South African National Parks Announces Successful Completion Of 1st Phase Of Rhino Translocation

Following a meeting of the Board of South African National Parks (SANParks), held on Wednesday, 26th November 2014, SANParks has announced the successful completion of the first phase of the Strategic Rhino Translocation Programme. 

In terms of this Programme a number of rhino are being moved out ofpoaching hotspots in the Kruger National Park to safer destinations either inside the Park or outside the Park. The focus of the first phase has been on the capture and translocation of rhino from areas of high poaching activity to the safer areas within the Kruger National Park. These are areas where an additional deployment of resources and technology provides a more secure environment for the rhino.

A total of 29 rhino have been moved in the course of October and November from the hotspots into safer areas within the Kruger National Park. Of these 17 have been fitted with tracking devices and have been successfully tracked subsequent to their release. Based on observations through the monitoring programme it has been reported that the translocated rhino have integrated well with the resident populations in the areas to which they have been moved. It has been further reported that none of the rhino translocated have thus far been poached.

According to Mr Kuseni Dlamini, Chairperson of the SANParks Board, “It is early days, but our initial reports are that the rhino translocated within the Kruger National Park are safe and have settled well. As one element among others in our multi-faceted strategy to combat rhino poaching, we are greatly encouraged by the initial outcomes. The capture and translocation of these rhino went off without a hitch, and we would like to congratulate our game capture team for the professional manner in which they have conducted this operation”.

Apart from those rhino moved within the Kruger National Park, there have also been a number of rhino moved to other national parks and reserves, where better security can be provided. This aspect of the programme is on-going and further animals will be moved in the course of 2015. Through moving rhino to protected areas in other parts of the country, SANParks is supporting the establishment and growth of viable rhino populations in a number of protected areas apart from the Kruger National Park.

The rhino sales component of the programme is also at an advanced stage. The sale of rhino from the Kruger National Park has been initiated with a call for bids having been placed in the national media. Upon closure of the time frame for bids on 15 October 2014, a total number of twenty (20) bid proposals plus two (02) late bids were received. A screening of the received proposals in line with the advertised bid mandatory requirements has been concluded. The Bid Evaluation Committee has completed the Best Price Principle Assessment. The bid process is still under the technical evaluation phase, including site evaluations, but an outcome is expected in the near future. The sale of rhino by SANParks to private landowners, who comply with all security and habitat requirements, is part of the overall strategy to support the growth of viable populations in a range of areas in order to provide a basis for securing the protection and growth of the rhino meta-population in Southern Africa.

Issued by:
South African National Parks Corporate Communications

On Safari With Robbie from 17 November 2014

17 November 2014

This afternoons safari was what dreams were made of! We encountered a mating pair of lions right next to us who were nearly disturbed by a herd of 80 odd elephants. We found three cheetah walking parallel to us and stalking impala. On route back to camp we came across no less than four huge breeding herds of elephants and six white rhino sightings. On camp road we saw 7 kudu bulls together and a herd of 200 odd buffalo. It was simply fantastic as one guest said “way better than any National Geographic she has seen”.

18 November 2014

Today my two extremely happy guests left with the biggest smiles I have ever seen!!!

19 November 2014

My new guests arrived and immediately we left on our drive where we had some interesting sightings.

We set out on a long drive and on route to mestel dam we came across lovely sightings of kudu, waterbuck and zebras. At the dam itself we were treated to 5 elephant bulls swimming and playing. Suddenly the breeding herd arrived and I saw the matriarch pulling them to a nearby mud bathing area which I headed to. Here we witnessed one of the most fantastic sightings of the whole herd mud bathing together. The noise alone was something else.. trumpeting, screeching and shouting! The swimming bulls came to have a look at what was going on but the matriarch wouldn’t allow them into the mud bath frenzy so they just stood and watched!

We left the sighting with amazing photos and headed up napi where we encountered many more sightings of elephants.

After lunch we came across more stunning sightings of elephants swimming as well as 2 cheetah in the middle of the road, we watched them for 20min. then to top the day off we ended with a herd of over 300 buffalo.

20 November 2014 

Today we had great sightings of lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo as well as general game!

