7. NATURAL HISTORY
Mkhuze has always been a land of contrasts, especially as far as its
weather is concerned. Situated on the low-lying Mozambique coastal plain, the
reserve is essentially tropical but mainly dry. The warm, sunny weather of the
autumn months of May and June all to rapidly gives way to the blistering heat
of summer with its unpredictable rainfall that can either cause flash flooding
or result in a prolonged and severe drought, which leaves the Mkhuze River dry
and the surface pans in the reserve no more than barren areas of sun-baked
black clay.
Winters are comparatively warm although occasional short cold spells
accompanied by rain may be experienced. But even the normal pattern of spring,
which is generally warm and not too hot, can be unpredictable.
In September 1924, Vaughan Kirby wrote "On the following morning (September 1st) we
crossed into the reserve at an early hour, with a hard day's work ahead of us
and most unpropitious weather conditions - a strong southerly gale was blowing
and it was cold and cheerless in the extreme". On his visit to Nxwala during the same month he found
that "it was extremely cold and constant showers of cold sleet drove
over the hilltops". Some
weeks later, during the same visit he reported that "the misery of these conditions was much
intensified on the present occasion, when the red sand ridges of the main
plateau were churned up by the gale into actual whirling walls of sand". Definitely not what the average visitor to the reserve
now experiences during the month of September.
Mkhuze has always been known
for its unpredictable and erratic rainfall. Rain falls mainly in the summer
months, separated by hot, dry periods. After
the Board regained control of the reserve in 1954, Singie's report for
December of that year records that Marula trees were dying from the drought,
whilst in October 1956 there were reports of serious washaways in the reserve.
Uncannily, Mqolosi Gumede, Induna of the game guards had predicted the floods
the previous month, when he had observed reedbuck on high ground. This, to
him, was a sure indication that there was soon going to be heavy rain.
The Nsumu Pan is today assured of a constant water supply as the Mkhuze
River flows directly into it and, hippo are now permanent residents in the
reserve, but this was not always the case. In the past, the arrival of these
animals and their subsequent departure would coincide with the periodic
flooding and drying up of the surface-water pans. The ability of hippos to
rapidly find new territories, when conditions are suitable, appears to be
uncanny. In January 1957, Singie reported that two hippos had made their
appearance in the Nhlonhlela and Delagufa Pans, moving from one pan to the
other as the mood suited them, very shortly after these pans had filled up.
Spoor had been found in the northern and southern areas of the reserve and it
was suspected that these animals had moved down from the Pongola River. This
was borne out by the fact that no spoor was seen in the eastern areas, which
might have indicated that the animals had come up from St Lucia. He expressed
the thought at the time that permanent water in the pans would attract the
animals to take up permanent residence, something which now, very happily, has
occurred.
Nineteen fifty-seven continued to be a very wet year. In his report for
October, Singie states that "on Friday, 27 September 1957, in the late
afternoon, the first of a series of floods arrived, with the Mkhuze River
rising about 22 feet and breaking its banks, completely submerging the
pumphouse pit. The cracking of breaking trees and other debris was almost
incessant".
An official party of visitors was expected to visit the reserve at this
time and tents to accommodate them had been ordered and erected in a campsite
that had been cleared in the western section of the reserve. By the afternoon
of the 27th, it became obvious that the visiting party would not arrive and,
owing to the rise of the river, Singie feared for the safety of the tents in
the campsite. Early the following morning he inspected the campsite again and
found that a stream of water 100 metres wide separated the tents from the
western entrance to the reserve. It was obvious that the visitors were not
going to be able to stay there. After wading through the water, it was
established that the tents were well above the watermark but they were
removed, dried as thoroughly as they could be and taken to Mkhuze station for
return to the suppliers. The railways refused to accept the tents due to the
collapse of the bridge over the Tugela River and they had to be stored at the
station. The tents were finally despatched after several days of delay.
The Mkhuze River again came down in flood and broke its banks on 1
October 1957. Singie reports that "the night of Wednesday 2 October 1957 was a
remarkable one. Thunder rolled in throughout the night and the lightening was
the most vivid and almost ceaseless that I have ever seen. Steady rain fell
the whole night and on the 3rd, at approximately 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon,
the well-known sound of swirling water could be heard from the house, this
being nothing out of the ordinary when the river is in full spate. Going out
at about 3:30 p.m. I found that the river had risen about 24 feet, not quite
reaching the level of the January floods".
" At 5:00 p.m., the whine of what was at first was
thought to be an aircraft landing, became audible in the Mkhuze Poort area. My
first thoughts were "what fool of a pilot would be flying around in such
heavy, low cloud. This peculiar whine increased in volume and suddenly, in the
distance, reports not dissimilar to the firing of a machine gun became audible
and increasing in volume. It then became obvious that the Mkhuze River was
coming down in a wall of water. We rushed to the river, but by the time we got
there the wall of water had already passed, but the sight that met our stunned
gaze is almost impossible to recount. The river was now a surging sea with
waves running 10 to 15 feet high and with what appeared to be a hollow in the
main streambed. Mqolosi's words of the 26th September "Nkosana enkulu
Ndambi" were no longer a prediction but a positive fact".
"At the pump house, the water was three feet deep
in the engine room and the Lister engine was completely submerged. We had
fears that the whole structure would collapse and wash away, but fortunately
this did not happen, although the roof of the pump house pit was found to be
entirely gone when the water subsided. Huge fig and fever trees had been torn
out by their roots and were being carried along down the river in an almost an
upright position by the pressure of the water".
"An amazing sight was the sudden glinting of
bright metal that occasionally made its appearance. This was the forerunner of
what must have constituted the loss of thousands of pounds to farmers living
along the banks of the Mkhuze River. The object seen was a 44-gallon drum -
the first of what seemed to be an almost ceaseless line of bobbing 44-gallon,
10-gallon and 4-gallon drums, all destined to be buried in the mud and debris
as they headed towards Lake St Lucia".
"One incident in this scene of loss and
destruction was amusing. A
single, very new 44-gallon drum had come to rest on a raft of debris and, as
it moved past us it was standing straight up and balancing in a remarkable
manner as it was swept downstream by the waves of water. Carcasses of
livestock in the form of cattle, donkeys, dogs, cats and poultry all told
their sad story of the loss of property and pets. Opposite the pumphouse the
river was estimated to be at least a mile wide. During the peak period of the
flood on 3 October, the local staff were very perturbed about the safety of
their families, but fortunately, except for the loss of personal belongings,
none were in anyway injured".
"The day following the flood revealed a pathetic
sight as I walked along the riverbank in the direction of the Nhlonhela Pan:
the riverbanks were lined with sugar cane and other debris. Many hundreds of
swarms of bees must have been destroyed in their hives in the hollow trees and
holes lining the riverbank. During this tour of inspection it was easy to pick
out the game which had been driven out of thickets and heavy bush bordering
the river. The floods affected the inyala in particular. The older cows stood
around disconsolately in ones and twos at varying intervals above the high
water mark, having possibly lost lambs in the rush of water. Bushbuck and
bushpigs were also in evidence. The remarkable thing that emerged from this
catastrophe was that the animals, in their bewilderment, seemed to have lost
their fear of man. It was possible to approach to within a few feet of them
before they moved away and then it was only for a few yards before they would
stop and gaze back to what was previously their home. One very large bushpig
male was not at all concerned by my approach, apparently assuming that no harm
would befall it".
