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Morning Walk - 13 August 2009

At last .... a warm morning. Alfred and I descended onto where the Letaba River and Tzendze Spruit meet, with the intention of doing the Acacia / cathedral Mopani forested area and then heading down into the river bed. The sun was warm as it rose spreading over our backs and the big trees in front of us, bringing with it a sense of excitement of being in the bush and far from anything else.
Elephant spoor covered the ground, telling stories of a herd that moved through the area that night. Various bulls and a close group of cows with older calves spent the evening feeding on the Mopanis, stripping bark and leaves from branches. We were alert, expecting a trumpet a branch break or a thud - The bush was silent. We wondered where they had moved to, knowing that the Mopani bush would keep them well hidden with all its other secrets.
Heading for the riverbed, we spotted saddlebilled storks, yellowbilled egrets, fish eagles and a young crocodile.
Further on in the walk we noticed day-old lion tracks and found faeces - It was obvious they had been on a kill that was now finished and left to pick on by vultures and hyenas. We had actually seen a buffalo carcass
about 3 days before that not to far from the spoor.

Other recent happenings:

On the 3rd of August we had the Big 5 (not a common occurance) between the walk and drive back from the area. All good sightings, Makhadzi never fails us!
Jacques saw a cane rat on one of his walks at Bulweni. Not far from camp one morning we watched a greyheaded bush shrike catching and tearing a chameleon apart in front of us. It went on for ages, eventually we had leave. Numerous buffalo bulls and a few herds on foot, moving in for the water in the river.
We spotted 2 black rhino at Bulweni - There is an incredible amount of black rhino activity there, increasing every year (both species).
The seasonal norm of ALL elephant bulls in the greater area decending on Letaba camp and Staff village has happened - making walks nearby quite successful. They are thoroughly enjoying our elephant-defenseless Acacias and are denuding the local alluvial soils of all Acacias and look-alikes. The impact on trees in these areas cannot be denied - It's happening and is serious.
Morning drives have been rather fruitful, with Cecilia finding 2 different leopards on the 13th of August, one with a kill in a tree. That had been her second Leopard on kill sighting for the week. Cecilia found lions at a kill, numerous other leopard (again 2 on the 12th for the sunset drive), as well as lions stalking a giraffe. Riana very excitedly had her third porcupine sightings. Serval, african wild cat and the other larger and smaller species were seen. Jacques has had great luck with leopards lately, finding another '2' again on the night drive. Riana also found lions on a kill. Alfred was fortunate this month to experience having a bath in a hot water spring in the far north on a backpacking trip.

Backpack and Wildernesss trails are implemented so that we can share and educate the public on the shear beauty and sensitivity of our fading natural world. The current running backpack trail is along the Olifants River and should be experienced by all. There are 7 Wilderness Trails for those wanting something less strenuous, offered in KNP. Bookings for these trails can be made with Hester van der Berg at Head Office. Check the website for more details.

Saskia Taylor
Letaba Field Guide

Sightings Board - Letaba

The sightings board is on the right on the wall before you walk in through the doors at the reception. There is also one at the elephant museum.

Saskia

Morning Walk - 23 September
Not expecting much to happen we drove to Jim Windmill between Letaba and Olifants. En route we found a herd of about 150 buffalo, one individual was comletely blind in the left eye and as a result developed a strange posture in trying to see out of just one eye.
We stopped at the windmill at walked in northwest. It was overcast and cool and we head for the hills hoping to find elephants feeding in the mixed mopane veld.
On gaining height, we noticed 3 elephant bulls below us. We moved down to them and watched them as they fed, completely unaware of us. We left them and now being deep in...headed back to where our vehicle was parked. On arrival we heard buffalo bellowing and were nicely surprised by a herd of 300>. While watching the buffalo, a spotted hyena shot out from thicket on our left. We had seen recent lion spoor earlier on in the walk - The lions would have been after the buffalo and the hyena after the lion, hoping for a free meal.

