Tree climbing lions in Katavi

By Emmanuel Moshi, Guide - Chada Katavi

The lions in Lake Manyara National Park are world-famous for climbing trees, but this experience has also been noted with Katavi lions. Katavi National Park has many less visitors than Lake Manyara, so this is perhaps why few have witnessed this.

I was on an afternoon game drive with two guests, Robin and Patricia, and we were concentrating on the usual flora and fauna. Then, when we crossed the river to the other side of the woodland, we saw tails and legs hanging from some trees closeby. With the aid of binoculars, we noticed that there were six lioness in total, each flat-top acacia having three lioness relaxing in them. Then we went close to a few metres distance and they were well settled and not bothered at all by our presence. The lionesses kept scanning in different directions to see whether there is the possibility of catching prey, while enjoying the cool breeze off the Katuma river. Sometimes, the lions also climb trees to get escape the flies, which can become unbearable when they bother the animals in large numbers, biting all the time. After watching the lionesses for a while, it started to get dark, so it was time to head back to the camp. As we left, the lionesses began climbing down the tree, into the cooler night.

Picture by Robin Cook-Hurle, July 2009

Mighty dwarves

By Jackson Shirima, Guide - Chada Katavi

Anyone, whether resident or visitor is impressed by the variety of sizes, shapes and by the number of termite mounds on the African savannah. Some of these mounds are extremely substantial and well planed. On the northern edge of Katisunga flood plain there is this intriguing colony of termites who decided to build their mound in a life tree. It is amazing how these creative engineers managed to put up their collective feat of skilful work into the tree and still both co-exist in perfect harmony.

Katisunga gets flooded in the wet season but no water reaches the level of the mound and no Aardvark, Aarkwolf or Pangolin have the balance to climb the tree, break the mound and hold on at the same time. Termites modify the soil to create the their homes that range from fist size mounds to ingeniously air conditioned giant mounds, reaching up to six meters in height. Termite mounds are of use to mammals, birds and reptiles as resting sites, lookout points, scratching posts and refuge from predators. Trees will also take root in abandoned mounds but sometimes we have reversed roles as in this case.

Wild dogs in Katavi

By Maripet Koipa, Guide - Chada Katavi

Wild dogs are animals that hunt by day and sometimes by moonlight. They migrate a lot during times when food is hard to find. Their home range is anything from 200-700 square kilometres, but may be less depending on the density of the prey. The pack has from 3-10 adults with several pups.

Wild dogs are endurance animals: they can run down their prey for up to 5km at a speed of over 40kph. When dogs catch small sized prey like impala or gazelle, wild dogs dismember the animal within minutes. Rarely, they will catch large sized animals like zebra, wildebeest. It may take time for these animals to die, so some people may think wild dogs are cruel hunters.

Big animals like zebra and wildebeest get held by one dog around the mouth, and the rest of the dogs attack from the rear end, killing the prey.

Wild dogs are very successful hunters but competition from other predators like lions, leopards, hyenas is very high. In Katavi, the density of lions and hyenas is fairly high, which may mean that wild dogs here need to have a larger area to hunt in.

We do see wild dogs from time to time in Katavi, where their favoured prey is impala. Although we haven’t seen them for a few weeks, it is denning season, meaning that they will not be moving around much as the newborn pups are too small. Hopefully, we will soon be seeing the pack again, with some youngsters.

Leopards in Katavi

By Philip Pendael, Guide - Chada Katavi

As elsewhere in the bush, Big 5 or Big Cats expectations is the most often asked question we meet when we pick up guests at Katavi airstrip. “Philip, do we have any chance to see a leopard here?” – Yes, there is, let’s cross our fingers. “Good!”

Last week, we went out for our afternoon game drive at 4.30pm and after thirty minutes, we found a young female leopard sitting on the road. The leopard jumped a few metres off the road and hid in the tall grasses. I started thinking how to catch this elusive animal, particularly as in Katavi they are very shy. So I followed gently, without confidence. But it was different: the leopard was waiting for us, quite relaxed and we started taking photos quickly. After a few minutes the leopard started walking on the ground, then climbing the trees, and it was the most wonderful sighting I have experienced. We stayed there for more than two hours and then headed back home.

Early the next morning, we went out again and about 2kms away found the same leopard hunting impalas. We waited to see if she could make a kill for almost two hours, but nothing happened, although there was very good cover and the leopard was less than 30m from the impala. I realised that lack of experience was the reason, because I would age the leopard at about 1.5 years old.

Leopards are more wide spread than any other African carnivore, and can exist in lowland forest, mountains, and even desert. They are very beautiful to watch, but difficult to spot due to their camouflage colour and mostly shy solitary behaviour. Here in Katavi they are not very habituated because of low tourism activities. However, they are easy to habituate from an early stage of life and this makes me refer back 9 months ago: around the same area we found a baby leopard up in the trees for three days. Although it was difficult to tell the sex, it was relaxed, and was never bothered by the presence of cars around. I would say it’s the same leopard.

“ I have seen many of the animals from Okavango Delta, Sabi Sand, Kruger National Parks and other areas in Africa, but this is remarkable” said one of the guests, after the morning sighting in the second day, having taken hundreds of photos in different poses.

Female Leopard (Panthera pardus), Picture taken by Phillip Pendael in Katavi National Park, July 'o9