her where we estimate the age around 12 months old. On phinda our leopard sightings are rare but the last couple of weeks we have been viewing this young one quite a bit. She is relaxed and the last sighting that we had for her we viewed her for a hour long in the day just doing her own thing, extremely relaxed. This is great to see how adaptable these animals are for being able to survive on its own from the age of seven onths. Thu, 20 December 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/newborn-elephant Making our way down the hill with a lot of elephant dung in the road. Suddenly to our right was a small herd of elephants huddling together. As we started looking with the binoculars we saw this female with blood on her hinds. There it was a newborn baby elephant approximately 30 min old an sitting down just below the mother. We viewed them for almost an hour and a half as the little one eventually got up onto its feet wabbling away. The rest of the herd was very protective and very cautious of not stepping on the little one. The herd stayed in the area for the rest of the day taking care of this little one. Special thanks to Robert Parchardis my guests for supplying us with these great fotos Wed, 19 December 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-family-feast-on-impala Recently we were privileged to witness a female cheetah catching a female impala in full flight on the side of a mountain slope. By the time we approached with the game viewer the impala had been suffocated and lay dead at the feet of the heavily panting cheetah. After a short while she looked at us and walked off, disappearing over behind the ridge crest, not turning around once. Had a gotten too close?!! We waited for at least 20 minutes to see if our ‘alternative theory’ or explanation for her sudden departure would be rewarded. I was about to give up when her head and ears were suddenly silhouetted against the sky on the ridge. She was chirping softly, turning back frequently...and there they came. Two cubs, probably close to two and a half months old. They pounced and rolled, chewed and nibbled on the impala’s ears and tail, their inexperience obvious. Was this to be their first meaty meal? We withdrew from the scene so as not to interfere and felt good about it, picturing the skin on the cheetah cubs’ bellies stretching as they tucked into their first solid meal. Wed, 19 December 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/python-eating-impala Approaching one of the pan systems in the northern section of the reserve, we suddenly heard impala alarm calling. At first we thought maybe lion, leopard or cheetah&hellip;&hellip; After driving around the block we didn&rsquo;t see any tracks of any cats. We parked the vehicle and tracker Josiah and I went for a walk. There in the distance, we saw the impalas and just to the right of them in the grass,&nbsp;a&nbsp;big African Rock Python&nbsp;strangling an impala lamb more or less 4 weeks old. With my guests, we sat on the vehicle and watched it with the binoculars starting to swallow the head of the impala. As the python reached the neck area, we went a bit closer to view it with the naked eye. This was spectacular watching this enormous 3 metre snake swallowing the impala. The whole eating process took around 30-40 minutes. After that, the python sailed off to a thick bush where it will rest and start digesting its big meal. It was incredible to see this reptile, without effort, swallowing such a big animal. What an amazing sighting especially with African Rock Pythons being an endangered species and very rare to see. Tue, 11 December 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/mushroom This large mushroom, Termitomyces sp. (possibly reticulatus) is always found in association with termite mounds, especially those of the wood-destroying termites Odontotermes sp. This one is just bursting through the mound, and will expand into a large mushroom cap. Fri, 30 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/red-billed-oxpeckers This apparently deluded quartet of red-billed oxpeckers had taken up residence on a road-sign on the way to Mountain Lodge at Phinda. Roberts describes them as hole nesters in trees, so perhaps they had decided to try nesting in a road sign instead. Or maybe they thought it was simply a very old buffalo that didn't move around much any more. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-midden This twig was picked from a rhino midden at Phinda. The 45 degree bite angle is typical of black rhino, as was the twiggy content of the midden. White rhino middens contain grass only. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/wild-flowers The beautiful flower of the Dwarf Boer-bean Schotia capitata, commonly found in Phinda in November. This scrambling shrub frequently tangles with other vegetation. The nectar-laden flowers attract insects and birds, especially sunbirds. The second picture shows its seed-pods. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/nocturnal-hunt Not only leopards hunt at night. Here is a Red Toad Schismaderma carens hunting insects at Rock Lodge. This species repeatedly utters a loud booming call from emergent vegetation, and will easily keep you awake at night if a few of them get going in chorus! Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/be-prepared-to-share-your-plunge-pool A picture of our plunge pool at Vlei Lodge. As you can see, far from being exclusive, we had to share with all sorts of strange characters. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/an-unusual-sighting It is seldom that one sees on a game drive animals that are 100 000 000 years old. Yet here they are: the beautiful coiled ammonite Pervinquieria, and the bivalved shell Trigonia sp. They belong to the Middle Cretaceous period, and were contemporaries of many of the most spectacular dinosaurs. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/bone-chewing This female nyala is chewing a bone. Such behavoiur has been observed in other herbivores including giraffe, and perhaps indicates some dietary deficiency. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/always-look-behind-you When parking your car at Phinda, always look behind you. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/injury It isn't easy being a big tough rhino. This white rhino bull has a nasty hole in his neck, no doubt received during an altercation with another rhino. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/look-up-into-the-trees Look up into the trees as well. Here is the exquisite epiphytic orchid Microcoelia exilis growing on a tree in the Sand Forest. This tiny orchid has minute, but beautifully formed, white flowers, and twig-like leaves. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/id-please This pretty little snake was rescued from the offices at the airstrip. If anybody knows what it is, please tell me. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/how-to-make-a-waterhole This handsome male warthog was having a great wallow in this muddy water when we came along. As animals wallow and roll in mud, some of the mud adheres to their bodies as they leave the wallow, which consequently gets bigger and bigger until a fine waterhole is formed. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-master-of-camouflage This twig snake was hanging absolutely motionless in a fence. His grey, brown and patchy pink colouration was such a good imitation of a wind-blown twig that we almost missed him. Thu, 29 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/could-be-sabi-sands The summer rains continue to fall yet the game viewing is getting better, after viewing a huge female crowned eagle, Thembinkosi picked up tracks of a female cheetah and 4 cubs not long after we had them cuddled up with mom bellies full as the drizzle returned. Already satisfied with the after noon we continue birding. As the light starts disappearing a young female leopard was found, we view her relaxed in a huge balanities tree, quintessential has a new meaning. Not minute later my binoculars still fixed on her my guest asked me if that’s a lion. To my disbelief the huge black mane lion following the leopards scent trail walk right up to the tree. The leopard took to the highest thinnest braches, perched like a raptor it eyed the lion out. The lion lost interest and moved away not before walking past our vehicle scent marking defecate and leave us with hearts racing. Sun, 25 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/two-rare-sightings It is rare to see a Crowned Eagle, and it is rare to see a Suni. I was very fortunate today to see both. I was driving in our beautiful Sand Forest and came round a corner, and on the floor there was the eagle. I gave it a fright and it flew up into the tree, i then moved back and began to see what it was doing. On the side of the road was a Suni, that had obviously just been killed by the eagle. I watched for a while, until i realised that i might still be impacting on the eagle and reversed out to find another way to where i was going. Sun, 18 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephant-magic While driving around in the middle of the day on a training exercise, we saw across the clearing an Elephant Bull heading to a pan that was just past a thicket. On the way to the pan the elephant gave us an amazing show, the thing that stood out for me the most was when he had just picked up a mouthful of grass and was about to put it into his mouth, he apparently got an itch. He placed the grass delicately on the middle of his trunk, scratched the itch just above his tusk and then picked up the grass off his trunk and ate it. It was an amazing display of dexterity in his trunk and 'thoughtfulness' from him. The elephant then moved into the thicket on his way to the pan, and in the time that it took us to reposition he had dissappeared into the thicket and we thought he had given us the slip. After searching for a while it had happened that he had just stayed in the thicket for a while, it's amazing how easily something so big can just disappear. He played in the water for a while and then had a good scratch on a tree. It was while he was scratching that we headed back to the cool of the lodge to have a cold drink ourselves. Wed, 14 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/buffalo-rhino-cheetha Whilst out on evening drive, we found a white rhino and calf in a newly burnt area. While watching them rest in the blustry wind, we noticed two cheethas camoflaged amoungst the rocks in the distance. Talking in the surroundings it was evident that their was a herd of buffalo not far off. As the buffalo came closer they disturbed the rhino and calf, who where aware of the cheethas and dicided to charge. The cheethas got up and ran off, only to be followed by 3 cubs, whom where no older than 6 weeks. The rhino managed to separate the cubs from the adults, it was fasinating how the male and female cheethas worked together to protect the cubs. Thu, 08 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/nest Nest of Foam-nest Frog Chiromantis xerampelina. Such nests are always suspended over water. During mating the female releases a secretion from her oviduct which she churns to a foam with her legs. The eggs are mixed into the foam. Developing tadpoles remain in the foam for up to six days, after which the foam breaks down and the tadpoles fall into the water. Thu, 08 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/intresting-project Richard's snake project is so intresting. After winter we are starting to see a large variaty of snakes on the park. Yesterday Martin, Benson and I watched a very large African rock python (python sebae) for +- 45min. This beautifull species are often observed on the reserve in summer time. Tue, 06 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/snake-on-a-path It is not everyday that you get to see a snake, and it is even more rare to find a snake that is feeding. So we were very fortunate while on our way to do a walk that we saw a Boomslang cross the path in front of us with a frog in its mouth. We watched as the snake devoured the frog and then glided up into a tree close to where we were standing, after it was swallowed we were able to see the bump where the frog had settled in the snakes stomach. Sat, 03 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/amaizing-safary-on-the-rain Leaving the lodge for morning drive with rain forcast of 100%, 20 temp. and 81% humidity, that is something scarry! But it did work well. By 06:20, driving to see a female cheetah and 4 cubs found in bumbeni,and we got to locate the black rhino on the same area, happy