December sightings, wildlife monitoring and interesting research projects.`
Sightings of the month
Thank you to all who recorded their sightings in the book this month!
Here is the number of recorded sightings of a few species during the month of December:
Highlights:
- With 223 recorded sightings in the book, there was an average of seven sightings per day. Within this total, lions were the most common sighting, with leopard and Southern Ground Hornbill being second- and third-most common.
- A male lion killed a buffalo at the main causeway and fed for almost a week, while a small pride of lions killed a zebra near Motswari Corner in the same time frame.
- A leopard was followed in camp, giving Members the unusual opportunity to witness the leopard capturing and killing a monitor lizard! Another leopard was seen in camp, with a cub, at a bungalow.
- A pride of lions with small cubs was seen at the broken dam wall from Timbavati Crossing, while another lioness is denning on Op Goedehoop, initially near Leopard Rock.
- A bull eland was seen on Op Goedehoop’s eastern boundary!
- Mammalian species recorded: Leopard, Lion, Wild Dog, Spotted Hyena, Honey Badger, Side-striped Jackal, Large-spotted Genet, African Wild Cat, White-tailed Mongoose, Elephant, Buffalo, Eland, Impala, Kudu, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffe, Zebra, Waterbuck, Warthog, Hippo, Nyala, Bushbuck, Klipspringer, Sharpe’s Grysbok, Duiker, Steenbok, Warthog, Chacma Baboon, Vervet Monkey, Lesser Galago, Scrub Hare, Tree Squirrel, Springhare, Dwarf Mongoose, Banded Mongoose, and Slender Mongoose.
- Reptilian highlights: Two sightings of very large Puffadders were recorded, while there was also a sighting of an Eastern Bark Snake capturing and eating a skink in an outdoor shower!
- Birding highlights included regular sightings of Southern Ground Hornbills, which we believe are nesting in camp, as well as Eurasian Golden Orioles, a Harlequin Quail, Dusky Larks, a Temminck’s Courser, a Greater Painted Snipe and plenty of large flocks of both Red-billed Queleas and Wattled Starlings.
- For the full list of bird species noted during December, please click here.
- Reptilian species recorded: Water Monitor, Rock Monitor, Black Mamba, Nile Crocodile, Flap-necked Chameleon, Leopard Tortoise, Marsh Terrapin, Rainbow Skink, Mozambique Spitting Cobra, Boomslang, Puffadder, Eastern Bark Snake, Eastern Tiger Snake and Serrated Hinged Terrapin
Words by Tess Woollgar, images courtesy of Hanna Todd and as notated on individual photos.