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In January I twice saw a pride of 20+ lions on the H1-7, 10 and 13 km south of the Punda tar T-junction respectively.

That's about halfway between the two, where the road runs parallel to the Shisha River.

Johan

Eland, tsessebe, Lichtenstein's hartebeest, nyala, Sharpe's grysbok all come to mind.

Johan

The Shingwedzi section ranger advises that it is unusually hot at the moment.
Elephants are scarcer than the rest of the year - it may be that the moroelas are ripe southwards and that the herds are concentrating in those areas.
While accompanying birders on the bird atlassing project last night , approaching the camp gate they encountered a honey badger with its (is the word pup?) youngster , which was curious and approached the vehicle , whereupon the mother launched a mock attack !!!

I am working on it - he is a busy man and not all that fond of a computer .

According to the official SA Weather services website 62mm rainfall was measured at Punda Maria in the 24 hr period ending 8 a.m. yesterday , and 16mm in the 24 hr period ending 8 a.m. today .

3 male lions 2km from Punda Maria camp this morning on the H1-3. They must have killed last night as they has blood on their faces.
General game viewing is good despite the thick bush.
Sharpe's grysbok in the area.

A great Leopard sighting on the Mahonie loop late this afternoon.
Lions still at the same spot. Vultures (Lappet Faced, Hooded and White Backed) in the same area.
Can't see the kill but the lions have eaten.
Lovely Elephant herds and nice lone tuskers!!

I was up at Pafuri February 12 - 20.

Rainfall: 32 mm on the 13th, and 38 mm on the 14th.

The Mopani veld was sopping wet, especially south of the Luvuvhu valley, i.e. past Nkovakulu / Mazanje.
Too wet for small elephants I suspect, the herds seemed to have moved to higher ground, e.g. Dzundzwini.

Only saw one lion outside the Makuleke CNP, a young male crossed the road one rainy morning between Baobab Hill and the start of the Northern Plains Adventure Trail.
This same male, I strongly suspect, showed up at the Pafuri airstrip on the weekend, in the company of another young male and two young females.

Five leopards in total, all on the tar road at or within 700 meters of Magamba on two consecutive mornings. Another two in the Makuleke CNP.

Lots of eland in the MCNP, including a herd of about 30 with a leucistic calf about eight months old.

Johan

Just come back from stay at Shingwedzi and Punda.
Game viewing was good, plenty lion activity around Shingwedzi over the 3 night we stayed there.
The only negative to the visit was a group of campers that were throwing food over the fence to feed a hyena that was prowling.
When confronted they simply agreed that it was wrong and then proceeded to again throw food over the fence right in front of us.
Another member of our group is reporting this.
Such blatant disrespect for nature and Park rules is utterly unacceptable.
At Punda we had a incredible sighting of a confrontation between 3 lion and a herd of buffalo from the hide after dark and on a night drive we did there we were fortunate enough to see leopard.
I would recommend spending an afternoon at the Klopperfontein dam: there may be no get out point but some great sightings of elephant playing in the water and other animals coming to drink can present themselves.

Hope you have a great trip up north and all the best for incredible sightings!

On a lesser note, only saw one other yellow ribbon during the week and a half trip from Tzendze to Punda.

Seen yesterday afternoon at Shingwedzi camp entrance.

Ok so we returned from Punda yesterday.

I will write a brief trip report in due course all dependant on time.

Some highlights with regards to sightings:

Mahonie Loop - Sharpe's Grysbok seen 3 times.
Klopperfontein Dam:
Buffalo Herd in excess of 500 - seen daily in the mornings and late afternoons - they seem to follow the same route daily travelling east in the morning and then heading back west in the afternoon.
Herds of Eland spotted twice - once at Klopperfontein dam and once on the H1-8 just after the K-fontein Loop turnoff.

Pride of Lion (13 in total incl 1 Male) at a buffalo carcass 4km south on the H1-7 after the H13-1 turnoff.
4 Spotted Hyenas at the same carcass the previous day.
Young female leopard arrived at the carcass while the Hyena were feeding - it walked right up to our vehicle sniffing the bullbar crossed the road to get downwind from the feeding Hyenas and crossed back over the road waiting for the Hyenas to move off. After a while the Hyenas moved off and the Leopard started feeding off the carcass. We found out later that a Male lion came back to the carcass soon after the Leopard departed - we were going to hang around but were informed of some cheetah 3 km further down which we did find.

So all-in-all an exceptional long weekend!

For a first time trip to Punda I was really impressed by the scenery, Sanparks staff were so friendly - They all are a real asset and this will make me return up north!

Well done to all the staff at Punda and surrounds.

Geraas , you were very fortunate to see all those predators
We had two nights at Punda - 11th and 12th April , then 3 at Shing. Never saw any predators at all , but it does not mean that we did not enjoy our stay .
Saw many many buffs , quite a few herds in excess of 500 individuals , with one herd probably more than 1000 , and crowding all around us at Klopperfontein , with a number of bulls with huge horns .

Went to Pafuri twice , and just chilled out in that part of paradise

There has been little significant rain in the Shingwedzi area in the last 4 months .
I have a report that roaring lions have been keeping tourists awake at Shingwedzi .
A roan antelope was seen close to the tar road bridge .
There are high concentrations of elephants around the Kanniedood dam area .

Those lions are surely part of the 20+ strong pride (including two dominant males), whose core territory seems to be centered on the Shisha River.

I strongly suspect I know that confident young female leopard. She has a twin brother who is even bolder. 4 km south on the H1-7 is not far from Magamba, in which area if seen both of them several times.

Johan

Regular sightings of roan around Shingwedzi by a permanent resident - also a report by wildtuinman :

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=9909&start=225

Around Punda Maria- Klopper Fontein, and Mahoenie Loop and Pafuri (June 2012)