Lion Kill Number 2 on Vuyani

A few days ago our guests witnessed one of these things that are so rare, you know they will not be seen again by them. In fact, most rangers will only witness a lion kill a very few times in their entire career, so this is not standard stuff!

So what happened?

Mike, one of our rangers, had found the lions chilling in the riverbed near the Vuyani Safari Lodge. They must have been successful the night before, as they looked very well fed and calm. The male lion had walked of for a stroll, and after an hour of observing the lionesses (and the cubs), the male lion called them, and so they started moving towards him. Right at that moment an unsuspecting warthog mother, with her little ones wandered foolishly into the riverbed, right into the lions. She shrieked of anguish and started running away at full speed. But, alas, it was too little, too late. Right in front of our guests (lucky them!!), the lions leapt towards the warthog, pounced upon her, and took her down within seconds. The warthog tried to kick and scream her way out if it, but the end was inevitable, and brutal. This is nature, and it is survival of the fittest after all.

This kill was completely opportunistic, and the young lions were pleased with their kill, and didn’t let the male lion even get close to it. This was theirs, and they were going to keep it! Well, let’s say that they were lucky he wasn’t hungry anyway, otherwise he would have insisted quite a bit more than he did.

His involvement with teaching and raising them is in any case very much unusually high, so he seems to have moved with times as well. 😉

Mike managed to tape most of the kill, and we have edited it into a movie clip, and uploaded it.

Please click her to see it: Lion kill near the Vuyani Safari Lodge

Please bear in mind though that this is only the second kill we have seen in 4 years, so it is important to know that one should not visit and expect to witness such a rare event. It happens, but it is just the cherry on the cake!

Shame I didn’t see it myself. Typical.

 

 

 

We have been very lucky with lion sightings as of late! They are hanging around near the lodge a lot of nights, and many guests can hear their roaring in the night. About 3 days ago, we spotted them in the riverbed not too far from the lodge, resting after a successful kill somewhere. They looked well fed and very relaxed.

One of our guests, Courtney Glenn, has emailed some of the stunning photos she took of them. Thank you very much! 🙂

Enjoy!

This is one of the rarest animals to see in Africa, a highly endangered species: the Southern Ground Hornbill. Only about 1500 still live in the wild. We saw this couple yesterday, while heading from the staff village to the Vuyani Safari Lodge, when Craig suddenly spotted them walking down the main path. We got very close to them, watched them for about 10 minutes, and then they flew off, and I managed, by some sort of a miracle, to catch one of them in full flight, with my (admittedly awsome) Lumia 920 phone. Fantastic shot, I was very pleased.

They used to have two chicks with them, one sub-adult, and one young chick,. The sub-adult seems to have moved on, and regarding the young chick, we are not sure. Maybe something tragic happened … ? But maybe this is a new couple .. .that would be tremendous news indeed!

Our reserve is perfect for them breeding, as we have a lot of large trees, which are perfect for them, while we don’t have too many elephants (which disturb their breeding through destroying the natural habitat of these birds by destroying trees).

Here my two shots that I managed. Nice!

I took three of our guests to the Elephant Whispers, the famous elephant sanctuary that is quite close to our lodge. Many of our guests go there, and it is always an unforgettable experience. Never will one get closer to an elephant!

Elephant Whispers is home to elephants that, for various reasons, needed a home, and were brought here. They have a large reserve (over 8000 acres) to live on, and they really enjoy displaying their skills to visitors. It is truly incredible to witness the kindness and intelligence of these animals. We highly recommend visiting this centre during your stay at the Vuyani Safari Lodge!

See the photos below!

Baby baboons and toddlers are as naughty as human children!

In many ways baboons have a lot of human traits, amongst others a very social behavior (but they can be selfish like us too!). They have been observed to adopt orphaned young children amongst them (in fact studies show that orphans are almost always adpted), so they seem to have developed a sense of “morality” that is otherwise very rare and unusual, and in most cases unthinkable in the animal world. The differences between humans and animals are often more blurred than we imagine it.

Baboons are able to acquire orthographic processing skills, which form part of the ability to read! Baboons are very smart.

There are 5 kinds of baboons. The baboons on our reserve are chacma baboons.

Their only predators are lions, hyenas and leopards (and in some areas humans). They are a tough prey to leopards though, as often large males will try to fend them off, and sometimes even pursuing a leopard.

Below a photo that Justine took a few days ago, of a toddler baboon, near the staff village. He’s (or she’s) up to no good, that’s obvious!