on the rain wollowing on the mud, suddenly was a gray duiker running at full speed towards us, surprise surprise there was the cheetah chaising, and she caught it just about 50m from us. Before we got back to the lodge same senario hapen, but this time was diferent female chaising the reedbuk at airstrip west, but she fail to make a kill. Fri, 02 November 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/goldentailed-woodpecker While viewing an elephant bull destroy a white milkwood tree I noticed a Golden Tailed woodpecker perched next to a cocktail ant nest just a few meters to our right. The woodpecker then started to peck away at the nest to brake it open and then feasted on the ants, totally unperturbed by our presence. Alson, who has been a tracker at Phinda for 16 years commented that it was the first time he had witnessed this behavior. Wed, 31 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/female-cheetah-takes-adult-kudu Trying to find a female cheetah with two cubs we drove to her last position but she seemed to have moved off. We had been watching her for the last few days, she had attempted a few hunts but had missed and now I was sure she would be very hungry. The last couple of hunts she attempted were on a recently burned area which was not too far from where we were. We arrived at the spot where we thought she might be headed and found a nice sized herd of impala as well as kudu. I turned off and before I could even suggest that we sit and wait to see if she would appear, the impala alarmed and she came sprinting past our vehicle at full pace towards them. The impala saw her too early and the kudu made a dash for it to. One female kudu panicked a bit and couldn’t decide which way to run. She hesitated and the cheetah went for her, bringing her down. The kudu was an adult and too big for her. The kudu jumped back up and kicked the cheetah off sending her flying. She hit the ground hard and then limped back towards our vehicle where she lay down and called her cubs. The little ones came running and gave their mom lots of affection. After a little while she got her breath back and walked off into the plains, no longer limping. We went back to look for her the next day, she must have killed something as her cubs had fat little bellies! Wed, 31 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-first-swainsons-francolin Swainson's Francolin, a rare sight on Phinda so we were told by our ranger JD, our tracker Josiah and a LandCruiser full of CCAfrica rangers that happened to cross our path at just the right time. And yes, although you can't see them in the picture its legs are black. Tue, 30 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/question-what-do-squirrels-eat The Tsonga red squirrel is an endemic and rarity to see here on Phinda something that all guests visiting us should try and ask their rangers to show them. One of the ways we are often alerted to their presence is by their high pitched alarm call. After many occasions of trying to find out what would set these little creatures off, such as snakes or other predators like various cats. My tracker, Dumi Q, made an interesting comment. His views where that by alarming from an exposed branch other small birds would gather round to also alarm and mob the snake or predator, while the bird would be alarming the squirrel would use this opportunity to flick around attack it and secure an easy meal. Far fetched I thought even though I had observed birds getting really close to the squirrel, I will read up about it in a mammals book that is known to provide the answers for most mammal related questions and has good scientific backing. Yes I was right squirrels eat nuts and fruit, it has never been recorded but may eat bird eggs or chicks in a nest. With my new found knowledge I was ready to put it across to Dumi Q when another seasoned ranger who grew up in this are Dumisani Mpanza calmly told me my tracker was right as he to had witnessed a Tsonga red squirrel catch and eat a puff back shrike. These are two bush peoples who I am now convinced could help a few researches out. But has anyone else seen or heard of this happening??? Mon, 29 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/bee-eaters-and-badgers One of the most colorful and interesting birds on Phinda for me is surely the little bee eater, they are so tiny yet they labor along and build burrows in banks as deep as 70 cm long and lay their tiny clutch of eggs. A day or two previously my tracker, Dumi Q, had seen one of these nests and was keen to show myself and my guests. On approaching the nest early in the morning and still about 30 meters away Dumi started shaking his head in concern for the little bee eaters, the reason being was there where fresh honey badger tracks heading down the road in the same direction. Our worries where confirmed, the honey badger tracks led right up to the burrow clearly sniffed out the birds and dug straight in to claim his colorful snack. All that was left where a few feathers, tracks and a bigger burrow that something else will surely use as a home in the future. Sun, 28 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-and-calf Together with my wife, Karen and our excellent ranger Mac, we caught our first glimpse ever of a black rhino and calf when we least expected it, while transferring from Rock Lodge to Vlei Lodge. Sun, 28 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/to-kill-two-birds-with-one-stone On a recent morning drive we encountered a juvenile Martial Eagle feeding on a Helmeted Guinea Fowl, some of the plume feathers drifting in the air around the feeding eagle, almost like snowflakes. We drove on a mere 300 metres when the antics of a Crested Francolin male caught our attention, hopping and skipping on the road around a female, all the while maintaining a monotone repeated chirp, sounding very much like the alarm call. We watched for several minutes before the pair moved off the road. We drove on and when we reached the area of the “courtship skip” Simiso stopped us with a raised hand and exclamation “Python”! We reversed to a suitable position and observed the snake releasing the coil and the simultaneous swallowing process, the snake making use of the matted grass to manoeuvre a Francolin into its unhinging jaws. It reminded me to observe scenes with a fresh and open mind and not to jump to conclusions no matter how similar the initial behaviour. Sun, 28 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-and-cubs While on our way back to Rock Lodge from our morning drive we encountered this cheetah mum and her four cubs. After nervously following her cubs around in the thicket, she finally got a well-earned rest when the four youngsters got tired of getting into trouble. Wed, 24 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-mom-protects-cubs-from-troop-of-baboon This morning I took Sam our fantastic chef and his family on a drive. While we where watching a cheetah with four very young cubs, she started to run and play with her cubs. Caught up in the fun and games, they were suprised by the dominant male of a closeby troop of baboons. The baboon managed to get them to seperate them from their mom, at one stage it looked very daunting as he headed for one little bundle of fluff, but she was far to angry as she headed straight for him and positioning herself between the cubs and the baboon. A snare with a full mouth of teeth, and he was off, to recute more players. By this time she had reunited with her cubs and swiftly taken them into a thicket for safety. When the baboons came back (44 in total) they where intersepted by a breeding herd of buffalo, thus the mom and her cubs were safe again for the time being. Fri, 05 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/broadbill-display After a training drive, watching cheetah and cubs, followed by a breeding herd of 25 buffalo we made our way back to forest lodge. As we drove through the sand forest we heard the call of a broadbill closeby, it was fasinating to watch this bird doing its sumersaulting display, an absolute highlight for me, something all bird lovers must see. Fri, 05 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-and-black-rhino-face-to-face As it poured with rain and half my guests desided it would me nice to stay and cuddled in bed, those brave enough to face the rain headed off in search of cheetah, as we watched the mom and her four young cubs bound up and down, climbing trees and playing soccer with ele dung, my tracker heard a rhino in a nearby thicket. The rhino emerged, and to everyones suprise it was a black rhino, which continued to move towards the cheetah and here cubs. She was to have non of this and the two began a stand off, the rhino managed to gain 20m on the cheetah, as they stood face to face. The rhino finely gave up and the mom and cubs moved away. What a magical moment as we watched Phinda's two endangered animals stand head to head in a battle. Tue, 02 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyena-and-lioness-brawl After a magical sunset boat cruize on the Mzinene River, watching pygmy geese and trying with all attempts to catch fish, we made our way back to the cruizer to the airy sound of laughing hyena's. With serious deturnination we ventured into the thick block towards the calls. Only to be suprised by what sounded like the hyenas and lions in a brawl. Just listerning to the brutal sounds, we waited for a gap to see what was really happening. As we ventured in we came across a lioness runing at a rapid rate away from the scene, with four hyenas which had formed a barrier towards the lioness. One of the hyeans had severe cuts on the left shoulder and the other two lionesses nowhere to be seen. Looking around for the missing lionesses we came across a freshly killed zebra, which the hyenas had stolen from the lionesses. After we left some other rangers came to see what had happened, only to find the lionesses up a tree. Tue, 02 October 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/african-dreams The large open area in the north of the reserve, is almost always guaranteed to deliver something special, and now even more so, the marsh has had a facelift! In anticipation of the first summer rains, the old dead grass in the marsh has been burned away, allowing for the new regrowth, and what a change. Yesterday, whilst sitting at Bischoffs dam, waiting for the sunset, we were joined by a crash of 7 white rhino, aswell as a herd of buffalo, and then just as the sun was about to touch the horizon, and the pink, red, orange and blue hues were shimmering on the water surface, a black rhino strolled in for a drink. The things that African dreams are made of Sun, 30 September 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/tough-genet Curiosity got the better of a large spotted genete, just out side forets lodge we watched a genet hurt for insects as it surried nose to the groud when its attention was diverted to a huge puff adder. After investigation the genet made a bold strike aimed behind the adders head to have a huge snake uncoil itself and strike back. whether strike where successful it was hard to tell but this happened several times before the genet dissaperared into the darkness. Sat, 29 September 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/honey-badger-2 Early evening and it just started getting dark and as every night we look for nocturnal animals. This was a special one as we came around the corner we saw this animal in the far distance what seemed to be a porciupine or something. Drived closer and suddenly realized that this is a honey badger. It got up in a flash and we watched it running down the road and into the thick bush. This was really special seeing the first honey badger on game drive in 14 months. Tue, 25 September 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-and-4-cubs-kill-reedbuck The cheetah and her 4 cubs had disappeared...tracks heading straight into the thick bush and leaving not a trace. Dan and I took a drive around the block our eyes searching for any signs of life. It was only when Mike Karantonis talk a walk in did we know that the cubs were still there. Not for long however as the mother took an opportunity to slip by unabaited and was next spotted dragging a struggling reedbuck onto the road, her 4 cubs closely in tow. As the reedbuck stopped struggling and the cubs bounded onto the dead antelope, the mother lay down, exhausted and shivering for the next half hour. It was only then that she had the energy to drag the carcass off the road and start to feed on it with her young. Mon, 24 September 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/12-cheetah-cubs