On Safari With Gert 19 October 2015

19 October 2015

An early start, we left camp at 5:30 this morning and were rewarded very shortly after, when we encountered 12 Wild dog pups of around 8 months old, running along the road! They then decided to settle down, right in the middle of the road and entertained us with their antics, being playful as only puppies can be. They chased each other, jumping on each other and rolling around while also reacting to every little sound originating from the bush as they were most likely awaiting the call from the adults, who might have been out hunting, as the pups would definitely be part of a larger pack. Interestingly enough they had no issues with the vehicles that had to pass them while they were lying in the road and were not even bothered to move out the way... At one point they all jumped up and ran some way into the thicket, only to return to the road a few meters further on and getting comfortable again, this time in a clearing on the side of the road, a brilliant start to our day...

Our next highlight of the day came when we saw a large female elephant with what we thought were two of her offspring. On closer inspection though, we realized that she had a third youngster with her, hidden underneath her belly, we could just catch the odd glimpse of it through her legs as she was doing her best to hide it from us.

This baby was probably only a couple of  days old judging by the pink behind the ears‎ and the unsteady movements. Try as we might to get a better view, the mom made sure that she kept it well hidden between her legs and behind thickets for us! 

 We encountered a few more elephant herds as well as some very large buffalo bulls along the way before we saw a Spotted Hyena on a rock in the riverbed before returning to camp for breakfast. 

After breakfast we visited a local hide and saw a few hippos close up as well as a crocodile on the bank. We also watched a Pied Kingfisher which had caught a frog in the shallows beat the frog against a branch to subdue it's prey before swallowing it!

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Our guests then went on a Sunset drive and added a quick sightings of a leopard to their list for the day!

What may very well be the highlight of the day, however, came after dinner while walking back from the restaurant, when we encountered a very large Porcupine making its way through the huts, a very special sight indeed!