March 2025
Singita Pamushana Lodge
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Singita Pamushana Lodge: March 2025
Despite the wonderful rain that we’ve continued to enjoy, and the thick jungle-like vegetation, we have had a month of excellent sightings. We’ve welcomed first-time-safari guests, repeat guests, and keen birders.
At this time of year animals often use our roads as they offer the paths of least resistance. A drive that started out quietly gathered momentum when white rhinos, elephants, buffaloes and plains game appeared, and then the finalé was when a male lion walked parallel with the game viewer vehicle, while roaring. We tend to forget how special it is for first-time-safari guests to see the so many different new animals – not just the Big Five. Our guests loved every sighting of nyalas, kudus, wildebeest, impalas, jackals, giraffes and warthogs.
Towards the end of the month the Chiredzi River was low enough to cross to the Hippo Valley side where, one afternoon, we notched up lots of plains game, wild dogs mating - then later hunting impalas, and one elephant bull in musth. While sundowners were being sipped under the umbrella trees a male lion strolled by… And on the way back to the lodge a leopard was spotted.
A sightings snapshot for March follows:
Lions
Some of the standout lion sightings were:
- A mating pair.
- A lioness hunting a buffalo.
- A family of two big males, four lionesses and one cub.
- A male lion feeding on an impala - and a white rhino bull not far from the lion.
- Two male lions roaring on the airstrip - a fitting end to our guests’ safari experience.
Leopards
- Again, thanks to the roads being the preferred routes, we had a beautiful female leopard appear in front of the vehicle and walk towards us, sidling close to the front of the vehicle. On another morning safari we had a leopard walking from the Ultimate Drive turn off, all the way down until it went off the road at the Old Hyena Den-site.
- There were two good sightings of male leopards – one was sitting on the rocks, in perfect view, and the other was a relaxed adult, east of the 06 Road after the Mahande Crossing.
- The boat cruises provided two lucky leopard sightings. The one of a territorial male is detailed in this journal, and the other was of an adult female that had possibly killed a waterbuck calf, with the mother waterbuck in full pursuit of the carnivorous cat, trying to prevent it from eating the calf.
Wild dogs
Two packs have been seen, which is great news:
- The large pack, seen on various occasions with 14, 17 and 18 members have been hunting impalas in all directions of the central area, and at one sighting were seen feeding on an impala calf.
- On the Hippo Valley side a pack has been seen with nine members, including the alfa male and female that were mating. On one occasion this pack was relaxing in the shade a few hundred metres away from a herd of buffaloes.
Rhinos
- There have been some picturesque sightings of white rhinos, often with them grazing close to the game-viewers in a relaxed manner.
- An interesting encounter was seeing three young white rhino bulls stand their ground against a fourth territorial bull rhino. The big bull wanted to push them out of the area, but they weren’t budging.
- At Hwata Pan guests had the highlight of watching a male lion being chased off by a white rhino cow and calf that came to drink at the pan.
- In a different area guests were watching and waiting for a pride of lions to become active, only to see two black rhinos gate-crash the party!
Elephants
- There have been sightings where guests have been able to watch breeding herds of elephants feeding and interacting below the hill near the lodge, and then swimming in the dam below Malilangwe House.
- Other herds of over 50 animals have been seen in the east, and in the west along the river.
- An eye-opening sighting of elephant bulls was when we were watching a pack of wild dogs at 02 turn-off, and two bulls crossed the road. They picked up the scent of the dogs and then chased them!
Hyenas
- The most dramatic hyena encounter this month was when we found a clan trying to attack a zebra foal. The mare chased the hyenas off, but they kept returning. Thankfully they eventually gave up and moved away.
Buffalos
- It is a delight to see buffalos at this time, purely based on their condition – big, fat, and shiny black. They are bulking up in the best grazing areas, sometimes 200 individuals together.
Plains game
- Like the buffalo, the plains game herbivores are all looking well. It’s such a lovely time of year to see them, and their young.
Birding
- There been some good sightings of black-chested snake eagles (Circaetus pectoralis), but a highlight was seeing a long-crested eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis).
Boat cruises
- One of the many highlights of our afternoon boat cruises is to see hippos. It’s a delight to watch them ‘yawn’, ‘laugh’ and porpoise their way through the water. Many of them have relocated from the deep water to new shallow places.
Fishing
- In the good weather, when it heats up after the rain, the fishing has been excellent. Great catches of bream and tigerfish have been had. On one fishing expedition a breeding herd of elephants was swimming along the dam shore. For some of our guests the fishing turned out to be the unexpected highlight of their stay!
Rock art
- The Chidhumo and Chinzwini rock art sites were visited, both of which are easy to access, and the history and interpretation of these historic paintings is both fascinating and humbling.
Unusual sightings
- On a cool and rather quiet morning we were alerted by Meves’s starlings dive bombing a black mamba on a leadwood branch.
- A far more tranquil unusual sighting was of hundreds of fireflies dancing in the open grassland near Sosigi Dam.
Wellness
- It’s not a great time for bush walks as the vegetation is so thick, but that doesn’t stop our team from providing wellness experiences. A yoga and meditation station was set up on Nduna deck, overlooking Nduna Dam, and our guests thoroughly immersed themselves in this experience to be had nowhere else in the world.
By Jenny Hishin
Author / Field Guide