These couple of weeks we have been very fortunate with the viewing of 12 cheetah cubs. The one set of four is around 5 months and the other two between 1 and 2 months. The sightings has been fantastic. Yesterday we also saw the bigger cubs feeding with mom on a impala carcass and stuffing themselves with meat. Fri, 21 September 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopards-mating-2 Fairly quiet evening drive and luck was untill eight o'clock not on our side. There were reports of two leopards in an area briefly seen and we decided to go and see if we might be lucky. It was quite far out and a very long shot. drove for a long time around the block where we heard them grunting and fighting which they normally do when mating. After a while we were the only vehicle left looking for them and as we went around for the third time we found the male and the female lying in the road. For me this was a first seeing a male and female leopard together on Phinda. Daniel who i tracked for us said was that it was a first for him to and he has been working here for 15 years. Wed, 19 September 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/food-fight A big fight happened this morning at Hippo Dam on Phinda. We just approached the Dam Wall as a Grey Heron dived about ½ Meters over our heads. After the first shock we looked up and noticed a Fish Eagle flying just centimeters of the heron trying to attack it with its sharp beak. After a brief observation of the two big water birds we noticed a dead fish just on the edge of the water. Something was obviously feeding on it and fighting over it. The whole spectacle went on for about 10 Minutes before we could clearly recognize the winner of this Airfight": The Grey Heron proudly went back to feed. The poor Fish Eagle had just settled down on the Top of a flowering Fevertree as he got attacked a second time by 4 curios Blacksmith Lapwings (Plovers). Thu, 13 September 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/ntombi Ntombi is young female leopard on Phinda. She is one of the animals studied in the Munyawana Leopard Project. www.leopardresearch.org This picture was taken short before dawn on 31 July this year. Ntombi spent quite a while on the road before disappearing into the forest. Thu, 23 August 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/ntombi-2 Ntombi is one of the female leopards in the Munyawana Game Reserve. This picture was taken at dawn on the 31 July. She played for quite a while on the road before disappearing into the forest. Thu, 23 August 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/narina-trogon After viewing a beautiful female cheetah right in front of mountain lodge, we continued on our drive to find some black rhino. While crossing through a small river, Dom age 11 (a budding ranger from Harrowgate UK) spotted a bird about 4 meters to the right of us. Sitting on an open branch was a female Narina Trogon with her back to us. After explaining that is typical of this bird she obligingly hopped up and turned around to show off her lovely colours. This was by far the best Trogon sighting I have had in a year of guiding at Phinda! Mon, 20 August 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-cubs-in-tree We had been looking for the cheetah cubs for two days , one morning we went out early and tracked for 2 hours, then thanks to our guide Pip and the brilliant tracking skills of MR T, we found mom and the cubs . What a special sighting it was and how wonderful it is to see the cubs following moms example of climbing trees! Mon, 06 August 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hippo-giving-birth While exploring one of the new areas within the ever-expanding Phinda, we arrived at one of the larger waterholes to watch the hippos. As we arrived we found one of the hippos in the shallows looking rather agitated. Deciding to give her some space we moved around to a point above her and watched with interest as she moved around in figure 8’s and circles keeping the other hippos at bay. And then with a sudden leap forward from immediately behind her up popped a tiny hippo calf surging up for its first breath! The little calf swam around its mother trying to scramble on top of her while the rest of the pod gathered around to inspect the new member. Giving up on its mother’s broad back the youngster struck out for the bank and tottered ashore for his first shaky steps. As the calf gained some strength it swam more and more with short breaks on the banks. What made the whole event even more amazing was that both my guests and I had been taking pictures and filming the whole birth unwittingly! Surely one of my best sightings to date, but we will see what Phinda produces next... Thu, 02 August 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/photographic-safari Christian Sperka is a guest that returns to Phinda twice a year and has just finished a 15 night photographic safari with me. Over the two weeks we had a mammals list to die for and this just shows that the more time you spend in the bush the luckier you get. Caracal, Aardvark and leopard cubs are just a few sightings that would wet your appetite. A private vehicle with a specialist photographic guide helps to ensure the best possible shots are taken. This is one of the many specialist safaris that I host and are definitely the way to search deeper into Africans soul for that unique and once in a lifetime experience. Check out www.sperka.com for some of the shots taken on Phinda game reserve on our most recent journey though Maputulans biggest jewel. Fri, 27 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-in-daylight What an amazing afternoon. On our way to the marsh area in the northern section of the reserve we received a call of a female leopard walking on one of the roads. As we approach the area, suddenly there far in the distance we saw it walking right towards us and every now and then scent marking. We stopped and viewed it as this animal was slowly approaching us. As she came closer we moved of to the side off the road. This female was so relaxed and just kept walking and walked straight pass our vehicle without even looking or stopping. What an amazing sighting being a year on Phinda this was the first time ever seeing a leopard on the reserve so relaxed and also even better, a sighting in broad day light for the first time ever with guests. Thu, 26 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/stalking-cubs Driving back from a long day of walks, in the distance we noticed a flash across the road, stoping only to discover a lioness and four beautitiful cubs. The first time they had been seen so relaxed. Watching them for a while, the cubs started to become more familar with the vechicle, only to start play stalking us, this was a definitate 5/5 sighting, a special end to a lovely day. Wed, 25 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cat-madness This was an extraordinary two days. Started of the afternoon looking for a female cheetah with four cubs and found them in an open area playing and climbing trees all over. The following day, things really started to get interesting as we found another cheetah but this time a young male stalking impala and eventually running full speed chasing them, unfortunately for the male it missed but still amazing to see the fastest land mammal running full speed. We carried on with drive looking for a black rhino and it was barely an half an hour and we located another cheetah this time a female that had just killed a reedbuck, we watched her feeding of it as she gorged herself full. The day went by and it was almost time for afternoon drive. This time we were looking for elephants and found a big breeding herd in the most northern side of the reserve. Not far off again located to young male lions lying in the grass, viewed them for approximately 15 minutes where suddenly there came a elephant bull out of the thicket and not happy with these to youngsters. He chased them of in to the thick bush where they were sure they are out of this giants way. On the way back to the lodge we had reports of a female leopard with a cub. Drove around in the area for a while and got called in that they have located the cub where we viewed it for quite a while walking and standing in the road with nyalas barking in the background. This was possibly the mother stalking the nyalas and the reason for them alarm calling. The two days ended on a high note locating the north pride lions eventually and also again another different cheetah not to far off relaxing in the grass lying down. What a great two days seeing all those interactions from four different cheetahs, lion and a leopard cub. Definitely an unforgettable experience. Tue, 24 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-vs-white While out on a training drive, looking for the buffalo, we came across two rhino's standing in the road, it took a double look to regester that they were infact a black and white happily standing aside each other. Moments later a third rhino came out the bush, this a second white, thus changing the dynamics. The white rhinos, which seemed to be younger managed to move the black rhino away with some pushing and running, only for the black to return and continue with what became a game. Tue, 24 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/one-of-four-cheetah-cubs followed mother and four cubs - a fantastic experience!! Thu, 19 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-cubs-2 Afternoon game drive and looking for cheetah. This was a great day seeing the cheetah cubs for the first time after 3 months of waiting. The female with the 4 cubs were right on top of a termite mound in the open and they were awesome to watch playing around with their fluffy bodies. Wed, 18 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rhino-in-the-mist rhino even more impressive appearing from the mist! Wed, 18 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/new-cubs While out on drive this morning our tracker Thoks spotted a sighting that we have not seen on Phinda for the last few weeks! Cheetah cubs!! We got to watch the mother cheetah having bought her cubs to a female nyala kill, feed on the kill with the cubs. Judging by the age of the cubs (about ten weeks old) this may be the first meat they have got to feed on. So far the mother is doing well with four little cubs surviving. Fri, 13 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/breakfast-at-st-lucia-estuary Phinda Forest had the oppertunity to cook breakfst for a few of our guests on a boat cruise while cruising down the St Lucia Estuary on Thursday morning. We had exciting sightings of baby hippos, crocodiles and a very relaxed fish eagle which allowed us to come within 5 metres from him and not fly away. He allowed us to take amazing pictures and put up quite a pose as well. Fri, 13 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rangers-afternoon-off To get out and walk is often a luxury when the lodges have been busy, and as result we get little time off to get out. Well what afternoon, i took the oppertunity to take the trainee rangers out to get some experience walks done. With no luck finding fresh tracks i went to an area where i know white rhino frequent in winter, and we where not dissapointed. Just half an hour into the walk we found fresh rhino tracks that we decided to follow. The animal was not far from where we had picked up the tracks, and was very relaxed feeding. Suddenly we noticed another two animals it had joined up with, one of them a very young calf, no more than two months old. As the mothers can be somewhat protective of their calves we decided to move out and leave them alone. We krept off leaving them oblivous to the fact that they had been watched. On the way back to the vehicle we picked up fresh leopard tracks over our own tracks from earlier. We followed as not far ahead the bush errupted with the alarm calls from Nyala and monkeys. As it was getting late we decided to fetch the vehicle and wait on the other side off the block... for, hopefully, the leopard to emerge. Our patience was rewarded with an amazing viewing of a female leopard. Time to head back to the lodge.... but we bumped into the leopard researcher on the reserve..Tristan.. who asked us to help out with the capturing of a male leopard (Part of the Munya-wana leopard project-the longest running leopard research project, vital for the sustained conservation of leopards in the region and hopefully will be expanded further afield in the future, check out the link under Living library you'll find more info on the project). The whole experience was mind blowing, and unforgettable... It's days like this which remind me of why i'm out here. Thu, 12 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-killing-a-cub This female cheetah has killed this cub which tried to attach itself to her. The cub had probably lost it's mother and tried to follow this (non-lactating) female. Two instincts were fighting within the cub. The instinct to follow the female was stronger than the instinct to protect itself from harm. The cub did not try to run away but continued to follow even after the frist attacks from the female. Tue, 10 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/familiy-picture-the-phinda-north-pride The Phinda north pride assembled for this family picture at Antbear Pan east of Mziki Marsh. Tue, 10 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/mziki-marsh-madness On a leisurely but very serious morning drive, the hunt was on for elephant. Having left tracks and debris criss-crossing the reserve, 3 elephant bulls were teasing us and playing a small game of hard to get. Luckily our sharp-eyed tracker Dan combined hs many years of experience to navigate the unfathomable terrain which resulted in a storybook sighting of the 3 bulls gently strolling down the road towards us very close to the marsh. A while later we rounded the corner to a genuinely surprised black rhino who was halfway through an acacia bush. Easing past him after a clear and fantastic viewing we made our way into some thick bush. Silence....a twig snaps...and then a lioness ambled through the gap, lying down in the sun on a well rounded termite mound. 