October 2025

Pamushana

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Pamushana: October 2025

The blossoms are out, and green buds wait to burst, although it is still extremely dry. We’ve had a few really hot days where the mercury has crept over 100˚F, as well as some cool overcast mornings with some showers. Bring on the real rain! This weather and the dusty skies have resulted in some of the most jaw-dropping sunset scenes.
It’s also a time when sightings are at their zenith, because of the open dry landscape. This is one of the many descriptions from our guides’ sighting reports: “On the open plains of Banyini were two bull sable antelope having a fight, under the watchful eye of a spotted hyena. A pack of wild dogs, looking well-fed, relaxed at Banyini Pan, while a crash of five white rhinos enjoyed the shade in the mopane woodland north of the pan.”
A sightings snapshot for October follows:
Lions
It has happened several times this month where guests have seen more than one sighting of lions on a game drive. One afternoon drive even clocked up three different lion sightings.
  • Wildebeest, zebra and buffalo have been the main prey items. Some impressive kills have been made by the joint effort of two lionesses.
  • Interesting news from the Nduna Pride is that there is a mating pair among them. A Nduna lioness and her cub were seen feeding on the skull of a warthog, at Madope Pan.
  • Ten members of the River Pride were viewed sleeping in the shade of thorn bushes. A few days later nine members of the pride tried to hunt giraffe, but the sub-adults lacked experience and gave direct chase.
  • A delightful sighting on the Hippo Valley side of the Chiredzi River was of a lioness with three cubs. The cubs were playing while the mother dozed in the shade.
  • There have been excellent sightings of territorial males. Two were sleeping in an open area on a cool overcast day. Two were seen feeding on a buffalo carcass near Nanga. One male dined on a buffalo carcass all to himself at Simbiri Dam. Possibly the most impressive was seeing three males feasting on a zebra carcass, west of Old Chimize Pan, with three hyenas hovering in close proximity before being taught some manners and chased by the lions.
Leopards
  • The best sighting of the month was of a female frequenting the area around Croc Creek and Nyari. She caught an impala, hoisted it safely in a tree, and fed on it over a couple of days while hyenas lay drooling at the base of the tree.
  • It was great to see an adult female leopard looking very relaxed at a dried natural pan, west of the Mahiyani pool, on the Hippo Valley side.
  • There was no sighting of the predator, but at Kim’s Crossing an impala had been stashed up a tree by a leopard.
  • Then, there’s the ridiculous situation of guests viewing a leopard for over six minutes as she sat on a rock at the base of the lodge’s driveway, seconds after they’d departed from the carpark.
Wild dogs
  • Packs of wild dogs have been seen, numbering between 16 and 21.
  • A pack of 19 have been seen resting between hunts, with various animals in the same visual including hyenas, a black rhino, and four white rhinos.
  • A pack was spotted in the morning north of the Nyamasikana Bridge, looking full and relaxed. Checking on them again in the late afternoon guests got to see them wake up and successfully hunt a Sharpe's grysbok.
  • Wild dogs were relaxing in the shade of a fever tree on the Bhanyini before four lions appeared, making their way to the water for a drink. The dogs wisely took off with their pups.
  • Battles as old as time were repeated between wild dogs and hyenas, with the hyenas trying to scavenge kills from the dogs.
  • A pack of 21 provided fascinating viewing when the pups all started making a particular sound simultaneously, and some of the adults regurgitated meat for them.
Rhinos
  • On several occasions this month white and black rhinos have been seen together or in close proximity, which is most unusual: At Hwata Pan five white rhinos and one black rhino drank together; two white and one black rhino were together at the swamps; while watching lions at Nduna Dam a white and a black rhino arrived to drink; two whites and one black rhino were seen along Buffalo Fence Road.
  • On a morning walk a group saw a mother white rhino with a newborn calf.
  • A drive got off to an incredible start with a black rhino and her little calf that was about two months old. When the mother noticed the group’s presence she took off with her calf following behind her.
Buffalos
  • About 700 buffaloes converged at Hwata Pan to drink. It was an experience of a lifetime for the guests.
