Posted February 4, 2026 in All
Animals
Game Counts
Again no game count done in December, although the babies had started to appear there were not many so not sure the figures would have been that different. Hopefully January 2026 will give us a good idea of what babies were born over the Christmas period. We have definitely seen a reduction in animals at the beginning of the year, probably due to the increased leopard population which has made an impact.
| Jan 2025 | Feb 2025 | Mar 2025 | Apr 2025 | May 2025 | Jun 2025 |
| 1,878 | 1,654 | 1,241 | 1,209 | 1,248 | 1,246 |
| Jul 2025 | Aug 2025 | Sep 2025 | Oct 2025 | Nov 2025 | Dec 2025 |
| 1,070 | 1,322 | 1,384 | 1,579 | 1,501 | Not Done |
| Jan 2024 | Feb 2024 | Mar 2024 | Apr 2024 | May 2024 | Jun 2024 |
| 2,235 | 1,682 | 1,585 | 1,621 | 1,600 | 1,502 |
| Jun 2024 (2nd count) | Jul 2024 | Aug 2024 | Sep 2024 | Oct 2024 | Nov 2024 |
| 1,359 | 1,412 | 1,239 | 1,476 | 1,296 | 1,584 |
The key animal events in 2025 were:
- We culled 56 animals for the cheetah and baiting the leopard and lost 35 animals that we know of to predation.
- We lost a further 11 animals to poaching.
- We brought in 32 blesbok. It was supposed to be 200, but the capture companies could not source, so hopefully 2026 will be different. We also cancelled our order for mountain reedbuck as the cheetah decided this was their favourite food – it’s an expensive treat for them!
- 4 juvenile giraffe / 8 male kudu / 1 waterbuck male / 55 wildebeest / 102 zebra left. A total of 170 animals.
| Species | Dec 2021 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2023 | Nov 2024 | Nov 2025 | Highest number recorded this year | Maximum Carrying Capacity |
| Blesbok | 59 | 88 | 44 | 59 | 41 | 63 | 1,416 |
| Buffalo | 0 | 0 | 14 | 30 | 32 | 32 | 189 |
| Common Reedbuck | 11 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 944 |
| Duiker | 11 | 12 | 33 | 15 | 3 | 21 | 189 |
| Eland | 14 | 124 | 112 | 72 | 51 | 96 | 103* |
| Giraffe | 41 | 38 | 40 | 40 | 35 | 59 | 19 |
| Impala | 380 | 465 | 360 | 304 | 252 | 400 | 708 |
| Kudu | 459 | 561 | 323 | 193 | 250 | 250 | 189 |
| Mountain Reedbuck | 10 | 23 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 189 |
| Nyala | 73 | 75 | 50 | 56 | 60 | 60 | 283 |
| Red Hartebeest | 78 | 73 | 57 | 13 | 33 | 38 | 567 |
| Warthog | 306 | 344 | 212 | 254 | 213 | 324 | 227 |
| Waterbuck | 47 | 66 | 66 | 40 | 51 | 54 | 142 |
| Wildebeest | 292 | 269 | 351 | 185 | 140 | 296 | 567 |
| Zebra | 337 | 481 | 551 | 303 | 331 | 364 | 567 |
| Total | 2,118 | 2,632 | 2,226 | 1,584 | 1,501 | 2,589 |
We are over in giraffe, kudu, eland (we have more than this now) and warthog. Plans for 2026 included a take off of all these species apart from warthog – they make excellent bait and prey for the predators. We are of course hoping to bring more buffalo to improve the vegetation and blesbok as the cheapest prey species – hopefully this will reduce the impact on our more higher value animals that we can take off.
Top Events
We were overjoyed to finally receive our cheetah after all the hard work in getting to this stage. Ashia our only female has been doing very well roaming the reserve but she does have her favourite spots which can be quite a challenge getting to, and despite meeting up briefly with Duma, she was not in the mood for any romance. We lost Tswalu just a few days before release to unknown causes and Balula who joined us with his broken foot arrived within a matter of weeks after Tswalu’s passing. We were very focused on getting him better and ensuring that he could be released eventually on to the reserve. We couldn’t have had a successful release with out the intern programme putting in hours of feeding and getting him moving around the boma. Then of course we lost Duma on Christmas Day to a leopard kill.
Leopard capture was an amazing experience removing 4 from the reserve and plans to remove more in 2026 – we are getting good at baiting and caging this beautiful animal. All leopards removed are creating a founder population at another reserve and are all doing very well with the last report that the female had had cubs!