"I only received one report of game actually seen
in distress and this was of an inyala bull, that had been seen drowning in the
waters of the Nhlonhlela Pan. It is feared however that large numbers of red
bush duiker have perished. A few days after the flood, vultures were active
all along the banks of the river, testifying to the loss of stock and game. No
doubt, crocodiles will have a royal feast".
"Africans living in the Mandhlazi Forest in Native
Reserve 13 were still in the treetops the following day and could be heard all
day and night calling for help, as the waters surged through the undergrowth.
Our pet poacher, Banoi Jobe lives in this Forest and may decide to move out if
he has survived the flood. The Nsumu pan rose to a level never before known
and was possibly 20 or 30 feet deep. The water is now receding slowly and it
is hoped that the birdlife will soon return".
"All vehicle tracks in the reserve have become
impassable and it soon became obvious that, as the river could not be forded,
the game guards would be wasting their time on patrols. They were all recalled
to headquarters to do essential road repairs and to clean out the pump well
and remove the Lister diesel water pump engine".
On the 22nd October 1957 the Mkhuze River came down in flood again and on
this occasion the walls of the pump pit collapsed and the roof of the pit was
washed away in the floods. Fortunately, the pumps were saved as they had been
removed for general overhauling after the first deluge. Singie goes on to
report that, due to the breakdown of the Lister engine, it was necessary to
cart water for domestic purposes from the Nhlonhlela stream in the western
section of the reserve. The water from the Mkhuze River had the consistency of
thick mud, had an unpleasant smell from rotting debris, and was completely
undrinkable. The guards from the Nsumu area also complained that the water
there was unpleasant, due to the rotting vegetation and grass. Almost 51/2
inches of rain were recorded in the reserve during October.
After all the rain at the end of 1957, it is hard to believe that by
August 1958, the reserve was again in the grip of a serious drought. During
the year, farmers to the west of Ukhombe Gorge had installed large pumps for
irrigation purposes. This act had a profound effect on the flow of water to
the reserve and was a contributory factor to the shortage of water that
followed.
Singie reported that the Marulas and Tree Wisterias had no flowers on
them at all, older impala females were aborting their calves and large numbers
of old blue wildebeest and impala were dying. A month later, heavy rains again
filled the Nsumu Pan but no sooner had this happened than the hot weather
started evaporating the surface water supplies, causing problems for the
animals.
In February 1959 Ranger Tony Pooley rescued an impala that had got itself
bogged down. When discovered, only its head was sticking out of the mud. In
May, game guards from the Gwambane camp reported a blue wildebeest bull
trapped under branches overhanging a puddle of mud in the Mkhuze Riverbed.
Tony accompanied the guards to the spot to see whether the animal could be
rescued, but gave up the idea on arriving at the scene. Although the animal
could hardly move in any direction, it was so enraged that there was a danger
that someone would be gored if it was released and it reluctantly had to be
shot. By August of 1959, the Nhlonhlela Pan was dry again and many animals
were caught in the black sticky mud on the base of the pan as they tried
desperately to reach the last few small pools of stagnant black water. Impala
and blue wildebeest carcasses were found caught in the mud of the drying pan,
as were numerous huge barbel, some of which weighed over 50 kg. This situation
was repeated in other areas of the reserve. Game Guard Mnyaisa Nyawo reported
in October 1959 that animals were trapped in the drying-out Nsumu Pan - the
following month the Mkhuze River came down in flood again.
Until fairly recently, the filling and drying up of Nsumu was a cycle
that occurred at regular intervals. Nsumu would fill up when the Umsunduzi and
Mkhuze Rivers came down in spate together. The swollen Mkhuze River would then
overflow into back channels and fill up the pan. This situation no longer
occurs. Early in the seventies, the course of the Mkhuze River changed and it
now flows directly into the Nsumu pan. There is now a permanent supply of
water in this section of the reserve. The shortage of surface water in other
areas of the reserve during very dry years Is, however, still a problem.
In December 1960, some months after my arrival in Mkhuze, I was
privileged to witness one of these miraculous fillings of the Nsumu Pan. Early
in that month we had been happily driving across the dusty pan floor in our
Landrovers and by the end of the month, the pan was full to the brim. We had
received a few days of very heavy rain towards the end of the month and water
started flowing into Nsumu pan on 30 December. When we were able to negotiate
the black, sticky mud to get around the reserve to check on the guard camps,
we were faced with a remarkable sight as we approached Nsumu. Where six days
previously there had been a dry dusty pan, there was now a huge lake of water
stretched out in front of us - what a welcome New Year's gift!
A solitary fish eagle, was an early arrival on the scene and was spotted
on 31 December, sitting in a fever tree on the banks of the pan- a day after
the pan had filled up. Hippos also soon discovered this new haven and the
Qakweni game guards reported seeing the spoor of a hippo which had crossed the
tourist road early in January 1961. My diary for the same month records seeing
them at Nsumu on the 29th of January, presumably having moved up from Lake St
Lucia. Before long, lesser flamingos and many pinkbacked pelicans had taken up
residence on the pan.
The cycle of rain and drought was soon to repeat itself. By December 1961
the reserve was again in the grip of a drought and was becoming very
overgrazed. The sparse rain that did fall was insufficient to
revive the grass but merely gave impetus to a species of primary ground
cover in the form of a yellow-flowering weed. Large areas of the over-grazed
western section of the reserve were covered with this weed which, although
very attractive to look at in its flowering state, was not utilised by either
the grazers or browsers.
In March 1962, Nsumu was drying up and hundreds of barbel, the largest of
which weighed in the region of 80kg, were again trapped in the pools of thick,
black mud which formed in the hollows as the pan dried out. The sight that
they presented was an amazing one. The pool contained a mass of writhing
bodies and a stone thrown into it would cause
a thrashing explosion of bodies. Some of our guards and labourers were anxious
to obtain a few of the fish to eat and we took them down to the pan, where
they waded into the treacle-like mud, armed with assegaais. Forming a line at
the end of the pool they waded through the pan, stabbing amongst the
frantically threshing fish as they went along. Quite a number of fish were
speared and loaded into our Landrovers to be taken back to headquarters for
staff rations. We did not have any qualms about removing them, as they
constituted only a small percentage of the hundreds trapped in the mud. On a
subsequent visit to the pan, I saw fish eagles, marabou storks, whiteheaded
and lappetfaced vultures all sitting around the perimeter of one of these mud
holes. They were so gorged on barbel that they could hardly take off as we
approached. Another casualty of the drought was a year-old black rhino that
had got itself bogged down in one of the smaller pans in the reserve - only
its skeleton was found.
Ever an area of contrast, the temperature in the reserve dropped suddenly
in August 1962 from 36\B0C to 21\B0C overnight. Being at the end of winter, when
food supplies were depleted and the animals generally in poor condition,
hundreds must have died during the cold snap. We managed to get some idea of
the mortality amongst the animals during a 16km foot patrol through the
Nhlabeni area when we came across the carcasses of 15 blue wildebeest, 5
impala, 1 warthog and one jackal which had died from the cold. This was a most
unusual occurrence and one which I had never experienced before, or since.
