Lions Galore
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The Game Reserves have been so wonderful we’re hooked. We saw so many
beautiful animals and birds during our 5 days in iMfolozi, Hluhluwe (pronounced
as a guttural Sheshuley) and iSimangaliso but no lions. This time they were
definitely out and about.
Our first encounter was with two pairs about a mile apart. When a female is
in season a male will separate from the pride with her, giving undivided
attention, foregoing food and becoming a devoted Romeo.
They lie together......
coupling is a very speedy business........
but does take place every 20 minutes to half and hour – whew.
...............and so on!
As well as the Romeos we saw a pride of 14 of these handsome beasts with 3 males and 4 cubs. They were so relaxed, they looked big-bellied so probably full of food. If they are successful in hunting a large animal like a buffalo or giraffe, they need to eat only once a week and will gorge on the kill. It seemed odd to us that it was the males that the cubs tried to goad into play but the elders lay aloof.
This is on a bank of the Black iMfolozi river, the rest of the females were cooling off on the damp sands below.
The flowers on the savannah are particularly good at the moment as the country moves into summer. These are ground lilies which cover spreads of open area in their delicate pink blooms.
They are poisonous as is the fruit they produce which looks like a small pink papery balloon. The only creatures which eat them are red and green crickets which accommodate the poison and thus become poisonous themselves and so are protected from would be predators. There were lots of other flowers, some on open ground like the lilies, others sprinkled through the bush and under trees.
One of our favourites, the warthogs were about, some of the muddy mums with tiny ‘wiglets’, sorry piglets.
White rhino everywhere again.
and many others
Even more prolific than the animals are the birds which are just about everywhere and fill the air with their calls. We love the weaver birds and one particular favourite is the pied kingfisher which looks fabulous, is extremely persistent as it waits for its chance to make a dart into the water, seldom seems to catch a fish, then rises into a hovering pose to dry off its wings. There is something comedic about the pied kingfisher and we have spent some enjoyably times watching their fishing antics. We have about the same luck fishing from the boat sometimes.
African crested guineafowl, bee eater and a hadedah ibis which eats grubs and dung beetle larvae from the middens.
A rather large, rather slow monitor lizard. Perhaps not long out of hibernation.
To our great delight as the daylight was fading a pack of wild dogs raced out of the bush running through the shrubs at the side of the road then across and off into the bush again. They are very threatened, this reserve had 60 last year and this year only 45. These animals are good at escaping and get out into the local areas where they become a threat and are killed. The park rangers work with local communities to try to overcome these problems as they do with other animals which are under threat. The wild dog is very colourful with its brown and sandy coat with black and tan markings, spotty legs and stripy tail, they are lithe and have an elegant gait. They are, however, not gracious hunters as they start to feed on their prey as soon as caught and do not kill it off first!
Our photographs of the dogs are not great as these guys move so fast but we just had to put one in:
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