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The last couple of months have been filled with wonderful sightings. The bush has provided us with stunning sunsets and great laughs shared over an ice cold sundowner. The rainfall has slowed since our dramatic floods in December and we can only hope to receive more rain before the onset of winter.

As we pointed out in our December Newsletter, it has been a time of plenty with the bush filled with youngsters of all sorts. As we welcome all these new additions to Tanda Tula we bid farewell to some. One of the older Machaton lionesses passed away near the end of February. She truly was a stalwart of the pride and has provided us all with hours of fantastic experiences. She will be sorely missed. She quietly passed away from old age, rather poetically, at Machaton dam where she spent most of her life hunting buffalo and often coming down for an evening drink.

The white lions that we reported on in December are doing very well. This pride has been nicknamed the Kubasa Pride which refers to the white cubs. The two lionesses in this pride have proved to be very successful mothers. They absolutely ‘walloped’ the two older Machaton lionesses earlier this year, and they really have asserted their authority to the north of us and have settled well in the area. They are incredibly successful at hunting young giraffe, so the cubs (both white and tawny) are looking fat and happy.

Of further interest earlier in January, was the sighting of yet another white cub. This time it was Don who spotted the lion pride, whilst on his way out of the reserve on the main Argyle Road. The pride consisted of at least three females (probably more), with around eight cubs of various ages. Whilst stopped, close to the road, to watch the pride come down to a dam for a drink, Don noticed a white cub coming out of the bushes with the rest of the tawny cubs. It seems this is the last remaining white cub from the three that were born to the ‘Giraffe Pride’ at the end of 2008. This is again great news to know that one of the cubs may survive to adulthood, but more importantly, that the ‘leucism’ gene that leads to the occurence of white lions is still prevalent in numerous Timbavati prides.

The leopard known as ‘Rockfig Junior’ has two cubs and they are looking in great condition and are a real treat to sit and watch. The cubs are forever busy exploring their world, be it chasing insects, climbing trees or just stalking each other and practising the art of hunting. We are truly gifted to watch this transition from small playful cub into one of Africa’s most perfectly moulded predators. Sean managed to get these photos recently of the family all together - superb!

Buffalo, which can be seen in increasing herd sizes across the Timbavati, have once again provided us with great viewing, especially in camp, where regular visits by large herds to our watering hole at the camp have given our guests a great opportunity for close-up viewing. These large bovids have benefited from the good grazing and are all in very good condition.

As always rhino sightings have been superb over the past few months. In the southern part of our property three new young bulls have been seen in addition to the large dominant bull who regularly visits our waterholes, spending much of his time near our camp as well as in the northern area of our property. Some of our game drives have had the treat of seeing up to nine rhino on a single game drive.

Elephant sightings have been great as always, with big breeding herds enjoying the rich green vegetation after good rain in the past months and spending much time in the waterholes cooling themselves down and quenching their thirst in the midday sun.

Our hyena den to the north has been active in the early mornings and late evenings. They are nocturnal and are more active in the cooler parts of the day. The cubs are growing quite quickly and are looking fat and healthy. They are becoming more independent every day, visiting leopards on kills, looking for small scraps and scavenging where they can.

We were truly spoilt in early January with fantastic sightings of both wild dog and cheetah. Both these endangered species were spotted on Tanda Tula in the space of a few days. We had guests leaving having seen not only the BIG 5 but the SUPER 7, which is so rare.

This female cheetah and three cubs were spotted throughout January. These cubs look to be roughly 10 to 11 months old and are still reliant on their mother to provide for them. To support all three of them she must truly be a fantastic hunter. We really hope they all make it!

This photo was taken on our entrance road early one morning. Notice the white tips on their tails, which are used as a following mechanism to other members in the pack during high speed chases. We were privileged to witness the dogs in full flight on a couple of occasions and it is remarkable how efficient they are.

Sighting of the Month

This would undoubtedly be a sighting we witnessed between the female cheetah mentioned above defending her three cubs against a full grown male lion. Sean picked up the cheetah family relaxing on Buffalo Plains, a lovely large open area scattered with small acacias - perfect cheetah country. I joined him on the plain shortly afterwards and with both vehicles side by side, we enjoyed this already fantastic sighting . Mom was not far off, lying down watching the cubs playful banter. Completely unbeknown to all of us was one of the Timbavati boys (large dominant male lion) who was stealthily stalking the cheetah. Competition between large predators is great, lion will take every opportunity to kill or chase off any predator who poses a threat to their domain. It was only when the lion was roughly forty meters from the cheetah that we picked him up. He then began his charge and the cheetah responded like a well drilled unit - the cubs all ran in different directions, confusing the lion from the outset. The female cheetah stood her ground facing the male head on; she weighs in at a mere 40-50 kilograms compared to his 200 kilograms. Both Sean and I were amazed by her bravery in the face of this imminent threat. By this stage the cubs were a good way off and she then turned and with the lion in hot pursuit began to run off. Every time the lion changed direction toward one of the cubs she would head him off at every turn putting herself directly in harms way. She proceeded to lead the lion off away from the cubs until there was quite a gap between them and he lost interest. The female then circled back and collected all the cubs who were all a little shaken but very happy to be reunited with mom. This was followed by a lot of mutual grooming between family members. A truly unique show of bravery in the animal kingdom.

We hope to share more of these special moments with all of you very soon.

Photos and text compiled by Dale Jackson and Sean Savage.