As winter approaches there are big changes happening on the reserve. The lush green scenery is being dominated by more and more colours of brown and gold and one can see further and further into the bush. This does have its advantages in the sense of being able to spot animals at greater distances into the bush, but also plays a huge role in the time changes of when the animals are active. Seeing that it gets darker a lot earlier these days, we do a great deal of the afternoon drives at night using the spot lights and head lights to show us where the animals are hiding. Because of this, there is also a big change in the type of sightings we have during the afternoon game drives as we get the opportunity to see the nocturnal animals in more of their natural behaviour patterns. A brilliant example of this happened tonight with the pride of thirteen lions.
There has been a lot of talk that the pride is taking on small game for their meals and that they will be struggling during the winter months seeing that a warthog is not really an efficient meal for thirteen big hungry cats, but this pride has proven everybody wrong tonight.
It was shortly after enjoying a nice sun downer stop with a beautiful sunset over the Drakensberg Mountains that a co-ranger picked up fresh tracks of the pride. They have been staying close to the lodge the last couple of days and followed the usual habit of hunting a couple of warthogs to keep most pride members happy and lazy, but tonight something was different. The pride was being taken into new territory, the territory of the pride’s dominant male’s father – the big boy on the reserve, but this might change pretty soon as we noticed the young male scent marking in the territory of his father; a sure sign of wanting to expand his own range. Not just did the young male start marking the area, but the females where out on a hunt in these unfamiliar grounds usually full of plains game such as wildebeest and zebras. As the twilight hour struck and the usual quietness at this time of the day took over, visual started to get very poor for most animals, but not for the lions; this is exactly what they were waiting for, they now had the upper hand with absolutely superb vision at night.
A snort from a wildebeest breaks the silence of the night, tension fills the air and the wildebeest starts to stomp around uneasily. Something is not right, they are not alone. A quick growl confirms their worst nightmare and in a confused scramble they realise they have already been surrounded. The three big lionesses of the pride had circled them perfectly and everyone was in the exact spot they were supposed to be. A massive thump could be heard as the first two females drove the wildebeest into the ground as it ran down the riverbed embankment… success…..but wait, only seconds after there is another thump as the third female had plans of her own and took a second wildebeest by surprise, bringing it down in the middle of the road in a cloud of dust and confusion.
It doesn’t take long for the rest of the pride to respond, with half of the cubs and the male making a run for the first wildebeest to join the feast. The three sub adults decided to rather join their mom and share in her success with the wildebeest still kicking dust in the road with some cubs not far behind them.
Two grown wildebeest kill in a matter of seconds by the three hunters of the group. I think it is safe to say that there is nothing to worry about when it comes to their capabilities to hunt and take down prey that will feed the whole pride to the full. We are all looking forward to seeing what these machines will be doing this season as it is also getting closer to the time of the sub-adults assisting the lionesses in the hunt and with the day/night change happening earlier these days, we will hopefully be able to witness more of these magnificent sights.
Piet – Kapama River Lodge
15/04/2013
Every guide out there has had this question before “what do giraffes eat”?
This seems to be a straight forward question and very easy to answer.
Have you ever explained to your guests that giraffes feed almost exclusively on the succulent green leaves of the trees found on the savanna plains and having observed them doing so, you or your guests might notice a giraffe chewing on a bone?
Giraffe are herbivorous and have been recorded to feed on more than 100 species of plants with a staple diet of acacia leaves. Giraffe have been seen chewing on dried bones for their calcium content. While leaves are preferred, a giraffe will browse on many other kinds of vegetation, especially in the dry season.
Giraffe food preferences change according to seasons: in the dry season, they seem to be fine with pine like needles. They feed by browsing, which typically means they eat continuously throughout the day. A male is able to eat 75 pounds of food in a single day.
