3 November 2015
An overcast
morning, today was a welcome change from the heat of the preceding few
days. however, a strong wind soon started up which often makes for rather tough
game viewing conditions.
It was a good
day for the large herbivores as first up we had a beautiful sighting of a
breeding herd of elephant with a few youngsters crossing the road in front of
our vehicle. The strong mother instincts and social bonds plain to see as the
older females put themselves between the vehicle and the calves when crossing
the road, making sure they stay well protected.
We also had
very good sightings of 2 towers of Giraffe, one of 6 individuals and the other
of 5. In the latter group was an old male courting a female, relentlessly
following her around testing her readiness to mate, with no luck as she played
very hard to get walking from tree to tree browsing while leading the male
around.
The highlight
of the day was one of our many White Rhino sightings; we encountered a small
family group of 4 consisting of 1 adult male, an adult female and 2 calves of
different ages. They crossed the road some distance in front of us and then
grazed right on the edge of the road, affording us some excellent views.
Towards the end
of our drive we were reminded of the elusive nature of Leopard as we spotted
one on the move, about 30 meters off the road. I hit the brakes and we turned
around to try spot it again, but to no avail. It must not have felt like being
seen as it almost immediately went into hiding, illustrating that if a leopard
doesn't want to be seen by us, it won't!
It was again a
good day for birding with the raptors especially active. We had, amongst
others; a hovering Brown Snake Eagle which swooped down on its prey, a
Bataleur perched low down in a tree, a Martial Eagle showing off its 2,5m
wingspan, as well as a family of Tawny Eagle consisting of 2 adults and a
juvenile.
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