Photo by Jenny Hishin

WILDLIFE JOURNAL SINGITA PAMUSHANA, ZIMBABWE

For the month of April, Two Thousand and Twenty Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunrise & Sunset Average minimum: 18,6˚C (65,4˚F) For the month: 75,5 mm Sunrise: 06:11 Minimum recorded: 16,2˚C (61,1˚F) For the year to date: 431,6 mm Sunset: 17:30 Average maximum: 30,1˚C (86,1˚F) Maximum recorded: 39,1˚C (102,3˚F) I’m sure we can all relate to the beautiful poem inspired by rock fig trees such as the one photographed above, during this lockdown period - you’ll find it just before the April Gallery. This time certainly presents a platform to reflect on the natural world, and our place in it. Our guides have been busy with training and various responsibilities, and sightings that rate from zen to ten on the heart-rate scale.

During the month, we have been blessed with more late rain, once again turning the wilderness to a beautiful luminous green for most of the property. The last third of the southern side of the property did not receive as much rain so it is drying out and turning to shades of gold rather rapidly. Here’s a snapshot of April’s sightings brought to you from staff and guides moving around the property, carrying out their daily work: Lions:

• Two lionesses were seen at the base of Croc Creek by Jason Turner. They were making their way in the early evening to the water’s edge below Malilangwe House.

• Three lions were seen at Nanga Pan area, close to the Nyamasikana crossing, early evening.

• Just recently, part of the River Pride was seen on a buffalo cow kill.

• With the lodge being so quiet at these times, we frequently hear lions roaring from all parts of the property.

Leopards:

• A couple of leopards have been seen recently, but not as many sightings as normal due to less movement of vehicles at night.

Wild dogs:

• The wild dogs were seen two week ago attempting to hunt impala on the Banyini at about 10:30 one morning.

• They were seen again a week later on the Orphan Road, hunting at dusk. Hyenas:

• Coming back from an afternoon game drive after dark, Brad Fouché came across four hyenas attempting to hunt impala. They were very excited with tails up and hair fluffed out.

Rhinos:

• The lush grass is providing such nutritious grazing for white rhinos at the moment. The late afternoon drives down the Orphan Road, which is a 7 km stretch from Binya Road to HQ, has been very productive for white rhinos. Just the other day, in a space of 4 km of road, and in about 10 minutes, different groups of rhino were seen totalling 11 animals in all!

Elephants:

• Elephant sighting now have been unreal, with different cow herds being seen all over the place. A huge herd was seen yesterday totalling 70 individuals moving towards the Chiredzi River for a midday drink and swim, and another herd of 20 elephants was seen at Croc Creek.

• Bulls are being seen everywhere, from Banyini, to Orphan Road, the Chiredzi River and on the West Valley road.

Buffalo:

• The buffalo herds are frequenting Banyini Pan now rather often and tell-tail signs of herds crossing the Binya Road going to the river is an everyday occurrence.

Boat cruises & fishing

• There have been some relaxing boat cruises with epic light for photography and awesome scenery. Keeping the boats running, we can boat around the dam once or twice a week. Around 10 days ago, because of the rain, the dam had come up which allowed us to travel right to the top of the river that

feeds the dam. We spent the sundowner time with a raft of over 30 hippos. Who does not love the sound of hippo!

• A few fishing trips have happened in the past weeks and overall a few good tigerfish have been caught but the bream fishing has been slow. This is expected as we move into winter.

Walks and rock art

• This month we have been to four rock art sights on foot. On the first trip, as we arrived, we had the privilege of seeing a huge black rhino bull, on getting our scent he took off running. The last sight we visited was an amazing walk through close narrow gorges of sandstone through a natural rain drainage system. Coming out on the other end, it opened into little valleys of the greenest lushest grass with a few fully grown ilala palms dotted around the place, it was so stunning! We took it easy as there was a lot of fresh signs of buffalo bulls around. We also flushed a spotted eagle-owl. At the rock art sight, we found where a buffalo bull had recently been lying up against the rock that the painting was on and we also came across a red-winged starling’s nest with chicks in it.

A magnificent eland bull wades his way through the long grass.

Bulls can grow to a shoulder height of 1,7 metres and weigh about 900 kg. Photo by Phillip Warth

A selection of bush stories, articles, poetry and a gallery follows.

