Buffalo Bulls – Life Away from the Herd

While large breeding herds of African buffalo can number in the hundreds, it is also common to find older bulls spending time alone or in small bachelor groups. As males mature, they may gradually spend less time with the breeding herds, often joining them again when there are opportunities to mate.

These older bulls are sometimes affectionately referred to as “dagga boys”, from the isiZulu word *udaka*, meaning mud. The name is fitting, as they are frequently found close to permanent water, where they can drink regularly and spend the heat of the day resting in mud wallows. Their large bodies require plenty of water, and the mud also provides some relief from the heat and biting insects.

This quieter lifestyle is very different from that of the breeding herds, which are made up predominantly of females, their calves and younger animals, with bulls moving in and out. So, when we find a few impressive old bulls resting beside a waterhole, they have not necessarily been left behind — they are simply living a different chapter of buffalo life.

Growing Up Zebra

A zebra foal has a remarkable start to life. Within a short time of being born, it is already standing and following its mother — an essential ability for an animal born into a world filled with predators.

For the first months of its life, the foal remains closely associated with its mother. Although it begins experimenting with grass while still young, it continues to drink milk for several months and is generally weaned at around eight to thirteen months. During this time, mom provides far more than just milk. The foal learns where to find water, how to respond to danger and how to behave within the herd.

Plains zebra live in small family groups usually consisting of a stallion, several mares and their offspring. Young females may remain with their family until they are around two years old before eventually joining another group, while young males leave their families and often spend time in bachelor groups before having the opportunity to establish families of their own.

Watching a tiny foal beside its mother is therefore only the beginning of a surprisingly long journey towards independence.

Little Monitors Around the Lodge

Recently, some very small visitors have been making appearances around the lodge — baby monitor lizards!

As temperatures begin to rise after the cooler winter months, reptile activity increases dramatically. Young monitors that hatched during the warmer season become more active as conditions provide both the warmth and food they need. Around the lodge, gardens, rocky areas and buildings can provide plenty of hiding places, while insects and other small prey make the area particularly attractive to a growing monitor.

Life at this size, however, is not easy. Young monitors may themselves become prey for snakes, birds of prey and other predators, so much of their early life is spent keeping out of sight. They are opportunistic hunters and will feed on insects and other small animals, taking increasingly larger prey as they grow.

If they survive those vulnerable early stages, these tiny reptiles will eventually become powerful predators in their own right. Depending on the species, adult monitors can reach impressive sizes and feed on everything from insects and frogs to eggs, reptiles and small impalas.

For now, though, our lodge visitors are miniature versions of what they may one day become.

Farewell to the Mosele Sele Brothers

This month we said goodbye to two familiar faces in Madikwe as the Mosele Sele cheetah brothers were relocated to Pilanesberg.

Although saying goodbye to animals we have grown accustomed to seeing is never easy, movements such as this play an important role in cheetah conservation. Many of South Africa’s cheetahs live in fenced reserves, meaning they cannot naturally disperse over the enormous distances that wild cheetahs once could. Without movement between these isolated populations, closely related animals could eventually breed with one another, reducing genetic diversity.

Conservation teams therefore carefully manage cheetah populations by relocating individuals between reserves. In many ways, these movements mimic the natural dispersal that would take place across an open landscape, introducing new genes into different populations and helping maintain healthy cheetah populations for future generations.

The Mosele Sele brothers may no longer be part of our drives through Madikwe, but their conservation story continues in Pilanesberg. It is always bittersweet to watch animals leave, particularly ones that have given us so many memorable sightings, but knowing that their move forms part of a much bigger conservation effort makes saying goodbye a little easier.

We wish our boys well in their new home.

A Little Too Close for Comfort

Sometimes finding a lion requires hours of tracking, following footprints and searching every likely hiding place. Other times, the lion makes it incredibly easy — perhaps a little *too* easy.

After a male lion had been seen earlier that morning, Megan and her guests headed out hoping to find him again. They drove through the area where he had last been seen, carefully scanning the bush for any sign of him.

What Megan hadn’t expected was for him to be fast asleep right next to the road.

As the vehicle drove past, the sleeping male suddenly lifted his head. Megan, only then realising just how close he was, got almost as much of a fright as the lion probably did!

Fortunately, both parties recovered from the surprise rather quickly. The lion simply settled back down, seemingly completely unimpressed by the vehicle that had interrupted his nap, while Megan and her guests were left laughing about their unexpectedly close encounter.

It was a wonderful reminder that even when we are actively searching for wildlife, sometimes the animals are much better at finding us — and that even guides can get a fright every now and then!