29 April 2015
We set off
early once again for a day full of safaris and we had an amazing day. As it was
Bryan's 50th birthday, we were hoping to get some good sightings, but boy, was
he spoiled on his birthday! And that doesn't even include the chocolate cake
with ice cream and singing birthday songs, because that only came after dinner
;-).
This morning we
did see some hyenas again. It was special as it looked like the hyenas started
to come back to their den after a long night foraging. They appeared from all
directions and some even passing the car close by. The pups came out of the den
to greet the elders and to beg for some food. When a large group had formed
they all greeted each other with their special hyena sounds.
After breakfast
at Skukuza we had gotten a tip from some other guides about some lions. We
decided to have go and see if we could get lucky. And we were rewarded with a
great sighting!! Upon arrival we saw two lions and a lioness full from a meal
snoozing it off in the shade. Three other younger males were still guarding the
buffalo they had killed from lots of lappet-faced and white-backed vultures
that were all waiting to get their share. We saw one lion trying to eat a
little more. And we now know that lions are strong as he pulled the half eaten
buffalo carcass away from the vultures all by himself.
But the action
wasn't done yet as the female turned out to be in heat. One of the males
sacrificed himself to make full use of the females estrus cycle even though he
had just engorged on a buffalo buffet. We saw them mating once and a second
time seemed on hand but he just couldn't get himself to do it. The girl gave up
after that and went for a sleep in the shade with the male close by her side.
One of the other
males that was snoozing before had apparently gotten some new room left in his
still very bulgy tummy, as he got up and started to make his way back to the
carcass. Full on fresh meat, he wasn't thinking properly and his now extra
heavy body sank in the muddy banks of the dam he was crossing. He managed to
pull himself together and out of the mud and got across. Only to change his
mind and go lie down in another shady spot.
Other interesting
sightings: a herd of buffalos, many elephants including some very close to the
car, kudus, waterbucks, a chameleon, another lion sighting, white rhinos,
steenboks, warthogs, common grey duikers, vervet monkeys, Speke's hinged
tortoise, hippos, one and a half giraffe (as of the second one we only could
see the bottom half), a lovely view from Mathekanyan, a crocodile, marabou
stork, a brown snake eagle, zebras, a leopard in a tree and of course plenty of
impalas.
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