Otter and tigerfish feeding frenzy Story and photos Alex Naert It was a perfect mid-April dawn and I decided to take the boat out on my own, on the Malilangwe Dam where we offer our boat cruise safaris. The sun had not yet popped out over the imposing sandstone cliffs, the scene was bathed in beautiful low light and the surround sound was of amplified echoing bird calls. I cruised along the shoreline and it was there that I spotted a disturbance near the water’s edge, so I puttered in for a closer look. I was delighted to see a Cape clawless otter (Aonyx capensis) rolling, twisting, turning, ducking and diving in the shallows. It was hunting all around me and was completely chilled with my presence. Then I noticed something really fascinating… The water was bubbling and churning near the otter but the otter was fairly still and busy chewing, holding its catch, a flat-headed goby fish, in its little clawless paws. I spotted the unmistakable orange fins of tigerfish breaking the surface and swirling beneath it. A school of tigerfish were following the otter and, while it chewed and ate its catch the tigerfish were snatching bits of its meal. It was really interesting to see the scavenging behaviour of these tigerfish! It was a bit like watching hyenas following wild dogs and then trying to steal the wild dogs’ kill – the tigerfish were like the hyenas of the otter! Cape clawless otters eat crabs, fish, frogs and worms. They dive after prey to catch it, then swim to shore again, where they eat. They use their paws to dig on the muddy bottoms of dams and rivers, picking up rocks and looking under logs. Tigerfish are fierce hunters and are mostly piscivorous and tend to eat whatever fish is most available, including other tigerfish. Smaller fish will hunt in large schools while larger tigerfish hunt alone. Insects and

zooplankton may also be part of the African tigerfishes diet, especially during juvenile stages of life. Elsewhere a highly unusual feeding behaviour has been recorded where the fish jump out of the water and catch swallows as they fly near the surface of the water feeding on insects.

Notice the orange fins and body of the tigerfish breaking the surface

as it splashes away with a piece of the otter’s catch.

Keystone species Article and photos by Jenny Hishin Now, during these lockdown days of few game drives and sightings, it gives us an opportunity to consider some of the broader concepts of ecology and conservation. Here is an overview of keystone species and their importance to our area and its conservation. What is a keystone species? A keystone species is any organism, from animals and plants to bacteria and fungi that, simply put, is the glue that holds a habitat together. If a keystone species is removed, it sets off a chain of events that turns the structure and biodiversity of its habitat into something different. Although all of an ecosystem’s many components are intricately linked, keystones are the living things that play a pivotal role in how their ecosystem functions. Why are keystone species so important? Intact ecosystems perform many vital functions; air and water purification, turning decaying matter into nutrients, preventing erosion and flooding, and moderating climate. Some ecosystems might not be able to adapt to environmental changes if their keystone species disappeared. The population of another species could explode, pushing out other organisms and reducing species diversity. This domino effect is known as a trophic cascade. The removal of a keystone species could allow an invasive species to take over and dramatically change the ecosystem or bring about its complete end. What kinds of keystone species are there here at Singita Pamushana, Zimbabwe? Scientists may debate which plants or animals in a particular ecosystem deserve the keystone title due to various complexities, but they are a way to help us understand just how important one species can be to the survival of many others. Keystone species fall into broad categories: Predator By keeping the populations and range of their prey in check, keystone predators, impact other predators as well as other animal and plant species further down the food chain. Examples include lions. Lions keep prey populations under control and remove sick, weak or genetically compromised animals from the system. Buffalo and zebra are grazers, and without lions, or other large predators to keep numbers in check, overgrazing may occur. Without vegetation to keep the soil in place, the area could become severely eroded.

Prey Keystone prey serve as a critical food source for predator populations. They are resilient creatures, unlike some other types of prey species that are more susceptible to becoming rare or extinct within an ecosystem. Examples include impala. Impala are the main prey for wild dogs. If all the impala from our area were removed the wild dog packs would be forced to hunt other prey. They might not be as effective at this and this could lead to starvation, disease and death for the wild dogs. Other predators that prey on impala would suffer too. With apex predators removed from a system there would soon be an imbalance between predator and all prey species.

Ecosystem engineer An ecosystem engineer is an organism that creates, modifies, maintains, changes or destroys a habitat. They influence the prevalence and activities of other organisms and help define the overall biodiversity of their habitat. Examples include elephants and white rhinos: Elephants push down, break and uproot vast quantities of small trees and shrubs that would otherwise convert to forest or scrubland. They are ecosystem engineers that preserve open spaces where grasses can thrive. This vegetation supports other herbivores like impala, wildebeest and zebras. In turn, these prey species feed carnivores such as lions, hyenas and cheetahs. It also provides warm, dry soil for smaller animals like mice and shrews to burrow into. Via their dung, elephants also spread plant seeds to new areas - some plants have evolved to the point where they germinate more easily after passing through an elephant’s digestive tract. White rhinos maintain areas of short grass but if removed from an area the grass is able to grow higher. Other species of grazers are not as effective at keeping the grass short. If there were no white rhinos in our area it would affect fires by increasing their fuel loads and fuel continuity. There would be larger, less patchy fires which could be detrimental.

