Londolozi: Clash of the Predators and other cool stuff

At the time of writing this entry on Sunday-Monday, we have actually left Londolozi. We have travelled deep into Kruger National Park, to our second "bush camp" at Singita Lebombo Lodge. We actually were driven here in a large minivan because the weather was bad for flying and we arrived here late yesterday. However, I will leave the description of where we currently are based to my next article and finish up on my description of Londolozi and what happened there.

Firstly, I have to reiterate how lucky we were at Londolozi. We participated in four game drives at this resort, with Alfred and Bennett as crew and three other guests. We were accompanied by guests: Dick Browne and his wife Gail Browne (who have been with us since the start)  and a new temporary companion, Nick Gatehouse, an English gentlemen from Bath, Somerset,  England. Something about our group added up to some very positive karma because we saw all of the Big Five before the end of the second drive and we saw some amazing and very colorful animals as well. We showed you the Big Five animals we saw early at Londolozi in the last article. In this article, we will show you some of the other species we saw which are documented below, some baby animal photos and try to describe a high-drama, National Geographic moment that we witnessed.

Secondly, we took a tour of the village which is attached to the resort and I wanted to tell you a little about the human interest story that was presented to us on our tour.

Let me start by showing you a few more picture of the wide assortment of animals that are not Big Five animals:

Hippos lived in the water right outside the gates of Londolozi but we left there without seeing one out of the water

Nyala - there were not too many sightings of these

Saddle-billed Stork

Egyptian Goose (these are not rare, they are the "Canada Goose of Africa")

Comb Duck trying to impress the girls

Waterbuck 

Zebra

Pumba the Warthog

African Fish Eagle

Kori Bustard is the largest flying bird and can weigh up to 42 lbs.

The African Wild Dog (more on these later in this piece)

As you know we are here at the end of the spring in South Africa and there are many animals with new offspring. We saw plenty of babies at Londolozi.

Baby Impalas - The favourite food of most predators

Baby Wildebeests - much better looking than parents

Baby Waterbuck

Two sets of twin lion cubs are shown here. One set is three months old and one set is 7 months old. They are cousins. Note the mother of the younger ones had her tail bitten off by a hyena a few weeks ago. These guys are right below the Land Rover.

These cuties are two months old. They are cousins of the other two sets of twins but are part of a separate sub-pride.

Baby Vervet Monkey

Baby Elephant - was actually seen on the drive through Kruger Park and spotted by our tracker Mrs. Gym

Mrs. Gym took all of these pictures and they are all great. She also recorded the most amazing high-drama event, which requires its own section in this entry.

During our second outing into the Londolozi bush we encountered African Wild Dogs and our guide, Alfred informed us that this was a rare treat. The trouble was that, when we first met up with the dogs,  the camera battery had run its course because we saw them at the end of that particular drive. We were sad because we thought we would not see these creatures again. We did not need to fret though because we ran into them again on the last drive at Londolozi. 

We were heading out to look for baby elephants and hippos that were out of the water on that last outing and were heading down this road at the far end of the reserve when Bennet spotted some fresh tracks, from his tracker's chair at the front. We turned around abruptly and started racing down the road, in the other direction. We were on the trail of the same pack of 9 wild dogs that we had run into the day before, when we had a dead battery in the camera. This time Linda's camera had plenty of juice and I had my back-up Canon. It was almost like magic, when a few minutes later, we spotted them ahead on the road. They were used to us by now, so they let us tag along. What happened next was a real National Geographic moment.

We drove into the open Veldt (afrikaner for open plain) and followed the pack through the high grass. All of a sudden Bennett pointed out that the three male lions that we saw on the first day, were a few hundred meters ahead. We were sitting up high in the Land Rover, so we could see them easily. The dogs were headed right for them but because they were down lower, they were unaware. We stopped to watch the drama unfold. 

All of a sudden, Alfred laughed as we all watched a very excited group of dogs beat a hasty retreat by our vehicle. The dogs were running back in the other direction but stopped every few meters to jump up on their hind legs and 'bark' at the lions. What happened next was the really fascinating part though  because after depositing the three youngest dogs in the pack, in a safe rear area, the A-male and the five other adults returned to harass the lions. The A-male went back up towards where the three lions were sitting and got very close to them jumping up on his hind legs and 'barking' at the big cats, while the other five adults cheered him on. The lions just sat there and looked bored, grooming themselves and and posing for us tourists. Finally, the A-male dog had given the lions enough shit and turned his cheering section around and they all retreated to where the juveniles were waiting to exit te area. 

That was not to be the last that we saw of them that day. We ran into them again about 8 kilometres away after they had killed a small Impala and they let us watch them have breakfast.

And we have pictures of all of this high drama!

We tracked down the pack and drove up behind them on the road

We saw the Three Kings first but as you can see the grass was pretty high and
the dogs could not see them right away.

Finally the dogs see the Lions and become very animated. The lions just look bored.

The young dogs are sent to the rear and they are told to stay there

Daddy dog (the A-Male) advances again with the other 5 adults

Here is a close-up of Daddy Dog barking at the lions. They still look bored.

Daddy finally has given them enough lip and retreats looking smug

The dogs leave the area down the road

Later we see them eating breakfast. They had just killed a baby impala.

We did not witness the kill but we could hear them eating as they ate the impala, bones and all. He holds his food like our border collies but our dogs don't get blood on their head when they dine.

Human Interest - A trip to the Village

On the last morning, after our last game drive at Londolozi, we took a tour of the village attached to the resort. Many of the resort staff live there. Londolozi has made it a part of their business to integrate itself with the local people and educate both the staff and the staff's pre-school children, while the staff are at work. Londolozi is very proud of the way this has all come together. 

It turned out that our Land Rover mate, Nick Gatehouse, the gentleman from Bath, had a connexion to the staff training/adult education initiative. Nick's mother-in-law, Maureen, who I believe was a retired  South African social worker, came out of retirement to head up the program. So, Nick was visiting his mother-in-law and we got to meet her initially through Nick and later at the village. She turned out to be  a real saint and under her tutelage, the staff of Londolozi were making great progress.

We were taken through Maureen's classroom and also visited the pre-school where the kids sang and danced for us.

Nick Gatehouse from Bath - he joined the Moore and Browne couples on the game drives at this resort. Nick proudly informed us that his middle daughter of three daughters, was born in Toronto, so she was a Canadian citizen and subsequently, Nick has taken out his citizenship.  

Nick's Mother-in-law, Maureen runs the adult education initiative at Londolozi. On her left is Witness, who toured us around the village

Village pre-school nursery kids singing us a song

The staff village at Londolozi. It is interesting to note that each house is painted for the profession of the inhabitant. In the horizontal strip of each house is a clue to who lives there. For instance, a tracker has animal prints in the strip.

  We left Londolozi and are now at Singita Lebombo.

Londolozi staff members saying goodbye.