10 October 2015
After an early
breakfast and watching the sunrise we set off on our morning game drive.
Our first
sighting of the day was a large mixed herd of Impala and Zebra. They were very
energetic an playful, a few of the Zebra engaging in a bit of play-fighting, while
the dominant male Impala was chasing his herd members around trying to keep
them under control. The younger Impalas, all just under a year old now, were
all chasing each other in circles, bounding through the bush flashing their
white tails and showing off their agility.
While watching
this we also had a very good sighting of an African Cuckoo, an inter-African
migrant and a brood-parasite, who entrust the Fork-tailed Drongo with rearing
their chicks.
Our best
sighting of the day was a journey of giraffe, all female leisurely browsing
close-by as well as crossing the road in front of us. We also had an elephant
bull in must walking down the road in front of our vehicle. Even though he was
very well behaved, he sure had right of way.
We also managed
to find 4 lionesses hiding very well in the shade of some trees on a riverbank.
We watched for a while as they were constantly swatting flies with their tails
and repositioning to stay in the shade. We also had fun watching the
apprehension of the kudu and Impala trying to convince themselves that it was
safe to drink, even though they were constantly alarm calling and could catch
the scent of the lions from their position. Eventually fear overcame thirst and
they left without drinking...
We then took a
midday break before setting out again on a late afternoon drive during which we
were lucky enough to encounter a large bull Sable Antelope, one of the rare
antelope species. It was standing in an open area and offered some very good
picture opportunities.
The highlight of
the day, however came shortly before closing time, when we came across a
breeding herd of elephant, leisurely grazing in a small river. The herd
consisted of several adult females with their young of various ages. So we
watched them slowly move further into the reeds, catching glimpses of the
smaller babies only through the gaps in the tall grass. All of this with the
African sun setting in the background...
11 October 2015
A
slightly windy and overcast morning was a welcome change to the scorching heat
of the last few days... the drive started off with one of the highlights when
we saw a large female White Rhino and her 3 year old male calf. Something had
clearly unsettled them, as they were running along a fire-break parallel to the
road. They had their tails curled up as a sign of agitation and we're clearly
not about to relax and after following them for several hundred meters we left
them alone in an attempt to help calm them down.
The
Spotted Hyena is always a crowd favorite and we made our way to a nearby active
hyena den hoping to find some of them out, as it was still fairly cool. We
were lucky enough to find two of them basking in the vague sunlight by their
den entrance. Very relaxed, they only moved when lifting their heads to catch a
passing scent on the breeze.
Towards
the end of our drive, slowly making our way back to camp, we took a small
detour around a notorious leopard hiding spot, hoping rather than expecting to
find anything as it had warmed up considerably by that time. I couldn't believe
our luck when we saw the young male leopard walking across the granite dome,
taking his time to hide in the shade of small trees for short intervals. We watched
it making its way down, getting ever closer to us before eventually settling
under a shady tree about 10 meters from our vehicle. By that time a couple more
cars had arrived and as the leopard lay down and comfortable we left it in
peace.
What
a magnificent experience to have such a clear and close sighting of this
beautiful creature!
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