April Sightings At A Glance
We bring you an overview of sightings enjoyed by our guests at Arathusa over the month of April. Once again, we were not disappointed!
LEOPARDS
There were 80 separate sightings of leopards in April!
We’ve broken them down for you below.
Xidulu – 18 sightings
Xidulu paid us a special visit at the lodge for a few days. It seems that the private patio of the Bushwillow Suite is her favoured space.
Cara – 2 sightings
Tiyani – 2 sightings alone, and 4 with her cub
Ndzutini – 3 sightings
Sibuye – 3 sightings
Shasha – 8 sightings
Langa – 5 sightings
Makhomsava – 5 sightings
Kuchava – 3 sightings alone, and 2 with her cub
Thandi – 1 sighting
Thalamba – 3 sightings alone, and 1 with her cub
Maribye – 12 sightings
Tavangumi – 2 sightings
Tortoise Pan – 9 sightings
Xidulu and Tortoise Pan have been mating for the last 4 days – perhaps we will enjoy another litter of cubs soon?
Unknown male leopard – 2 sightings
LIONS
Lions were also a regular fixture in April, with a total of 59 sightings. Sightings per pride included:
Torchwood Pride – 5 sightings
Nkuhuma Pride – 24 sightings
Talamati Pride – 13 sightings
S8 Male – 3 sightings
Avoca Males – 12 sightings
Khambala Males – 2 sightings
WILD DOGS
What a month for the ‘painted wolf’! We had a total of 17 sightings in April.
One that stood out was of 10 wild dogs hunting right in front of the lodge. They chased an impala into the dam, with hyenas in hot pursuit. Eventually the hapless impala met its end in the great jaws of a resident hippo, with the predators fought at the water’s edge…
BUFFALO
16 individual sightings were enjoyed, including a mammoth herd of about 500 buffalo (trailed by Talamati pride of lions).
ELEPHANTS
Were seen 33 times over the course of the month.
THE RARE AND UNEXPECTED
The true magic on safari is when we find something that is seen very rarely…
Over April we came upon an AFRICAN WILD CAT, a SERVAL and also a HONEY BADGER (on two occasions).
What will May hold in store for us?
Until next time,
The Arathusa Guiding Team