Singita Pamushana Lodge Malilangwe Zimbabwe Wildlife Journal For the month of November, Two Thousand and Fourteen Temperature Rainfall Recorded Average minimum: 21,2˚C (70,1˚F) For the month: 129,4 mm Average maximum: 33,6˚C (92,4˚F) For the year to date: 643,6 mm Minimum recorded: 15,0˚C (59,0˚F) Maximum recorded: 41,2˚C (106,1˚F) The first good rains of the season started mid-month, with great downpours of 75 mm in some areas. Sparks of green now flash throughout the landscape, pastel pink crinum lilies bend like ballerinas above the ground, cicada insects play raucous crashing cymbal sounds and a band of woodland kingfishers have arrived with a fanfare of trills and showy displays. There have been many sighting highlights in the month, such as a pack of 25 wild dogs fighting with a clan of nine hyenas; five lions and two cubs at a kill; three bull elephants lying down fast asleep in a drainage system; three jackal puppies pouncing about in front of the Land Cruiser, trying to catch some flying ants that were attracted to the headlights; a big herd of at least 500 buffalo plus ten hartebeest and 12 sable antelope; two hyenas scouting for a leopard's kill that the leopard had stowed in a safe rocky crevice; a crowned eagle calling out for its partner; a leopard draped peacefully over a termite mound and six Lichtenstein hartebeest feeding on lush new grass shoots. It's also a beautiful time to go on walks, especially to see some of the many rock art sites we are so fortunate to have on the property. High vantage point Not to be outdone by any leopard draped over a termite mound was this female cheetah. She was so close to the road and the lodge that we almost missed her! Cheetahs often make use of a high vantage point whether it is a termite mound, tree branch or hilltop because they are able to survey the surrounding landscape for potential prey animals - or other more powerful predators that may be a threat. They are diurnal hunters relying on their excellent eyesight and unsurpassed speed, so it is always a good idea to look for cheetahs in very prominent places during the day, when they could be planning a hunt. Guests returned to the lodge from a morning drive in an astonished state after witnessing a mother cheetah teaching her two cubs how to hunt. She set her sights on an impala lamb and it was an eye-opening experience to see how she did it all, and the responses of her male and female cubs to the scenario. In the end the whole family got to enjoy the kill, undisturbed. We've also had very good sightings of two adult male cheetahs this month. This dominant coalition were seen feeding on an impala kill and thereafter the brothers were battling it out with some hyenas over the kill, but as is most often the case the hyenas came out victorious and won the spoils. Another magical sighting was of the two male cheetahs having a totally relaxed siesta just three metres from a black rhino! All three animals didn't seem bothered by the presence of the vehicle or each other - that or they are just very good actors! I've seen this behaviour a couple of times before with cheetahs - they are exceptionally wary of more powerful predators but behave with a 'I refuse to move' attitude with other animals that are of no consequence to them. I've seen white rhinos and a herd of zebra have to walk around resting cheetahs in order to avoid them! Cheetahs are one of the most endangered predators left on our planet and, while they are more often associated with the wide open grass plains of other areas, they have become well adapted to the denser bush vegetation we have here, and are doing well in this securely protected area. Battle scars and new beginnings This impala ram was careful not to get his hooves too muddy, and repositioned and balanced himself several times to avoid slipping while drinking. You can see that one of his horns has been broken in half - the outer brown keratin sheath has been stripped off exposing the broken part of the bony core. Impala horns grow slowly from an epidermal layer surrounding the bony core and if broken they do not regenerate. (They are never branched or shed like deer antlers, which are made of solid bone.) It is most likely that this ram lost half his horn in a fight with another ram during the annual rut that takes place at around Easter. The result of the rut is mating rights with the ewes, so it is possible that this ram fathered some of the new impala lambs we are seeing. The first little ones were photographed on 10 November, at the same time that the first rains fell. It is such a delight to see them as they totter about on long spindly legs and learn the ways of the wild. These two had a game of climbing a termite mound castle. Most of the ewes now have a lamb at their side, and the youngsters are also herded into nursery groups where they play safely together surrounded by watchful parental eyes. Photo by Mark Saunders Bombing behaviour Black rhinos (Diceros bicornis), as seen on this page, behave like bombs. When you are fortunate enough to see them they usually freeze for a second, and your nerves can almost feel their fuse burning, before they detonate and explode in a rush towards you or, hopefully, back into their habitat of thick bush. This mother waited for a few seconds, sniffing the air and trying to place where the scent of perceived danger (us) was coming from, before galloping off with her calf following close on her heels. White rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) are usually far more placid. You can cautiously drive a game viewer, or even approach on foot, relatively close, and observe their natural behaviour without disturbing them. This family of three were having a drink at the shallow end of a pan, but their movement detonated a flock of red-billed queleas that exploded from a tree and photo-bombed the scene! The most obvious way to tell white rhinos from black is to look at their lips - white rhinos have wide flat lips while black have triangular pointed lips. These three white rhinos trundled away from the water and the loud noise of the swirling flock of queleas' wings, and it looked to me like they were grumbling about the disturbance and dragging their wide bottom lips on the ground! Taking a closer look The photos below are of the same bush, Ochna barbosae, but the little pink protea-reminiscent structures aren't flowers. The photo on the right is of flower buds on the bush. The pink structures are actually caused by wasps that lay their eggs in the bark, and are called wasp galls. The tiny female wasp lays her eggs in the bark and it is speculated that chemical, mechanical or viral triggers stimulate the plant tissue to grow abnormally. The plant tissue grows around the eggs and the benefit is that the eggs and hatched larvae are protected. The hatched larvae feed on the nutritive tissue inside the galls. The host plants and the size and shape of the galls are specific to the majority of gall wasps, but it's an unsolved mystery why they develop into the shape and colour that they do. You often see little holes dotted about in the sand which are made by antlion larvae (first photo), but it's not often that you are met at your front door by an adult antlion (second photo), as I was one evening. The adult form looks like a dainty dragonfly, but the larval form is completely different - it looks like a bug with a rounded abdomen and wide pincer-like mouthparts. Antlion larvae circle backwards and drill down into the soft sand to make pits, and then hide just beneath the surface of the soil at the bottom of the pit. They wait for an ant to walk over the edge and tumble down in the ensuing avalanche. The antlion leaps up, grabs the ant and sucks out its body fluids! The adult's mouthparts are elongated into a ‘beak', as you can see in the second photo, in order to probe flowers for pollen and nectar. There are many species of antlion, and this large mottled beauty is most likely from the genus Palpares. Lapwings We see a good variety of lapwings (previously many were known as plovers) on the Malilangwe Reserve at Singita Pamushana. Lapwings have long legs and usually assume an upright position. Some have wattles and most have distinctive markings about the face and breast. In the first photo is a striking example of an African wattled lapwing (Vanellus senegallus), and it is the largest lapwing of the region. The second group are blacksmith lapwings (Vanellus armatus), and they're the easiest to identify thanks to their bold black, grey and white colouring. Their call is a 'tink, tink, tink' sound, which sounds just like the noise a blacksmith's hammer makes when it strikes iron. The crowned lapwing (Vanellus coronatus) seen wooing a mate in the third photo wears a permanent white crown upon its black head. And just to confuse things a little we have a white- crowned lapwing (Vanellus albiceps), in the fourth photo.