30 mintues later we tried to retire for some coffee, however a cheetah caught our eye and casually flicked its tail at us which we naturally took as a gesture to go and view it. A really great morning on the mziki marsh Tue, 10 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-mothers-love The white rhino cow drove the young elephant bull (in musth) away from her calve. Before this he tried to play with us and our Land Rover. After various mock attacks he lost interest in us and concentrated on the rhinos, with little success :-) The picture was taken near pipeline pan. Mon, 09 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/southern-black-tit-and-bag-worm This afternoon while driving the tamboti drainage lines in zuka area we spotted a rather jovial sb tit. On closer inspection i noticed that it had a rather large bag worm cacoon in its beak. It took while to penatrate it, but eventually managed to get inside and eat the grub. Strange as they are thought to be very poisonous esp to cattle. Mon, 09 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/stalking-baboon This was my funniest sighting ever. I was taking a shower in one of the rooms at Phinda Vlei Lodge when I realized that something was watching me through the window from a few meters away. This big male baboon could not see properly because the sun was shining directly into his eyes. I quickly go my camera (setting the room under water :-) and took this picture through the shower. A good sighting and I did not even have to move away from the lodge. Mon, 09 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/night-drive-delight The vast african land had just surrendered itself to the eery darkness as the spotlight came on. A pride of 3 large male lions had been savoured just before the drinks break and as the luminescent glow now scoured twilight terrain the nocturnal creatures came out to greet us. A nightjar switfly escaped the front end of the bonnet before fluttering away to find a new resting place and when the landcruiser slowly edged forward to our surprise a honey badger ran summarily across the road into the glow of the headlights...a quick glance in our direction and he was gone as soon as he had arrived. Excitement filled the vehicle once more as a white tailed mongoose was spotted by our tracker Dan's sharp eyes. Easing under a small tree stump he vanished with a flick of his fluffy white tail after a fantastic viewing. Just as the drive was about to end a small genet sidled up to a tree stump, scent marked and basked in the radiance of the spotlight before casually wandering off into the sandforest unknowingly giving us a wonderful treat to end a great drive. Mon, 09 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-attempt-on-porcupine-dinner While out on drive with leopard research team, Guy Baum and Luke Hunter we came across a young male leopard eating a porcupine. It was fasinating to watch as the leopard struggled to pluck out each quill, with such determination. Eventually resorting to clawing them out with little luck. The leopard then moved away to re-stratigise, with a very confused facial expresion. Unfortunately not sure if he managed to get some meat for dinner, but nevertheless put in a great effort. Sat, 07 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/balance-of-power Location: Mziki Marsh - Phinda First these two white rhino walked into the pride of lions. One of the lionesses stood here ground, but not for long. The picture was taken a few seconds before the rhinos chased the lions around the dam and the ran away to the west. Half an hour later a black rhino also appeared on the scene . It was a very, very lively evening. It ended in a 30 minute stand-off between the lions and a white rhino with her calve a few hundered meters east of the first two "meetings". Sat, 07 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/underwater-kill Location: Mzinene River - Phinda This dater appeared right in front of our boat with the dead fish speared onto his beak. Sat, 07 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/easy-meal While watching a male cheetah relax in the shelter of a bushwillow woodland it suddenly showed interest in some male nyalas. The cheetah stalked - then burst into sprint weaving between trees to be gifted with a meal when a nyala hit a tree. The excitement wasn’t over as the cheetah finished it off the bleating must have traveled some distance. Minutes later a male lion suddenly appeared stalked the cheetah but was so full that it made a feeble attach, it did secure himself yet another meal. Great to see predator interaction on Phinda Sat, 07 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/snake-release Recently a local snake park in St Lucia closed down and had a number of snakes that needed relocation back into the wild. They received the habitat management permision to relocate them onto the reserve. I was available to assist in the release of the animals back into the specific habitats they require away from any human interference . Thus we released 3 Puff adders, Snouted cobra, Mfezi, and a Black Mamba onto the reserve. Little scary but unforgetable!! Fri, 06 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lion-chases-cheetah-off-kill The cheetah was silently stalking an nyala in the broadleaf woodlands. A momentary pause before it sprinted out the lush grass and chased the nyala through the dense terrain dotted with tree trunks and thickets. The visual was lost and the sound of the bleeting nyala and a crash of bushes signalled its demise. Pip and myself relocated the vehicles to the sighting of the kill and watched as the North Pride Male lion wandered through the trees to the cheetah feeding. A moment later the lion sprinted at the unaware cheetah who took flight at the big male lion. After a few grunts and a sniff of the carcass, the lion turned and left leaving the unattended carcass for the cheetah to feed on later. Fri, 06 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/excavating-lions We arrived just as one of the male lions killed the last of the three warthogs. On further investigation we noticed that the three north pride lions had excated a huge area of the termateria thicket, obviously in persuit of the pigs. They have not managed to locate the rest of the pride for a couple of weeks now, which possibly lead them to their digging activities through hunger. Thu, 05 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/nyala-vs-cheetah After a great morning drive on our way back to the lodge, a cheetah was reported close by. Arriving there we saw something extremely unusual. A cheetah lying 5 meters from a young nyala male. The nyala had some scars from the cheetah presumably attacking it. The young nyala pushed himself against a tree and facing the cheetah with his tiny horns. For an hour and a half the cheetah tried all angles of attack possible. As the cheetah approached the nyala stood its ground, holding the cheetah at bay with its tiny daggers. The cheetah eventully left with an empty stomach and a bit of a limp whilst the nyala through guts and determination lives to see another day . That's "survival of the fittests" at its best!! Tue, 03 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/nyala-standoff We responded to the sighting on Bushwillow just outside Forest Lodge, to find a wounded young male nyala in a standoff with a cheetah. The nyala had visible puncture marks on the neck as well as severe lacerations down its side. Backed up against a tree it held the cheetah at bay for at least half an hour. With the challenges from the cheetah met with horns. A whole lot of frustred growling and eventualy the cheetah limped off, possibly from punctures from the nyala's horns. The Nyala seemed visibly releived and walked off down the road to live another day. Tue, 03 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rhino-darting-safari We just finished a very sucessful whito rhino darting safari. As part of white rhino conservation in Kwazulu-natal we notch white rhino ears as part of an identification system to monitor the rhino on the reserve and the province. After 4 hours of searching we eventually located the animal that needed notching. The process went efficiently, and after 20min it was back up and off to join the rest the crash. Unforgetable experience. Mon, 02 July 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/water-monitor-drowns-fish-eagle While out canoeing, our migratory ranger Martin from Zimbabwe. Watched as a fish eagle swooped down and attempted to pluck a water monitor from the Mzinene river. The Fish eagle eyes where obviously too big for its wing span and the monitor dragged the bird under water and drowned it, the result a little unexpected yet spectacular. Sat, 23 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/north-pride-male-mating The last two days we have had fantastic sightings of the north pride male, mating with the old lioness. We not sure if she will conceive. But it will be great if we get cubs in in a few months time. We will wait and see. Fri, 22 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-and-white-rhino-tussle We spotted two young white rhino bulls from a distance, they seamed to be interested in something behind a termateria thicket. As we got closer it turned out to be a black rhino. Both the white rhino where young possibly four to five years old. The black rhino is the sub dominant male on the marsh area and is though to be also fairly young. They continued to push each other around for about an hour. It did not seam all that aggresive, but was done in rather a jovial manner. Who knows what they where really up to? But, I must say, that they provided fantastic entertainment. Thu, 21 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hyena-takes-kill-from-cheetah What a fantastic morning. I responded to a cheetah sighting not far from Vlei lodge. We got there just too late as it had gone into a wooded area and there was a poor visual of the animal. Moments later there where alarm calls and a whole heard of impala ran at the cheetah. She jumped up and killed one almost instantly. We watched for nearly 10min as she rested before feeding. Then out popped a Hyena, which is unusual during the day on Phinda, chased the poor cheetah up a tree and devoured the whole impala carcass. We then followed the cheetah hunting again back to the vlei lodge. Four hours and 4km of game drive over and packed with fantastic sightings. Mon, 18 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-and-hyena Left for morning game drive and followed up on cheetah, located a female not to far from the lodge and started followinh her as the animal was stalking impala. After approximately an half an hour the female killed an impala female. She dragged her hill to a slightly open area and were just resting next to it for quite a while. As we were viewing her suddenly at the bach of the vehicle a hyena appeared. The cheetah picked up the sent of the hyena and took of, climbing right on top of a marula. At first the hyena didnt spot the impala