On 13 November 1962 I had a lucky escape from the elements. A freak
electrical storm that preceded a welcome summer thunderstorm, struck the
reserve. My personal motor car was usually parked in a makeshift reed and
thatch garage, which I had put up with the help of some labourers near my
squaredavel. The car was only used on the infrequent occasions when I left the
reserve on leave or periods of "time off". To keep the battery
charged I would have to make a point of taking the car for a drive in the
reserve occasionally. On this particular day, having taken my car out to
charge, I returned to Mantuma and as I was about to put my dusty car back in
its shelter, I decided to leave it next to my squaredavel to be washed.
Shortly after this the storm blew up. Sitting in my squaredavel, I watched the
storm develop. One particularly vicious bolt of lightening struck close to
where I was sitting and, as I looked out the window, I saw flames coming from
something that was well and truly ablaze. Then I heard Dawn Denyer shouting
desperately. Thinking that Singie's house had been struck, I rushed outside
only to find that it was my makeshift garage that received a direct hit and
was going up in flames. The fire was so severe that it was impossible to even
rescue two spare tyres that I had stored in the garage. The entire structure
was gutted within 15 minutes. Had I put my car away 30 minutes earlier, as
intended, it would have been completely destroyed.
The unseasonable rains that we experienced the following winter followed
this very hot summer. In July 1963, more than 350mm of rain fell in 24 hours,
causing a flash flood in the reserve. This exceptional storm caused the Mkhuze
River to rise even higher than it had in 1957, when a record flood level had
been recorded. The Nhlonhlela Stream turned into a raging torrent that cut the
entrance road in four places, washing away drainage pipes, and surface
hardening and preventing visitors in the camp from leaving, until temporary
repairs could be effected. The rain resulted in a full Umsunduzi River and
water again began flowing into the dry Nsumu Pan, filling it overnight. The
pan rose to such a height that it covered sections of the tourist road in its
vicinity. All surface pans, with the exception of Mbanyana Dam, which burst
its banks and lost all its water, were filled to capacity.
Hundreds of animals were trapped and drowned in the floodwaters, which
poured into the pan. A foot patrol around the periphery of the pan a few days
later revealed the extent of the disaster. During the course of our patrol we
counted the carcasses of 206 blue wildebeest, 42 impala, 31 inyala, 4 blue
duiker, 4 cane rats, 5 bushpigs, 5 reedbuck, 1 steenbok and 1 Cape polecat.
Whitebacked vultures sat in the larger trees around the pan for days. They
were so engorged that they could not cope with all the meat that was
available. For some days after the flood, all the birds did was peck out the
eyes of dead animals. We felt at the time that the animals that we had counted
were only a part of what we had lost and that many more had been swept down
the river towards Lake St. Lucia. In another section of the reserve, 59
carcasses were counted along a relatively short section of the river.
The Udisa guard camp, about a kilometre from the river, was washed out.
The guards and I made an attempt to salvage some of their possessions, but we
were forced to turn back when we were still some distance from their camp,
after wading through waist-deep water. On our way towards the guard camp I
noticed a number of vervet monkeys marooned in trees and one thorn tree
contained a large burrowing adder that had sought refuge in it. When we could
finally get to the camp and retrieve their waterlogged possessions, the guards
were moved to one of the higher camps. The most serious damage was again
caused to the pumphouse and pumping equipment. Although built of reinforced
concrete, the pump house could not withstand the enormous pressure of the
floodwaters and the three outside walls nearest the river collapsed inwards
like a pack of cards, onto the pumps. All three pumps were badly damaged and
it was only possible to remove them after the reinforced concrete had been
broken up and removed. A special trip had to be made to Mkhuze Village to buy
sledgehammers for the purpose. After the concrete had been removed, it was
possible to salvage pieces from all three pumps to reconstruct one of them and
get it working again. The whole operation of clearing and repairing the pumps
took two weeks, during which time we avoided bathing or showering, in order to
conserve the dwindling water supply in the reservoir. It was very much a case
of "water,
water all around, but not a drop to drink".
The exceptional rain did have its compensations however. Very little
poaching activity was recorded for the month, as no one could get in or out of
the reserve across the Mkhuze River and there was not much activity from the
mountainous western area of the reserve either. Presumably, the local
inhabitants were all too busy repairing the flood damage to their own homes
and lands. We were fortunate in obtaining a rowing boat from Peter Potter in
December 1963 and this was placed on Nsumu and so could venture out onto the
pan to explore this new water world at our leisure for the first time.
These extreme weather cycles appear to have largely abated now and
nothing has been recorded since then to touch the scorching temperatures
recorded by Ranger Gilbert Schutte in January 1972. The maximum temperature
for that month was 45\B0C, which continued for days on end, with the
"cold" water temperature being recorded at 33\B0C. Such were the
extremes of temperature under which the staff had to work at the time - who
said a ranger's life was one long holiday!
Amongst the many advantages of working as a ranger in the reserve in the
sixties were the many opportunities afforded us for interesting natural
history observations, which one would otherwise never have the good fortune of
observing as a casual visitor to the reserve. Much of our time in those years
was spent on fieldwork in the form of regular patrols with game guards on a
rotational basis. We would often camp out at a guard camp for two or three
nights and spend the days, and often the nights, patrolling with the guards.
Reading through the reports of rangers stationed in the reserve over the
years reveals the wealth of important and interesting information garnered
during the course of such routine foot and vehicle patrols. Recording
interesting natural history observations that we had seen was an essential
part of our monthly reports and made a rather mundane account of routine
duties that much more interesting to read. We often got a comment from Colonel
Vincent on a particularly interesting observation and the observations were
periodically gathered together and printed in the Board's scientific journal "The
Lammergeyer". A few of
the more interesting observations from Mkhuze, recorded during the 20-year
period, following the Board's resumption of its control of the reserve, are
recorded here for the reader's interest.
An impala ram in evening light
As early as November 1954, Singie Denyer, newly appointed to the staff of
the Board, could record that the first impala lambs were seen during the
month. Whitebacked vultures were
seen perched in treetops all over the reserve, waiting to pick up the dropped
placentas as the lambs were born. Impala lambs are generally born around the
month of November and in 1957 Relief Ranger Terry Oatley disturbed an Impala
doe giving birth. The doe managed to run off with her half-born lamb
protruding from her body, the head and front legs of which were clearly
visible. In January 1957 a baboon was seen catching a turtle at Bube pan and
another unusual recording for that month was the sighting of a serval, the
first such sighting to be made in the reserve.
Game Guard Khonjwayo Ndhlovu made another interesting observation
involving a blue wildebeest in October 1959. While on patrol in the reserve he
spotted one of these animals without horns. In Khonjwayo's many years of
service in the reserve, first as a member of the Nagana shooting team and
later as a game guard, this was only the second such animal that he had seen.
It is not only the larger and more spectacular of the animals and birds
of the reserve, that provide interesting natural history observations though,
but the smaller creatures and insects as well.
Singie could record, with an equal amount of enthusiasm, on how he had
seen the spoor and heard reports of lions roaring in the reserve as he could
on his observations on the emergence of Mahloboza flying ants, the larger
black female ants of which are also much sought after by baboons and monkeys.
