Mashatu Game Reserve is fondly known as the land of giants. There are seven giants which are the African elephant, lion, giraffe, the baobab tree, the eland, ostrich and the kori bustard. These giants can be found over the 31 000 hectares of rugged landscape. The animals are free to move in and out of the unfenced Mashatu and Tuli Bloc, and the Mapungubwe National Park in South Africa and the south western corner of Zimbabwe. Mashatu is a sanctuary for wildlife so no hunting or poaching is allowed.

“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.” ~ Aldo Leopold

Elephants are master landscapers. They are bush clearers, they open up channels in the reeds of perennial rivers and dig holes in dry river beds to access the groundwater just below the surface. This young elephant bull was descending a steep bank into the Majale river. If the slope is too steep an elephant will bend his back legs and drag them down the slope controlling his descend with his front legs.

Elephants are highly social animals with a complex range of behaviours. Their herds function as a ordered, matriarchal society. Adult males and females live separately in differently structured societies. In the wild, families live in herds of 10 to 25 individuals where a dominant cow leads her female relatives and their offspring. The activity of the group and their movements are set by the ‘matriarch’. She is usually the largest cow in the herd who walks at the front of the herd, with another large female taking up the rear.

Mashatu is a place for elephants. They tend to spend the nights on higher ground and in the mornings wander down to the rivers often in family herds and in single file to drink and feed on the lush vegetation along the river. On occasions, elephant families gather to form a huge herd of over 300 elephants. I have never found out why they do this but it only happens in times of plenty.

“We face the question whether a still higher “standard of living” is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free.” ~ Aldo Leopold

One of a coalition of two male lions which have taken over the Mashatu territory. They overthrew a solitary male who had reigned for about five years. The two males are relatively young but have already sired two litters of cubs.

The dominant male lion’s coalition partner looks to have been a few fights judging from the scars on his face.

The male often sleeps away from his pride leaving the lionesses to look after the cubs. The pride comprised three females, two of which had cubs. The four cubs had just finished feeding and were lying next to their mother, some asleep and others intrigued by our game vehicle.

Lion cubs only start walking 10 to 15 days after they were born. The cubs survival rate is around one in eight. The low survival rate is due to injuries, infanticide, predation, illness and starvation. Predation occurs when hyaenas or leopards find them while their mother is away hunting. The very small cubs are also vulnerable to large raptors such as Martial eagles.

I thought this was an appropriate image of a lioness. She has to hunt every few days and the cubs are hugely demanding. She must have been very tired judging from her flattened position and she looked to be very hot so she was lying on her back with her legs open wide to cool down.

“Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges.” ~ Bryant McGill

A leopardess walking along the dry bed of the Majale river. It looked like she was patrolling her territory.

One of two leopard cubs that we found in a dead fallen tree trunk next to an erosion gully a few hundred metres away from the Majale river. They were very cautious but also curious about our game vehicle.

The cubs mother returned from a hunting expedition. She did not return directly to her cubs because there were hyaenas around. She climbed a dead tree to get out of the hyaenas reach and wait from them to get bored and leave her and her family alone.

A Spotted hyaena family had their den in the rock outcrop adjacent to our camp in Mashatu. We came across them when we were returning to camp after each morning game drive. One female was rolling in the dust offering some amusing poses.

While driving through a croton grove we found this small family herd of Kudu. I am not sure whether these kudu were browsing on the croton leaves as they are known to be poisonous.

The dominant kudu bull in the family herd. It always amazes me that these bulls can get through thickly wooded areas with those large horns. The kudu bull just stretches out his neck and flattens his horns against his shoulders while he is walking through the thickets. The horns of a mature bull kudu have two and a half twists. Occasionally a bull has three full twists.

A favourite prey for lions and leopards. This family group of Warthogs were foraging for grasses, roots and bulbs. They are omnivorous and will also scavenge on a carcass when the opportunity presents itself. Warthogs usually have between two and four piglets so these parents had successfully raised their family to this point.

