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Temperatures - Max 36 Min 18
Rainfall - 255mm (1/10/09-19/12/09)

Some of our guests had to wade through the river in order to catch planes and transfer vehicles... great times and adventure for all!

While all the rain was falling a small pride of lions was busy hunting giraffe to the north east of us. They were successful in their attempt, pulling down a full grown female giraffe. Scotch, one of the Tanda Tula Rangers, found them the next morning. Scotch was already excited at having found lions in the difficult, wet conditions but imagine how excited he became when he realised that two of the cubs were snow white. We are not sure where this pride originates from, the make-up of the pride includes three adult lionesses, two tawny cubs of about 11 months and two white lion cubs of about 9 months. They are all in fantastic condition and have been seen coming further west, so hopefully they are looking at settling in and setting up a territory. These lions are not albinos, but rather a genetic marvel from the lions in the Timbavati where the tawny lions carry a recessive leucistic gene. If two lions mate who carry this gene the result may produce white lions (the condition being referred to as leucism).

There have been confirmed sightings of other white lions in the Timbavati in recent years, some of which we have had the privilege of also seeing, but these cubs are by far the oldest white lions that we have seen, so let’s hope they make it all the way. Very exciting stuff - we will keep you up to date! The festive season has proved a huge hit with our leopards as well. In our last newsletter we touched on a particular female called Rockfig Junior, who was heavily pregnant and had disappeared. Well, she showed us why last week when she introduced us to two little cubs of roughly 4 to 5 weeks old. A fantastic addition to our leopard population and they are just a treat to watch!

We were fortunate last week to find a large male leopard just behind the camp at our workshop. This huge tom was calling, staking out his territory with a wonderful rasping call echoing through Tanda Tula.... and then, to top it all, Don and Dale were returning from Zebenine camp one evening when a female leopard, who we know as the Zebenine female, was found walking down the road in front of their vehicle. She stood and calmly watched for a few seconds, when out from the grass and onto the road came her cub of about 6 months! It truly is the time of babies in the bush. Huge herds of elephant are being seen on the reserve at the moment. Even with their long gestation periods of 22 months their birth rate increases into the summer months. They seem to be taking advantage of the plentiful grazing and browsing that is available now.

Harry, one of our barmen, had an interesting close encounter with a small breeding herd while he was on the tracker seat of one of our game viewers returning from camp. One of the youngsters, under its mother’s supervision, came right up to him and sniffed his toes, only to back off suddenly while mum remained within arms’ reach to ensure the safety of her calf... it looked like Harry needed more protecting than the young calf, and we were all relieved when the herd continued past the vehicle almost touching us as they moved on.

Huge bulls have also followed the herds into our traversing area, trying to seek out any cows that may be coming into oestrus. Rhino sightings have really spread out over the last month as rains have deposited small pans all over the bushveld and grazing here is at a premium. We have a small group of bulls who are very relaxed and wonderful to watch as they graze and have constant mud baths to cool off in the heat.

Buffalo herds have also been seen throughout our traversing area with small, scattered groups of old bulls all over – especially enjoying the wide availability of watering holes and wallows in which to cool off.

.... And then lastly, Christmas truly was good to us with sightings of both cheetah and wild dog. We discovered 4 cheetah (a mum with 3 cubs) playing and rolling around like a true cat and kittens. The cubs were also going beyond the call of duty by attempting to entertain us with their tree climbing antics.

Wild dogs are always hugely exciting to see as, not only are they critically endangered, but they also range over enormous areas (between 300 000 and 500 000 hectares). Sightings are rare, and when they do occur, we get to feast on these for a few days as the dogs tend to stay in one area as they make numerous and regular kills, before moving off again, once the prey species have all become thoroughly nervous of their presence. The pack that we have enjoyed hosting for the last week or so was 17 strong, with numerous pups in excellent condition. A number of kills were made in our area (they are extremely efficient hunters, with a kill rate of around 70%), and unfortunately one of the young Nyalas that frequents the Tanda Tula camp was taken one evening. That, of course, is part of the cycle of life in the bush.

Sighting of the month

Although it was a tough decision between wild dogs, cheetah and white lions, this month’s sighting of the month will have to go to our numerous sightings of the white lions. It truly is a once in a lifetime experience and for all those that shared it with us a very memorable one. Watching them in their natural environment playing, feeding and doing what lions do best... sleeping, was just breathtaking. We hope they will carry this gene a long way into the future ensuring the continued natural occurrence of these wonderful animals in the Timbavati.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that the New Year will bring good fortune and lots of trips to the bush.