An indication of the profusion of wildlife to be seen in the reserve
before the start of the extensive game control programme in 1963 is contained
in an entry in a ranger's report for July 1961. It is recorded that
approximately 8000 head of game was seen on a 23km drive along the tourist
roads in the reserve. The animals seen were mainly impala, blue wildebeest,
warthog, and inyala but also included two groups of 9 zebra and 31 kudu.
During the early sixties, blackbacked jackals were frequently heard at
night but were rarely seen by the staff during the course of their day or
night patrols. They were obviously quite plentiful though. When night shooting
started, they started becoming very bold and were frequently seen. One African
staff member had a narrow encounter with one of them. On the morning of 11 April 1962 Mvender Myeni reported to
Singie that the previous evening he had been asleep on his mat outside his
hut, as was his custom when it was very hot. Mvender was awakened by something
pulling at his grass sleeping mat and he was astounded to see a fully-grown
jackal trying to pull the mat from under him. As he jumped up, the jackal ran
off into the bush with his mat. Mvender gave chase but the jackal turned on
him and he made a hasty retreat back to the hut. The jackal though had made a
mistake. Mvender had laid a partially dried impala skin under his grass mat
and the scavenger, smelling the skin, had obviously mistaken the mat for the
skin. The mat was recovered the following morning in the bush some distance
from the hut and the facts of this story were confirmed from the tracks in the
sand when the incident was reported.
Singie commented at the time that " these animals are becoming more numerous than
ever and also more daring, as spoor is to be found throughout the compound and
in the clearings around our quarters. It is a great pity that these increases
in the jackal population are occurring, because of the inroads they will make
in the guineafowl and francolin population. Unlike the giant mongoose they do
not help in any way with the extermination of harvester termites, but how to
destroy them is another story".
During the same month a kill by an exceptionally large hyena was reported
from the Mavolovolo Valley near Headquarters. The hyena had killed a
fully-grown impala ram and, from the spoor around the carcass, it appeared
that jackals had assisted the hyena in making the kill. The spoor indicated
that 5 jackals had chased the impala from the south. When it had tried to
break back, it had been turned by a jackal, towards the concealed hyena, which
sprang forward and killed it. That teamwork had been used was quite evident
and easy to trace. There had been very heavy dew the night before, leaving all
the tracks plainly visible. The hyena was of exceptional size, judging from
the spoor marks and all that remained of the impala was the neck, head, and
portion of the shoulder. To add to the interest of the scene, when it was
first observed, two mature bateleur eagles, birds rarely seen in Mkhuze, were
cleaning up bits and pieces of meat and a slender mongoose ran off with its
tail elevated, at the approach of the rangers.
Another interesting incident involving a jackal followed on the shooting
of a blue wildebeest for staff rations, by one of the game guards in the early
sixties. The carcass was left covered with branches while the game guards went
to fetch Ranger John Tinley and his Landrover to transport it back to the
guard camp. When John arrived to load the carcass he found a group of vultures
sitting around it and discovered that a jackal had forced its way into the
carcass, through a cut which the guards had been made in the belly to degut
the animal, and could not get out. John had to cut the animal free, a rather
dangerous procedure as the animal was in a frenzy, snapping at him
continually. Once freed, it lost no time in running off and the wildebeest was
loaded and carted off to the camp.
During the four years that I was at Mkhuze I never saw a hyena, although
they were occasionally heard at night and their spoor and faeces were seen
during the course of patrols. Following the large-scale introduction of night
shooting in 1963, the position changed rapidly and there was a dramatic
increase in the number and boldness of both jackals and hyenas. The animals
would be attracted to the areas where night shooting was taking place and they
soon learnt to associate the sound of rifle fire with a free meal!
Within minutes of the first shots being fired, jackals would make an
appearance and as the shooting programme progressed, hyenas would start
appearing as well. By June 1964, hyenas and jackals were a common sight as
they followed the shooting vehicles around the reserve, waiting to feed on the
gutted innards of the animals which had been shot.
Ranger John Forrest recorded how bold these animals became. "On
16 June 1964, while passing the site where an impala had been shot some 20
minutes before, a very large hyena was disturbed eating the entrails of the
slain animal. The hyena ran into the bush and remained there, just out of
range of the spotlights. This was repeated 3 weeks later at almost the same
spot, but this time two hyenas were picked up in the spotlights. On three
other occasions a hyena was observed near where we were shooting, which I
deliberately tried to chase away. On every occasion the animal merely circled
the area where we were shooting, always remaining within the limits of the
spotlights and within a reasonable distance from the impala's guts. All
attempts to drive the hyenas away failed."
He also reported that on 7 July 1964, three impala were shot at 20h00 in
the Nhlonhlela area of the reserve. Two of the carcasses lay very close
together and the third about 10 metres away. The first two were degutted, with
the operation being accompanied by the normal amount of conversation, movement
and the shining of spotlights in all directions. The degutting took a maximum
of four minutes".
On turning their attention to the third carcass, John found it was gone!
Closer inspection revealed that it had been dragged away and a quick search
found a large hyena with the carcass some 80 metres from where the animal had
been shot. Chase was immediately given, using the vehicle. The hyena took hold
of the carcass on the underside of the chest and made off at a fast lope.
Because of the speed at which he was driving and the angle of approach, it was
difficult for John to observe whether the hyena was dragging the carcass
between its legs or on the far side of its body. Two facts were obvious
though; it showed a marked reluctance to let go of the carcass and the weight
and bulk of the carcass did not seem to be an impediment to its speed. John
reports that after covering a distance of approximately 200 metres, with the
vehicle hot on its tail, the hyena eventually dropped the carcass and swerved
off into the thick bush. The stomach of the carcass had already been well
eaten. The impala in question was a mature female of 90 - 120kg in weight. A
further hour was spent on impala control in the same area and during that time
a hyena was repeatedly seen near the vehicle, on one occasion calling
(howling) from a distance of not more than 30 metres.
It is interesting to note that the observations recorded above were all
made in three of the western areas in the reserve (Magebugane, Nhlonhlela and
Nhlabeni) and the hyenas obviously tended to favour the more open countryside.
Extensive shooting was being done in other areas of the reserve as well during
1964, but no hyenas were reported from those areas.
As a result of their association with humans during the night-shooting
activities, some of the reserve's hyenas lost their fear of humans and became
increasingly bold. Attracted by the smell of cooking meat, the animals started
frequenting the area around the hutted camp to scrounge bones and leftover
bits of meat. In 1965, one animal bolder than the rest entered the hutted camp
and chewed up one of the plastic taillights of a visitor's Mercedes Benz motor
car. Presumably, during the course of a "braai", the owner, having
enjoyed his meal, returned to his car for something, touched the area near the
lights with his fatty hands and left the scent of cooked meat on the car!
Ranger Adriaan Erasmus was the first to record in January 1963, another
animal's rather strange choice of diet. A large male baboon was seen wading
into Bube pan and pulling out waterlilies to eat the corms. Other visitors,
including the writer have since seen this sight. The animal must have
instinctively known that there were no crocodiles in the pan at the time,
otherwise it would not have ventured into it.
Perhaps one of the most unusual and mystifying natural history
observations made in the reserve during the sixties was Ranger Herman Bently's
sighting in October 1968 of a waterbuck male, about 300 metres from the Mpila
guard camp. This species was thought to have been absent from the reserve at
the time and where this lone animal had come from still remains a mystery.