Giraffe use their sense of smell to locate the leaves they want. They ingest everything on the branch when eating, including insects, bark, and thorns. The giraffe uses its massive tongue (up to eighteen inches long) to scrape off the leaf and have very tough lips to guard against scratching. Reticulated giraffe are ruminants, just like cows and other ungulates. Their stomach has four parts, with food passing through the first and water going directly to the second. The first stomach partially digests the twigs, leaves, and whatever else the giraffe has ingested whole.
During the day, when the animal is not feeding, parts of this fermented mixture are brought back up from the stomach in hard lumps. Giraffe chew on these lumps, called cud, throughout the day, helping to further break the food down. Once they are done chewing on the piece of cud, it is sent to the third stomach, and finally the fourth stomach to be digested fully.
Giraffe are very good at conserving water in the hot African climate. They are able to conserve and maintain their body temperature in part because of their shape – their long thin legs allow heat to release quickly. The leaves they eat are actually a good source of water, and can allow them to go days without a drink.
Giraffe have a difficult time lowering their massive heads to the ground to drink, and this also leaves them vulnerable to predators. They are able to reach water by spreading their front legs and stretching their neck down.
Wayne – Kapama River Lodge
11/04/2013
It is that time of year when there is no peace in the impala world. The males are running around all over and are engaged into a series of battle with one another hoping to gain dominance and females. While these males are fighting, however, other males are sneakily mating with the females.
The young males are unfortunately kicked out of the herd and separated from their mothers; therefore, they are more exposed to danger. Females are also more confused as they are grouped together with different males day after day. The reason for this is that when the male wins and joins up with the females, he forgets to eat and thereby loses a lot of energy. Thereafter, another male will take over the role of dominance.
Unfortunately, predators are also taking advantage of this situation. The males are too pre-occupied with fighting and mating that they are not aware of their surroundings, therefore making it easier for predators to catch their meal.
This is now the reality of the impala family for the next couple of months.
Nelson – Kapama River Lodge
12/04/2013
Every day we wake up at 04:30am. All the rangers meet each other for an early morning meeting to discuss some strategic planning for the day. We have a cup of coffee; have a laugh not knowing what the day might bring to our doorsteps. Every day of our lives, its worth waking up to experience the beauty of nature.
I always say that no matter how good of a ranger or tracker you are. You need the luck to be on your side. It’s about being at the right place at the right time; that’s when you see that once-in-a-lifetime sighting. We never know what to expect out there. Maybe we see a Leopard male walking across the road, a new born elephant baby or maybe the lions stalking their pray. All of these are rare sightings, but every minute that you spend in nature is one minute closer to something extraordinary. These are not moments that we can expect or take for granted. These are moments that come unexpected.
We enjoy the silence of nature. We don’t have the traffic or the rush most people have in the city. We have a peaceful life; bird calls, sun rises, rivers flowing, animals roaming free and the starry night reminds us of this. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be in this beautiful environment. Kapama offered me some of my most amazing sightings, but not only sightings; if you are able to lose yourself in the bush, you could find yourself. Maybe you will find a peace inside of you that you never knew you had.
My wish for you is that you would have the same opportunity to experience this feeling. I think every person should find themselves through nature. I believe every person owes it to themselves to have this feeling. The happier you are, the more luck you will have.
Janco Du Plessis – Kapama River Lodge
08/04/2013
We started our safari without a great expectation of seeing much as it was windy and raining. But sometimes, as guides and trackers, we know where the animals may hide so we go to those areas in order to please our guests. We decided to go to an area where we know there is a hyena den and are often seen. Maybe we will get lucky, I thought.
After searching for a while, we were lucky enough to find a few hyenas in the road. Fortunately, the rain had stopped too so the sighting was even better than expected. As we carried on with our drive, we came across three lionesses on a zebra kill.
We were all happy as we saw things we never expected to see – another good day in Africa.
John – Kapama River Lodge
01/04/2013
This is a story about crafty fearsome lions, and no, not the kind that sends shivers up your spine when it roars… This kind of lion goes unnoticed by most…. THE ANTLION (family Myrmeleontidae).
