WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA PAMUSHANA, For the month of December, Two Thousand and Sixteen

Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 22,4˚C (72,3˚F) For the month: 111 mm Sunrise: 05:19 Minimum recorded: 18,5˚C (65,3˚F) For the year to date: 551.1 mm Sunset: 18:40 Average maximum: 33,5˚C (92,3˚F) Maximum recorded: 42,3˚C (108,1˚F)

The moment the first raindrop of the season splashes down it changes the earth, and I love being out catching these moments – when a paper-dry pod becomes sodden and its swell and burst their skin; or when a tuft of bright green grass forces its way through the baked mud.

Wildlife overview for December:

Lions were seen almost daily in December, be they lone males or one of the prides that has four adult lionesses, two adult males, sub-adult cubs and small cubs. Our guests have watched them hunting, eating mating, grooming, playing – and, of course, doing what lions do best, sleeping.

Leopards It’s been a fantastic month for seeing ! One morning we decided to follow two hyenas that, with the help of a black-backed , led us to a male , in an umbrella thorn tree, where he had hoisted his kill of a foal. He dined on it over the course of a few days, while several hyenas circled below, silently urging the leopard to drop the carcass. Another great sighting was of a leopard descending a tree where it had stashed an impala carcass, and walking right past the game-viewing vehicle as guests clicked away with their cameras. If one leopard at a time is not enough that problem has been solved twice this month - two leopards where seen in close proximity to each other, one stalking a porcupine of all prickly subjects, and the other stalking impalas. Then there were the guests that got to see a female leopard within one minute of leaving the lodge carpark. They spent time with her, watching her trying to hunt, and then, when they left the scene, they saw a male leopard on the first road they turned onto!

Elephants It’s great to see the fragmented herds group together again now that the grazing and browsing is green. There were about 150 in a herd that were drinking and feeding at Lojaan dam. An unusual sighting, and certainly one you don’t want to get in the way of, was coming across a breeding herd in the dark, on our way back to the lodge, that included a pair of elephants mating right in front of the vehicle.

Hyenas The one that dominates the sightings reports for the month is hyena. There is an extremely powerful and prosperous clan, and the core of their territory is in central lowlands area where there are many roads. Here we’ve seen hyenas kill and feed on a wildebeest, zebra and a waterbuck in December. The photo below shows a hyena running toward a herd of waterbuck – but this time it wasn’t to hunt them. From miles downstream it had smelt the scent of a dead elephant, and was loping at a fast but steady gait in that direction. We followed it for about three kilometres and it showed no sign of tiring.

Rhinos If it is your dream to see wild, free-roaming, healthy and well-protected rhinos, then it’s time you booked a safari to Singita Pamushana! Our sightings of both black and white rhinos for December have been excellent, as usual.

Buffalos We’ve enjoyed seeing the buffalo herds feast on the flush of grass. A highlight was seeing a newly born buffalo calf learning to walk while the mother watched over it in a very defensive mood.

Wild dogs We didn’t see the pack for a long period, but then, with relief, we found 24 of them, all in very good condition. The pack with all the pups totalled 27, so it is possible that some have broken away and gone on their own in search of a new pack.

Cheetah sightings have been extremely scarce this month – it is certainly much harder to spot them in the long grass.

Plains game There are so many impala babies everywhere! One morning our Banyini area looked more like the Serengeti! There were more than 100 , 40 giraffes, 10 hyenas, several wildebeest and lots of impalas. There’ve been good sightings of eland, sable and Lichtenstein’s hartebeest too. The very next day after the zebra mare lost her foal to a leopard, her life was taken by hyenas. In some sort of possible retribution, we later saw three hyenas being chased off an old kill by a herd of zebras.

Boat cruises and fishing Here’s a report from one of the guides after a boat cruise, “A lovely afternoon spent enjoying sparkling wine, a feast of tasty finger snacks while siting enjoying watching hippos frolicking in the water around the boat and watching a black rhino having a mud bath on the shore.” There’s been some fishing activity with a couple of tigers and bream caught, but only after the turbid water had settled after the rains. Here’s a photo of guide, Mark Friend, hauling in a ‘massive’ bream from Nduna dam.

Rare sightings The only thing better than seeing one crotchety, cantankerous, curmudgeonly honey badger trundling down the road is to see two, which is exactly what one group of guests enjoyed.

Photo hide The sunken photo hide has been rather quiet this month, because of all the water that’s about, but it is still an excellent place from which to watch and photograph .

