The last seven days have yielded numerous cat sightings, including spectacular leopard interactions. The Eyrefield lion pride gave us a good show and, not to be outdone, the Styx lion pride did not disappoint. The Manyelethi male lions were up to their usual habits, and the two cheetah brothers paid another visit to Clarendon Dam. Throw in a sighting of a relaxed serval and an African wild cat (in broad daylight) and you have yet another week of MalaMala Magic. For those of you who ‘lurve’ the numbers, here’s a summary of the animals seen comprising ‘The MalaMala Seven’: Number of lion...

In they spirit of ending off the week on a light and playful note, today’s Video Thursday presents a gorgeous clip of lion cubs playing. What with all of the lion sightings on the reserve – specifically those of the Eyrefield pride’s latest additions – this puts a little context on some of the textual descriptions that we have been sharing in the Cyberdiaries of late. Taken at MalaMala Game Reserve by ranger Andrew Batchelor, you would have to have a heart of steel to not find this short excerpt completely endearing. Happy almost weekend folks! From the MalaMala...

Leopards both old and new were to dominate the last week at MalaMala. An old male from our past graced our viewfinders, while another continues to evade our efforts to see her young. The African wild dogs were to reveal themselves before we had even left the camp on one particular misty morning. We enjoyed some unusual behavior from three very large lions, and still managed to spot the two cheetah brothers. All in all a good week here at MalaMala. For the number crunchers: Number of lion sightings: 17 Number of leopard sightings: 22 Number of cheetah sightings: 3 Number of wild...

This week’s video clip is the final installment in the trio of clips shared with us by Winfried Simon – guest of ours at Rattray’s on MalaMala in October 2011. Today we look at one of the lesser-published creatures – the serval. Per Wikipedia, ‘The serval is a medium-sized cat, measuring 59 to 92 centimetres (23 to 36 in) in head-body length, with a relatively short, 20 to 38 centimetres (7.9 to 15 in) tail, and a shoulder height of about 54 to 66 centimetres (21 to 26 in). Weight ranges from about 7 to 12 kilograms (15 to 26 lb) in females, and from 9 to 18 kilograms (20 to 40 lb) in males....

Without the ability to feel feel temperature, how would you know that winter is on its way? There are actually a number of tell-tale signs, especially in a spot like MalaMala. Here are a few of them: -        The departure of the ‘twitters’ (and we do not mean the social media variety). The sudden absence of the varied calls and chirps ringing out from the trees is quite noticeable. -        The impala rut. The guttural utterances and clattering horns of the rams fighting can be heard from almost every direction. At this time of year the impalas compete for a chance to further their...

Today’s Video Thursday presents another of the trio of clips shared by visitor Winfried Simon. Some may already have seen his clip from last week of The Airstrip Male and The Tamboti Female leopards. This week his camera is pointed at the Manyelethi male lions. “During our trip to South Africa in October 2011 we spent a great time on Safari in the MalaMala reserve…. A highlight on an afternoon game drive was the sighting of the 4 Manyeleti male lions. We first met two of them sleeping, and afterwards starting to search for their brothers. Finally all met. They walked very close to the vehicle...