21 November 2014

Today was astounding as we saw 3/5 of the big 5 including a elephant road block! Mark then informed me of some wild dogs by boulders so I took a chance and headed out that way.. with some nervous anticipation! Sure as nuts they were there.. all 21 of them on the road, scent marking, playing and heads up. We observed the dogs for half an hour and then proceeded on! On boulders we got a herd of 200 buffalo. 4km before transport dam we got a huge male leopard on the road! On transport we got some lions in the distance .

This group had seen the magnificent 7 in 2 days.. truly amazing!!

Arriving in the rain with new guests we experienced and incredible electric storm which fascinated the guests. Despite the weather we saw some excellent buffalo, giraffe, zebra and elephant.

22 November 2014

Setting out early this morning we were in for a huge surprise as we got the big 5 in 1 hour an 10 min. the lions were incredible as they were a mating pair right next to the road.  As I left the sighting I caught a glimpse of a leopard on the move, it was just 30 meters from the lions. Suddenly it went straight up a marula tree and sat watching the mating lions.

We came across many bird and insects which was also awesome to observe. Top of the tops was a female hyena with her 5 pups next to the road!!

More coming soon!!

On Safari With Karen from 18 November 2014

18 November 2014

A new safari with a new starting point as I picked up the guests at Sabi River Sun Resort. We entered the park through Phabeni Gate and started our drive down Doispane. It started off rather quiet, with some scattered impalas hanging around. We then got a herd of impalas with the newborn babies all resting together like in a nursery. We came across a white rhino in the distance and an elephant was feeding in a drainage line. These were the first of their kind we saw on this tour, so we looked at them through binoculars and enjoyed seeing them. Little did we know that by the end of today we drove by their relatives that were standing close to the road as later today we were engulfed in sightings of white rhino and elephants.

A small dazzle of zebra was standing near the edge of road but didn’t dare cross while we were looking so we continued. We turned onto S4 and then took a right onto River road where except for more impalas we didn't see any mammals. We were however entertained by cape glossy starlings, lilac breasted rollers, yellow-billed and red-billed hornbills as well as a crowned hornbill.

Back onto Paul Kruger road we were contemplating making a detour down Watergat when Curtis called us saying he was watching lions sleep down by Lake Panic. So we took a drive down there and joined him. Six lions were lying peacefully not far from the road. Three large males were nicely visible as well as a big cat lying on her back with all 4 paws in the air. Two others were lying half hidden between bushes.

While watching one of the males actually sat up and started washing himself. He did quite a bad job as he forgot most of his body, but then suddenly got up and started washing one of its brothers. His brother then returned the favor and washed his face. Then they cuddled a bit to strengthen their bond and that was it. Within 5 minutes all activity was over and we were once again watching lions sleep. It was our cue to go on to the Skukuza Golfclub for a hearty breakfast.

After breakfast we set off again and once again arrived at the lions. Taking another picture we could play the game "spot 5 difference" as not much had changed in the more than an hour since we had left the sighting. One of the males had rolled over from its left onto its right side and was now lying with his back towards us. We are still looking for the other four differences...

We drove down the rest of Kruger Road and Napi towards the S114 seeing our first giraffe and warthog of the day. A bateleur was preening itself in a nearby tree. Down the S114 started our spree of lots of elephants. At first we saw a couple of elephants hiding in the bush, but they kept on coming closer as we stayed put. Then out of the bush more and more elephants appeared and suddenly we were engulfed by crossing elephants front and back. Mums were relaxed and let their little babies walk straight past our car. Youngsters with their mums a bit further away were more hesitant but in the end all elephants followed their leader across without problems. It was a great sighting and we were in luck as it happened twice more today!

Before we arrived at Afsaal via Biyamiti Loop and H2-2 for our lunch break we also encountered multiple wildebeest, warthogs, plenty giraffes, dung beetles digging around in poo and bushbuck on the Afsaal parking lot.

Then we continued our first day drive up the H3 and Napi and here once again we saw plenty of elephant herds and some lone bulls as well. It was getting hot now so many of the elephants were going to the water to drink and shower. Also lots of small groups of white rhino were grazing along the route. Some were lying in the mud, others were walking around in two colours as they had just left their mud bath but missed a spot. At Kwaggapan we actually saw a herd of elephants drinking on one side, a giraffe grazing on the other side. On Napi we saw our first buffalo. Poor guy was all alone. We also saw our first common grey duikers running away and a zebra crossing. At Shithave Dam a herd of buffalo just walked away from drinking as well as a herd of elephants in the distance. Just before Numbi we saw another two buffalo sleeping, one using the other as a pillow, which looked quite cute.

