It's probably true to say that you lose your marbles and become a little eccentric if you live in the wilds of Africa alone for too long.

Well here are some of the fun things that have happened at Nitani over the pass couple of weeks.

Because our two serval kittens (Zeus & Tashka) are free now, I like to read in the evenings in my kitchen and being a good Dad, I leave the door open so that they can come & go as they please.

Last week at about 10pm, fully engrossed in my book and a million miles away, I smelt the very strong odour of an ageing & overripe animal carcass which made me look up. Just 2 metres away from me, was "Ebony", a 4 year old hyaena who I know well and who appeared to be asking if it was ok to curl up on the blanket next to Diesel, my dog. I suggested in a gentle tone that Ebony consider leaving my kitchen, as it was not the place for a wild Hyaena. Quietly and without a fuss, he duly left.

A few days later "Martha", one of our matriarchal hyaenas together with 6 of her other family members, killed an old Eland Bull we called "Ginger" near my home at 21.30pm. I was immediately concerned for the safety of Zeus & Tashka and spent a few tense hours worrying about them. Suddenly there was a high-pitched scream just next to my vegetable cage and I ran outside to save the serval, only to find that a very disgruntled giant eagle owl had caught a scrub hare that was now in the throes of death.

I had no option but to end the little guy's life and then called my servals for a feast. They took their, mine & the owl's kill to just outside my bedroom and began their feast.

I went to bed and just as I was nodding off there was a huge commotion outside my bedroom window. I heard Pula the leopard growling and realised she was trying to relieve my babies of their kill. Without thinking and stark naked, I ran outside yelling at the leopard. I charged off after it, all the while looking for my servals who I thought had been injured by the much larger predator.

When I came to my senses, I was 100 metres away from home, in the middle of the dry river bed, in the pitch dark with both servals rubbing up against me. I think Pula, seeing this naked apparition running towards her, thought discretion is definitely the better part of valour, and took off!

Just before writing this newsletter, the hyaena clan killed an impala right at my lounge door at 19.30pm, which meant I had to read for 3 hours before going to bed.

The elephant bulls - Charlie, Chappy and Tatty continue to come down for their daily mud bath. I am glad to advise that of late, we have had several different breeding herds of elephants on Nitani.

The lions are still eluding us, although their spoor (tracks) are seen regularly by our guides. With so many hyaena resident on Nitani, they stand very little chance of competing with them. After killing a full grown eland a few weeks ago, the hyaena simply chased the lions off their prize and settled down to a free meal.

Winter is almost over and daytime temperature are up to 30 C with night temps between 5 + 10 C

With warm regards

Shane