20 October 2015
Today we left
for a different camp and after loading luggage we set off, aiming to maximize
our chances, by spending most off the day driving alongside the river.
Early on we
encountered 1 hyena on the prowl, we watched it for a few minutes,
sniffing around along the road before heading out of sight into the bush. After
that, it was fairly quiet sightings wise for an hour or so, until we were
alerted to the presence of a pride of lions, about 8km onto a nearby dirt road.
We turned that
direction hoping to find them and did so, finding 4 large black-manned males
and 5 females, lying mostly in the open as there was some wispy cloud cover.
Some of them were lying bellies up and judging by the size, it looked like they
had recently eaten. As we sat watching, the sun came through in earnest and we
saw them get up one by one and slowly walk deeper into the bush, looking for
shady spots.
Leaving the
sighting we tried making up some time as, by that time we were running quite
late for breakfast; however we spotted a leopard coming up from the riverbed,
on her way to cross the road. We stopped and gave her enough space to not feel
nervous about our presence. She stood on the road verge for some time looking
around, making sure that the coast was clear, before casually crossing the road
in front of our vehicle, a magnificent adult female, who I thought must
have cubs in the vicinity, as she had swollen mammary glands and was very alert
and purposeful in her movements. We watched until we lost sight of her along
the pathway she was travelling.
Late in the day
we also had a sighting of a pack of Wild dogs sleeping under a shady tree in a
clearing as it turned out being a very successful day indeed for predator
sightings!
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