Afternoon Walk - 23 September
Entering the Mahudzi area, again we were not expecting too much due to the temperamental weather.
We walked down into the Mahudzi and saw an elephant bull, on approaching, we noticed another and another - 6 in total. They fed on some young Apple-leaf trees while we watched them from shady big trees. Behind the elephants a group of zebra energetically moved around. We left the scene quietly and moved into a side catchment, we found tracks of an impala group moving together down a path as well as porcupine from the previous night and the inevitable civet tracks. 2 Lilacbreasted rollers flew back and forth displaying to eachother (and us!).
We neared the vehicle as the shy sun set and found 6 buffalo bulls waiting for us. We moved closer to them, they stared at us and then in synchrony gave a breathing snort, turned and ran away amidst a cloud of dust.

Other sightings this month on our walks have been of white rhino, klipspringer, steenbok, hippo, lions roaring nearby, giraffe with small calf, puff adder, secretary bird on nest, zebra, waterbuck, warthog.

Game Drives have once again been successful, sightings namely of:

Warthog, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck
Elephant
African Buffalo
Lions
Leopard
Spotted hyena
Small and large spotted genet
African civet
Porcupine
Leopard eating scrub hare
Hippos and crocs
Springhare
African wild cat
Blackbacked jackal
White rhino
Ostrich
Secretary bird

Other local interest: The wahlbergs eagles have returned from their long trip north to the high water bridge but have moved their nest further in; a wood owl was spotted in the campsite area at the beginning of the month; last night at 18h30 a group of wild dogs killed an impala outside the staff village; and for those who do not know .... Hlanganini (last of the older generation elephant bulls in KNP with large tusks) tragically passed away 2 months ago - his carcass was south of the camp. He was killed by another bull elephant. His tusks have not been weighed yet.
He was known for his gentle nature and always having a number of younger bulls with him, always being close to camp if not in the Letaba River.

Kind Regards
Saskia Taylor

Morning Walk
30 October 2009

We arrived at Mahudze before dawn - It was cloudy and cool and good weather to walk in. The area consists of sandstone outcrops with animal paths in between them. It is usually a very nice place on overcast days with elephants using the area because of the variety of plant species found in that sort of habitat.
5 Minutes into the walk we picked up fresh tracks of a buffalo herd. They moved around erratically, grazing signs were obvious. We set off in their direction and noticed they had started moving in formation and picked up speed. The dung getting drier as we followed their signs. They crossed the road and unfortunately where just to quick for us. We left them, anticipating the larger grey shapes of elephants after we changed direction and noticed freshly eaten branches. Through the hazy dark dry bush in front of us we spotted the characteristic white tusk first - 2 Elephant males happily feeding in the thick scrub. We attempted a better view but with no success, it was just too dense.
Leaving them alone we connected with a well used animal path. 2 large round ears caught our attention and revealed a bulky hyena female, curiously glaring at us. It was obvious there was a den in a cavity in the rocks behind her. We walked a half moon around to get closer without scaring her, she was completely at ease with us (a usual trait with hyenas and people walking) and eventually lost interest, put her head on the ground and dozed off.
We left her be and found 2 buffalo males grazing along the sandstone. We watched them for a little while and moved onto a high rock to get a view of the whole area.

Other sightings on our walks recently have been good. There are a lot of buffalo around Letaba, the inevitable elephant bulls and quite a bit of rhino activity, especially of spoor - coming to drink at the more permanent water sources. On the 5th of November Jacques and Riana found 5 lionesses at Konlanjovo. This morning we saw a blackbacked jackal and some newly arrived migratory birds - Jacobin cuckoo, Plumcoloured starling, Spotted flycatcher, European beeater.
The Sabota larks are really putting their all into song at the moment.

Recent Game Drive sightings

Jacques had a fantastic night drive 2 nights ago, seeing honey badger, serval and a rock python (among the other usuals). Cecilia once again had great success, finding 2 leopards on a night drive as well as 2 lions all on the same drive. The next night, Alfred also found 2 leopards. African wild cat and serval sightings have been quite regular - Which is not the norm for Letaba really. We may start seeing changes in animal movements / activity due to the prolonged dryness we are experiencing. Riana saw wild dogs on a morning drive recently. Cecilia saw leopard on an impala kill and the next day Riana saw cheetah (X4). Other sightings have been of
-Pearlspotted owl with kill
-Secretary birds on a nest
-Blackbacked jackal
-General game
-Dead elephant with various vultures, lions and hyenas on it
-Wahlbergs eagles hunting bats at the high bridge
-General game
-Hippos and crocs

Unfortunately Sumari from Punda Maria has left us, Sumari we wish you all the best with your new endeavors and know you will make a success of whatever you chose to do.