Birding Some of the favourites for the month included kori , bat hawk, secretary , white stork, black-bellied bustard, rufous bellied heron, Arnot’s chat, violet-backed starling, dark chanting goshawk, giant eagle owl, spotted eagle owl and barn owl.

Rebuffed

This white rhino bull was intent on separating a cow from her young calf, and trying to mate with her. The mother was having none of his nonsense, and kept rebuffing him. He was bearing quite a few new gouges on his head, from her horn, as a result of her chasing him off. In the photo below you can see he is advancing on the calf, but the brave little calf quickly realised this was unwise and galloped back to its mother’s side. When the mother and her calf went to have a drink at the pan, he decided to try and get to her by splashing straight through the water. She and the calf quickly retreated, and after quite some time of this losing battle the rhino bull became so frustrated that it chased an African buffalo that was standing nearby, and managed to almost toss him through the air.

A territorial white rhino male usually mates at about 12 years old. Gestation for the mother is a long 16 months. A calf stays with its mother for two to three years, and a new calf is born after about a 22-month interval.

These first two ‘debt collectors’ appeared before us, and it was interesting to see how different they looked. Buffalo bulls’ hair becomes sparse with age (like that of so many men), but the bull on the right was facially bald. You could tell it was very old compared to the other that had a thick glossy coat, and lots of facial hair. His horn tips were also blunt, his boss worn smooth and his ears ragged.

We found the third bull at a waterhole, having a drink with an oxpecker. He was aged almost exactly between the first two, as can be seen by his partial balding and smoothing off of his boss and horn tips. A buffalo’s lifespan is around 15 years.

Moving house

I had set out well before dawn and, travelling down the track with my headlights on, only just managed to distinguish this terrapin from a rock. Chelonians – the group of reptiles with shells – are roughly divided into three main categories; tortoises (which dwell on the land), turtles in the ocean and terrapins in fresh water. This terrapin was making a dash for a new fresh water source after the rains.

Poking its head out of its shell on the rain-soaked earth was this leopard tortoise, that was keen on a drink of fresh water after a long dry winter living off its water reserve, contained within a bursa sac at the rear of its body.

Bachelors at the bar

It was at around dawn, at a waterhole, when we heard a deep, resonant woum-woum-woum-woum, followed by a snapping sound. In the distance we spotted a kori bustard ( kori) perched on a small rise in full courtship display. He held his head backwards, with cheeks bulging, crest erect, bill open and his gular pouch inflated forming a white throat ‘balloon’. His wings were drooped and his stuck out like a Christmas .

Once he finished his display he, being the largest flying bird native to , strode over to where we were, watching a sable antelope drink, so that we could admire and photograph his handsomeness too.

What was fascinating in comparing these two creatures as they drank was the way they bent down to the water. The bustard’s legs bend forwards, and it looks like its knees are bent backwards, but the ‘knees’ are actually its ankles and the ‘lower part of the leg’ is actually its foot with the claws being toes. The sable bends right down on his tucked-in knees, with his back legs straight and spread.

Take a look at this sable’s knees, and you’ll see that they are bald and calloused. Not only is this from bending down to drink, but also from fighting. Bull sable fight among themselves, and they do so by dropping to their knees and using their horns. It’s also how they defend themselves from attack, and woe betide the predator that gets stabbed with those scimitar horns.

The sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) bull has a dark coat and a compact and robust build, characterised by a thick neck. Males begin darkening from chestnut and turn blackish after three years. Calves less than two months old are a light tan.

Young males of 3-4 years old are driven out of their natal herd by territorial bulls. Usually they join other young males and make up small bachelor herds, although this male was on his own. Mature bulls are territorial, and when a female herd is in his territory he follows them around and tries to dissuade them from leaving by running around them, head stretched forward, snorting and sweeping his horns, escalating to chases and charges.

All a twitter

Marabou storks use a strategy called urohydrosis which involves using their ‘urine’ for thermoregulation. They do not actually urinate; they have a white excretion of uric acid out of the cloaca. The excretion is directed onto their dark legs, and when it starts to evaporate the results are cooling. The white powdery residue also helps to keep them cool by reflecting the sun.

“Majelous!” is our Zimbabwean exclamation for equal parts of jealousy and happiness for the other’s good fortune. That was exactly my reaction when Mark Saunders sent me this photograph he had taken of a Pel’s fishing owl that he saw perched in a tree on the river banks.

Written and photographed by Jenny Hishin, unless otherwise indicated Singita Pamushana Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve Zimbabwe Thirty-first of December 2016