carcass. After a few minutes the hyena located it and started feeding of the carcass right in front of our vehicle. On Phinda hyena sightings are very rare so this was very special seeing a cheetah kill and hyena feeding on the impala. Not to far from the carcass the cheetah was still just hiding away in the top of the marula tree. Mon, 18 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lions-on-the-marsh Winter time for me is incredible, mostly as animals get active a bit earlier in the afternoons due to the cooler weather. We where most defiantly rewarded by heading out a good two hours earlier than all the other game drives and followed up on the North Pride. We found the pride on the edge the marsh and proceeded to spend the next four hours with them, never experiencing a dull moment. The lions where up and starting to hunt way before the sun went down. We parked ourselves on top of a large termite mound to watch the story unfold before us. Lionesses setting up on the left flank and right flank, dominant males hanging back and younger males unsuccessfully trying to contribute. The wildebeest picked up on the predators and thundered away in all different directions, nothing could beat this! To top things off we had an amazing sunset with lions roaring all around us and a black rhino slowly feeding in the direction of our vehicle!! Sat, 16 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/marsh-action In winter the marsh area in the nothern part of Phinda is usualy buzzing with activity. While scanning the marsh area from Bischoef's dam we picked up a single male cheetah heading towards our position. The animal had obviously been disturbed by the north pride who where lazing in the grassland in the block no more than five hundred meters away. On the other side of the lions a female cheetah, which is denning at the moment on the marsh possibly with 4 cubs, was hunting at Junction dam. This was all looked over by a besidedly disinterested wildebeest. Thu, 14 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/tailor-made-experience Tailor-made safari. It was an adventure that very few people could experience over a five day period. I personally put an itinerary together for a family of six that wanted to do as much as they could in five days. For the first two nights we stayed at Zuka lodge. We did a rhino walk on the first morning where we found a cheetah on foot and viewed the cheetah for over fifteen minutes without it even knowing we were there. Thereafter we were successful with finding three white rhino on foot and they to didn’t know we were there, what a great sighting. In the afternoon we followed up on one on the Servals that had recently been released and we gad great luck with that too. That evening we all went on a sleep out in the bush which proved to be exciting with a large male lion walking through our camp sight and roaring within 20 meters of us. In the morning we all departed for a morning of deep sea fishing. No big game was caught, only many bait fish. We did however see a hump-back whale breaching not too far from us and a logger-head turtle from the side of the boat. The guests returned from the fishing straight in to their new lodge, being Vlei lodge with all their luggage waiting for them. In the afternoon going in to the evening we ventured out to do a leopard safari where we found a wonderful large mail leopard. On the following morning we went on search for a suitable white rhino to dart, notch and insert trovan microchips into the horn, and there to we were successful with an amazing, once in a lifetime experience of touching a wild rhino and being involved with contributing towards the conservation of this endangered animal. We couldn’t have ended off the tailor made safari in a better way than looking for cheetah on the last morning. We found a male basking in the sun and then moved off in to the grass half an hour later which was amazing closure for an amazing safari. Only on Phinda Wed, 13 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lions-kill-yet-another-rhino Phinda's north pride has managed to kill their fourth white rhino in as many years. The prides dominant male, we believe him to be around 250kg, with the weight and power to accomplish such a feit. One of these kills was witnessed, and started out with the sub-adults chasing and almost &quot;playing&quot; with the rhino. When the dominant male got up and grabbed the rhino over its muzzle, the rest of the pride subsequently took interest and started to jump on the rhino's back, untill the animal was brought down. The male took half an hour to then suffocate the animal. Lets hope they don't start taking interest in our black rhino!! Tue, 12 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/forest-cheetah Just left the car park, and around the corner stands a female cheetah. She was probably 20 meters from the car park inside the sand forest. Cheetahs are suppose to be in open areas but not this one loving the sand forest. We followed it for a while where we lost it due to that she moved of the road and into the inaccessable sand forest. how is that luck starting of an evening game drive. Mon, 11 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/giraffe-giving-birth Afternoon game drive and saw this strange thing hanging from behind the giraffe, this was not a strange thing but a female giraffe giving birth. we only saw the initial first part before she moved into the thickets. unfortunately the calf tongue was out wich ment that the calf unfortunately did not make it. Sad thing but still very amazing to see Sat, 09 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/specialist-safaris The last two months of specialist safaris have been incredible. The leopard reaserch has revealed facinating aspects of the population growth on the reserve ever increasing the hopes of unbelievable leopard sightings in Maputuland. The birding safaris have been nothing less than mind-blowing as we search though all 7 habitats for specials and explore the rest of Zululand for geographically limited species. Some of the specials were: Neergaard's Sunbird, Southern Banded Snake-Eagle, Pink-throated Twinspots, Green Barbet, Spotted Ground-Thrush, Starred Robin and many more that I am sure many people have been searching for for years...we got them all! 7 wonders in 7 days has been an epic experience for all the guests that have chosen to do this adventure with the last sleep out having to share our chosen spot with three white rhino's. Snorkeling is always a welcome treat after spending three days following three big cats per day all day. Our time with lions, cheetah and leopards were well worth the effort in spending hours with the animals individually. And the wine dinner as a grand finale lives up to the decidant reputation after a week of adventure. Other activities that are included that were not mentioned are canoeing, regional flights apound Maputuland, community visits and full day walks through the reserve. Specialist safaris are definately the way to explore this exceptional jewel in our countries crown, you will not be dissapointed! Thu, 07 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lions-on-a-kill After days of unexpected rains the sun rose on a cool winters morning without a cloud in the sky – exited about the good weather off we set to find lions. An hour into the drive we pick up on fresh lion tracks. Thembinkosi comes into his own; I could see the excitement in his eye. Not long after we locate the pride feeding on a fresh wildebeest carcass- the air tainted with death. As the feeding slowed down the sun warmed and the lions retreated to the shade content with life. Thu, 07 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/crowned-eagle-suni With a resident pair of crowned eagles that nest in the sand forest. They often offer spectacular sighting of their kills. Taking vervets off the tops of trees, carrying off monitor lizards, and the countless skulls of banded mongeese that gatther at the base of the ubombo wattle they nest in. However to find an eagle feeding on an adult male suni, in dense thicket in the middle of sand forest, one can only wonder how it managed to see it from above let alone kill in such dense bush. Tue, 05 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/genet-and-red-duiker-encounter We all know that animals are capable of savage behavior. However my tracker and I where privliged to witness this savagery by a little genet. We got off on foot in response to distress calls from a red duiker. When rounding a thicket we where amazed to see a genet atop of a juvinile red duiker, with the ewe duiker butting the both of them to rid its kid of the little beast. Tue, 05 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-calling after a very late drink stop on the marsh we started heading back towards the lodge we got an update from the leopard researcher that he has located a female leopard. Arrive at the sighting and viewed it dringking at one of the pans. She then started to move where we were lucky seing her in a fairly open area. after about 10 minutes she stopped and started calling continousely. This was an amazing sighting seeing her calling one of the males in the area. This was great due to that we dont see leopards that often and it seems that our viewing oppurtunities are improving. Tue, 05 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-2 On our way back from morning game drive, we spotted a female cheetah in front of forest and vlei lodge open area. The female was already in stalking position lying down with impalas not noticing it and walking from al directions towards it. Approximately 20 meters from the female she got up and started chasing it for 100 meters right in front of us, it was pretty facinating seeing it in an open area running full speed. The ipmala was lucky this time and got away. Sat, 02 June 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/new-discovery-at-phinda After a long day of preparing presentations, the Inkwazi Trainees went up Ntabankosi with Sheldon Putter, a ranger at Zuka Lodge. The view was breath-taking, with a 360º view of Phinda, stretching as far as the eye can see. They went on an adventure, allowing them to do things that their mothers told them never to do! Things like playing with snakes and looking under rocks for scorpions! They were in search of a certain thick-toed gecko, before thought not to occur in Phinda. In their exploration on the hill-top, they found Red Toads, a few harmless scorpions, and a couple of immature baboon spiders. After almost giving up hope of finding the tiny elusive gecko, they finally found him under a rock over-looking Mountain Lodge. A beautiful little Pacydactlys vansonii. It’s tiny brown body covered with speckles of white running down the length of its body. Thu, 31 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/southern-banded-a-lifer It started out a fresh, misty Zululand morning. The second half of the Inkwazi Trainees headed out to Kevin's Jetty, to have their turn to canoe up the Mzinene River. while watching a Malachite Kingfisher across the other side of the water, one of the trainees spotted a larger bird. It sat there in the fever tree calmly watching us drift past. it was indeed the exceptionally rare sighting of a Southern Banded Snake Eagle, seen by the first half of the group onle the day before, in the very same area. An uncommon visitor in this area, found on the East Coast as far down as St.Lucia and up the East coast of Mozambique. What a lifer for the "twitchers" among us! Wed, 30 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/mating-doves It was early in the evening as we went out birding along the Mzinene River in the southern part of Phinda. Our eyes pealed for purple Gallinules, Fish Eagles and different species of Kingfishers. Very lucky we were first stopped by two cape turtle doves on the road. Since they were in the road flying around each other, we had a closer look. Male and female chased each other up and down the road and ended up mating in front of us. The evening got rounded up with Malachite Kingfisher, Fisheagle and our Starbird - an African Finfoot! Sun, 27 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/aardwark-during-the-day Phinda is always up for big surprises! We were on an afternoon drive and made our way up to the northern corner of Phinda to find some cheetah there and have a look at one of our seven different habitats. As we stopped for some Zebras that enjoyed the afternoon sun we saw a “warthog” a bit further up on the side of the road. “Wait a minute – this is not a warthog”! We sneaked a little bit closer to find to our surprise