The ant-lion is a predator, particularly in the larval stage (pictured above) which can be found in warm regions around the world. The ant-lion larvae “eats” small arthropods, mainly ants, while the adults of some species eat small pollen and nectar, while others are predators of small arthropods in the adult stage too.
The ant-lion larva is a ferocious-appearing creature with a robust body, a very plump abdomen, and the thorax bearing three pairs of walking legs. The pro-thorax (section between the head and the abdomen) forms a slender, mobile “neck” for the large, square, flattened head, which bears an enormous pair of sickle like jaws or tusks with several sharp, hollow projections, these act like hypodermic needles, grabbing prey and delivering a potent polypeptide poison, more than 100 times as effective as a Japanese puffer fish.
The ingenious way in which these crafty predators catch their prey is unique in the animal kingdom. They construct a conical pit trap (depicted below).
When it starts digging a new pit, it slowly moves round and round, flicking sand away from the pit by using its tusks and mid legs, while it uses its powerful back legs to dig into the sand.
The pit gradually gets deeper and deeper, until the slope angle reaches the critical angle of repose (that is, the steepest angle the sand can maintain, where it is on the verge of collapse from slight disturbance). When the pit is completed, the larva settles down at the bottom, buried in the soil with only the jaws projecting above the surface.
When an unlucky ant wanders unknowingly into the pit and tries to escape the ant-lion pummels the prey with sand. By throwing up loose sand from the bottom of the pit, the larva also undermines the sides of the pit, causing them to collapse and bring the prey with them. Thus it does not matter whether the larva actually strikes the prey with the sand showers. So in other words… no matter what the ant does it’s doomed to slide back into the jaws of death.
As mentioned above the projections in the jaws of the larva are hollow and through this the larva will suck the fluids out of its victim. After the contents are consumed, the dry carcass is flicked out of the pit. The larva readies the pit once again by throwing out collapsed material from the centre, steepening the pit walls to the angle of repose once again.
The sand has to be just right, fine grained and soft, for this crafty critter to make catching a meal a “slam dunk”
Another interesting feature that makes the ant-lion larvae unusual among the insects is that they lack an anus!!! All the metabolic waste that is generated during the larval stage is stored and is eventually emitted as “meconium” near the end of its pupal stage. This is an important feature; otherwise the ants would be able to smell the predator in waiting and would never fall victim to the ant-lion.
When the ant-lion has eaten its fill (after the larval stage for up to 3 years) the ant-lion will spin a cocoon made of sand stuck together with fine silk spun from a slender spinneret at the posterior end of the body under the sand and pupate into the adult form. These cocoons may be buried several centimetres deep in the sand. It remains there for one month, until the completion of the transformation into the sexually mature insect, which then emerges from the case, leaving the pupal integument behind, and climbs to the surface.
After about 20 minutes the adult’s wings are fully opened and it will fly off in search of a mate. The mature ant-lion (sometimes called a lacewing) has four wings that under a microscope resemble stained glass.
Although (as mention in the introduction paragraph) it has sharp mandibles and big eyes the adult ant-lion (see pictures below) eats only pollen and nectar during its short life, while it superficially resembles dragonflies or damselflies, they belong to an entirely different infraclass among the winged insects. Ant-lions are easily distinguished from damselflies by their prominent, apically clubbed antennae which are about as long as head and thorax combined.
They also are very feeble fliers and are normally found fluttering about in the night, in search of a mate. After mating has taken place the pregnant female will lay her eggs in the sand or on a leaf.
The larval ant-lion might be a heck of a lot smaller than its name sake, but it is every bit the veracious predator.
Riaan Bezuidenhout – Kapama River lodge
16/03/2013
Kapama Private Game Reserve occupies a vast area between the northern Drakensberg mountains and the Greater Kruger National Park. It is the largest single-owner game reserve in the region, and is perfectly situated to receive guests flying into Eastgate Airport (Hoedspruit).
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