WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA GRUMETI TANZANIA For the month of April, Two Thousand and Twenty
Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 19°C Faru Faru 239 mm Sunrise 06:39 Average maximum: 29°C Sabora 184 mm Sunset 18:41 Minimum recorded: 18°C Sasakwa 197 mm Maximum recorded: 32°C
April has been another wet month with heavy rains persisting. The Grumeti River has burst its banks on a number of occasions, taking with it many trees and bridges alike. This month we have lost two bridges to the torrents! The Old German Bridge, built at the turn of the century, can no longer be used as the banks have been washed away either side and the bridge structure itself has been badly damaged. The second bridge to go down was the main Fort Ikoma Bridge. We have not seen the rivers swell this way in the last ten years.
However, despite the rains, the air is clear and fresh and the wildlife of the Grumeti Reserve continues to thrive. We have had some wonderful cat sightings this month, including leopards, lions and cheetahs. The elephants have moved back into the reserve in great numbers and at times, looking south from Koroya Hill, you may cast your eyes over 350 elephants or more. Out west, on the open plains, herds of zebra and topi congregate in their thousands and there are many great eland on the high ground.
The colours in the sky during the evening light are incredible and the clarity for photographic opportunity is magical.
Here’s a sightings snapshot for April:
Lions • We have seen the Butamtam and Nyasirori lions most days this month. • The four youngsters of the Butamtam Pride are doing very well and continue to stay strong. • The Nyasirori Pride continue to hunt buffalo on the grasslands west of Sabora Camp. • The Ridge Pride are also doing very well. The pride consists of three lionesses and four cubs of ten months.
Leopards • We have had great leopard sightings again this month. • The Grumeti North female and her two daughters of six months are doing very well and are spending most of their time along the Sand Road. • A very exciting observation of another leopardess with two cubs of four months old was made at the base of Ridge Hill. • A shy male leopard has also been observed in the Sand Road location and Tulia’s son has been seen up on the Nyasirori high ground.
Cheetahs • Cheetah sightings this month have been lower than previous months as many individuals move into the National Park onto the higher ground when things get really wet here. • We have observed a very relaxed female, however, in the Grumeti North Hill region, just west of Faru Faru. It was lovely to see her scanning from the termite mounds as she looked for a meal.
Elephants • April has seen hundreds of elephants arriving onto the reserve. • Some magical displays took place at Sasakwa Dam and in the Koroya Hill region. • We have witnessed elephants mating a number of times this month.
Hyenas • The Boundary Pan Clan are doing very well and managing to hang in there during the tough conditions. The youngsters are getting stronger and stronger which is great to see.
Buffalos • There have been lovely herds of buffalo, as always, here on the Grumeti. • Buffalo bulls have been utilising the Sasakwa Hill region extensively this month. • Large herds were observed in the west.
Rhinos • The rhinos continue to do very well in Ikorongo region. • The animals seem to be settling well into more defined ranges which is great to see.
Some exciting and informative Bush Stories to follow, as well as the April Gallery of images.
“Zito” the Bull Elephant
Zito in Swahili means “weight” (due to his lovely ivory, of course) and it was absolutely fantastic to see him back on the Singita Grumeti reserve this month. The last time he passed through was in June 2019 and we have not seen him since… until now! This beautiful bull elephant is around the age of 50 years old and one of the last giants of the greater Serengeti ecosystem.
Zito is an absolute pleasure to view out in the field, always gentle and unassuming and usually incredibly relaxed in our presence. This really makes him a little easier to photograph and being such an impressive bull, it really is a joy when you find the right angle with your camera!
An elephant’s tusks are modified incisors that continue to grow throughout the elephant’s lifetime. Other animals possess tusks such as hippos and warthogs, however, these are modified canines.
The tusk is composed largely of dentine and with age the outer layers can begin to darken off or yellow. Tusks are without doubt incredibly important tools for the elephant and perform many functions to aid the elephant through life. More often than not you may see that one of the tusks is worn significantly more than the other and this is often due to the elephant having a more favoured tusk whilst at work…. just like us favouring to write with our right or left hand!
Tusks are used for defence purposes and for competition between bulls when battling for breeding rights with cows. The tusks are used in many ways to harvest a food supply whether it be ripping branches from the trees or gauging out strips of bark from the trunk to then peel off with the trunk. Elephants will often use their tusks to dig in river beds for water or at the edge of waterholes when drinking or mud spraying. When pulling grass and plants up from the ground with the trunk the elephants will use the tusks to beat the grass or shrubs on in order to remove much of the mud or sand that maybe attached to roots before popping it into the mouth.
These great old bull elephants, as they get older, will begin moving into retirement meaning that they will pay less attention to the breeding herds and females in oestrous within the herds. Wandering giants that move great distances where they want and when they want. A true relic of time and the real king of the jungle.
Since first locating Zito out in the west of the reserve, a few days later, he had moved some distance and was sighted in the Ridge Hills, a stone’s throw from Sasakwa Lodge.
Klipspringer of the Sasakwa Hill
These beautiful small antelope species are resident here on Sasakwa Hill and are known in Swahili as “mbuzi mawe” which directly translates into “rock goat.”
They are a small, stocky antelope with a coarse coat that has almost a grizzled appearance. There are many individual colour variations in this species depending on location, however, they are more often than not a russet or yellowish colour on the flanks, neck and face, and grey on the legs, back and the haunches.
These dainty little antelope are very much at home on the rocky cliffs and outcrops of Sasakwa Hill. They move around on the steep terrain easily with their small rounded hoofs that have developed a rubbery consistency to aid in gripping the rocks as the antelope traverses the steep hill sides. When alarmed, the klipspringer can leap from boulder to boulder with incredible agility.
We have two sub-species here in Tanzania, a northern race and a southern race. Amazingly, with the northern race that we see here on the Grumeti, both the male and the female carry horns. With the klipspringers in the south however, only the males carry the horns. It is really quite incredible how the evolution in a single species under different ecological pressures may develop different traits.
The klipspringers can usually be found in monogamous pairs or in small family units. They defend small territories that are guarded by the pair, and the male can often be seen standing motionless, scanning the valleys for competition or potential danger.
April Gallery
The Grumeti North Hill leopardess above with her two 7-month-old daughters below.
The mother and two have been occupying the Sand Road region this month and we have had sightings of them almost daily.
Picture by Matt Goodman
The Butamtam Pride and their four young cubs of three months old on the Sasakwa plains.
A beautiful female cheetah observed very close to the Grumeti North Hill, just West of Faru Faru. Pictures by Matt Goodman.
The Grumeti North Drainage male leopard catches a dose…
Tulia’s young son sighted out on the Nyasirori high ground, close to Boundary Pan.
A shy male leopard rests up in a sausage tree close to the Old German Bridge on the Grumeti River.
Elephant herds on the Sasakwa plains.
A young Nyasirori lioness sighted at a buffalo kill that the pride took down early that morning.
A Nyasirori lioness and her youngsters. Picture by Matt Goodman.
The handsome Robert’s gazelle out on the grasslands of Sabora.
The Grumeti River from the air looking south west from the Old German Bridge.
The Old German Bridge is somewhere beneath the raging torrents of the Grumeti River. Drone by Matt Goodman
The Rubana at Acacia Bridge, Early Education Care Centre to the right and the RISE project mid central view. Drone by Grant Telfer
Sasakwa Dam looking North. Sasakwa Hill just visible in the top right of the picture.
Words and pictures by George Tolchard unless otherwise indicated.