To all our guests past and present, and those that are still to come, a warm welcome from the beautiful Mluwati Concession here in the famous Kruger National Park.
With all the December rain and almost another 90mm during January the veld is in amazing condition and extremely dense making our guides use every tool they know to try and find those elusive animals in grass that is now well over three feet tall. While this is difficult, we are happy for all the vegetation which will help all the animals when the dry season, animals know instinctively which grasses are the best to eat now and which even when dry will still give them enough sustenance during the dry seasons.
Lions
Although spotting has being tough given the current vegetation, we had some good sightings. The Hamilton’s pride was seen on a Waterbuck kill with all three cubs looking good and healthy which was good news as we had not seen them since the river came down in flood and we where not sure if anything had happened to them as often the females use rocky outcrops in the river as den sites. Another pride of 11 was seen twice on our western boundary which we think is part of the Talamati pride. There was also one sighting of two young sub adult males. The Hamilton’s male was seen mating with another female so we wait to see if when these new additions will be revealed to us in about three months’ time.
Leopard
A very slow month as far as theses elusive predators went. Nkanye’s cub was seen twice once in a perfectly positioned tree where she had been feeding on an Impala calf. There has been no sign of Tshidulu or Wabayiza but this is not uncommon as sometimes they can move huge distances in search of a potential mate or looking to expand their territory. Xipoko was seen around the Imbali area once marking territory and an Unknown female was seen moving up the Tswayeni river area.
Cheetah
We had another amazing month as far Cheetah went when one thinks that their total number in the park is said to be around the 350 mark over 19543 square kilometres. It is always special to see theses masters of hunting at speed. We had several different sightings of the female with the two subadult males always roaming open areas looking for a potential meal. As well as several sighting of a single female.
