My guests had never seen lions before so when we started our safari, we decided to go to an area were the lions had been seen the day before. Magnum (my tracker) found fresh tracks and we followed them for quite some time.
After following these tracks, we found them – three females and a male sleeping next to the dam. As we sat there watching the pride of lions, the one female started calling for her cubs. They came tackling one another while running towards their mother without a care, just enjoying being young and carefree. After watching them play and learn, they started suckling from their mother.
After a while the cubs moved off and we decided to stay with them. The cubs started to spread out and circle a francolin (a small ground bird) and tried, very unsuccessfully, to catch it. As we were watching this, a massive male giraffe walked towards the pride of lions. The lions noticed the presence off the large giraffe and even though they had eaten the previous day, they knew that an adult giraffe was too big for them kill – or at least the more experienced lions had that knowledge.
On the other hand, the three five month old cubs know no fear and they saw this big meal going to waste. To our amazement the cubs started circling and stalking the giraffe. They got rather close before two of them decided they had “bitten off more than they could chew” and went back to their mother for protection. The other cub, however, would not give up so easily and continued the hunt. As he reached the road and ran out of cover he charged the giraffe and even tried to roar.
Needless to say, he stopped short of the unconcerned giraffe and decided to turn around towards safety. This experience was so comical to watch and was amazing to see how fearless such a small lion can be. All I know is that I wouldn’t want to run into him when he is a fully grown lion, ready to rumble.
Michael Lester – River Lodge
15\05/2012
It was a sunny, warm afternoon when we set off on our safari. It was a little quiet so my tracker and I did not expect too much from the drive other than some plains game – such as zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, etc. One of my fellow colleagues, who was driving in the same area, let me know that he had found some leopard tracks.
Chances are not good of finding a leopard by following its tracks as they move around a lot so we would always be one step behind it. Nevertheless, we decided to try our luck. We followed the tracks for quite some time but the guests were enjoying the thrill of following something by means of tracks.
Finally, we found it! A male leopard was lying in a tree so all the guests could get a good view. As we were enjoying the view, we saw another leopard – a male! It chased the other male out of the tree and started fighting for territory until the first male retreated back into the tree.
This was such a rare sighting filled with excitement and action. It was the first time I had ever seen two males at once. I have been blessed to be able to view something so thrilling.
Freedom – River lodge
10/05/2012
Leopards are the most secretive and elusive of the large carnivores and are also the shrewdest. Pound for pound, it is the strongest climber of the larger cats and is capable of killing prey far larger than itself – up to two or three times their own weight. There can be considerable variations in the size of Leopards due to their distribution and available resources, for example, Leopards that live in mountainous regions are smaller than those that live on savannahs due to their prey being smaller.
When visiting Kapama, ask any ranger about their favorite Leopard and they’ll likely tell you about an individual known as the Clara male. Having held a very large territory for as long as most of us can remember, Clara has proven the survivability of his species. Life as a Leopard is tough with constant competition from other Leopards, Lions and Hyenas, but Clara has an even harder situation. He has sustained a number of injuries over the years including losing an eye, an ear and has a broken leg. Nevertheless, he still harbors today through disputes over territory and even holding his own against a male Lion three times his size. Unfortunately these injuries, old age and competition have taken their toll on the old bush warrior and every time we see him his condition has deteriorated.
Some stories go that, as a young Leopard, Clara walked all the way from the Kruger National Park to establish a territory here.
This short tale is my tribute to the legend that is the Clara male. May his roars be heard deep into the African night for all time…
Tuhan Steyn
Ranger
Kapama River Lodge
2/5/2012
We set out on our morning game drive one morning. The guests I had were extremely interested in seeing our dominant male and female lions so, in order to please the guests, our goal was to find their tracks, follow them and, hopefully, find them.
We went to the area of the reserve where the lions are usually seen. Finally, my tracker spotted some tracks in the soft sand. There were clearly two lions – the ones we were looking for! My tracker and I got off the vehicle to see where the tracks were headed. They eventually went into the bush and my tracker decided to go in on foot while I went to let our guests know what was happening.
While waiting for my tracker to come out from the bushes, we heard a noise coming from where the tracker went in. It was the sound of the lions we were looking for. Finally, my tracker came out of the bushes and led us to where the lions were.
The guests were all very happy, and impressed, that we found these two lions for them.
Freedom
29/04/2012
Kapama Private Game Reserve occupies a vast area between the northern Drakensberg mountains and the Greater Kruger National Park. It is the largest single-owner game reserve in the region, and is perfectly situated to receive guests flying into Eastgate Airport (Hoedspruit).
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