Season ends!!
October 30, 2007
The safari season has come to a close with our last guests having left yesterday. I know I said I wouldn’t post any lions for a while but this is kinda how we all feel at the moment! Don’t worry they’re not dead - just sleeping!
The rains seem to have come early this year bringing welcome relief from the heat. We’ve already had several big storms and it is raining gently outside as I write this. Unfortunately the roads are deteriorating rapidly and we are quickly trying to stock up with supplies for the rains before access is completely cut off. Once the roads are unusable then the only way out will be by foot until the river is full enough to use a boat - normally the beginning of January. Exciting stuff!!
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Leopard eats cub
October 24, 2007
We have had a packed camp for the last 4 days but fortunately things are quieter now. As usual at this time of year the heat is driving us all a little crazy. Even the wildlife seems to be affected……
We came across this female leopard at 9:30 yesterday morning. She was walking around in the blazing sun and looking nervous. We followed her for a few minutes until she jumped down into a ravine and then we saw why she was behaving strangely. Her cub was lying dead in the shallow ravine. The leopard approached it very slowly and gingerly sniffed it. She was very nervous, constantly looking over her shoulder. She then picked it up by the scruff of the neck and carried it off into some nearby bushes.
There were no signs of injury to the cub but the mother did have a gash on her nose. We can only guess at what happened. Perhaps it was killed by a different male to the one that sired the cub - a practice known as infanticide which forces the female to come back into oestrus and gives the male the opportunity to spread his own genes into the population. It may have been a lion or hyaena - although unlikely as I would imagine that if this had been the case then they would have devoured it.
It was very sad to watch the mother gently nuzzling the cub and licking it all-over. She did this for about five minutes and then began to eat it. Cannibalism is recorded in lions and leopards but it is rare and very strange to watch. Once she had partially devoured the cub she picked it up and moved further into the bushes and out of sight…….
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Thief!
October 18, 2007
Most of the lagoons are nearly dried up now and the fish eating birds are gorging themselves as the water levels drop and the concentration of fish gets higher.
This Saddle-bill Stork was fishing away while a fish eagle sat up in a tree and watched. Each time he dropped a fish the eagle would swoop down and try to steal it from him! It seemed quite brave as the stork was a lot bigger and has a very big and sharp bill! Anyway, he wasn’t successful and eventually lost interest and flew away.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Lilac Breasted Roller
October 16, 2007
Ok enough of lions (although I saw them hunting a giraffe this morning which was interesting - they didn’t even get close!)… This is one the the most commonly seen and easy to photograph birds in the valley. They are real posers and you can normally get very close to them before they fly off. I never tire of them though - they are such vividly colourful birds.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Home at last!
October 15, 2007
I’m back in the valley again and it is great to be home. I plan to be here throughout the rains so hopefully no more pauses with the blog!
As usual the area around here is stiff with lions! If you want to photograph lions then this is the place to be….. Here is a shot I took yesterday of one of the 5 month old cubs (unfortunately one has disappeared again so we are back down to five. The three 3 month old cubs are all well and still very playful). I’ll try to post less lions in the coming weeks as that’s all I seem to be photographing at the moment.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Stuck in Lusaka…
October 1, 2007
Unfortunately I will only be returning to the valley middle of next week. Apparently the lion activity around Lion Camp has stepped up a notch so I’m missing out. It’s doing my head in! I can’t wait to get back…