It was a long but successful day when we checked-in at Nkambeni Safari Camp.

Tomorrow will be another day!

19 November 2014

Today was already our last day of this quickie safari, but as the guest stayed in Hazyview, we could get quite some game drive time today :). Our first sighting for today was three big bull elephants that were hanging out on Camp Road, not far from Nkambeni Safari Camp. We could see the roofs of the tents of Nkambeni in the background. We then turned onto Numbi tar for sightings of impala, a common grey duiker, kudus and a crossing herd of waterbuck. While the waterbucks were crossing a 100m onwards at the same time a herd of elephants was crossing so we had a double herd in our pictures. Both herds disappeared fairly quickly into the dense bush after crossing. And speaking of herds, a little further down the road we came across a big herd of buffalos as well. Might have been the same ones we saw yesterday at Shithave Dam.

Down Napi tar we noticed plenty of elephant bulls feeding, but no herds this time. A red-crested korhaan did a fake display to impress a female. He flew up high, but instead of pulling in his wings and plummet back to earth he had second thoughts and left his wings wide open. No plummet, he glided back down. Well, we weren't impressed at all, let alone a female korhaan!

It was a quiet until Transport Dam, when talking about mammals. We came across some more birds though, like black-bellied bustard, white-fronted bee eaters, plenty fork-tailed drongos and many others. At Transport Dam we encountered a couple of giraffes feeding next to the road. Not sure who was watching who at this sighting, as the giraffes were all staring back at us. We also saw some zebras, and at Transport Dam itself a fish eagle, Egyptian geese, african jacana, hippos sleeping, blacksmith lapwings and a red-billed hornbill that took begging for food to a whole new level: he sat on the wing mirror of another car where the people in it were having a cup of coffee!!

We followed a tip about lions sleeping on Watergat. Well, when we showed up we were quite disappointed. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but after our sighting yesterday, these two males sleeping hiding in between the bushes about 100m away just weren't as impressive as the ones we saw yesterday about 5 meters away. But lions will be lions, they sleep anywhere and all the time, and these guys seemed out of this world, so no chance they would get up.

We continued our drive watching baboons pass by, a klipspringer ruminating and two white rhinos very close to road (they came so close they almost nudged the car as they forgot we were standing there watching them!), when we got a tip off about some other lions. We thought they would be "flatcats" as much as the other two, but went to check it out anyways. Well, this time we were not disappointed: 8 lions (four lionesses and four young ones) were lying next to Kwaggapan. But there were elephants close by, so they were half sitting up and paying rapid attention to what those two bulls were up to. However the bulls already had some water to drink and a shower on the way and were not interested in stopping at Kwaggapan. But it got a bit warm now that the sun had come out, so one by one the females got up anyways to lie down in the shade. Of course the cubs followed their mums. So we ended up having an awesome sighting of 8 lions walking by and they came quite close to the road too. One female actually seemed like she wanted to cross, but upon looking at all the cars on the road in front of her (and people hanging out of it), she had second thoughts and walked to a drainage pipe in which they hid away from the sun as well as all the people. We waited a bit longer when everyone had already left to see if they would come out again, but no such luck. We did get a great sighting already anyways, so we turned the car around and continued our drive.

We drove in the direction of Skukuza via the S112-S114 route. Here we just missed a baby impala being born by minutes. The little thing was still wet and the mum was licking it dry while it was trying to stand up. Mum didn't help much as her licking pushed it over a couple of times when it was almost standing on its weak legs. But it persisted and after a couple of more tries it stood and tried a few futile steps towards mum's teats. But mum was still cleaning it off so kept turning around to lick it. We watched in awe when the persistent baby impala finally got hold of a teat and had its first sips of milk. It was so adorable, we actually watched for almost half an hour at an impalas first baby steps. Then we decided to give mum some privacy again and continued on our way.