Following the successful introduction of squarelipped rhinos to the
reserve in 1961, it was decided to reintroduce additional species of animals
to the reserve and also to revitalise the zebra population by introducing new
animals. In December 1964, following the decision to introduce giraffe into
the reserve the construction on the pens to hold the animals was started.
Senior Ranger Adriaan Erasmus and Senior Warden Norman Deane set off for the
Eastern Transvaal to record and survey all overhead obstructions and low
bridges, which might cause problems to the passage of the convoy that was to
carry the animals to Zululand. As with the earlier introduction of
squarelipped rhinos, this exercise too was bedevilled by a host of problems,
not the least of which was the weather.
The first consignment of giraffe destined for Mkhuze was only due to
arrive towards the middle of January 1965, after an initial allocation of
animals had been sent to the Umfolozi Game Reserve. On 6 January, at around
mid-day, Norman arrived in Mkhuze to report that the movement of the first
consignment of animals to Umfolozi was not going well and that it had been
decided to divert the convoy and off-load the animals in Mkhuze as soon as
possible.
This new development created immediate problems for the staff at Mkhuze,
as the off-loading ramp, which they were still in the process of constructing,
was not designed to accommodate the low-loading trucks being used to transport
this particular load of giraffes. All staff in the reserve was mustered to
assist with the completion of the pens and ramp. The last shovel of soil had
barely been thrown into place before the convoy, made up of two low-loaders
from the Roads Department; each containing 6 crates and one lorry carrying two
crates, arrived.
Five of the 14 giraffe were found to be dead on arrival and a sixth was
dying. It was vital to get the remaining animals out of their crates and into
the pens as soon as possible. The difficult task of off-loading the crates
started immediately. The big trucks had to be manoeuvred under the overhanging
branch of a large Marula tree to which a block and tackle had been attached.
Ropes were strung underneath crates, which then had to be lifted to allow the
low-loader to move away. A smaller lorry that was to ferry the crates to the
pens then took its place. A crate was lowered on to it and it was then
transported to the pens about 500 meters away. At the pens the crate was
manhandled off the lorry onto the loading ramp and positioned in front of the
gate to the pen, before the door of the crate was opened. Light drizzle added
to the Rangers' difficulties as this caused the low-loader to get bogged down
once or twice while manoeuvring to get under the block and tackle.
Off-loading took most of the night and by 03:30 the last of the giraffes
were in the pens. The surviving animals looked really tired and it was obvious
that they had had a very strenuous trip. One of the animals died during the
night and another died on the afternoon of the 8 January, leaving one bull and
five heifers.
The second convoy of giraffe destined for Umfolozi left the Eastern
Transvaal on 11 January but there were problems being experienced with this
consignment as well, with animals dying from stress. It too was diverted to
Mkhuze and only one of the four giraffes, a young bull, survived the trip and
was placed in the pen with the first six.
The giraffe settled down remarkable quickly after the stress of their
capture and translocation and two years later, in March 1967, the first
giraffe calf was born. This was followed shortly afterwards by the birth of a
second male calf which was given the name "Sikonkwana ohmide" (the
tall beacon peg), by the guards. By Aril 1970 the number of giraffe in the
reserve had increased to 20 and by 1979 the increase in numbers allowed for
the capture and movement of 5 giraffe out of the reserve. In November 1981, 10
more were caught at Mkhuze and sent to the Ndumu Game Reserve. What started
out as a rather sad and stressful saga had a happy ending!
Closely following on the arrival of the giraffe in the reserve, were the
cheetahs that were reintroduced. During the three-year period from August 1966
to September 1969 there were sporadic arrivals of cheetah from Umfolozi.
Cheetah enclosures and pens were built and completed in August 1966, shortly
before the arrival of the first animals. By July 1967 the first arrivals had
settled down well in the reserve and Ranger Mike Behr records seeing one of
them at Bube pan in July of that year. A further twelve cheetah were received
from Umfolozi on 23 April 1968 and they were kept in the pens until 8
September before they too were released into the reserve.
The animals had become so accustomed to their enclosure that, when the
time came for their release, they were most reluctant to leave it for the
unknown world outside.
The Rangers finally managed to chase 9 of the animals out but kept two
young animals in the pens, which were joined by 10 new arrivals in November
1968. In September 1969 additional cheetah were released into the reserve.
Occasional sightings of cheetah are still made in the reserve but they do not
appear to have settled down and increased to the extent expected. One would
have expected in an area with such a high density of impala and large
stretches of open country to hunt over, that their re-introduction would have
been more successful.
There were very few zebra in the reserve when I was there and the
population, perhaps of a result of inbreeding, appeared to have remained
static. Early in 1968 it was decided to introduce new blood into the zebra
herds and in June of that year 24 zebras arrived from the bomas in the
Hluhluwe Game Reserve. They were released near the Msinga pan. Unfortunately,
all the reintroduced stallions were lost when they wandered out of the reserve
and were killed, but the mares settled down well. In 1977 a further 10 animals
were transferred to Mkhuze and from that time on the species has steadily
increased, as testified by the number of zebras that visitors now see on their
game drives or coming down to drink at Msinga pan.
Even in the animal world, certain individual animals appear to have
identity crises and occasionally the staff of the reserve is privileged to
observe these variations in appearance or behaviour. Singie reported seeing an
impala lamb with an inyala doe and watched as the animal made two attempts to
suckle. The inyala doe had its own lamb in attendance at the time and,
unfortunately, the report does not say whether the impala's attempts to suckle
were successful.
In February 1963 Ranger John Dixon shot an impala female with straight,
underdeveloped horns. When examined, the sexual organs of this animal were
found to be very poorly developed. Ranger Robert Reid made another interesting
observation in March 1968, during the course of a patrol to the Nkazeni Pan.
As he and a game guard were sitting at the side of the pan they noticed a
monitor lizard stalking a baby crocodile lying at the water's edge. The
crocodile had caught a large bird by the neck. The bird was so covered in mud
and slime that it could unfortunately not be identified. The monitor was
disturbed at the approach of the rangers and made off at high speed but a
water terrapin immediately started harassing the crocodile. A slow chase began
along the water's edge as the terrapin pursued the crocodile. In desperation
the crocodile moved into the water in an effort to get away from it. Its
efforts were in vain though. All of a sudden there was a tremendous splash and
the small crocodile re-appeared minus the bird, which was presumably taken
either by a bigger crocodile or perhaps by one of the giant barbel that
inhabited the pan at the time.
The recent reintroduction of elephants to Mkhuze has returned, as
permanent residents, a species that has periodically visited the reserve over
a considerable period of time. In 1936 game guards in the reserve reported to
the Game Conservator, Zululand that from 5 to 7 elephants had visited the
reserve in December of that year, one of the largest groups ever to have been
recorded. Two years later, in 1938, elephants again visited the reserve and
Potter reported that "a small herd of elephants made their abode in the reserve during
the winter months, but by the end of the year they had trekked north to the
Portuguese border".
