Lion Sands Journals » 2008

Ecologist Report July 2008

Lion Sands is the only private reserve in the Sabi Sand that employs a full time ecologist. Apart from conducting various research projects, our ecologist is responsible for ensuring we maintain the balance and preservation of this pristine “bushveld” (wilderness area). Each month an ecologist report is completed and is available for you to read.

Rainfall and Temperatures

Temperatures

Average maximum temperature: 27 °C / 80.6 °F

Average minimum temperature: 09 °C / 48.2 °F

Highest temperature recorded this month: 35°C / 95.0 °F

Lowest temperature recorded this month: 06 °C / 42.8 °F

Rainfall

Total July: 1 mm

Year total to date: 262 m

Field

Maintenance

Maintenance work was once again undertaken on the wetland. Damage caused by the resident hippo was once again repaired and branches and logs were put in place to attempt to prevent him from using there areas as exit and entrance points. The outlet pipe of the wetland also got blocked on numerous occasions because of reeds and leaves. This resulted in water becoming stagnant, and thus deoxygenated, causing a horrible odor. These leaves and reeds were removed from the pipeline and the water once again drained through the outlet. This has alleviated the smell from the wetland as water can once again move out of the system.

Roads

Road maintenance was undertaken on the main access road to River and Ivory Lodge. Several sectors were gravel patched and the humps were repaired. Mitre drains will be opened on the access road during August, once the tractor has been repaired and the road will be gravel patched further. Once this process has been completed, the mitre drains in the west of the Reserve will be opened and repaired.

Vegetation and Water

This has been our first month of the year with practically no rain at all and one look at the desiccated state of the veld is enough to clarify this. Many trees are still leafless and the grass still remains dry and nutrient poor and as a result many animal species are looking thin, especially the Impala. This is however a natural process during the winter months and these should fatten up when spring arrives. Several tree species such as the Long-tail Cassia are beginning to flower, perhaps the onset of spring.

The water levels in the main waterholes in the Reserve are high, with all the pans full of water, thus being able to support the wide variety of animals. Here are still the odd pools of water in the main drainage lines, but these are shrinking fairly fast. Elephant have been digging for water in a few places, but this is frequently associated more with sourcing minerals than simply locating water.

Animals

Reptiles

Reptile activity is suddenly on the increase in Lion Sands, with more and more species becoming active after their winter hibernation. As conditions warm up, more species should become active and hopefully our reptile sightings should increase. Most reptiles can be located on rocks and in the sunny areas where they rely on the sun to increase their body temperatures, allowing them to begin their day’s activities. Reptile sightings during the month include:

Mozambique spitting cobra (Naja mossambica)
Serrated hinged terrapin (Pelusios sinuatus)
Water monitor (Varanus niloticus), (Image below)

Birds

Bird sightings during the month have been absolutely amazing. These sightings include common species such as Brownhooded Kingfishers and Little Bee-eaters as well as rarer sightings such as Ground Hornbills and Lappet faced Vultures. The most incredible bird sighting was a Lizard Buzzard feeding on a 1.5 m Boomslang. This was an amazing sighting and it is the first time that I have heard of a Lizard Buzzard feeding on a snake of that size, usually they will catch and kill smaller snakes, when the opportunity presents itself.

Special Sightings

It was a late afternoon game drive, full of anticipation, when one of our Rangers discovered a serval on Euphorbia Road, moving through the undergrowth. This was a very relaxed serval, which ignored the vehicles as if they were not there, and went about completing its task at hand, locating prey. The target of interest was an adult quail which was busy scratching around, looking for food. Little did it know that is was on the menu…

Everything was quiet; all eyes were fixed on the sighting at hand. Slowly stalking, the serval was in striking range and with a huge leap; the quail was in its claws. Just to view a serval in the wild is amazing, but to view it successfully bringing down prey is a very special sighting indeed…

Mammals

Leopard

Leopards have once again been an elusive quarry during the past month, with only a few sightings of these magnificent cats. One the few occasions that we did locate leopard the sightings were incredible. On several occasions we located our dominant male, the Sandriver male and had a few glimpses of our previous dominant male, Tumbela. Kingsway female was also located on several occasions and she treated us to several sightings of her on kills.

Predation by Leopards has been low during this month, with only three leopard kills being located. Prey items include a warthog, an impala and a bushbuck.

Lion

The lion cubs that we reported on in the May ecologist report have finally all been seen out in the open! We first thought that there was only one cub and so it came as a wonderful surprise to see seven healthy cute cubs.

The seven cubs are offspring from three mothers, one female with four cubs, one with two cubs and the other with only one cub. This puts the total at twelve cubs in the Southern Pride, with the pride now comprising of 19 members. All the cubs have been introduced to the pride and as a result movement of the pride is small, offering excellent sightings.

We will obviously keep you updated about the development of these new additions to our Southern pride!