In late September last year, Helen and I visited Mkuze Game Reserve. After such good wildlife sightings at both Amakhosi Game Reserve and Rhino River Lodge in the Manyoni Game Reserve, which area in the same part of the world, we thought we would explore this part of the world a little more.

We stayed at Ghost Mountain Inn which is about 16 kilometres from the Mshophi Gate in the Mkuze Game Reserve. The road from the Inn to the gate would put off the ‘faint of heart’. We mistakenly thought that we would get warm weather with blue skies at that time of the year. We were completely wrong. The weather cold, overcast, rainy with strong easterly wind blowing for a good part of our visit.

After the initial rough drive to the Mshophi gate we were not sure what to expect. But once in the game reserve we were pleasantly surprised. The main roads were tarred and good condition. The gravel roads were also in good condition. We were really impressed with quality of the four hides we visited in the game reserve. They were well positioned and well maintained.

The first hide we visited was the Malibala hide. It was half way between the Mshophi gate and Matuma camp. Despite difficult conditions with initially freezing cold temperatures, strong easterly winds and rain, we had good sightings when the weather partially cleared on several occasions for a short period.

The “big five” can be seen in the Mkuze Game Reserve but we did not see them because of the weather. Though we did have some good sightings of Nyala, Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe and Warthog. Despite the tough weather conditions we had some interesting birds visit the waterhole.

Nyala families came down to drink at the waterhole regularly during the day even though it was overcast and cold in the morning with intermittent rain.

The interaction between the Nyala bulls was interesting. There was a clear hierarchy. The bulls circle each other, with heads lowered, backs arched with horns facing forward. They circle each other broad side in a lateral display, attempting to make themselves appear as big as possible. They fluff up their tails and the dorsal manes on their back. Perhaps because of the lack of other mammals, the Red-billed oxpeckers were paying all their attention to the Nyala bulls.

A family of Warthogs came down to drink at the waterhole. The waterhole was large around 50 metres in diameter.

All the herbivores approached the waterhole from the east and south west. This was probably because of the openness. The hide was on the north west side of the waterhole and there was quite thick vegetation on the north side which would have been ideal for predator ambushes. Small herds of Plains zebra came down to drink frequently during the day.

These Plains zebra only had very light shadow stripes on their flanks. Zebra often walk deep into the water to get the clean undisturbed water but not on this occasion.

A few Blue wildebeest came down to drink only once and did not return. The occasional single bull also came down to drink, temporarily leaving his territory.

The Red-billed oxpeckers remained close to the water and took advantage of any and all herbivores that came down to drink.

On the road driving away from the Malibala hide we saw a few Southern African giraffe, identified by their distinctive pelage pattern. It is dark brown rounded patches on a tawny background. The patches are mostly convex with irregular incisions and extend down the legs, getting smaller as they go. The darker the pelage usually the older the giraffe. Also the small hairy ossicones signify the young age of the giraffe. The mature males have no hair on the top of their ossicles as it gets rubbed off when fighting.

We also came across a troop of Chacma baboons with one of the large males high up in what looked like a Appleleaf tree. He looked to be on sentry duty but was taking advantage of the trees blooms.

We did not see buffalo, rhino or elephant, neither did we see lions or a leopard. In fact we drove all around the game reserve with no sightings of the “big five”. This was not an issue because the birdlife in the game reserve was prolific.

At the Matuma camp it was very quiet but the weather brought out the blooms of the Impala lily. In Southern Africa, this lily is known as a source of fish poison and arrow poison. The poison is prepared from latex in the bark and fleshy parts of the trunk, and is always used in combination with other poisons.

This post showed a few of the mammals we saw at and around the Malibala hide. In the next post I will show you some of the wonderful birdlife we saw despite the cold, rainy and strong windy conditions which usually keep the birds tucked away in the shelter of the trees.

We were very impressed with the condition of the hide. It was spacious and well maintained.

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

Have fun, Mike