During 1946/47 when Nagana staff were engaged in pupa surveys and
operating their "bait" cattle on the Makatini Flats, a fairly clear
picture emerged regarding the seasonal movements of elephants from the
Portuguese border, south. The migration usually took place during February and
March, to coincide with the ripening of the Marula fruits. The elephants moved
from the Sihangwana area, which was their preferred habitat, down to Makani's
Pont and the Tete pans, then onto the Makatini Flats, skirting the Pondo bush
to the Mkhuze River and into the reserve. The animals would spend a day or two
in the reserve before travelling north again via Tshongwe, Manaba and the
Pelendaba Forest, back into the Sihangwana bush.
Despite the disturbance to which the area was subjected during the Nagana
shooting campaign and the later aerial spraying operations, it was only two
years after the Board resumed control of the area before 2 mature elephants
visited Mkhuze again. In his report for November and December 1956, Singie
records that "the event of the month within the reserve was undoubtedly the visit
of two male elephants, which entered the reserve during the early hours of 9
December. The spoor of one of the animals was noted shortly after 9a.m. on the
track to the river crossing. The animal had left huge footprints in the damp
soil and my wife and I tracked it to the Mtshopi area in the west, where we
had an excellent view of it as it stood silhouetted against the vivid young
green grass of the firebreak on the hillside. We watched the elephant for some
considerable time as it stood almost rocklike, with only the occasional flick
of the trunk".
"Later in the afternoon a second trip was made to
observe the animal, but it had moved off, crossing the main track and going in
a southerly direction. His tracks were lost in the Ndawana/Dagela area. On my
arrival home in the evening the guards reported the presence of a second
animal. The animal had rested only a few yards from the cattle kraal and,
strange to say, the cattle in the kraal at the time were not perturbed by the
presence of the animal".
"The first elephant made a circular trip through
the reserve, following the main track through the central portion of the
reserve northwards via the airstrip to the Gwambane area, where it joined up
with No 2. Here they spent the night in the heavy undergrowth before crossing
the river and heading back north in the early hours of the morning. They were
tracked to the Malobeni bush, midway from the reserve to the Tshongwe
store".
"It would appear that these animals had a
preconceived plan as to where they would meet again, after parting company at
the Mkhuze River drift on the 9th. The female remained in a particular spot
while the male made a circular trip of at least 45 miles, before meeting up
with her again. The puzzling factor is that all the time the animals were in
the reserve, there was a strong south wind blowing, precluding any possibility
of the scent of the female being wafted to the male or of it hearing any
trumpeting. Yet the male travelled unerringly to the spot where his mate
awaited him".
"An interesting observation regarding the visit of
these animals was the fact that their journey was made almost exclusively on
main roads and tracks. Their incoming route from the north was along the main
road from near Tshongwe store, to the Makatini turnoff, thence through the
Pondo bush on the track to Denyer's Drift. Here they parted company, the male
crossing the river at this point whilst the female crossed about 200 yards
further down stream. The male then followed the main track to Mtshopi, then
south to Ndunakazi, Ndawana and Dagela, east to Malalaleni thence north on the
control track right through to Gwambane. They fed entirely off Marula trees
and here again an interesting fact emerged - not a single male Marula tree was
sampled. In each and every case bearing trees were selected, even though the
fruit was still green. Only where these trees occurred near the track, would
the animals deviate from the track, when a large branch would be broken off,
carried along and stripped of leaves and fruit before being discarded".
Visits from these animals in the past have usually been in February or March,
when the Marula fruit ripens".
Further periodic visits from these animals followed from March 1957
through to 1960. There was then a break until December 1964, when they paid
another visit to the reserve. After that date the visits ceased as the animals
presumably came under pressure from the increasing activity on the Makatini
flats and they confined themselves to the Sihangwana area. Happily, the
reintroduction of 25 young elephants to the reserve in 1994 has now ensured a
safe haven for them for the foreseeable future.
Of equal interest as the appearance and disappearance of the elephants
were the periodic appearances of the "Mahloboza" flying ants - a
delicacy not only favoured by birds and small mammals but relished by the
residents of Tongaland as well. Occasionally these flying ants would emerge
from the soft ground for their mating flights. The Mahloboza termite males
would emerge first, in their hundreds and fly off, to be followed some time
later by the large black female termites. The females would make for the
branches of the Acacia trees, where the males would join them, and mating
would take place. Following the
mating, the females would fall to the ground and burrow into the soil, if they
could avoid the attention of baboons, vervet monkeys, birds ...and Man! This
delicacy is much sought after by the local inhabitants, both animal and human,
who relish them raw or, in the case of the local population, cooked. I had an
opportunity of trying them myself. Driving along with Khonjwayo one afternoon
we saw the large black female termites emerge from a small hole in the centre
of the jeep track. At Khonjwayo's insistence, I stopped and allowed him to
collect a small harvest of ants. He nipped off the fatty-looking abdomens of
the ants as they emerged and stuffed them into the pocket of his tunic. Later
that evening he fried them up and brought a few of them over to my squaredavel,
for me to try. They were fatty and crunchy, but something of an acquired
taste, I thought.
Animals of a different sort that made regular periodic visits to the
reserve until the early seventies, were lions.
Towards the end of 1918 and the beginning of 1919, Singie Denyer and a
party of friends toured northern Zululand, sightseeing, fishing, and shooting.
Their first contact with lions was when they were visiting Nxwala. They were
told at the time that lions were also to be found on the Zankhomfe Hill, in
the Hluhluwe Game Reserve and an old resident of Nxwala took them to a low
hill within the Mkhuze Game Reserve, known as "Dwala le Mbube". Here they saw several lions basking in the sun on the peculiar flat
stones of the area. The old native informed them that this was their favourite
sunning spot and that their favourite breeding place was in the Nduzeni bush,
close by. He also stated that he was employed by the Native Affairs Department
specifically to trap lions in the tribal lands.
Captain Potter's annual report for 1933 records that "lions
may frequently be heard (in Mkhuze) and their kills are much in evidence. I
have seen only one old male during the year. There is estimated to be from 10
- 15 of them in the reserve and now that they have been placed on the Royal
Game list, it is to be hoped that they will increase and become a source of
attraction to visitors". The
following year he reported that "two lion cubs and their parents were seen in the Mkhuze Game
Reserve recently and there may be 20 at the most in the reserve". Potter's
report for 1936 states that "no lions have been seen or heard in the reserve
for some months. It is thought that they either followed the wildebeest
outside the reserve in August or September and failed to return, or that they
have perished as a result of devouring arsenically poisoned game animals,
which are easy prey for lions". It is
not known why the animals suddenly disappeared and abandoned the safety of the
reserve, where there was presumably an adequate food supply. There was also no
reason for them to follow the blue wildebeest out of the reserve, but Potter
does record in his 1938 report that "6 lions are known to have returned to the reserve
from adjoining districts".
Sometime between 1936 and 1940, a lion male was shot in the Magut area,
to the north of the reserve. In 1941, shortly after the commencement of the
Nagana campaign, a report was received of a pride of three grown lions and two
cubs that had been seen in the south-eastern section of Mkhuze. The following
year the presence of these lions was confirmed and during 1943, Singie
received a report that some lions had been shot on the Makatini Flats, between
Mamfeni and the Mseleni Rubber Factory. He stated that this report co-incided
with the cessation of the yearly visits of lions to the reserve. This also
ties up with another report that, during the Nagana campaign, with its
accompanying disturbance, the remaining resident lions either left the reserve
or that the pilots doing the aerial spraying, may have shot them.