an Aardvark sniffing around to look for some juicy ants. Everybody was exited since for most of my guests it was the first Aardvark in their lives. The very relaxed animal gave us about 5 minutes to view it before it disappeared in the thicket. We celebrated our sighting with a male cheetah in the sunset of the Mziki Marsh. Sat, 26 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/four-little-bee-eaters Night Drive at Phinda with Seth our Ranger Fri, 25 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-cub Cheetah on road to Mountain Lodge Fri, 25 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/inkwazi-intruders One chilly night while some of the ranger trainees were studying in the kitchen, one of the trainees decided to go outside for a stretch, as he shone his torch into the darkness, he picked up some eye reflections. He decided to take a closer look and realised that it was a pride of lions approaching camp. The lions quickly disappeared into the bush as those trainees gathered to see them. With everyone’s safety in mind, the trainees alerted the rest of the camp. The camp manager immediately sneaked towards the sleeping quarters and warned the other trainees about the lions’ whereabouts. The manager continued towards the vehicles and followed the lions until they were out of camp .It was an exciting moment for the whole group and everybody shared their feelings and opinions the next day, while observing the tracks throughout camp over an early morning cup of coffee!!! Sun, 20 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-sighting-3 It was the last day of the Inkwazi Trainee rifle training. Having done the rifle assessment in the Hamerkop Drainage Line, Ian Mey picked them up at about 19:30 in the Inkwazi Land Rover, telling them that he’d just seen a leopard at Izwe Dam. They rushed over to go find it, splitting up the vehicles to get a better spread. After having driven round looking for the elusive cat for about 15 minutes, they finally found him, a large male leopard on the dam wall. They were lucky enough to follow him along the road for about 10 minutes, watching him as he went around marking several bushes. Then as mystically as he appeared, he was gone into the night. By The Inkwazi Trainees Thu, 17 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/shrew-shenanigans-let-sleeping-instructors-lie 2.30am in the Hamerkop drainage line and 2 Inkwazi trainees sat watch at the fire. There was a major disturbance near the sleeping instructors followed by what seemed to be the sound of something falling from the trees above them. Paranoid that a snake had perhaps fallen on them the trainees moved over to find a large Shrew walking around on the stretcher of one of the instructors. Completely unfazed by thier presence or that of the sleeping body beneath it, it dropped to drainage floor and for the next 15 minutes or so proceeded to ignore the trainees completely as it scratched and scattered the leaf litter in search of food. The absurdity of the situation was that both trainees had camera's at hand, yet failed to take a photo of what turned out to be an incredible sighting of one of Phinda's rarest mammals - the Four-Toed Elephant Shrew. Not only one of Phinda's and the regions rarest mammals but classified as rare in the Red Data Book as well. Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/birding-safari The previous 5 days have been an epic experience of joining a birding safari with Mike Karantonis and guests in which a myriad of star birds and southern african rarities were seen Tue, 08 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hatrick-of-felines On the 2nd day of autumn we head out into the rising sun, not long after the north pride was located, we watched the pride moving through the bush, bellies full after a successful hunt and stopping to drink at a pan before lying in the open to catch some zzzebra. We moved on searching for leopard and cheetah, into an area leopards had made a killed the night before and to our delight, could see a young male cub through the thick shrub, patience needed we waited, rewarded, a relaxed maputuland leopard walk some 20 m in front of the vehicle unperturbed, a definite highlight of my career so far. As the morning sun warmed went into the open areas of the mziki marsh to be graced with a sighting of a cheetah, rolling around, clearing itself before it disappeared into the grassland. A magical day for any cat enthusiast. Tue, 08 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/african-scops-owl African Scops Owl Wed, 02 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/moonlight-serval A rare sighting of an elusive Serval was seen late one evening on a floodplain at Phinda. Mon, 30 April 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/birding-safari-highlights On our way to Mpempe Pan we headed past Ilala Palmveld looking for one of the Phinda star birds that nest in these trees, it was not before long that we spotted the characteristic yellow rump of a Canary flying off the road into a thicket, a view through our binoculars confirmed a Lemon-breasted Canary, this was the perfect start to our day. Heading through patches of Sand Forest we had views of Pink-throated Twinspots, Rudds Apalises (both Phinda star birds) and on the tall dead trees Amur Falcons, although common in summer are not often seen in the reserve. The cacophony in the distance made us shake with excitement, the water was alive with thousands of White-Backed, White-Faced, Comb, Yellow-Billed Ducks, a variety of Teals, Pygmy Geese, Southern Pochard and all the white Egrets, flying above the water were African Marsh Harriers, Grey-Rumped Swallows, Collared Pratincoles, Blue-Cheeked and Eurasian Bee-Eaters in the reeds Southern Brown-Throated Weavers and a variety of Warblers to name a few. One of the rare birds we were looking for was a Rufous-Bellied Heron and this area proved once again that it is a great spot to see this magnificent bird. After getting good Photo’s of the heron we continued on our search for yet another special bird, sure enough after a little search had breathtaking views of a Rosy-throated Longclaw, not far away were Cape and Yellow-throated Longclaws as well. Chris, our guest left Phinda with another 6 birds to add to his list of 650! Mon, 16 April 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopards-on-the-rocks As Chris and myself headed out on game drive from Rock Lodge this morning when it was still half dark, and we set off to look for Elephants. Eventually we found a herd of Elephants, it was a breeding herd. We saw two individuals for very short, than they disappeared into the bush and we had to start making our way back to the lodge for early breakfast. As we were on the way home we heard an update of Leopard that had been spotted, ironically, on Leopard Rock, near our Lodge. We rushed back and stormed onto the deck, from where we had a view straight onto Leopard Rock, and there he was! Lying peacefully on top of the massive rock, catching the sun’s morning rays. What a view! Sat, 14 April 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino-courtship We were out again on game drive, this time looking for Cheetah. We had 2 brilliant photographers with us especially interested in the spotted cats. As we came around the corner we spotted a Black Rhino crossing the road and disappearing into the high grass. Black Rhino? No the grass is too high for pictures - was the comment from the back rows. It took us quite a bit to convince that we would maybe have the unique opportunity watching this Black Rhino at a dam nearby dinking. As we drove towards the dam we spot another Black Rhino. The two of them (male and female) began an unbelievable interaction close to the water. They are facing each other, rubbing their horn, chasing each other trough water and mud and pulled their lips up to scent each other. Barbara, one of our guests got an amazing picture of the female on her back wallowing in the mud and the male gently sniffing her belly until she started kicking after him with her front legs. For all of us, it was a moment to capture for a lifetime! Fri, 13 April 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elusive-mammals The smaller mammals in the reserve are the ones we often don’t see but are very important as links in the food chain, guests in Phinda have been very lucky to get great views of Serval, one of the smaller cats that occur in the area as well as the raptors, all of which are often dependant on these smaller mammals as a source of food. These specialized predators are viewed by our guests with many words of excitement and enthusiasm and the numbers of these hunters in Phinda are increasing due to this food source. While doing some frogging at a pan not far from Mountain lodge an unusual shape, which could not be a frog, appeared in our head lamps. On closer inspection, we noticed a magnificent chestnut colour, a long prehensile tail and bulbous black eyes. A step closer and we saw the shape of a small mouse, it was a Chestnut Climbing Mouse and what a great view of this beautiful little animal that is fairly common but rarely seen. Other smaller mammals that we have been observing have included Four-Toed Elephant Shrew, Woodland Mouse, Single Striped Mouse and Natal Multimammate Mouse. Tue, 10 April 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/twinspot-sighting As I drove towards the Sand forest yesterday, I was telling my guests about the special animals that are found in the Sand forest. A little later, just at the outskirts of the forest we herd Twinspots calling. As we stopped, we saw that they where Pink-throated Twinspots, and even better they where everywhere. There where about ten flying around us and more calling in the bushes around us. What an awesome sighting! Mon, 09 April 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/black-rhino Yesterday we headed on afternoon game drive early as we where going to look for Black Rhino, which can be very hard to find. We headed towards Bumbeni dam hoping that we might find one at the dam. As we approached, indeed there was a Rhino drinking at the dam, and it was a Black Rhino too. How lucky, we watched it for half an hour before it took of into the bushes. What a great game drive! Sun, 08 April 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/great-sightings-in-new-area What a morning! The new section of Phinda that was opened recently has given us not only new areas to explore, but wonderful game-viewing opportunities too. And this morning was no exception. Two Cheetahs lay in front of us, resting after attempted hunts, and in the background three Black Rhino scuttled off into the bush behind them. While approaching another pan (now called Hippo Dam - for the large number of these animals that seem to spend their days there) we heard and saw a herd of Elephants. A few moments later, arriving at Hippo Dam, a pride of Lions also came into view. We had a wonderful sighting of this pride as they got up, one of the females sharpening her claws on a tree in front of us, and then all going down to the water a little while later to drink. On the way back to the lodge we went past the same Cheetah again; this time they were on a kill, one of them still panting and out of breath from the chase. It’s hard to believe this all happened in one morning! Fri, 23 March 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/phinda-frogging It looks as though the summer rains have ended and the warm summer days are starting fade into beautiful misty mornings, a night of frogging was just what we needed to keep us reminded of the diversity around us. Frogs are absolutely magnificent, vocal and interesting creatures that many people don’t get the privilege to see. Although the temperatures are starting to drop, we still managed to find 14 of the 38 species that occur in Phinda, these included, Mottled Shovel-nosed, Sharp-nosed Grass, Plain Grass, Broad Banded Grass, Water Lily Reed, Painted Reed, Snoring Puddle, Dwarf Puddle and Foam Nest Frogs, Red Legged and Bubbling Kassinas as well as Olive Toads, Red Toads and Common Platannas. Thu, 22 March 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/come-and-play-with-me At first it was the 3 large White Rhino that attracted our attention to the pan. They were grazing near a herd of Wildebeest, the 2 species seemingly unperturbed by each other’s presence. To our enthrallment a young Rhino calf then became visible, “hidden” closer to the Wildebeest who were only slightly taller than itself. The calf, however, was not interested in grazing, but instead seemed to be trying to play with (or bully or mock charge – it was