We saw warthogs with impalas and vervet monkeys, black-headed orioles, lilac breasted rollers, an african hoopoe, and plenty more impalas before we finally had our break at Skukuza. We had been on the road so long we made it an early lunch break instead of a quick coffee stop. We then proceeded to take a loop around the river. Just after we set off we saw a couple of banded mongoose running along side the road and a large flock of marabou storks flying over. A female bushbuck was feeding in a drainage line and we saw a crocodile sunbathing while still lying in the water at low level bridge over the Sabie River. On Marula tar the white backed vulture strand was fully occupied as plenty of vultures had taken the liberty of taking a bath and were now drying their wings, while a stray marabou stork joined them. On the way we saw bushbucks, impalas, 5 ground hornbills on the way towards high level bridge, hippos sleeping at high level bridge waters, and then stumbled upon our third lions sighting of today on Ellooff. Three females were lying in the shade, and guess what.... they were sleeping! We took some more photos of sleeping lions, but these also had no incline of getting up as well so we left the sighting.

More vervet monkeys, baboons, plenty impalas, kudu bull, and a leopard tortoise we saw on the way to Doispane, while on Doispane itself we saw more giraffes, more zebras and elephant bulls,. Then it was the end of the safari for Helmut and Jo-Anne, as we exited Phabeni Gate. I hope they enjoyed their safari as much as I did, and maybe we will see you back one day!

More coming soon!!

On Safari With Curtis from 17 November 2014

17 November 2014

Unfortunately today was the last day for two of our guests and after some breakfast we loaded luggage into the truck and set off on their last drive. This morning the roads were very busy with lots of general game such as impala, kudu, Waterbuck, zebra and Warthog. We had quite a few different sightings of buffalo as well this morning. We also had two rhino sighting but both were hampered by a lot of trees. There were also many very good sighting of elephants ranging from solitary males to small bachelor groups up to family herds including two males who were not interested in us as they were busy pushing and shoving each other. We also had a lovely collective sighting of animals with giraffe, impala, warthog and wildebeest all grazing or browsing in the same area. The wildebeest was our first sighting of that particular species on this tour, which pleased everyone. We, however, had one more new species ticked off today and probably the one that nearly all the guests want to see above all else. Yep you have guessed it LIONS!! We had been given a tip off and we were lucky enough to find them still lying around. Three lionesses and an even nicer surprise in the shape of a small cub, just a few months old. They had made a kill overnight and the girls were watching over it while the youngsters was probably experiencing one of its first ever carcasses. Then it was time to say goodbye to Jana and Meredith. Thanks for your company on this tour and glad we managed to get those lions finally for you. Travel safe and hopefully see you back on Safari soon.

This afternoon we braved the clouds which were getting ever darker and went out on a short drive around this area. Well that short drive turned out to be a much longer and an incredibly rewarding drive, more than anyone was expecting. It started with a tip off about a possible sighting just a couple of kilometers on voortrekker so we made our way there. Along the way we passed common duiker, impala, kudu, zebra, buffalo, rhino and elephant but we stopped only shortly at a couple of them. The sighting we were aiming for took priority and we got there to find lions. Two to be exact, a male and a female, a honeymooning couple. It didn't take long before the female gave the tell tale signs of being ready and the male got up and mounted her. Mating lions don't take to long and soon the male was dismounting. Then he started to advertise his prowess by roaring right next to our car. Easily one of the most eerily and wonderful sounds of the African bush. If that wasn't good enough a very kind member of the public gave us some information about another sighting just down the road. Having seen what we had and knowing courting lions don't exactly move great distances we took our chance and drove to the other sighting. 8 kilometers later and there were sat with three cheetah. They were about 30 meters away but in the open grass so we had a great view. After about five minutes one sat straight up and alert, something had got its attention and the cheetah had got the attention of some zebra and impala and a herd of elephants, all in the distance. The first cheetah started to jog faster and as we watched the other two we lost sight of the first one. So much so that thirty seconds later it had run about 100  meters away. We then watched the other as they stood up and started to run. Just to keep up with them we had to go about thirty kilometers per hour for a short distance. We then watched as they zig zagged along before moving deeper into the sickle bush. Meanwhile the zebra and impala had disappeared and the ellies had moved on. We got the privilege of spending about fifteen minutes with these three before they left. We then headed back to the lions who surprisingly hadn't moved an inch. We parked up and just sat waiting and watching. As we waited we noticed a herd of elephants which had crossed the road in front of us and we're now heading straight towards the pair of lions. They got within around forty meters of the lions when the lioness decided that was close enough and got up to move off. Unfortunately the male misread this intention and proceeded to mate with her and then started to roar afterwards. This in turn surprised and scared the elephants who then gathered their young ones into the middle and crossed back over the road and disappeared from view with a lot of trumpeting and vocalization. All of this elephant commotion being watched by the two lions who had resumed their lying down position. As the elephants disappeared we resumed our viewing of the lions who had moved within ten feet of us and gave us one last performance right next to the vehicle before we had to leave due to time running out. We had been lucky enough to spend over two full hours at this incredible sighting. As one guest said afterwards " I'm speechless". On the way home we didn't have time to stop but still had glimpses of more elephants and buffalo before reaching the lodge ending yet another wonderful drive.

