We were driving from Makhanda to Cape Town on Sunday when suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of a cloud of locusts. It was quite nerve wracking as they flew into the front of our car, smacking into the windscreen and leaving their gooey bodies sliding down the glass. It sounded like hail.
Over the next hour on the road we drove into four more clouds of the voracious insects. It was creepy and hard to concentrate as they suddenly came into focus a fraction of a second before they hit the car.
It was not pleasant at all.
I had read several articles about the recent swarms in the Northern and Western Cape. Farmers complained about their crop losses and the TV news broadcast interviews about the devastation in the rural areas.
In the last few days, I have been reading social media reports about the appearance of locusts in the Addo Elephant Park. This is a cause for concern for everyone. I hope that the locusts spare the park because if they strip the vegetation, animals could die of starvation or the park management will have to bring in food.
One of the social media regulars who happens to live at a lodge in the Addo Elephant Park writes that locust swarms have already arrived at the Nyathi section of the park and surely in the Main Camp as well. He writes, “Thousands if not millions. It sounds like heavy rain falling against my house window”.
An update on Jack the Lion – the most handsome lion in all the land
We have discussed Jack the lion a few times in the Real Safari Newsletter and I promised to bring an update on how he is doing. So here goes with information that I have managed to gather here and there. I have not seen him since he was moved to Shamwari.
To recap – Jack is an immensely handsome male lion who was born in the AEP. If you wish to read about him in the earlier editions of Real Safari, please click here.
He was transferred to the Shamwari Private Game Reserve essentially to prevent him from clashing with a coalition of two dominant males, Witwarm and Niklaas. Jack was alone. He had reached maturity and tensions were growing. Park management decided to move Jack out of the park before they tore him apart.
Many Addo Addicts, including yours truly, were very upset that our favourite animal was suddenly removed from the park. We understood that it was for Jack’s own good, but many of us felt we should have been warned.
There was a loud uproar in our little corner of social media. Park management believe that they can avoid future outcries by refusing to give names to animals.
Ha, we’ll see about that.
At Shamwari, they don’t give names to animals and they refer to Jack as ‘the Nomadic Lion’. They wanted him to join up with one of the resident prides that did not have a dominant male so that they could breed and mix genes.
Shamwari rangers monitor the Nomadic Lion quite carefully and they noted that he was not having much luck in joining up with any of the prides. He was clearly hunting and feeding himself successfully, but had no luck finding company.
He looked stronger than ever and did not appear to be carrying any scars from at least two encounters he had with the male of the Southern Pride.
Last week, we received some important good news. The message read, “It has finally happened! Eight months after his relocation to the Shamwari Private Game Reserve, Jack has finally made contact with the Central Pride”.
He was photographed resting in the grass near one of the pride’s young males.
Jack is five-and-a-half years old and close to his prime so he is not to be messed with. He is easily more powerful than the other male. He could chase the younger lion away or perhaps they could join forces and become an imposing coalition.
My guess is that once Jack has settled in and established himself, he will chase the younger male away.
Lions at Addo
The situation at Shamwari is encouraging but it still leaves the main section of Addo a little short of feline experiences. At the moment there still are only five lions in that section. The two males are getting on years and probably still hold their dominant positions only because there aren’t any other males.
We’re not sure how long they will last.
Regular Addo Addicts often ask when is management going to introduce new lions – surely the park can carry more than five?
It was not long ago that the park had 14 lions but they were decimating the rather valuable buffalo population. The buffalo at Addo are particularly valuable because they are free of tuberculosis and lions were treating them as snack food.
Christiaan Viljoen explained that the main issue has to do with lion predation on buffalo. He said that during the recent drought, the Addo lions reduced the buffalo population by nearly 50%!
He added that in September/October 2021 the five lions in the Nyathi Section were able to take down more than 30 buffalo weakened by the drought.
Once the rains came in November and the grass began to flourish, the buffalo soon became stronger and the rate of predation dropped. Currently, Addo buffalo populations need some time to recover before the lion population can be increased by any significant figure.
Every now and so often, those with contacts in the park management say that one of the two younger lionesses has been taken off contraception. They say that either Dawn or Duffy is pregnant and soon we can expect to hear the pitter-patter of little paws. I’m not holding my breath because I’ve heard that story once too often.
There are many lions in other parks in the area and I’m sure that a swop could be arranged without too much fuss and bother.
That’s it for this edition of the Real Safari Newsletter. This weekend we are heading for the Karoo National Park so expect a story and some pictures of a park that I have never been to.