14 December 2015
Another
drizzly morning after a night of rain, today was considerably cooler, but still
good game viewing conditions.
We were very
lucky first up, as the first animals we saw, about 200 meters from camp, was a
pride of lions moving along the road and into the bush. We took a road running
parallel to the direction they were moving in, hoping to catch another glimpse,
but instead encountered 3 large, old male buffalo. We observed them for a
while, still waiting to see if the lions emerge anywhere close. This did not
happen and we moved on to see what else was in store for us.
We were lucky
enough to again encounter the same 3 male cheetah, a few kilometers from where
we got them yesterday. This time they were sleeping on a large termite mound,
in the open, but about 80m away, a distant, but clear visual...
Along the road
we had 3 different sightings of hyena, including 2 cubs of just over 2 months
old suckling with another young clan member repeatedly poking her nose in there
to the annoyance of the mother, who sounded regular warning growls. She
eventually jumped at the young intruder with teeth bared and paws flailing,
which got the message across and scared her off, at least temporarily.
After
breakfast we headed back to camp for an afternoon break.
In the late
afternoon we went for a short drive through some lush terrain with fresh green
grass, thriving on the recent rains. At one spot we had Impala, warthog, white
rhino, zebra and elephant feeding in close proximity of each other and it was a
great experience to see so many different species together. At the end of our
drive we were temporarily entertained by a Pearl-spotted Owlet on the lookout
for unsuspecting prey at dusk. These little (80gm) owls are notorious hunters and
I have even seen them attempt to hunt Tree Squirrel before! We watched it
calling for a while and show off it's eye-spots, before it was time to head
back to camp to conclude another great day's game viewing...
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