hard to tell which) the Wildebeest. It would run towards the Wildebeest on its stocky little legs and split the herd in 2, then jump around on all fours in the dust – boisterously taunting a reaction it seemed. The wildebeest didn’t play along, but weren’t disturbed enough to move far away. They seemed more surprised than anything. We sat, captivated, as the young Rhino calf jumped around, coming back numerous times to challenge the wildebeest. Mother rhino continued grazing nearby, paying little attention to the energetic efforts of her calf. The calf also tried cautiously approaching a male wildebeest that was lying down, from behind a few times. Stretching his neck forward to touch the back of the wildebeest, who continued to lie there, looking up only every now and again. It was such a delight to witness this interaction between the 2 species, and watch the rhino calf trying to entice a game/reaction. Thu, 22 March 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/hornbill-loses-out A beautiful afternoon’s game drive led us do Nduzi Pan, where we stopped to do a little birding while waiting to see if any larger animals would come down to quench their thirst. Behind us we heard the ever present and tenacious Fork-tailed Drongo’s causing some commotion. They were mobbing a Crowned Hornbill, which as we looked with our binoculars noticed that it had caught a magnificent Painted Reed Frog in its large and powerful bill. Unfortunately though, this quite unusual meal was lost due to the persistence of the Drongo’s, leaving the Hornbill empty billed! Wed, 21 March 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/mocking-cliff-chats-unusual-diet Mocking Cliff-Chat’s in the southern sections of Phinda in the last couple of years have been a fairly common bird to see at Rock Lodge but elsewhere in the reserve have been fairly elusive. Over the last four years their range has increased to Mountain Lodge and it is here that some interesting feeding observations have been made. This bird’s food includes insects, fruit, nectar of certain Aloe species and have also been seen eating fat off bones close to human habitation. In the last couple of months I have, a handful of times, noticed them eating Cape Dwarf Geckos. A pair that nested at the lodge were taking these small reptiles into their nest to feed their chicks! This is an unusual source of food and as far as I know has not been recorded before! Fri, 16 March 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/specialist-safari Over the last 4 days I've had the privilege of joining Mike Karantonis on a specialist birding safari. We were privileged in seeing many of Phinda special birds as well as in the neighboring areas, from lemon and bronze napped doves and chorister robins to purple swamphens and cuckoo hawks. My highlight was after a magical day of birding on Phinda and at Msumo pans we found a 4 toed elephant shrew, some people’s nemesis -but lucky us - what a special sighting. Tue, 13 March 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/reunited After a month apart the 3 north pride females rejoined the pride. What followed was a hype of commotion as the pride male driven by testosterone beat his two, 2 and a half year old sons into submission. Turning his attention to the females the mayhem continued but as the dust settled the roaring began. The pride reunited, their call echoed across the savanna. Only 2 nights later I watched the females successfully hunt a Wildebeest. Perfect team work is just magical to watch. Fri, 09 March 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-week-of-warblers Birding in the reserve after the good summer rains has been fantastic, Black Coucal’s, African Pygmy Geese and , African Crakes have been allowing us very good views, Red Chested Flufftails have been heard down at the river close to where the Madagascar Cuckoo was last seen earlier this month but it is the Warblers that have been stealing the limelight. In the last couple of days ten different species of warbler have been seen. Our fantastic boat cruises have produced Great-Reed, African-Reed, Lesser Swamp, Dark -Capped Yellow and Little Rush Warblers with only the Sedge Warbler to be seen or heard. Towards the Bumbeni crater in the long moist grasses Broad-Tailed Warblers have been displaying and in the Acacia thickets Willow, Olive-Tree, Icterine and Marsh Warblers have been very vocal and the views of these birds have been great! Tue, 27 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/confused-black-rhino It’s special enough seeing Black Rhino out in the open feeding on forbs and short shrubs but the evening was about to get better. A White Rhino and calf were grazing a short distance away and the male Black Rhino seemed to take some interest in the young female. He shepherded her away from its mother and proceeded to try mounting her. The mother eventually had enough and with a show of strength, forced the confused Black Rhino away. Hybrids of Black and White Rhino have been recognized before. Should he have been successful it would have been and interesting dilemma. Sun, 25 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/night-surprise As we started our night drive yesterday, it started of fairly quiet. All the sudden I saw a silhouette in the spotlight, and realized it was a “nyoka”. Meaning snake in Zulu. Right in front of us in the track was a 3 metre long Rock Python! We watched it for a while and it moved quite close to the vehicle, before moving off suddenly into the bush. It was an unbelievable sighting. What a way to finish off an evening game drive. Sat, 24 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/am-i-king-or-am-i-king on drive at phinda forest with philip. Saw mother and two young males. this is one of them. if you see philip - he has a tale to tell of this one 'trying' to stalk a wilderbeast. Thu, 22 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/warthog-vs-cheetah Imagine you are sitting in the shade, watching a single Cheetah relaxing underneath a tree in a distance. Everybody on the vehicle is whispering, discussing about her maybe being interested to hunt later on in the day. Suddenly two Warthogs show up at the scene. Not taking any notice of the Cheetah at all. They are just feeding on the short fresh grass of the open area in front of mountain lodge. Come closer and closer. About 4 metres away from the cat the one lifts its head staring at the deadly enemy. But can you believe it? The Warthog is just carrying on feeding, coming even closer. As the distance between the two decreases to under about 2 metres, the Cheetah all of a sudden jumps up, hisses at the Warthogs and chases them away. But these Warthogs were not really intimidated by the Cheetah. Instead of running off frightened, they slowly approach again, walking around the Cheetah, chasing her. The drama goes on for a couple of minutes until the Cheetah had enough of this game, got up and walked off. Only to kill a young Impala just across the track! Tue, 20 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/serval-kill-at-phinda We are driving along the plains one evening on our way back to the lodge. Everybody is tired and we all just want to hit back for dinner. Leonard stops me: “Serval – on the track, stalking”. I hit the breaks, making sure everybody can see the rare animal that got just introduced to Phinda. There it is, walking up and down the track, sniffing the grass aside. Over the sudden the Serval jumps high up and disappears in the long grass next to us. We are waiting, staring at the point were she went in to see what will happen next. Some minutes later the small head pops up, busy chewing some little bones. She killed most probably a mouse or some other sort of rodent. Even if we couldn’t identify its prey, this was the first Serval kill witnessed at Phinda! Tue, 20 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/frogging-at-phinda On the 20th Feb 2007 all the Inkwazi trainees went on their first frogging expedition. Inkwazi is the ranger training centre for andBEYOND based at Phinda Private Game Reserve. After assembling at Izwe (Phinda’s HQ) at 7:30pm we all set off with Sheldon Putter, the local reptile and amphibian expert based at Phinda's Getty House. We went to a nearby temporary pan and after a quick briefing by Sheldon all the trainees eagerly starting searching for the highly vocal but elusive frogs. After two and a half fantastic hours of frogging, we had 5 different species which we all identified with great excitement. We had managed to catch 2 Tinker Reed Frogs, 1 Brown Backed Tree Frog, 3 Waterlilly Frogs, 1 Delicate Leaf Folding Frog and a Foam Nest Frog. Everyone had a great time and frogging at Phinda will always be a highlight of our training. Tue, 20 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/rainbow-monday While most Mondays are spent dreading the week ahead; for the Inkwazi trainees it was one that exploded with excitement and unbridled optimism for the rural state of our country. Although acting locally, andBEYOND demonstrated its global foresight and vision to the trainees, who were taken on a community trip through the many educational and healthcare initiatives supported by the company. Singing ‘umtwana’s’ chorused loudly at the crèche, bringing goose bumps with a heart-wrenching rendition of “Making melodies in my heart”. This was closely followed by an inspection of the Digital Eco Village and clinic funded partially by andBEYOND and the Africa Foundation. A real sense of reality and awareness was created, and as such was the realized need for continuous support of such initiatives. The final stop was at Nkomo Primary School where masses smiling faces excitedly shook hands and played soccer with the trainees. A special mention must go to Bheki and Lotus for enthusiastically guiding this highly interesting and eye-opening trip which emanated all the bright colors of South Africa’s rainbow of possibilities. Mon, 19 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetahs-on-the-go Yesterday afternoon when we made our way up towards the beautiful mountains in Zuka to follow up on some Cheetah that had been seen in the morning. We where greeted by lots of Vultures on top of the mountains and stopped to observe them. It was only shortly later, that John, who was sitting right behind me, screamed “Cat!” There was a Cheetah on the other side of the cliff phase, and even better, it was on an Impala carcass. As we made our way closer we saw that it were three Cheetahs, not just one. What a pleasure it was to watch these three youngsters posing for us in the afternoon sun. After that we went for an amazing Sundowner on the mountains. What a great way to finish the day. Wed, 14 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/serval-on-phinda It’s been just over 2 months since the Serval cat has been relocated back onto Phinda. The new project has made for some great sightings already. Only this morning we watched a Serval scamper, jump dash between long grasses while he hunted around corridor pan. With the introduction of more of these small cats are in the near future, it promises exiting viewing and another element to the diversity of Phinda. Sun, 11 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/new-born-at-phinda Fresh tracks of a herd of Buffalo! We had to follow up. The search brought us upon afterbirth lying on the side of the road. Not thinking a lot a couple of hundred metres ahead we found a freshly born buffalo calf. It was trying to keep up with its mother finding the way back to the herd. We fallowed for a while watching the young trying to stay on its feet. What a special having buffalo being part of Phinda's nature. Wed, 07 February 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/porcupine-kill An early morning canoe trip on the Mzinene River is always spectacular. We had been on the water for an hour taking in the bird activity and enjoying the tranquility of our adventure. Breakfast was waiting on shore and everyone managed to emerge from the canoes in a relatively dry state. It was then that Pierre, the birthday boy, noticed some activity in the water on the opposite bank. Binoculars were whipped out to reveal a Porcupine bobbing up and down in the water; he was being eaten by a Crocodile! We watched in fascination as the crocodile devoured his prey. For the non-believers, we have 2 wonderful pictures of the crocodile’s jaws full of porcupine quills! With the crocodile’s feasting done, it was time for us to savor our well earned breakfast. Mon, 29 January 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/the-meeting-of-black-white The grass on Mziki Marsh in the