Limpopo-Lipadi Blog

The trail-cameras have once again brought us a stunning set of candid images from distant parts of the reserve. Towards the end of December one was sited at Mac's Pan and has captured a sequence of shots of elephants visiting the trough to drink, wash and socialise - and at some point give the camera a nudge so that the rest of the shots are at a jaunty angle!

Limpopo-Lipadi is proud to announce the winner of its inaugural annual photography competition. A substantial number of entries were received from shareholders that showcased some of the best our beautiful reserve has to offer.

The leopard identification project has got off to a great start and we now have identification tips for three of our resident leopards - like those shown in the images in this blog. Shareholders can view the whole guide online and download a copy if desired.

Maya has been so named as this seems to be an easily remembered shortening of "tsamaya tlasa" which is Setawana for "walk under" in reference to her habit of passing extremely close to the viewing hide at Mogorosi including passing right beneath while shareholders are sat inside!

Shareholders and other visitors to Limpopo-Lipadi will know what a great place it is becoming for fantastic sightings of leopards. Some short-stay guests have averaged more than one a day and shareholders staying at the reserve for a month recently had a dozen sightings of thirteen animals! The regularity of encounters now makes it possible for us to begin an ambitious project to try and identify each individual leopard and learn more about it, such as where it holds territory. To help us achieve this are welcoming the active involvement of shareholders! Read on to find out more from Anton Kruger, who has suggested this project, about why we are doing this and how you can get involved.

This may not be the greatest video of hippos ever shot - certainly the compact camera used limits the quality - but there aren't many places in the world where you can look up from reading a book on your sofa in a private unit and find a hippo eyeing you from the river only 20 metres away!

Folklore has it that the honey badger (or ratel) is the fiercest creature in the bush and almost mythical stories abound about them disembowelling buffalo and routing lion prides. However a recent event on Limpopo-Lipadi witnessed by some of our shareholders may suggest a re-evaluation is necessary.

Since the trail camera arrived on the reserve we have all been waiting for it to capture a leopard. Amazingly despite the numbers on Limpopo-Lipadi and the frequency with which they are seen by our shareholders they have remained strangely hard to catch on the trail camera. But finally this week they have showed themselves. And yes, that is plural for there was not just one but two leopards catch on the camera at Mbusi!

The trail camera has been catching some great shots of late, including the first arrivals at the new waterhole on the Northern Plains, but this week saw some lovely images of a pair of spotted hyenas drinking at Mbusi around dawn. Looking closely you can make out traces of blood on the neck of one, probably a sign they had been feeding on a fresh carcass shortly before arriving at the waterhole.

About 10 days ago one of the security guys who drives the fenceline saw some unusual creatures during his rounds and when he returned to the office fed back the news. Further investigations revealed lion spoor in the area on the eastern side of the reserve and this led to Bradley's email late last week to exercise further caution if walking in the bush.

It was so pleasant to bump into two of our Giant friends at Mogorosi on Sunday the 10th of July 2011. It was strange to see that the two young bulls were very nervous and skittish, but that didn’t stop one from showing off and mock charging us just to show who’s the boss. What a great experience - an adrenalin rush!!! Luckily we know that a young bull will very seldom follow through with a charge - its just his performance to show his size and stature. After trumpeting and kicking up dust he turned around and went to drink again.

July has brought more news of the wild dog pups, born to Two Spots at the end of April this year. For such an endangered species (estimated at only 3-4000 left in the wild) it is great news that a new pack has been created that are genetically diverse and well established enough to breed. Photos taken in the last week or so reveal a total of seven pups, who look very well nourished!  

More remarkable images from the Trail-Cam over the weekend have confirmed the presence of bushpigs on Limpopo-Lipadi. Until now we had considered them likely to occur given the thick riverine woodland we have on the banks of the Limpopo but as they are nocturnal in behaviour (in contrast to warthogs which like to be tucked up safely in their burrows by dark) it had not been possible to definitively say whether they occurred or not. Although the image captured on the camera is very grainy (due to post-processing to try and bring up the maximum detail) you can make out the bushpig on the left of the trough.

Well the Trail-Cam so kindly provided by Gerald Briers has been rotated through three sites over the last two weeks and is already yielding exciting images almost every night. Check out our special Trail-Cam photo galleries to see some of these candid shots of the wildlife when there is no human presence. They just go to show how productive it can be to sit quietly a short distance from a waterhole and watch the comings and goings.

Bradley and I went for a walk down to Hippo Pools Hide on the 23rd of June at around 5.15 in the afternoon. On our arrival, we had the most amazing sighting of tens of thousands, possibly millions of red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea) birds performing a beautifully choreographed ballet around us, rushing in and flattening an island of papyrus reeds as they landed. The flocks of quelea, looking like a rolling black cloud, migrate to the river bed in the afternoon and leave for their daily activities in the early mornings.

Wow, time for more celebration!

Jacquie has confirmed that during the week of April 20th Two Spots had her first litter. The five males, especially the alpha male are very protective over the den site. Warning growls can be heard whenever you are in the vicinity. The pups will not come out of the den until approximately three weeks of age, and even then the adults will not allow them to be out of the den if there is a threat in the area.

Two Spots looks very proud as she lays close to the opening of the den. When she goes hunting with the pack one of the subdominant males will stay to guard the den during her absence. On return from the hunt, the other dogs will regurgitate food for this subdominant male and once the pups start to eat solids, all dogs will regurgitate for them as well as the adult guarding the den.

Our Alpha female, Two Spots, is now heavily pregnant and will be looking for a den within the next week to have her litter. We are all excited about this second wild dog litter soon to arrive at Limpopo-Lipadi!!

An opportunity to again visit Limpopo-Lipadi came our way with friends John and Yolande Fulton visiting us from Canada. We together did a Botswana trip including the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Savuti and Chobe and John and Yolande were very keen to visit Limpopo-Lipadi, which was much simplified by having Peter arrange our grocery shopping for the visit. Following the Limpopo-Lipadi stay, we were also able to include 2 nights at the new South African National Park of Mapungubwe, which we highly recommend in combination with a stay at Limpopo-Lipadi.