Elephants
  • A breeding herd of elephants and a breeding herd of buffaloes were observed grazing together in the swamps - a striking scene of two large herbivore species peacefully sharing the same habitat.
  • A breeding herd of more than thirty elephants was seen crossing into Hippo Valley through the umbrella tree forest, moving toward the open swamp area as the sun set, their silhouettes outlined against the evening light.
  • At Makeche, six elephant bulls were sighted, two of which were impressive tuskers.
  • Along the edge of the dam, a group of 25 elephants, including ten calves, were viewed. The young calves were particularly entertaining, playing and mimicking the adults as they fed. At one point, the herd entered the water to feed on aquatic plants, creating an unforgettable scene.
  • A funny sighting was that of a bull elephant navigating a steep riverbank. He carefully descended halfway with his legs astride, then lay on his stomach, stretching his front and back legs like a frog, before sliding the rest of the way down.
Spotted Hyenas
  • A hyena did itself no PR favour by biting an endangered vulture on the wing amid a feeding frenzy surrounding a carcass.
  • Ten hyenas were sleeping close to the road north-east of Nyari. One of the young ones began to make an usual sound, asking for milk. Eventually the mother responded by allowing the cub to suckle. Other youngsters indulged their curiosity and approached as close as possible to the game viewer.
Brown Hyenas
  • A brown hyena was glimpsed in the Nduna area.
Plains game
  • There’s no better time than now to see large gatherings of zebras, wildebeest, impala – even groups of 20 giraffes. Spotted in smaller numbers are kudu, eland, sable and Litchtenstein's hartebeest. They have no choice but to drink from the last remaining permanent waterpoints. As soon as the rain comes the shyer species will melt away again.
Birding
  • Some of the specials included a pair of racket-tailed rollers flying around the Miombo woodlands, martial and black-chested eagles, and a palm-nut vulture close the hippo skull area on the dam.
Boat cruises
  • Boat cruises are a wonderful way to end the day, but we’ve also done some beautiful morning cruises with atmospheric light and sights.
  • You can always expect to see an abundance of birds, and crocodiles and hippos, but because so much of the wildlife is drawn to the permanent water at this time we’ve also had sightings of buffalo, waterbuck, impalas, nyala, warthogs, elephants and lions.
  • A black egret was a special sighting - it performed its umbrella fishing technique.
  • Etched in our guests minds forever is the scene of four lions on the shoreline. They started roaring and their thunder was answered by more lions hidden in the thickets. The sound was deafening as it bounced and echoed off the surrounding hills.
Fishing
  • The fishing has been great, especially for tilapias. However, the predatory tigerfish have given many bites and fights, but only a couple have been landed.
Rock art
  • Visits to rock art sites have been incorporated as resting points on walks, to gain insight into the lives of those that survived and thrived here hundreds of years ago.
Unusual sightings
  • A delightful and extremely rare sighting was that of a nyala female with twins!
Photographic hide
Our guests have been delighted with the closeness of animals and their interaction while viewing them from the sunken photographic hide.
  • Animals photographed include white rhinos, elephant bulls, buffalos, impalas, zebras, eland, kudu, wildebeest, a herd of 20 sables, a hartebeest, warthogs, black-backed jackals, hyenas, and three lions.
Walks
  • Now, because of the open sparsely vegetated landscape, is an ideal time for conducting bush walks. It’s a time to take in the smaller fauna and flora. However, our guests have also seen, while on foot with their guide and tracker team, impalas, zebras, kudus, hyena, wildebeest, giraffes, white rhinos, a lone elephant bull and lions.
Kambako Living Museum of Bushcraft
  • Our young guests loved these visits the most – showing their parents how the village elders had just taught them to make fire, pound grain, extract salt from the soil by filtration, divine water, and participate in traditional dance.
Gonarezhou National Park
Daytrips have been made to our neighbour in the south.
  • One of these incorporated a tea break at Masasanya Dam, with a herd of elephants drinking there. At Chilojo Cliffs a delicious lunch awaited, framed by the iconic striated sandstone cliffs.
By Jenny Hishin
Author / Field Guide