safarilover

Atravelynn

When you spent time with the lion pride on the Busanga Plains, was Dorian Tilbury your guide?

chelsea2

What a great thread! From my recently completed first trip in May 2006 (by the way it feels great to finally have something to contribute rather than just reading!):

Lions: Total = 67
Mombo - Total = 39 (2 different prides - 17 females and cubs plus 2 large males and 20 females and older cubs - feeding on a zebra mother and foal)
Jao - Total = 4 (2 females, 2 males)
Singita - Total = 24 (pride of 24 adults, sub-adults and cubs - lounging and hunting)

Leopard - Total =4
Jao- 3- male adult in tree, mother and cub feeding on steenbuck
Singita - 1
Mombo- 0

Cheetah - Total = 5
Jao - 0
Mombo - 1 male
Singita/Londolozi - 4 - mother with 3 cubs

Hyena - 8
Jao- 0
Mombo- 7 - mother with 2 cubs, 2 waiting at lion feeding, dead hyena, one running through field

Jackal - 7
Skeleton Coast - 4 black backed jackals hunting for cape fur seal pups at Cape Friel
Mombo - 2
Singita - 1

I look forward to trying to see some of the smaller cats that you all have seen on my next as yet to be planned trip.

napamatt

Since my initial post on this thread. I have been to Mombo, Kings Pool and Mala Mala twice, so my totals have increased.

Mombo 21 Lions (Mathata pride)
More new leopards particularly at Mala Mala, but 3 at Kings Pool
Dogs - 16 including pups at KP

santharamhari

In addition to my previous post.......i forgot to mention different jackals....

Black-backed jackal (everywhere)
Side-striped jackal (several)
Golden jackal (crater)

Hari

KIBOKO

On our 18 day Safari in February to East Africa we saw the following predators:

Lions 65: Mostly the Serengeti Lions with kill, mating, and cubs Also Ndutu and Samburu

Leopards 4: Ndutu and Samburu. Leopard going up a tree retrieving his wildebeest kill and dragging it through the brush

Cheetah 12: Ndutu, Serengeti, Crater,
Samburu

matnikstym

October South Luangwa:
Lions-3
Leopards-0
Hyena-1
Wild dogs-pack of 21, seen twice. the truck didn't seem to bother them at all, one came up to the truck, looked in and sniffed, the others continued playing and 1 ran off after an impala but came back empty handed
October Lower Zambezi
Lion-15, 2 different prides, 1 cub with 1 pride, 2 with the other
Leopard-1 fleeting glimpse
Hyena-1
Wild dogs-0
Jackal-1
March South Luangwa
Lions-13
Leopards-2 fleeting glimpses, 1 who posed for a bit
Wild dogs-0
Hyena-1 (how come I never see more than 1 hyena at a time?!!)

santharamhari

Dennis,

Good question......very strange situation, why just one hyena??? and you've spent quite a significant number of days on each trip to both SL and LZ. Also noted, in October (peak of the dry season) you only saw very few lions in SL.

Hari

santharamhari

But, you more than made up for the lions by seeing the dogs.....so, i guess well worth it!!!

Hari

Roccco

Dennis,

You are leaving out one of Zambia's most notorious predators...the Nile Crocodile. How many Nile Crocodiles have you seen on each trip?

As far as hyenas go, for some reason I have had better luck, probably seeing in the double digits on each of my trips to South Luangwa. While at Kaingo in June 2004, there even seemed to be one that wanted to make a dash into the kitchen while food was being prepared.

My best leopard viewing in Zambia has been in the Chichele/Puku Ridge area, although while out on my first game drive with Barry at Luangwa River Lodge last September we did follow a leopard and see it make a puku kill shortly afterward, dragging the kill up a tree within seconds. Not more than 10 seconds later, the first hyena was on the scene and within five minutes there were a total of four or five hyenas surrounding the tree, but the leopard was far too high up the tree so the hyenas soon went on their way.

My best predator viewing has taken place in the Ndutu area of Tanzania and the Ngorongoro Crater, but my heart is still in Zambia.

santharamhari

Rocco,

I agree........it's about luck and being at the right place at the right time.

For example, Last year November/December i was in the Kwando concession for a whole week......plenty of hyenas/great cheetah activity, but not one single lion due to heavy rains the entire time. Bad timing and rotten luck!!! Still, IMO...i rate Lebala my absolute favourite camp in Botswana........(and i have been to Mombo and seen all the animals there)

Regards
Hari

kmactravel

Wow, everyone has seen so much on their trips. That's great. Although i can't count or keep track of how many of each of the predators I've seen, I know it's been a lot. This last trip to Kenya seeing those lions sleeping and lounging atop the umbrella acacia trees has to top my list of predators.

Last year in Botswana spending hours in the Okavango Delta watching one leopard sleep and laze around. I mean who gets a kick out of seeing an animal sleep, pose, and laze around. I do!

matnikstym

Oh yeah, we did see hundreds of Nile crocs, the biggest probably 8-10 feet long. Saw one come out of a culvert while we were watching a leopard, the leopard saw the croc, the croc saw the leopard and started running (if crocs can run) towards the leopard, finally the leopard took off with the croc in pursuit. that would have been a fight to see!

Roccco

I saw the most fascinating Wild Kingdom this week, titled something like Hippos vs. Crocs, and it was all shot on location in South Luangwa, Zambia. It was an intriguing program and it pitted crocs vs. hippos in many different categories before finally declaring one of them the winner.

One thing I had never known before and was able to see due to underwater cameras was that these huge Nile Crocodiles walk on their tiptoes when sneaking up on their prey. Plus they have these "pressure points" that almost look like black freckles and this helps them gauge the distance they are from their prey that is drinking water at the banks of the river.

Walking on their tiptoes prevents the sand on the river bottom from being disrupted, thus tipping off their prey.

Although it was extremely frightening, and the only highlight of an otherwise disappointing first trip to Lower Zambezi, just for the opportunity to canoe through the narrow channels of the area, it was well worth the trip (I was at Kulefu at the very beginning of the season, and like the Nsefu area of South Luangwa, this area does not get strong gameviewing until later in the season). Each time as we approached, crocs from either side of us would jump in the water from the river banks (sometimes some would get quite airborne if they were on a high enough river bank!) and while I theorized it was because they were scared of us, my guide had an entirely different theory...they were just waiting until we fell in the water so they would have an easily caught lunch!

But the crocs were really not that scary, especially not when compared to the hippos. On perhaps a dozen occasions, the dominant bull of the hippo pod placed himself square in the middle of our path, while all of the other hippos had parted to allow us passage. Often times the dominant bull would go underwater and we had no way to know where he was. Sometimes he would arise from the exact same spot and other times he would arise from 50+ feet in any direction, including a couple times within 3-5 meters from the canoe! Just another element, along with the true walking safari, that makes Zambia an incredible safari destination.

CarlaM

Wow, this is an impressive thread! I hope to be able to add to it one day.

I am watching "Predators at War" at the moment (the hyena clan at Mala Mala). Amazing how close up this guy Kim got to them. Interesting to learn that the females are the dominate ones and that they have that unusual male body part that no one can explain.