April Rangers Report from Leopard Mountain:
The weather has been keeping us on our toes making us glance out the window first before stepping outside. We’ve had everything from rain to sunshine, overcast and windy days yet the game drives and sightings have been great.
This month our feline friends have been keeping us quite busy and entertained. On one of our night drives our head ranger, Chase, managed to spot a female Leopard along with her three cubs and said, “There were leopards running everywhere…”. We had a great sighting of one of our resident Cheetah males up in his “play tree” surveying the area around him.
And finally, we might be expecting some new arrivals in the following months to come as we were privileged to witness our Lions mating for the first time. Over the previous months there has been much anticipation as we hoped our male Lions would meet up with their female counterparts and it has finally happened. They caused a bit of a stir as the vehicles from every corner of the reserve flocked to these sightings each waiting to get their chance to witness these happenings.
The pack of fourteen African Wild Dogs from our neighbouring reserve has graced us with their presence again, bringing their playful enthusiasm that rubs off very quickly on all of us, rangers and guests alike.
Buffalo breeding herds have been plentiful, moving around the reserve in search of greener pastures that are becoming few and far between as the winter season starts to settle in. Bull Elephants have kept us in awe with displays of incredible power, bravado and subtle elusiveness when they disappear into even the thickest of bush.
The walking safaris have been very successful, keeping guests thrilled and intrigued at being on foot with some of our bigger game such as Rhino and Buffalo. The walks have also been a good opportunity to focus on many of the smaller things such as tracks and signs, insects and spiders as well as our very diverse range of flora that occurs in the area, some of which can be quite useful to us out here in the bush!
And last but definitely not least, are our avian friends that keep us captivated and staring at the skies above. From Whitebacked Vultures circling above in countless numbers together with their Lappetfaced counterparts to Crowned Eagles, a Narina Trogon and the echoing sound of the Giant Eagle Owl call that fills our riverine forests at night, we are fortunate to be in one of the best birding and wildlife areas in our beautiful country that is South Africa.