Saskia Taylor
Letaba Field Guide

Great posts Saskia took me a while to catch up on all the Letaba happenings and it sounds amazing!

Congrats with the FGASA results as well!

PL

Letaba recent Walks and Drives

Game drives have been successful lately with Cecilia and her guests watching a leopard kill an impala on a sunset drive, a common mole-rat found by Riana on a night drive, puff adders, a brown house snake, yellowbellied sand snakes, rock pythons and cobras have all been spotted with the heatwave and then the front that has moved in - So much snake activity can be expected.

African wild cat and serval still are seen regularly lately. Jacques on one night drive found a number of pythons, a honey badger and a serval. Lions are moving around frequently but do not vocalize much - No need here ... the local lions are well established and aren't challenged much due to generally low numbers.

13 November 2009 Morning Walk

We drove to always fruitful Bulweni and walked in east along the Ndziho Spruit. No fresh animal activity except an impala group moving around, we did not expect much.
On spotting a genet disappearing into a tree cavity, one of us a large grey animal moving through the bush on the other side on the windward side of us. Planning the approach, we circled the area trying to locate it. We spotted it in dense bush at the back, unfortunately downwind of us, and immediately realized it was a black rhino. He ran around nervously but not coming close and eventually chose a thicket to stand and hide in.
We left him alone. (It is very unusual to find black rhino north of the Olifants River - Seeing them on foot is even more unusual)
Almost right afterwards, a Greater honeyguide came to us and started chattering away impatiently, each time landing very close to us. We then knew the beehive was close and following it through dense Mopani, difficult terrain, and found ourselves at a larger tree. We knew we were at the correct tree but couldn't see anything. Looking harder, we noticed a cavity high up with bees moving around the entrance.
It is believed by some and even published that the honeyguide leading people to hives is just a myth - In my experience, it is definitely not a myth. Though it may be that 'animals' do not follow them as they lack the intelligence that we have. And so the relationship between the us and them developed. It is always heart-warming to have the honeyguide still associate us with living naturally, relying on nature for sustenance.
Leaving and feeling guilty about not breaking the hive open for the bird, we walked along the spruit.
Half way through the walk we found a group of buffalo males and had a fantastic sighting of them in the open. We stopped for some juice and snacks right there and had them carry on grazing.
We noticed a marshall eagle flying with a rock monitor above us and on our way back we found an elephant carcass.
What a wonderful morning!

Saskia Taylor
Letaba Field Guide

Hi Saskia

I agree 100% with your assessment of the Greater Honeyguide. Vanessa and I led a trail from Sandriver and we had the same experience. We followed the guide for approx. 600 meters straight to a big Maroela with a bee nest in its trunk.

Magic!

Black Rhino on foot!!! Awesome

Wonderful to hear about the Honeyguide, would love to follow one one day!

Great sightings and thanks for the report back Saskia!

Saskia,

really enjoying reading your posts, however, often forget to leave a comment

Thanks so much for keeping us informed what's up around Letaba - must have been thrilling to see a black rhino on a walk Nevertheless all the other sightings were great too Thanks so much

Did you have any rain recently????

Morning Walk - 21 December 2009

We walked in and along the Mahudzi sandstone koppies, hoping to find elephants that like the area on cool overcast days. The dense Mopani woodland closed in on us and we moved along a path. The fresh tracks of 4 buffalo bulls crossed over the path, after some thought we decided to pursue them.
The buffalo were zig-zagging but were clearly on the move, the tracks crossed a road and headed towards Shongile. We managed to stay on the spoor but lost it at the catchment, after retracing our steps found them again as they now went uphill then back down towards the catchment.
The spoor became clearer and the dung wetter so we knew we were catching up to the buffalo. They joined a small breeding herd for a hew hundred meters then parted, stopping to feed now and then.
Just before reaching the drainage line again oxpeckers flew up and we knew we had them. In front of us was a steep bank with a pool below it with the 4 buffalo having a drink of water. We watched them from the top, they detected us, ran off then came back in their curiosity.

