Deteema Springs Wildlife Stories September 2026
Weather Report
September at Deteema Springs Camp featured incredible weather for wildlife spotting. Early mornings and evenings were cool, perfect for spotting predators on the hunt, while midday heat drove animals to the few remaining water sources in Hwange National Park.
We didn't expect the sprinkling of rain, but the reprieve from the heat and the smell of fresh rain was a welcome addition to a month of epic wildlife sightings.
Before You Go
What do you do for the guest who has seen almost everything? Look for what they haven’t seen. In this case, it was a leopard. After a lovely sundowner, we were on our way back to camp when a beautiful leopard crossed the road in front of us. Our guest was too stunned to take out his camera to take pictures. All we could do was marvel at one of Mother Nature’s most mesmerising and ferocious creatures.
Wash It Down
After a successful morning game drive where we saw lions and a leopard, we were ecstatic to end the morning’s fun there. Little did we know Mother Nature had other plans for us.
We were right in front of camp when we saw four African wild dogs drinking from the spring beside it. Judging by their bloody fur, we thought they had just finished eating an impala and came to wash it down with some refreshing water. We watched them for about 30 minutes before they left, looking for a cool place to rest.
What’s For Lunch
On our way back from picking up a guest from our airstrip, we saw a massive herd of buffalo only a kilometre away from camp. We stopped to watch the massive creatures when we noticed three lionesses stalking the herd. The three predators tried to single out and catch one of them, but their sheer size and numbers allowed them to stand their ground and scare them off.
However, the lions weren’t gonna let that stop them. All they did was shift their attention to a herd of impala hidden behind a thicket of bushes. The lions disappeared behind the bushes, later, we heard an impala scream from behind the bushes. As we lamented over not being able to follow the lions into the bushes, one of the lionesses appeared and crossed the road with the impala’s head in her mouth!
Early Morning Munch
Early in the morning, at around 4 am we heard baboons calling and shouting close to camp. We immediately woke up and went to investigate the cause of the commotion, that's when we saw that a pride of 17 lions had hunted and killed two baboons close to one of our tents.
By the time we had arrived, the pride had finished eating everything except the head of one of the unfortunate baboons.
September was another great month for wildlife sightings in Hwange National Park. Come back soon for another Deteema Springs Wildlife Story.
Until next time,
Julius
Deteema Springs Camp
