Thanks Ken!

Hi Ken - thanks for putting these photos on, they're fantastic.

In case the rest of you are wondering, these are from Ken Boddington's (MSc IS) safari holiday in January 2009. Beats Leicester.

Hipp Hipp o ray at Madikwe

Through the middle of Madikwe runs the Limpopo river and in the Limpopo there are Hippos. You can hear them several hundred yards before reaching the river. These animals are not fish eaters but herbivores leaving the river to feed at night. More people are killed by hippos than any other animal in Africa.

Some of the best Pictures are in the older posts

Some of the best photos are in the older posts section - Meer cats, wild dogs and elephants

Leopards at Phinda Kwazulu Natal South Africa

I was treated to a very special viewing of a leopard whilst at Phinda. The Phinda game reserve until fairly recently was farmland in private ownership. Farmers saw leopards as animals which attacked their stock and would kill them given the opportunity. Indeed outside the reserve that is still the case. Kwazulu natal is has been divided into 5 areas and the government issues one permit for each area to allow leopards to be shot by big game hunters so the leopards are still much under threat. I was told last year one farmer killed to 1 year old cubs and their mother because he thought they were a threat to his live stock. All this has taught leopards to be very wary of man. They are very nervous creatures and are very rarely sighted and when they are the sightings are of a fleeting nature – certainly not long enough to get a photograph.

I was very privileged to go out with a ranger who knew his leopards and he found a leopard in a tree for me which was very unusual. I watched it from the 4 X 4 for about 45 minutes. Since all the Phinda leopards are tagged for the research program here and this leopard was not, it must have broken into the reserve. The ranger believed it was a young female about 18 months old who was about to be allowed to lead a separate life to its mother.

The ranger told me it was the best leopard sighting of his life. I was so fortunate to be there. Whilst at Phinda we saw a leopard every single day which we were told was exceptional.

Lions at Madikwe

Here are some pictures of lions from the largest pride on Madikwe. Madikwe is South Africa’s second largest game reserve and is constantly growing because of the government’s policy of buying up the land of private game reserves and incorporating it into the Madikwe reserve. The lodge operators continue to own and operate the lodges but free from the responsibility of vthe upkeep of animals and the environment they live in. Madikwe is totally malaria free and when I go there I stay at http://madikwe.safari.co.za/mateya-safari-lodge.html which is one of the best in South Africa with a maximum of 10 guests at any one time. The best time to go is either in January when there are plenty of new born animals or September after the rainy season when there are few leaves on the trees and the animals can be seen easily. A visit in September can be combined with a visit to Hermanus to watch the whales.

Back to the lions – Up until the end of 2008 Madikwe had two prides of lions living 40 miles apart. Both prides had cubs and the females of the larger pride saw the cubs of the smaller pride as a threat to their own cubs, The females of the larger pride attacked the smaller pride with the intention of killing the cubs. The female of the smaller pride fiercely defended her cubs and ended up being killed herself. A few weeks later the two young motherless cubs were killed by the females. Here are some photos of the larger pride. The pictures were taken from a 4 x 4 less than 10 m from the animals

Cheetahs at Phinda Game Reserve Kwazulu Natal South Africa

Some more pictures, this time of cheetahs. These show a mother and two cubs.
I watched them attempt to kill a Ngala but they failed. The mother does all the work and cubs stroll around getting into the spirit of the thing but contributing nothing to the kill. Unlike lions cheetahs do not park the kids when hunting. Cheetahs are the fastest of the predators, they do not retract their claws when but use them for walking or running to gain extra leverage on the ground hence their speed. The claws get worn down and so cheetahs cannot climb trees.

Only one in five cubs survive to adulthood. Cheetahs are preyed upon by other predators especially at the time of a kill. The alarm calls of prey being hunted and killed attract them particularly lions and leopards. As a result when a kill is made the cheetah has to eat quickly to avoid becoming a target. That means they only eat the hind quarters, liver and heart.

They are truly beautiful animals.

I took these pictures at a game reserve in Kwazulu Natal called Phinda from a 4 x 4 from about 25 m away.

A Dung beetle's dream come true!