18 November 2014

After yesterdays great day today was all about trying to improve on some of the sightings of some of the animals we had already seen. This plan started well as straight away on camp road we found bull elephants, two in the bush but one right next to the road. We parked up and watched as he enjoyed a morning snack of fresh grass, sickle bush and silver leaf cluster. We also found a few buffalo hanging around. The tar road along Numbi was quiet with only kudu around but then it picked up with plenty of ellies and buffalo with a tower of giraffe along with zebra and impala and Waterbuck being seen. We also had a lovely rhino sighting, we found the territorial male just by the road and after making sure he had enough space watched as he crossed in front of the car just five meters away. Once he had crossed he started to scent mark his territory by spraying up some bushes before moving out of site. The rest of the way turned out to be very quiet so we took a turn down watergat where we found a lone bull giraffe, impala by the hundreds, kudu, baboons and vervets. We then heard from another guide about lions down near lake panic and so headed down that way. We found them lying just a few meters from the road, six to be exact including three large males. Compared to yesterday's lions these ones were in no mood to entertain and with the exception of a few heads popping up now and again and the occasional stretch and yawn not much action. But then that is what lions do best!!! We left the sighting and popped into lake panic bird hide for five minutes. Five minutes turned into thirty minutes as the hide is such a stunningly beautiful setting with hippos calling and endless amounts of birdlife around that every guest who goes always spends a lot more time than expected. Leaving the hide we found two new mammals for the day, the nyala and the bushbuck. We took a turn around the river crossing low level and sand river finding hippo and buffalo. Then we passed marula loop entrance and shortly after found something along the road in the distance. Initially I thought a monkey with its long tail but then I noticed the distinctive white patch on the tail and knew it was a leopard. As we approached it got a little bit spooked and moved off into the bush but we had a good look before hand. Around the river we spotted more of the usual suspects including elephant herds, solitary buffalo, endless impala and kudu and about twenty five hippos at high level bridge with about ten of them out of the water.

Maybe due to the fact that the sun decided to reappear after a weeks hiatus the afternoon was a lot quieter. Still we managed to see buffalo, rhino, giraffe, kudu, impala, Waterbuck, warthog and elephants In fact plenty of elephants. Two sightings in particular were very special, the first at transport dam where we noticed at first one elephant in the water and then as we turned the corner another three bulls playing in the water. We watched these for about twenty minutes as they played and tried to dominate each other. Then suddenly another elephant appeared at the far edge of the dam, then another and another and another. More and more appeared until we had counted twenty three in total all lined up in a straight line having a drink. We watched as they then moved away around the edge of the dam, disturbing the sleeping hippo family, and moved away from sight with one of the bulls quickly following. The second sighting was also at a dam. This one was shithave dam and here we already had about thirty five elephants down by the water and more were coming. We noticed more elephants passing by in the distance and at one stage we could see between sixty to eighty elephants from where we were sitting. As the family herd drinking moved big bulls came down again to fight and play in the water. At one stage one of the ellies walking around the edge stumbled upon a medium sized Croc sunbathing and gave out a large trumpet while another made its way over to the buffalo which had come to see what all the noise was about. Overall another forty minutes had vanished as we just sat and watched all this fun.

19 November 2014

Today was the last day of this tour and after a few early starts already we decided to have a more relaxing day starting much later than we normally would. When we did leave the roads were fairly quiet as we took a drive around Shabeni, Pk koppies, Albasini and part of Doispane. We did however find along the way sightings of elephant, buffalo, kudu, Waterbuck, impala, zebra, baboons, vervets, common duiker and one final new species of mammal in the shape of klipspringers. Not a bad haul for a couple of hours. The highlight was finding a small chameleon rocking backwards and forwards as he attempted to cross the road without getting seen. Unfortunately it was then time to say goodbye to my final two guests who are off for a bit of sun in Mauritius, lucky them!!! It has been a pleasure having you on the tour, thanks for all your enthusiasm and enjoyment you have shown over the last few days and hopefully we will see you back on Safari one day.

