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June
2010:
To everything its season...
There
seems to be a time each year in the African bush when the change occurs
between wet and dry season. This is always an interesting time as it
usually brings with it some interesting interactions and happenings that
are as much a familiar surprise as a shocking annual recurrence!
The
case in point occurred recently when we suddenly realized that maybe,
just maybe, the wet season was finally behind us this year. The pod
mahoganies above camp are finally starting to drop their leaves, the
river is starting to drop which is attracting in the Pel’s Fishing Owl,
the Narina Trogon is back in his place hawking insects and spiders above
the kitchen, the lions are back roaring and generally terrifying all in
and around camp, and the elephant’s are slowly making their ways back
eastwards towards the Urema system. The dry-ish season also is proving
to be really quite brilliant in terms of the temperature during the day
(no more than 28 degrees Celsius) and at night the chill is making the
down duvets that extra bit more snug. And we may just be seeing more
days of sunshine than of cloud and rain for the first time in ages.
(The fact that it rained for 20 hours last week quite heavily should be
seen as the exception that proves the rule!)
The best news of the
month is undoubtedly the fact that the lovely lioness – one of the
“Egyptian Ladies” – behind our camp has emerged with her cubs, three
little 2-month old squirts that are very cute and way too curious for
their own good. They have been seen a few times close to the junction
of our camp access road and the public game drive road and the mother
has tolerated vehicles quite well at this stage. No exact sign of sexes
yet, but it would appear to be two little girls and their rascal
brother. We will confirm this next month no doubt – and we look forward
to following these three as they grow and develop in the area around Explorers.
We have also been
enjoying some great bull elephant viewing recently which has
supplemented the somewhat erratic viewing of the breeding herds which
can be a little cheeky at times! There has been a buffalo herd that has
moved across the Msicadzi from the north – no doubt one of the first
wild ranging buffalo herds that are starting to find refuge in the
relative safety of Gorongosa. We counted around 60 animals in the herd
which is a good size. They seem to have come in from the north. There
was also a good sighting of serval at the Songue view point as well as
some great views of the endemic bushy-tailed mongoose on the floodplains
recently.
We also saw the two young male lions we know as
“Marlon Brando Young” and “Marlon Brando Old” (one good looking, one
ugly!) feeding on an adult bushpig recently, finishing off the entire
pig in one sitting. They were not too comfortable after this though!
These two continue to make themselves seen and heard in the area around
our camp, and it would seem they have seen off the two young challengers
they were regularly ‘bumping’ into last year – for now that is. We
have also been seeing a little bit of two younger male lions – about
14-16 months old - who are from the same pride as the female who is
missing a back foot from a snare some years ago (“Tripod”). Whether she
is their mum or aunt has not been confirmed, but they have been found
well and full and healthy each time. “Tripod” was found near Chitengo a
few weeks ago, some way out of her range, and in the company of the two
“Brandos”. Whether she is related to them or whether she is in heat is
not sure yet. But it was a long ‘hop’ for her to make so one must
assume it was to try and mate with one of them.
All in all, it
has been a great month for Explore
Gorongosa and one that has seen our guests range from some active
bodies, minds and souls on our first ever Gorongosa Yoga Retreat to a biodiversity-focused group
from the States; and from a young honeymoon couple from London to a pair
of seasoned Africa-philes from
the UK who soon became a part of the furniture here. We have enjoyed
our time with all our guests in June and look forward to having you here
too sometime soon...
Until then, happy days!
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