The month began on a good note when we saw the York Pride and the 2 Noengu Madodas feeding on a zebra at the East/West cutline on the 2nd of March. The Noengu Madodas are the 4 year old sons of the dominant males of the York Pride.
I haven't seen them for quite a few months as they seem to stay more in an area to the east of our traversing area. I was quite surprised by how big they were and they should be able to challenge for their own territory within a year.
The 2 territorial males, Big Boy and Mazinyo, are however still the undisputed rulers of Western Balule Game Reserve and guests saw them feeding on a baby giraffe on the 24th of March at the Olifants road. They and the rest of the York pride were seen regularly during March.
We still enjoy good elephant sightings and breeding herds of up to 30 are seen almost daily.
Buffalo are everywhere and several medium sized groups of around 30-50 are being seen in our traversing area.
Rhinos are still keeping to the southwestern side of our traversing area and they were also regularly seen on foot.
Sightings of the month:
On the 26th a young elephant bull was seen at Venture Camp dam rolling in the mud and thereafter he spend his time and energy chasing a group of buffalo around.
On the 12th the York pride youngsters tried their hand at buffalo hunting. This game quickly backfired as the buffalo did not take kindly to that idea and quickly turned the tables on them. In the confusion we saw lions chasing buffalo chasing lions until even they were not sure about who was supposed to be chasing who.
Last but not least I would like to welcome Andries Ndlovu, who left Pondoro due to personal reasons, back to the lodge. He is quite frankly the best tracker that I have seen in my 12 years in the bush and I know from past experience that he will be a huge asset to Pondoro.
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