We left them alone and headed back, along the way finding giraffe and zebra downwind.
We moved over a rocky area and suddenly a Sabota lark flew up from the ground. On closer inpection we saw a cosy little nest tucked away under the side of a grass-clump. 2 Tiny eggs rested vulnerably inside.

Other sightings on walks have been of:
Lions, elephants, white rhino, crocodile, hippo, buffalo, kudu, waterbuck, steenbuck, blackbacked jackal, glossy ibis and black heron (Engelardt Dam), dwarf and banded mongoose.

Morning, Sunset and Night Drives

As usual, our drives have been successful with some of the following sightings:
White rhino
Elephant and buffalo
Lion
Leopard with kill
Kudu, zebra, blue wildebeest, giraffe, waterbuck
Mozambique spitting cobra
Egg eater (snake)
African rock python
Black mamba
Snouted cobra
Spring hare
Large and small spotted genet
Civet
Blackbacked jackal
Spotted hyena
African wild cat
Hippo and crocodile

The bush is green and lush, the ground is covered in grass and forbs. We have had a lot of rain, the entire park has had a lot of rain. No other Wood owl sightings that I know of but we should keep looking, Letaba Camp and Engelardt Dam has amazing ability to keep us birders happy. There was a melanistic Black sparrowhawk around 2 weeks ago.

Letaba Field Guide
Saskia Taylor

Morning Bush Walk - 8 January 2010

Riana and I walked in west of Mantambeni bird hide, having not walked along the river in that area for a while we had no idea what to expect. The Engelardt Dam and upstream have the unwaning ability to surprise you with unusual bird sightings. We approached the river and watched a group of 10 sleepy hippos. I scanned the other side for waders in the shallow swamp like area and much to my surprise saw 8 Glossy ibis' and a Greater flamingo youngster. My previous post speaks of a Glossy ibis but this time there were 8! Among the Egyptian geese, Black winged stilts, sandpipers, African jacanas and others, there were a few Black herons as well.

Parting with the hippo and feeling very inspired by the bird sightings we moved inland. Joining hippo paths meandering through Mopani woodland we found impala and then later a warthog. We came within less than 10 meters of the warthog, he stared at us and then ran to a safer distance, turned around and continued staring. This is the closest I have every been to warthog on foot. If you have seen warthog on foot you will know that they are very shy and run from you long before you get near them. That is certainly something that will remain in my memory.

Moving back towards the river and finding a lot of porcupine activity from the previous night, we approached a den we know of. Under a large canopy of trees along a slope we neared it. Expecting nothing but flies and an odour (while the porcupines sleep inside out of sight), we were pleasantly surprised with 2 adults and 1 young outside the den. They moved around clumsily between the lush green grass and saw us then stood still. We walked towards them and they scurried off away from the burrow. We watched them as close as 10 meters for a long time. What an amazing sightings - Another to be remembered.

Morning Bush Walk - 12 January 2010

Walking in along the Ndziho spruit / Bulweni pans, we got ourselves onto a rhino path with the intention of doing a good distance in. The walk was very quiet, after 2 hours we found very fresh elephant bull spoor and feeding signs. But he was on the move so we did not get our hope high. We came to a large vlei-like area, dotted with lala palms and surrounded by big water-thirsty trees, we stopped for a break.

I walked off away from the group and noticed some white rhino not too far off. We approached downwind, found a comfortable spot and allowed them to approach to about 10 meters. The cow and her calf saw us, ran off a bit and then settled soon after. The calf lay down for a snooze and in the meantime a bull and 2 other rhino groups approached. The bull was agitated, marking regularly and harassing the female. More rhino came into the area and in total we counted 11. We did another close approach and then saw a civet female with 4 babies in the distance, bouncing through the thick grass. What a successful morning. The experience of sitting there for a long time with all those rhino around us, various birds calling and the civet family passing by is invaluable. There are no words for it.

Other sightings on foot recently:
Giraffe, zebra, waterbuck
Buffalo herd
Tadpole shrimp
Dwarf bitterns
African hobby
Steppe buzzard
Pallid harrier
Black kite
Elephant
Ground hornbill
Lioness carcass
Steenbuck

Game Drives

There is once again a lot of lion activity around the camp, 3 males and a female and a group of females with young all moving within a 6km radius of the camp at the moment. We anticipate a buffalo kill soon. Leopard sightings have been regular on Sunset drives.
General game has been abundant and nocturnal animals have been moving around a lot. Spotted hyenas and sidestriped jackal are common sightings these days late afternoon and at night.