New species recorded for this year include:
Mammals – Cheetah / Little free-tailed bat / Egyptian free tailed bats
Birds – Dwarf bittern / Lesser moorhen / African jacana
Mortalities
Carcasses found natural / Predator kill
| Impala | 14 | Kudu | 1 | Zebra | 5 | Cheetah | 1 |
| Wildebeest | 7 | Waterhog | 4 | Giraffe | 1 | Serval | 1 |
| Waterbuck | 1 | Common Reedbuck | 1 | Mountain Reedbuck | 1 |
Other News from 2025
| January | – Ashia arrives. – African jacana & Lesser moorhen new birds recorded. |
| February | – Ashia released onto reserve. – Started to bait for leopard capture. |
| April | – Found a serval killed by a leopard. – We captured a female and male leopard who were transferred to another reserve. Durban Natural Science Museum came and recorded 2 new bat species for us. |
| May | – 2 male cheetahs arrived; who knew we would lose them the same year! – Game capture removed 102 zebra and 55 wildebeest. – 55 blue cranes visited the Ryefield – a record for us. |
| June | – 2 new buffalo babies born. – Started to bond the 2 male cheetah. – Game capture removed 8 male kudu and 1 male waterbuck. |
| July | – Leopards becoming a common sighting around the Aloe Cottage. – The 2 male cheetahs start to interact. |
| August | – Tswalu died of unknown causes. – Released Duma on to the reserve. |
| September | – Spotted eagle owl was back on her nest. – Balula joined us from Babanango with a broken foot, a week later the vet came out to change his dressings. – Caught another leopard, but this one escaped the cage and the cage needed repairing! |
| October | – Repopulated some of the dams with the 119 fish. – Changed Ashia’s collar as hers became faulty. – Balula had his dressings changed again as they started to rub on his leg. – Rickus made a house call locally to remove a monitor lizard and rehome on UmPhafa. – Duma & Ashia met for the first time but there was no romance! – Captured another female and male leopard and they were transported to another reserve. – 32 blesbok were delivered. – Serviced the bees and harvested 12 jars of honey. |
| November | – Released Balula on to the Reserve – Gerald a professional beekeeper approached us about placing more hives on UmPhafa, we agreed. |
| December | – Looked after and released 2 jackal buzzards from FreeMe Wild. – Duma & Balula met for the first time, after a few days Duma moved to another side of the reserve where he was killed by a leopard. – Giraffe capture – 2 males and 2 females went to new homes. – Another buffalo baby recorded. |
Rain
2025 saw a good amount of rain. Elworthy’s total was 1,124mm, whereas Mark’s side was 1,147mm. The best months for rain were January and December this year. The dams are looking much better and we hope the upward trend continues into 2026.
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| 867 | 740 | 319 | 770 | 845 | 733 |
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| 564 | 618 | 543 | 547 | 534 | 477 |
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| 461 | 707 | 776 | 728 | 833 | 852 |
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | ||
| 1,212 | 902 | 756 | 1,124 |
Security / Poaching
Based on last year’s figures, we have seen a reduction of 37% in poachers being inside the reserve. (This is where we have found human tracks with or without dog tracks). The reduction could be based on a number of factors – increased numbers of cameras, aerial patrols and the latter end of the year joining the Police Forum.
In Q2 we lost 35 standards and the fence was stolen in Q4 on 2 separate occasions – unfortunately despite reporting it to the Police, no suspects were found. It was after this event that we decided to join the Community Police Forum who work closely with Police and Community leaders – once it was known we had joined this group, this incursions stopped abruptly. In December, our usually busy period for incursions – none were reported!
Q1 was when we found our most random poacher sitting in broad daylight with a fire going and skinning a porcupine, he was arrested for trespass and sentenced to 6 months in prison.
In February, we were joined by a company called Savsim, based in the UK, who came and assisted us in improving the health and skills of our Field Rangers. It was a great 2 weeks for the Rangers and Alan who will be coming to do a follow up in 2026.
Interns
We hosted 48 Interns at Sully this year, which included groups from Writtle, Suffolk and East Coast University. We recruited a new Student Intern, Ethan, who completed his Nature Diploma certificate with us over the year.
It’s been a very positive and busy year for our Interns. Highlights include looking after the cheetah’s in the Boma and subsequently seeing their release on to the reserve as well as helping to change Balula’s dressings and Ashia’s collar. Game capture is always a great experience but this year the Interns got to see leopard capture up close and personal.
One of our Interns published a paper on the African red toad.
We hosted a 3 day placement for a student who wanted to experience the Bush and decide if it was the career for them. At just 16, her Mum & Dad also joined her for the experience.
We were joined by the Durban museum to do some research on the small mammals in the area and they helped us to ID 2 new bat species for the reserve and we were also joined by a landscaper who was doing work on his PHD in erosion management.
The intern shop continues to do well with all proceeds going to the Field Rangers and purchase of camera traps – this year we bought 4 new camera traps so we now have 14 in the field.
The interns befriended 2 baboon spiders who decided Sully House was their new home – they called them Patrick & Patricia!
The sad news in 2025 was that we lost Tiny, the intern cat at just 15 years young. She spent several years being the highlight and comfort for many Interns. Although we couldn’t replace Tiny we did bring in Mouse & Zama – 2 black kittens – a brother and sister that have created havoc in the intern house but are giving as much delight as Tiny did.
