April 2025

Singita Sabi Sand

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Singita Sabi Sand: April 2025

The month of April has been a constant reminder of what’s to come, some cold temperatures have started to creep in, in the early hours of the morning and late evenings. A few of the more rare nocturnal creatures have also been seen for the month, a reminder how weather and temperatures play a huge role in the moments of certain animals. A late, heavy downpour of rain has settled the dust and meant that all of the territorial cats have had to head out and reiterate their territories on the reserve. Autumn is most certainly upon us - more moderate temperatures and more layers of clothing are definitely required. A fantastic time in the Lowveld to visit and experience the wildlife.
A snapshot of the sightings for March follows:
Elephants
  • Elephants have been in and around the entirety of the reserve. Mid-morning and late afternoon visits to their favourite watering hole have provided guests with remarkable experiences and an insight into their lives away from the constant feeding. Some seriously impressive tuskers have been seen dotted around the property too, their presence can make us feel so small out here!
Buffaloes
  • Large herds of buffalo continue to frequent the south of the reserve. Some coalitions of lions giving them a hard time by trailing them in those areas. With the quality of good grazing disappearing fast their movement has increased.
Lions
  • The Mhangeni Pride have been without one of their older lionesses as she has been seen mating with the Talamati and Nkuhuma males. The pride continues to hunt successfully in her absence. Subsequent to the last big rains we haven’t found them all together.
  • The Plains Camp males have been very vocal in the early hours of the mornings, making setting off for game drive and the anticipation of finding them rather exciting.
  • The Nkuhuma sub-adults continue to fly under the radar and avoid confrontations with any other lions in the reserve.
  • The Ximungwe Pride have been seen fairly regularly with the two, new, little cubs.
Leopards
  • Thamba has been seen far east of his usual territory. With the younger Ntomi male frequenting those parts, Thamba is not all that keen to be around. Although we have heard the Ravenscourt male in the western sector has been pushing Thamba further east, out of his usually occupied territory.
  • The Nkuwa female has been seen high up on the rocky outcrop not far from where we initially presumed her densite to be. She’s been contact calling up there now, but we’ve yet to confirm her number of cubs. We search eagerly in the hopes of seeing the new faces!
  • The Ntoma female has been seen on a number of occasions with suckle marks! Her behaviour towards vehicles has become far more relaxed too which is exciting, not nearly as shy as she has been previously.
  • The Hlambela male, Xinzele female and the fairly unknown Rivala female have also been seen.
  • The Tisela female and her two young female cubs have also ventured into Singita property a couple of times and have provided us with cherished memories.
Cheetah
  • The Makatini family are still all four together. That cheetah has done phenomenally well to get all three of them to this age (over a year). She definitely seems to have the reserve and each of her next moves all figured out.
  • The male cheetah also pops up unannounced in the south. He went missing in action after the big rain but has been seen on several occasions subsequent to that.
African wild dogs
  • Wild dog sightings have been few and far between this month. The Othawa Pack have been seen only a handful of times. It is that time of the year when they start scratching around for a potential den.
Unusual sightings:
  • TWO separate sightings of pangolin have been recorded for the month of April! There’s a special documentary on Netflix currently airing called “Pangolin. Kulu’s Journey” – a really insightful documentary highlighting the trade and rehabilitation of these incredible species which we encourage you all to watch.
  • An African civet was also seen in the clearings close to the lodge on the way back from game drive.
Bird List
  • We have added 16 more species to the list taking the total to 269 birds. Purple heron and the purple indigobird being the highlights for the month.