Mutualists Mutualists are two or more species in an ecosystem that interact for each other’s benefit. Examples include bees: Bees take the nectar from flowers, they collect pollen and spread it from one flower to the next, enhancing the odds of fertilization. Nectar and pollen are also the primary food sources for the bees themselves. Without bees the flora would not thrive, nor would the herbivores that survive on it. Without pollen and nectar the bees would die off from the lack of a food source. Plants Keystone plants are those that provide a critical source of food and/or shelter for other species. Examples include baobab trees. Baobabs support the presence of many species and where they live, including bee hives and bird nests, especially vulture nests as vultures prefer to nest in the high branches of the tallest trees. Without vultures, another keystone species, carcasses from kills would not be consumed quickly and efficiently, and this could lead to other scavengers exploiting the food source with catastrophic effects, or the undisposed carcasses potentially becoming a breeding ground for diseases. All the above examples describe what happens if a keystone species is significantly reduced or removed, but the consequences are just as catastrophic if a keystone species becomes overabundant. An example of this would be too many elephants in a fenced reserve or fragmented national park where they are not able to migrate to different parts of southern Africa in their continual search for preferred nourishment. Over time their impact on their contained environment will become too intense for it to recover, and the ecosystem will be destroyed. Conservation and ecological management is such an intricate science and it’s a delicate balancing act to maintain such a fascinating and highly complex natural system.

Black rhino on foot Story and photo by Alex Naert I joined a couple of our security scouts on their daily patrol and few days ago. It was really early when we found tracks of a black rhino cow and calf, and after about an hour of tracking them on foot we heard them feeding very loudly nearby. We then stopped and tried to identify her by the notches in her ears, but we didn’t have a clear view. She was feeding on forbs with her head held low, close to the ground, so she couldn’t see us. She was calmly feeding and walking towards a fallen tree, so we very slowly and quietly made our way to behind the fallen tree and watched her and her calf feed. During this time the scouts identified her, and I managed to get these beautiful close up shots with my camera. As she got within five metres of us the wind must have swirled because she got a whiff of us and looked straight up at me, for about 10 seconds, with those very sharp horns piercing the air, and then she ran off into the bush with her calf following closely behind. What a humbling, awe-inspiring, heart-racing privilege and I look forward to more of these intimate experiences during this time that we have to explore all corners of the reserve on foot.

All a twitter A sneaky chill has crept into the air, which bids farewell to our avian summer visitors. But the birdlife is so prolific and is such a joy to follow. One of the highlights for April was this white-winged tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) skimming over the dam.

Photo by Mark Saunders

The piercing yellow eyes and bare legs of this brown snake eagle (Circaetus cinereus) make it instantly recognisable.

Photo by Brad Fouché Below left: A blacksmith lapwing (Vanellus armatus) stalks the muddy shallows.

Photo by Sarah Ball Below right: A lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus).

Photo by Phillip Warth

A young green-backed heron (Butorides striata) also hunts along the water’s edge. A hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) makes sure the bones are picked clean. Loosely translated the scientific name means “monk-like corpse-dragger,” because of the cowl-like head plumage and scavenging from corpse feeding behaviour.

Photos by Sarah Ball

Lockdown

I need a little room to breathe,

My roots need place to grow,

To stretch and reach and touch out,

And grasp the chance to know

What life is like outside these walls

Of stone,

Who have cradled me through the years,

Incubation of my fragility,

A harbour for my fears.

I need to push my boundaries

And expose the crevices of my mind,

To the solitude of sunshine

And the twistedness of being entwined

Around fractures and broken veins

Of rock,

Who have helped me plot my course,

Expansion of my freedom,

An anchor for my force.

I need to lose my inhibitions

And let my climbing heart explore,

Curvaceous spaces of fragrant sky

Around which they curl and bore –

My strangling fingers, sturdy arms

Of wood,

Who have lifted me to grace,

Balance of my maturity,

A beacon for my face.

I need time to give me back

The days and nights that I spent alone.

Starry rivers that gazed intently,

Warm winds when my body was blown

And stripped naked

Of leaves,

Who clothed my delicate bones,

Conclusion of my existence

A tide for my unknown.

By Shelley Warth

April Gallery This vivid gallery has been compiled from staff photos during these lockdown days.

An exquisite little female leopard spotted amid a flowering meadow. Photo by Phillip Warth

A heavy downpour of 35mm of rain fell on the 15th of April. Photo by Brad Fouché

The white rhinos take a break from the immersive grass for a leisurely drink at sunset. Photos by Phillip Warth

The buffalo that got away, and the one that did not. Photos by Sarah Ball

A mother white rhino and her young calf enjoy a delicious and decadent mudbath. Two cautious elephant bulls make their way back to the central open plains. Photos by Sarah Ball

Sunset closes on another day in paradise, where we look forward to welcoming you in the near future. Photo by Brad Fouché Photo below by Jason Turner