Other sightings:
Tawny eagle at impala carcass
Elephant
Buffalo
White Rhino
Porcupine
African wild cat
Genets
Tsessebe
Giant eagle owl with eggeater (snake)
Lesser bushbaby
Spotted eagle owl

Saskia Taylor
Letaba Field Guide

Morning Bush Walk – 12 February 2010

Driving to Jim windmill on the way to Olifants camp, I was feeling sceptical about seeing anything. This area has the reputation of being extremely quiet. But nevertheless, I really like it there and took the once-a-month Jim windmill chance. No fresh animal signs driving in, it did not look good. My hopes were quickly disappearing.
Half way through we noticed elephant feeding signs from a few hours back but did not think much of it as we were not hearing anything and what we found was quite limited.
We stopped for a long break in the catchment, at some remains of an extremely old hippo, told by the worn/missing teeth and huge canines. We spent some time there and then packed up and starting walking back. By chance I glanced to the side and saw the elephant bull we were searching for, feeding on lush green grass next to the spruit. We approached him and watched for a while as he moved around feeding on different things. Leaving him alone, we walked to higher ground, taking a short route back and not anticipating much more for the morning.
It was getting hot and uncomfortable and everyone was focused on getting back, the ground was soft, the Mopanis dense and walking was difficult. Suddenly there was a huge scurry of a big animal just in front of us, not much more than 6 meters from my backup and I. My initial thought was a hyena, but on looking up to see what it was, 2 fully grown lionesses were noisily and clumsily trying to get away (sometimes what they do is not cat-like). They ran into some thicker bush to our side and watched us quietly while we left.
Well that was a surprise. A good day at Jim windmill.

Afternoon Bush Walk – 1 March 2010

We parked along the Letaba River just west of the large bridge, it is such a beautiful place. There are some alluvial soils around Letaba, giving life to acacias, crotons, appleleaf and leadwood trees. We walked inland towards a large pan quietly hidden from sight, known only by a path that runs directly to it. Large trees towered over heads as we flushed grasshoppers from the grass with each step we took. It is truly an amazing place. Impala, waterbuck and warthog tracks were evident and a bateleur was flying above us. We walked right up to the pan and spent some time there. Lots of bird activity, we looked down and noticed tracks and faeces of an exceptionally large crocodile. He must have just moved in as those signs were not there before.
We headed towards the river and found some rocks to sit on, in the distance there were some elephants feeding in the reeds and close by was a lost Egyptian gosling. The gosling walked around looking very unsure of itself or what to do, somehow separated from its parents.

Other bush walk sightings:
Buffalo
Elephant
Hippo
Crocodile
Zebra, giraffe, waterbusk, warthog, kudu
White rhino
Klipspringer
8 Glossy ibis
8 Greater flamingo
Pearlspotted owl
Giant eagle owl
Great spotted cuckoo
(A lot of cuckoo breeding behaviour of various species)

Morning, Sunset and Night Game Drives

We have had fantastic sightings on the drives recently, here are just some of them:

Crocodile and hippo
Honey badger
Various vultures
Ground hornbill
Spotted hyena
Sidestriped and blackbacked jackal
Zebra, giraffe, waterbush wildebeest
Elephant
Buffalo
Lion
Male lions mating with eachother
Hippos playing
Hippos fighting
Leopard
Leopard stalking impala
Large and small spotted genet
White rhino
Spring hare
Bat hawk
Chameleon
4 Cheetah together near the camp
African wild cat
Porcupine

Saskia Taylor
Letaba Field Guide

Awesome sightings Saskia!

Must say apart from some nice Bird sightings our 3 nights there from the 19th Feb, including the Glossy Ibis at the dam, were very quiet, animal wise.
Guess we weren't looking in the right places.

Hello There Saskia,

Can you update me about recent walks and gamedrives?
I will be in Letaba inn about 3 weeks and I would love to find out how the sightings have been recently.

Thanx in advance!

Gregor

Hi there!

We were in Letaba a few weeks ago and went on a morning walk - saw two herds of elephant and two rhino - amazing!!