On safari With Mark from 10 November 2014

10 November 2014

Route: After collecting the clients at phalaborwa airport we drove towards mopani rest camp.

General sightings: Impala, kudu, waterbuck, warthog, steenbok, zebra, common diuker and giraffe was spotted

Highlights: on our drive up we came across 3 different herds of Cape buffalo. Great to see them resting in the heat of the day. 2 large elephant Bulls were busy at a drainage line throwing water and mud on themselves trying to escape the 42deg heat.

11 November 2014

Route: decided to do the shongololo loop, returning to camp for a late breakfast.

The morning drive was far cooler with mist rain and General game was out enjoying the cooler weather. We came across our first Impala lamb sighting for the season and this was really special as it couldn't have been born longer than a couple of hours (still unstable on its feet).

Further to this, we just had some great buffalo crossing over the road giving us the "stare".

Afternoon drive: the highlight was the 4 adult and 1 calf eland we found. The first in many years.

12 November 2014 – 13 November 2014

Route: mopani - S55 - kannidood - shigtwetzi - Punda Tar - crooks corner - Punda Maria - shingwetzi

General animals seen: Impala, waterbuck, kudu, tsessebe, zebra, giraffe, hippos, crocodiles, vervet monkeys, Chackma baboons, bushbuck, Nyala, elephants and buffalo's.

Highlights: we found 10 lions feeding on a buffalo they just killed and spent time with this pride watching the interaction as they all fed. On our return to camp we found them all lying in the middle of the road Bellies full and panting.

We also found both the side stripped and black backed jackal and although the side striped moved off quickly the guest got good photos.

Multiple sighting of the sharps greysbok was spotted today on our way up to crooks corner.

It was also great to catch some crested giuneefowl in the Punda Mari camp.

On our return we also spotted a mating couple of steenbok right next to our car. Great photos of these.

With so many unique sightings so far the guest are exited about the rest of the safari as we still have many days to go.

14 November 2014  

Route: shingwedzi - S56 loop - shingwedzi - S52 - shingwedzi

General animals seen: Impala, kudu, steenbok, common duiker, zebra, waterbuck, hippos, crocodiles, buffalo and elephants

Highlights:  An early surprise at the Gora waterhole (3kms from shingwedzi) as we drove in we found a male cheetah busy drinking water. His belly full after a early morning kill and fantastic photos could be taken of this brilliant cat as we were the only one with him for the entire sighting until he moved off into the mopani thickets. What a start to the day!!

For the afternoon run it was rather quiet and general game was spotted through the afternoon. Large herds of elephants enjoy the water as it was a hot afternoon.

On our way to mopani tomorrow.

15 November 2014 – 19 November 2014

Routes travelled: Shingwedzi - Mopani - Letaba - Olifants - Satara

General game: Impala, warthog, steenbok, common diuker, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, blue wildebeest, kudu, sharps greysbok, klipspringer, Chackma baboons, vervet monkeys, crocodiles, hippos, dwarf,slender,banded mongoose, reedbok, nyala, ostrich, tsessebe, bushbuck, elephant, buffalo and rhino.

Highlights: During our drive down south, we have had some fantastic sightings of massive herds of buffalo and elephant. Cats have been few and far between however we found a large pride of Lions at the dam just outside Satara. This brings the total of lions for the trip to 20 so far.

Another first for our guests was the honey badger that crossed the road and jumped through his hole he made in the fence of Satara and as we had just arrived, we decided to follow him and get some photos of this busy little guy in camp. This was quiet unusual as we took a "game drive and walk" in camp following him closely as he inspected every possible crack,corner,bush and building for something to eat.

Another first for the guests, while enjoying a afternoon drink was the visit from a female African wild cat and this turned out to be a photo opportunity of note. We to followed her and later found her with a cub. Power sighting.

Both Hugh and Cathy are very happy with the sightings so far as many are very unique and in no way do they only want to chase the big 5.  

I'm sure you won't believe it cause I can't - we still looking for the illusive leopard.

Maybe more luck down south!