During the early months of 1948, Singie received a report from Nagana
staff working with bait cattle in the Mbanyana bush, that a lion had jumped
into the cattle kraal the night before and stampeded the cattle. The labourers
had managed to frighten the animal away by beating on pieces of galvanised
iron that had once formed the sides of Harris flytraps. Several days later two African women were confronted by a
male lion in the Msinga bush, but managed to get away. Singie went out
immediately with the guards and followed the spoor for some distance, before
losing it. During July of the same year, Singie was conducting Mr van Zyl, the
resident Native Affairs Commissioner at Ubombo, and his family around the
reserve, when they had an excellent view of a large male lion in the Bube
area. Some days later a report of a blue wildebeest kill in the Gwambane area
was received, which could possibly have been caused by the animal seen
previously.
During the latter part of 1952, Singie saw a very bedraggled male lion on
the edge of the Msinga bush, while he was returning to Mantuma from the
eastern section of the reserve: this was about 300 metres from the spot where
the African women had seen a lion in 1948. Because of the mass of inyala spoor
in the area, it was, unfortunately, not possible to follow the tracks. Singie
doubted that the animal would live for very long and that it would soon die in
the thickets next to the Mkhuze River.
There were no further sightings for four years, before Singie noted in
his monthly report that, on 26 November 1956, "lion spoor was reported about 200 yards from
Headquarters. The spoor was followed by game guards Khonjwayo and Silokaza to
the Msinga bush and thence to Mbunene". He goes
on to say that "on 30 November 1956, whilst returning from a patrol in the eastern
portion of the reserve, very fresh spoor was seen in the sand on the track
over the Gwambane hill. Whilst examining the spoor, the lion coughed not more
than 75 paces in the bush to the north. The bush was unfortunately too thick
for me to see the animal and, as I was unarmed, to follow would have been
foolhardy. The spoor and cough would point to this animal being a male. Spoor
has also been observed in the Bube area during the past month". This could possibly have been one of a pair of lions
previously reported from the vicinity of the Emseleni bridge.
Lions appeared again two years later in November 1958, when game guard
Mnyaisa Nyawu found a lion kill near the Nsumu guard camp. A year later, lions
were heard roaring near the Mtshopi guard camp on the 3rd and 5th of October
1959 and spoor was seen on the main road, about a mile from the camp. Game
Guard Magazine took Singie to a spot where an exceptionally large spoor,
obviously left by a large male, was imprinted in the middlemound of the main
track leading into the reserve. Where the animals had come from, or where they
subsequently disappeared to, could never be established, although it is was
surmised that they could have come from the Sihangwana area or Lower Mkhuze.
It is interesting to record that with the disappearance of the lions from
Mkhuze, most of the hyenas disappeared as well. Certainly, in the 4 years that
I was at Mkhuze, I never saw a hyena, although one would occasionally come
across their spoor and faeces.
Lions did not reappear in the reserve until 1969 and there was certainly
no sign of them during my four years in the reserve. On 14 July 1969 reports
were received of cattle that had been killed by 3 lions on farms in the Lower
Mkhuze area and the very next day a horse was killed inside the reserve at the
Mbanyana outpost area.
Complaints were being received that lions were regularly killing cattle
on farms adjoining the Nxwala State Lands and the staff was given permission
to destroy them with the proviso that they were not to be shot within the
boundaries of the game reserve. On the night of 2 August 1969 Senior Ranger
John Tinley and 3 rangers positioned themselves in a strategic spot on the
Nxwala State Lands and, using a staked out donkey as bait, awaited the arrival
of the lions. Close to midnight, three lions, all young males arrived at the
bait and the rangers shot one of them. The other two made off, but stayed in
the area for some considerable time, causing a lot of trouble on local cattle
farms, often killing up to 3 animals a night.
It was presumably an animal from the same pair which returned to the
reserve three months later in December and killed a horse and foal in the
stables at Mantuma. On this occasion permission was given by the Board to
destroy the animal inside the reserve, to prevent it wandering onto
neighbouring farms and causing further havoc.
The staff tried to track the animal during the day and again set up a
bait animal and waited for the lion to make an appearance at night, but with
less success than before. For three days in a row the rangers found signs of
where a lion had lain for most of the night and they were able to watch the
animal from a distance. The lion then left the area and made for Mbanyana, but
it remained as elusive as ever. Despite the rangers keeping a careful watch on
the Mbanyana horse for the next few nights, it failed to put in an appearance.
The first night that the staff decided not to sit up, the lion again
attempted to get at the horses at Mantuma, but failed. The bait donkey
tethered with the horses broke out of the stables and disappeared over the
river into African Reserve. A further attempt was made by rangers and guards
the following day to track the animal. These were unsuccessful, as the lion
had made for the heavy riverine bush in the Nyameni area. Here the rangers
found that the hapless animal had got itself caught in a snare and, from the
signs, appeared to have been snared for most of the night. Its desperate
thrashing around eventually managed to break the wire of the snare and it made
off. The trail from there on was easy to follow until it had to be abandoned
when it disappeared into really thick bush and the rangers and guards had to
crawl along on hands and knees. The next day the guards found the tracks
crossing the road in the Mahlala area and they were followed to the airstrip,
where they were lost.
Five months later, a single lion paid a return visit to the reserve, with
very unhappy consequences to itself. On 9 January 1970, guards from the Nsumu
guard camp reported to Ranger Willie Willox that a lion had been caught in a
snare near the Nkazeni waterhole and that the animal was still alive.
Collecting the Mbanyana guards to back him up, Ranger Willox armed himself
with a 30.06 rifle and went to investigate. As mentioned elsewhere, the 30.06
was generally an unsatisfactory firearm issued to field staff for game control
at the time, which was to be scrapped. It was certainly not the ideal weapon
with which to face an enraged and injured lion. In Willie's own words "I
secretly thought that the guards had been mistaken and that the animal could
possibly be a cheetah and not a lion. However, while cautiously approaching
the spot where the animal was said to be, the grunts and snarls which greeted
me were unmistakably - lion. I saw the animal and fired six shots, only one of
which hit the poor beast and downed it. I eventually managed to get up close
and give it a mercy shot, which killed it".
"The snare had eaten deep into the shoulder, a
truly horrible sight to see and not a good way for such a magnificent animal
to die. The snare had only two strands of wire left intact and another few
lunges would most likely have broken it, the consequences of which I don't
even like to think about".
Game guard Mahukwane Mlambo, Senior Ranger John Tinley,
Section Ranger Herman Bently and Cadet Ranger Douglas Woods photographed at
the carcass of the problem lion destroyed in February 1971.
No further reports of lions
in Mkhuze were recorded until February 1971 when another wandering animal made
an appearance in the reserve. Game guard Mahukwana Mlambo, Senior Ranger John
Tinley, Section Ranger Herman Bentley and Cadet Ranger Douglas Woods
successfully tracked the animal and reluctantly had to destroy it.
Due to the problems associated with fencing the reserve adequately
along the river boundary there is sadly very little possibility that this
species will be reintroduced in the foreseeable future. The lions of Mkhuze
have regrettably now passed into history!
Over the years some interesting snake stories have emerged from the
reserve and, in particular, encounters with the banded cobra, the dreaded "Mfezi", as it is known to the Zulus, have been legion and
regularly made an appearance in monthly reports. Two months after starting
with the Board in 1953, Singie records that "Rex, our terrier showed us a large cobra under
the hydrangea drums below our bedroom window - a real spitter. The snake was
destroyed". On the
afternoon of 24 November 1959, Dhlozi Sibiya and a companion were carrying
replacement waterpipes down to the pumphouse, to fit to the waterpump. As they
were walking along, a 2-metre long banded cobra suddenly emerged from the one
end of the pipe and wound itself around Dhlozi's neck and forearm. Dhlozi let
out a great yell and threw the pipe from his shoulder. As the snake had not
yet fully emerged from the pipe it went with it and this quick action no doubt
saved him from a nasty bite or venom in the eyes. Dhlozi's companion was
thrown to the ground by the rebounding pipe, but both of them wasted no time
in getting themselves out of the way as rapidly as possible. Dhlozi was very
shaken by the incident and it was quite a while before he could muster up the
courage to pick up the pipe again.
In 1961, Singie's cook, Mqubela Mabika, also had a narrow escape when an "Mfezi" spat into his face and a full spray of venom went into
one of his eyes, followed by less venom into the other eye and a quantity into
his mouth. Fortunately, Singie had a supply of fresh milk, which he got daily
from the few dairy cows that he kept and he could wash out Mabika's eyes,
before giving him an injection of anti-snakebite serum and taking him to the
Ubombo Hospital. Mabika's eyes were very inflamed and sore for some days.
Cobras appeared to have been especially prevalent around this time for
shortly after Mabika's incident Game Guard Khonjwayo Ndhlovu saw an "Mfezi" in the thatch above the door to his hut, but
despatched the snake before he had a similar experience. During the course of
one of my patrols near Msinga in 1961, I came across an inyala bull that
appeared to have been blinded by snake venom. The animal became aware of my
approach and stumbled off, crashing into trees and bushes as it went, Singie
recorded seeing something similar in December 1957.
In October 1961, Singie was driving down a narrow track outside the
reserve, on his way to Nibela to buy thatching grass for the new camp. A black
mamba, almost 3 metres in length reared up from the side of the track and
landed under the front wheels of the Landrover. The dead snake was found to
have been in the process of swallowing another mamba, slightly less than a
metre in length and it had already engorged about a third of the snake. Singie
had his own close encounter with a cobra in March 1963 and records in his
report for that month that "On the 19th, whilst supervising labour repairing the
drift at Mtsubile, I had a very unpleasant experience. My attention was drawn
to a large dung beetle, which was trying to force its way through a piece of
bark peeling off a dying tree. What struck me most was that the beetle
appeared to have a tail of over an inch. The sight amazed me for I had never
seen anything like this before. To
prove the point, I took a small stick and tickled the tail, which rapidly
disappeared with a grating sound. Looking up into the peeling bark, I looked
straight into the eyes of a banded cobra, which immediately spread its hood to
spit. Anticipating what was going to happen I dropped my head and the crown of
my bush hat took the full shot of the evicted poison. Needless to say, it did
not take me long to move backwards before a second discharge of venom was sent
out. The snake was despatched by a labourer and although only about 18"
in length, gave a good spray of poison. I have since wondered whether the
snake was a male or a female - most probably a male, objecting to having its
tail tickled!"
I had my own narrow brush with one of these reptiles shortly before this
when I went to my car parked in its reed garage and disturbed a cobra. The
snake was lying on one of the saplings, used as a crosspiece to secure the
reeds of the walls. We were both taken by surprise and, fortunately for me,
the snake did not spit but made off rapidly through the reeds, while I headed
in the opposite direction equally rapidly.
Ranger Graham Thompson reports on a narrow encounter he had with a mamba
in October 1970. "Whilst on a patrol in the Delagufa area, I was walking along a
narrow game track, covered with long Themeda grass. The morning was already
hot, and we had been walking for some hours in search of an injured black
rhino that was reported to have been terrorising the local inhabitants. We had
met with little success: all the spoor was old and windswept and the many dung
heaps common to the area seemed unused".
"My small boxer dog, Thumbi, trotted confidently
ahead, one ear cocked, a red tongue hanging loosely and her short, stumpy tail
wagging in rhythm with her pace. As we walked along I reflected on the many
experiences we had shared and how close this companionship had brought
us".
"Suddenly a deep growl cut across my thoughts and
I found Thumbi trembling and whimpering uncontrollably at my feet. Puzzled and
concerned I looked around quickly and, to my horror, not three paces in front
of me, was a mamba close to 8 feet in length. It rose slowly out of the matted
grass, its hood flayed, its small darting eyes watching us intently. Its long,
forked tongue flicked in and out of its mouth and I realised that to move
could well prove fatal at this close range. We stayed like that for some
minutes, perhaps seconds, I could not really be the judge of time and then,
slowly, almost in distaste, the snake lowered its head and was gone amidst a
rustle of grass. I looked down at the small brown form close to my feet...she
seemed almost indignant at the intrusion. I bent down and gave her a small
very thankful pat on the head".
Perhaps some of the most interesting encounters the staff has had
involving snakes, have been with the pythons of the reserve. In January 1958,
Game Guard Zifo Mlambo came across a python in the act of swallowing an impala
lamb. As the guard approached, the snake disgorged its meal and made off. I
had my own interesting experience with a python and its meal. In 1962, whilst
on patrol in the Msinga sand Forest, I saw something white in a tree about 30
metres ahead of me. Approaching cautiously, I found that what had attracted my
attention was a dove that had been caught by a huge python. It could not have
been much of a meal for the huge reptile but, ever opportunistic, it had
nevertheless caught the bird. I returned to the camp as rapidly as I could to
collect my camera as I was very anxious to get a photograph of the scene, but
unfortunately by the time I got back, the snake, although still in the tree,
had dropped the dove. I took a picture of the python and then watched with
interest as the snake doubled back up the trunk of the tree and disappeared
down the hollow end of a large broken-off branch.
In January 1958, Singie reported that Game Guard Zifo Mlambo had
discovered a python that had been killed by a honey badger. After killing the
snake, the badger had eaten the fat along the python's back and severed the
head. This was the second occurrence of a honey badger catching and killing a
python in the reserve, as Singie had witnessed a similar incident some years
earlier, during the Nagana campaign.
On another occasion, Ranger John Dixon captured a three metre long python
at Bube pan in order to weigh it. The reptile was placed in a hessian sack and
left in his Landrover overnight. To our consternation we found the snake
curled around the gear lever and steering column the following morning. It had
managed to the escape from the sack during the night to drape itself around
the interior of the vehicle. John recaptured the snake with difficulty and
moved it to another part of the reserve.
The stories recorded here are just a few of the many interesting experiences recorded in monthly reports, that the staff of Mkhuze have had with the wildlife of the reserve. These were all recorded in their monthly reports submitted to Head Office from 1953 to 1975. After this time the style of the monthly reports from rangers was changed and they moved away from personal reminiscences to more structured and formalised reporting - I think that this was a great pity. However, there remains a wealth of untold natural history material contained in the KZN Conservation Service, recorded in reports submitted by the many rangers that served in the reserve in those early days and this material would make fascinating reading if it could be gathered, edited and published