It was the morning of 13th July and Eleanor and Lizzy Appleby were getting dressed, ready for breakfast. They’d had an interrupted night’s sleep due to all the elephant activity during the small hours but they didn’t mind and were looking forward to another exciting day of activities at Shinde.

As they opened the door of Room 3, the guests giggled hysterically. Someone had left them a present on their deck! What could it be?

Well, it didn’t take the Applebys more than a split-second to realise that these were not giant breakfast muffins, but instead freshly-baked elephant muffins!

Yes, Snorey and his friend had visited the room and one of them had deposited a rather large present on the deck. Whether the elephant did on purpose or just by accident we will never know but he aimed very well. We’re not sure which of the elephants was the culprit, but we like to think it was Snorey as he likes to keep us entertained. It has never happened before but now Snorey is back on his old turf we’ll be looking out for this again!

Photos courtesy of Eleanor and Lizzy Appleby.

During July, after not having been seen for months, a particular favourite of ours made a triumphant return to Shinde.

It around 8am on 6th July and the managers had just waved the guests off on their morning game activity. As they sat on the fire deck, soaking up the warmth of the sun and discussing the plan for the day, a noise startled them. As they looked up, an elephant appeared. Magda and Falie smiled at each other – it looked like Snorey was back.

This bull elephant was taking the nearest palm tree to task, pushing at the trunk to see if the fruit were ready to fall. As hard as he tried he couldn’t dislodge the fruits and he was visibly getting more and more frustrated. Suddenly a curious noise started to emanate from his trunk… a noise which sounded like extremely loud snoring. This confirmed everyone’s suspicions – it was indeed Snorey.

Snorey had not been seen since January 2010, and Magda and Falie had become so worried about their uninvited but much-loved guest that they’d even asked the Department of Wildlife officers to look out for him. They’d originally assumed that he ‘snored’ due to having a hole in his trunk, but on closer inspection they realise this was not the case. Snorey can in fact control his snoring and only makes this noise when he is frustrated. The more frustrated he gets, the louder the snoring becomes. He is not the only snoring elephant in the area, but all of the other elephants restrict their snoring to when they are asleep!

Tsebes would not usually be the preferred prey of leopard, not only because they are renowned as Africa’s fastest antelope, but also because they are too large for a leopard to carry up a tree, where they like to secure their prey from lions, hyenas and other scavengers. For this reason leopard would usually hunt smaller antelope such as impala or lechwe.

It is also unusual for a leopard to kill during the day, as they prefer to stalk their prey under cover of darkness. However, in this case the startled tsebe had been chased literally into the jaws of this leopard, who was probably enjoying an afternoon nap in the shade of a tree, but was not going to pass up the opportunity of an easy meal.

When the guests first arrived, the leopard was only just starting to open up the tsebe. They returned an hour later on the afternoon game drive to find he had opened the carcass and was enjoying his meal. They also witnessed him removing the stomach contents in an attempt to make the carcass light enough to move.

Once he had eaten his fill, the leopard attempted to cover the carcass with grass, and settled down to rest, panting heavily. Over the course of the next couple of days, guests revisited the site of the kill and found the carcass moved to a new position about 20 metres away. The stomach contents have a distinctive smell which attracts scavengers, so these had been left behind. Although the carcass was too big even for a leopard this size to take up a tree, amazingly he managed to hang onto his kill until it was entirely eaten. Clearly the lions and hyenas in the area were not fully ‘on the ball’!

Words and images courtesy of Dawn Perkins.

Based at Shinde’s Footsteps Camp, the children, in groups of six, were put through their paces amongst the diverse animals of the concession. Fantastic sightings of lion and wild dogs combined with hands on practical camp skills such as learning how to make a fire and fire arm safety to make this an unforgettable experience. The ‘fun’ element was ever present with spotting competitions and sundowner football. At the end of camp all received caps, T-shirts and certificates to prove that they are true ‘Young Explorers’.

Bana Ba Letsatsi (which means ‘children of the sun’) cares for over 240 vulnerable and orphaned children in Maun. Their mission is to keep children at risk in Maun off the streets and away from negative influences by empowering them through education and support. The children are at risk because they suffer either a lack of parental care; have never been to or have dropped out of school, suffer abuse at home or in the neighbourhood or they abuse drugs and/or alcohol.

The Lala Palms at Shinde are full in bloom and the dates are much sought after by the resident elephant population. These gentle giants visit the camp at regular intervals, shaking the palm trees in the hope that some dates will fall to the ground for them to feed upon.

Great sightings continue away from camp

Lions featured heavily on the game viewing menu, with a pride of six taking up residence around an elephant carcass on the channel. Easily visible from both land and water, the pride gorged themselves for a week.

Juvenile Hippopotamus - Shinde Fire Deck

Shinde is renowned for the refuge it provides to wearily travellers from all over the world. A couple of weeks ago this include a juvenile hippopotamus, who seeking refuge from an older bull spent some time on the fire deck reflecting on the trials and tribulations of growing up.

One such incident occurred at the famous Killing Fields when a sounder of warthogs were grubbing peacefully early in the afternoon, blissfully unaware of the impending danger in the grass.

The lionesses had killed a lechwe that morning and swiftly closed in on the warthog. The lionesses pounced on a young warthog and when the mother attempted to rescue her offspring, the lionesses turned on her killing both female and young.

During all the commotion, a male lion arrived intent on taking his share of the feast. Initially he was fended off by the females, but returned later forcing the females to concede their prey. Having lost their meal the females were again hunting less than an hour later.