“People are learning to grasp the diversity of nature, to understand its unifying principles and to sweep away the hierarchies and see the real connections.” ~ Frank Schatzing

It was quite unusual to find a giraffe in the river bed browsing on the lower branches of a large Mashatu ( Nyala berry) tree. On occasions, we find Leadwood and Apple leaf trees growing alongside a huge Mashatu tree.

Driving along the dry bed of the Majale river we found a male southern African giraffe feeding on the leaves of the hanging branches of a Mashatu ( Nyala berry) tree. An adult giraffe’s tongue can be as a long as 30 to 40 cm. This tongue is highly prehensile enabling the giraffe to grasp and pull leaves off the branches, in a manner similar to an elephant’s trunk. Giraffe usually stand next to a tree and forage from the top of that tree but on this occasion this large giraffe stood in the riverbed and stretched up to feed on the leaves from an overhanging branch.

This male giraffe was enjoying the Nyala berries on the overhanging branches of a Mashatu tree. The giraffe was at full stretch to get at the berries. This was a male giraffe as evidenced by his worn and bloody ossicones. These are columular bone structures on top of the head of a giraffe. Male giraffe reach sexual maturity around five to six years of age. At this time the ossicones fuse with the underlying skull bone. Growth of the ossicones continues as bone is added to the ossicone surface beneath the skin. Male giraffe also usually have a single shallow ossicone on the forehead bone and two stunted ossicones behind the main ones on top of the head. This male must have been fighting with another male in the preceding day judging from the dried blood on the top of his ossicones. The males fighting normally removes the hair off the top of their ossicones. This male was obviously a fighter judging from all the scars on his face.

A female giraffe with her newly born calf. The calf had a small length of umbilical cord still hanging below its belly. Births occur throughout the year and the gestation period is around 14 months. A newborn giraffe can weigh 100 kilograms and be over 185cm tall. Young giraffes suckle for about eight months and remain with their mother for about a year.

A male Steenbok lying under a Shepherd tree for shade and among some fallen, dead branches for cover and protection.

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” ~ John Muir

On every game drive you are likely to see something that will catch you eye. This was a Tree squirrel stretching but downward facing on a near vertical tree trunk.

On our way to and from the camp we passed a large outcrop of rocks which are home a variety of wildlife from leopards and hyaenas to hyraxes, porcupines and klipspringers. A family of klipspringers ventured down from the rocks into the camp daily. They are not tame so are cautious around the camp but enjoy all the edible vegetation around the camp. Only the males have horns.

Sundowner time. We usually stop our afternoon game drive wanderings just before the sun sets. This is a wonderful time to get off the vehicle, stretch our legs and leisurely sip a sundowner and watch the sky change colour into vivid oranges, reds and mauves. The colour of the sky becomes increasing saturated for about twenty minutes are the sun has fallen below the horizon.

“To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.” ~ Aldo Leopold

The last vestiges of light from a wonderful day exploring in the wild. At times we extend our sundowner period until the last light has gone. For safety reasons, it is wise to get back onto the vehicle once it is dark. On one notable sundowner session next to the vlei we only packed up our sundowner drinks when it was dark. A few minutes later we drove past three young lions watching us from about 100 metres from where we were sipping our sundowners. There is also lots more to see as we drive back to camp because this is the time when all the nocturnal wildlife come out to hunt and feed.

The daily routine from camp we were staying in, Rock Camp, in Mashatu Nature Reserve was a 6h00 get together for a cup of coffee and a rusk and onto the vehicle for the start of the game drive at 6h30. It was light but, being winter, the sunrise was only around 6h45, cloud allowing. The game drive would last about three to four hours depending on what we were seeing. We would get back to camp around mid morning to have a brunch. After the meal we would read or sit on the patio with binoculars watching the passing parade at the waterhole which is about 80 metres from the camp buildings. There was a wonderful variety of birds in camp attracted by the water in the bird baths.

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising.” ~ John Muir

We would gather again around 15h30 for a cup of tea and a light snack before climbing back on the game vehicle for next three hours. At sunset we normally stopped to have a sundowner while watching the sun set for the day. The last hour of the evening game drive was usually in the dark but this can also be a productive time as there is a chance of seeing genets, porcupines, antbears and even lion, hyaena and leopards.

Explore, seek to understand,marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike