It is not often that guests visiting a Big 5 Reserve get the opportunity to have a snow-capped mountain backdrop in their Lion, Elephant, Buffalo or Rhino and other plains game photos. At The Springbok Lodge on Nambiti Private Game Reserve we are privileged enough to get this opportunity during our colder winter months. We greeted the beginning of May with the first snow fall of the season draped like an icy blanket over the majestic Drakensberg mountain range; which is clearly visible from many parts of the Reserve. This sends a message that winter has arrived and it may be an extremely cold one.
With the end of the wet season and the beginning of the cold dry season upon us, the reserve management has been systematically capturing the more numerous plains game species and relocating them to other reserves across the country in an attempt to lessen the impact on the environment over the next few months when we are expecting no rain and maybe a few natural fires that may engulf the extremely dry grassy parts of the reserve.
During May, our usually attention seeking lion population unanimously gave the rangers the slip for a good few days and after a week they were eagerly welcomed back from the “Bermuda Triangle” (or whichever desert island they had disappeared to) by guests and the rangers alike!
The resident Springbok Lodge Serval has also been making his usual appearances on the camp roads and the roads surrounding the lodge. He feeds on a varied diet of rodents, small birds, insects and reptiles. Of the small cats Serval have the longest leg length to body ratio and have a distinctively short tail. Serval are predominantly nocturnal.
It would seem that our two big Lions have been ‘dining on rhino horn” as we are pleased to announce that our usually solitary 6 year old Kalahari lioness – aka Tswalu – has been keeping them company over the previous few months and she has started showing the tell tale signs of being pregnant. Their union is one that has been eagerly anticipated as all the members involved are Kalahari lions and a new strong blood line would be an enormous success story for the reserve. We’ll keep you posted on this story.
We would also like to wish our White Rhino calf – Goomba – born one year ago, a very Happy 1st Birthday. He has given us many exciting and, dare we say, cute sightings and we look forward to watching him continue to thrive.
Goomba – born in May 2016