northern section of Phinda is so long at the moment that I can’t see over it from my driving seat! The only chance my vehicle has of spotting anything lies with Thembinkosi and my guests. Spotting Rhino is slightly easier as the Cattle Egrets are often seen floating through the sea of golden grass. It was a Cattle Egret that led us to a male Black Rhino. He was browsing and seemingly oblivious to us. More Egrets were floating through the grass to east of us. A female White Rhino and her calf were grazing in our direction. The White Rhino stopped when she caught the scent of the Black Rhino. We waited to see what would happen. The Black Rhino eventually moved close enough to the White Rhino to finally realize that he had company. He didn’t even “blink an eyelid”. He simply walked up to her and they rubbed horns. The White Rhino seemed to relax and began grazing again with her calf. After about 5 minutes she made her way to the Black Rhino and they rubber horns again and went their separate ways. Thu, 25 January 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-servals-mud-bath We have recently been rewarded with regular viewings of Serval near the grassed plains in the Zuka area of Phinda, but were extra thrilled to have an awesome daytime sighting of this generally shy and elusive cat. We watched for a good 20 minutes as it lay next to a small pan, in full view, and then began to stalk a Little Stint. It used small patches of grass as cover until only a few meters away from its target and then, in typical Serval behavior, it leapt high in the air only to miss and land in the mud! This was my first daytime viewing of a Serval and I was amazed at how relaxed the animal was with us only a few metres away. Fantastic! Mon, 22 January 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/elephants While on morning drive we got a report of a breeding unit that was approaching a dam. As we finally made it to the area the Elephants where already busy drinking from the dam, and it was only shortly after that they started bathing and having fun. The Elephants where swimming across the dam and splashing water around and trumpeting to show there comfort. We identified three matriarchs with there herds in the water. It was only shortly after that that the matriarchs approached us one by one and showed us who is boss, and than moved of peacefully, what a great morning.Markus and Chris Sat, 13 January 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/swimming-elephants As the herd of Elephants came down to Madube Pan for a late-afternoon drink, their last few steps were at a trot. Standing in a row around the edge, they seemed to drink thirstily, filling their trunks and then their mouths with water numerous times. A Hippo&rsquo;s face peered over the water&rsquo;s surface at the crowd surrounding him. He gave a few &lsquo;warning yawns&rsquo;, but the Elephants paid little attention. Mon, 08 January 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lion-cubs-at-phinda After waiting for more than a month for the little cubs to emerge, seeing them for the first time a week ago (2nd January 2007) was incredibly exciting! Slowly approaching the Lioness we could see her lying in the long grass, Sifiso exclaimed with great excitement that the cubs were with her. Big, bright eyes peering out of round, furry faces, the three cubs lay in the grass watching our approaching vehicle. They are so beautiful. We were happily surprised by how relaxed the three little cubs seemed. In the last week we’ve had wonderful sightings of the Lioness with her previous litter of four cubs, and the three new arrivals. On Sunday night the family killed a Zebra just below Mountain Lodge, and on closer inspection the next morning we found the three new cubs around the carcass as well. Watching the cubs play, and be groomed, and suckle, and sleep has provided me with hours of such special viewing over the last few days. It’s difficult to describe what it feels like to be able to sit and watch the family interacting right in front of you and see them so clearly. Very special indeed. Tue, 02 January 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lions-in-the-forest It’s been about 3 months since the north pride ventured into the south. While on their journey, they ventured into the Sand Forest and around the lodge. We were privileged enough to watch them the entire morning. After the commotion of a Lioness killing what seemed to be a Red Duiker in a thicket, we watched a young male and his sister climb a Marula Tree, the male still needs some practice though as the female climbed much faster than him. How great it was to have the pride moving through the forest again. Mon, 01 January 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/snake-hunting On a walk through the sand forest, we suddenly heard something falling out of a tree 10 m on our right. I looked and saw a spotted bush snake in the tree. The snake then also dropped out the tree and proceeded to attack something but I couldn't make out what it was. Finally when the snake started to ingest the prey we saw that it was in fact a fairly large flap-necked chameleon.Kai Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/lions-and-crocodiles During an evening game drive we followed a pride of lions as they started to hunt some zebra. Unfortunately the hunt was unsuccessful and we returned to the lodge with the plan to find the lions again first thing in the morning. Within half an hour Daniel (tracker) found some fresh lion tracks and we proceeded to follow them. Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/one-of-the-1st-impala-lambs Busy with my second phase training and doing my unarmed walks in the north I came upon one of the first born impala lambs on Sunday morning 5 November. This seemed very early. No one had seen one yet until I spoke to one of the other trainees also busy with their unarmed walks where he also spotted one on the 10 th of November. Last year accordingly to head ranger Chris the impalas started to lamb in the middle of November. We will be seeing a lot more new borns in the coming days.Philip Forest Trainee Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/african-fish-eagle-feeds-on-carrion A pride of lions had killed a large female African Buffalo and we decided to go and visit the remains to see if the Vultures would make their move. This pride of lions had moved from their territory which is further north in the reserve into another prides territory, they killed the Buffalo and had been feeding on it for about two days, we all awaited with baited breath to see if the battle between these two prides would unfold! Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/unbelievable-encounter Whilst tracking for Lions in an old Crater in the South of Phinda, coming around the corner we were expecting to see a pride of Lions on the opposite hill. All eyes were scanning the hill to find something, then Sarah caught sight of a dark shadow some 50 metres to the right just off the track. &quot;Think it might be a Rhino?&quot; she said exited. &quot;In fact it is a Black Rhino&quot;, the tracker replied. Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/faboulous-elephants After an hour of tracking with Markus and Chris, we heard the sound of breaking branches and saw glimpses of Elephants through the thick undergrowth. We followed the sounds and soon a breeding heard of about 30 elephants with two babies and 1 large bull crossed the track just in front of us. The bull stopped to give us a long stare, and moved away slowly, it was unbelievable to see how gigantic those animals are in real life, and it was an unforgettable experience.Markus &amp; Chris Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/return-of-the-mad-cuckoo Earlier this year Phinda birders were very excited to be able to view a Madagascar Cuckoo (Cuculus rochii) down near the Mzinene River in the south of the reserve. We were hoping that this very rare migrant would be back but did not expect to have it here as early as the 17th October, from the very few previous records of this bird in Southern Africa it has been recorded here from November to February. Most of it's time has been spent feeding and calling in thick riverine bush but we have been extremely fortunate to have watched it feeding on caterpillars only a couple of meters away. This is an amazing opportunity for birders visiting Phinda as well as a good chance to see how it behaves in South Africa!Daryl Dell and Andrew Pearson, Mountain Lodge Rangers Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/just-imagine Just imagine sitting at the bottom of the Zuka plains, looking up towards Getty house. You've just seen a massive herd of Buffalo. There are 4 Cheetahs on your right, 2 White Rhino on your left and you can still hear the buffalo 100m away. You look up and see 2 huge Elephant bulls walking across the plains 60m in front of you. Wait what's that... could it be, is it possible, a pride of Lions running across the plains 120 m away behind the Elephants....Wow what an amazing place!Kai &amp; his Fantastic Guests Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/super-surprise We set out from Forest Lodge in the early afternoon, our objective, to track down four sub adult Cheetah seen in the area a couple days earlier. As we made our way through the dense bush that makes up most of the North of the reserve it became apparent that these animals had moved off in the opposite direction. Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/curious-cats There have been some fairly interesting events at Phinda in the past week. The cause of which may be due to the fact that we've recently added a large amount of land to the reserve. The pride of lions whose territory encompasses the North of the reserve has moved and has stayed in the heart of the Southern prides territory for the past week. Tue, 21 November 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/cheetah-courting The search for the cheetah cubs had been fruitless...a hint of wind and they had disappeared with their mother into the thick subtropical coastal bushveld. The focus was shifted off of them as we came up the old airstrip and soon spotted a male cheetah restlessly turning in the grass. He was not complacent and began a frantic trot around the open plain. Something had been carried to him in the wind...a sign, a message...who knew? All his energy, however, was expended on finding the source. The clues were all there as he scent marked from one big marula tree to the next, calling incessantly in between...oestrus was in the air. Unwittingly we left him on the dam wall and bumbled further north only to discover another smaller male cheetah heading down south to our original position. His movements - the same; his ambition - clear. The instinctive male urge was in full motion as the source of natures creation was set to begin. Two minutes passed and we were back with the initial male, only this time he had found his mate...a female, albeit a unwilling one. The balance of power shifted between the two as a game of push-pull ensued amidst occasional cat-fights and snarling. It was only when a standoff resulted did we notice the other male appear behind a termite mound with obvious intent twinkling in his glazed eyes. The atmosphere changed and an uneasy tension cut deep into the late, dusty afternoon air. A pause, a swift sidestep and the two male cats ran at each other, increasing in speed. The initial male, larger in size had the upper hand and chased the smaller fleeing male away, only to leave his prize and lose her into the setting sun as she fled in obvious distress. Wed, 18 October 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/a-long-wait-for-a-fast-kill We looked for the Phinda North Pride in the early morning. We found them at 5:30 at Imagine Dam. At 2:20 in the afternoon the hunt for the Nyala bull began. After four minutes it was all over. (Nine hours patience + four minutes action + a lot of &quot;positioning luck&quot; = these pictures :-) Tue, 06 June 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://wildwatch.com/sightings/leopard-and-cub 4 and a half year since leopard rearch started on Phinda we reaping the rewards of many hours of patience dedication to this magnificent animal. The sun set on a cool winter evening, a male leopard walked across the road. The air was tainted with death and not far away a carcass lay. To our delight we watched the young leopard feed away unperturbed to later be joined by his mother. The progeny of hard work, the future of leopard viewing is looking promising. Sat, 27 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT