Africa Wild

Montrose Waterhole:

Montrose is the 3rd waterhole north of the lower dune road in the Aoub river.

How to get there: Head to these coordinates 26°04'38.7"S 20°27'47.3"E. https://www.google.com/maps/place/26%C2 ... :0x0?hl=en


What is the meaning of the name: It is a Scottish name, but why this particular waterhole is called Montrose I do not know.

Reasons to visit Montrose waterhole:
It is perfect for early morning or late evening game viewing from either Urikaruus or KielieKrankie. Since it is quite far from both Mata Mata and TR the majority of park visitors will have departed leaving you to enjoy the area with just a handful of other guests. Having said that, it does provide excellent sightings throughout the day, both of the large carnivores as well as small creatures like mongooses along the calcrete. In my experience, I have also found it a popular waterhole for secretary birds and vultures.

Montorse falls pretty much at the centre of the Miera's territory (the resident female leopard). She inherited this area from her mother Khomani when she disappeared sometime at the start of 2012.

Seeing as I have an interest in leopards here are a few photos of a sighting of Miera at her waterhole on 11th November 2011 at 7am:

Resting in the tree a few metres away on the right hand side of the road about 50m north of the Montrose WH sign.



She then moved to the waterhole to drink before being chased up the nearest tree by approaching lions.

So still with the large carnivores.
On the 8th December 2012 we were lucky enough to witness a chase and fight between two groups of lions.
We were driving south and came across the two big collared male lions, Vetsak and Sidey, lying down just north of Montrose. They were fast asleep under a tree so we drove on.
Just after Montrose we then bumped into 2 male and 2 female lions walking purposefully up the road. We took a couple of photos from the middle of the riverbed by the tree that you can drive around just south of Montrose (a good spot for clear photos).



It was pretty obvious what was about to unfold, Vetsak and Sidey were in for a rude awakening!!
We turned around and headed back to the sleeping pair and waited for the team to arrive. Sure enough, a few minutes later they jogged up the bank and got a downhill start on the unsuspecting two. Vetsak and Sidey quickly jumped up and ran for their lives!


After running a few hundred metres Sidey made it up the bank and left his friend to deal with the 4!



Stupidly Sidey decided that he would return to the river bed to find out what was happening. He started calling and the chasing 4 diverted back towards him. After another brief run the two chasing males caught up with him and there was a short stand off with plenty of snarling before they attacked in tag team fashion!



After a few flurries there was a brief stand off before the females started arriving and totally surrounded him!



When the 2nd female (obviously the boss) arrived she didn't even break her stride before diving right in and attacking the intruding male. This prompted the others to join in as well. Lions were rolling everywhere!





During the fight one of the chasing males got hit on the nose and wasn't too happy. He walked off to the nearest tree to lie down. The others shortly followed and gave Sidey a break. He walked over to us and lay down near the car. When he got up and walked up the calcrete the others promptly got up and followed him. This is where the sighting ended. We weren't sure if they were going to kill him or just chase him away.

We heard a few days later that both Vetsak and Sidey had survived but had been well and truly ousted from the river bed.

Miera

So, I got a Miera capture as well

25/04/2011

and what a capture!

Only lion and leopard there?

and Hyenas



Miera 30.9.2012

That leopard is quite brave!

Fat hyena resting