On Safari With Gert 21 June 2016

21 June 2016

Today was a nice cool and cloudy day, perfect conditions for game viewing. We set out early morning and early on found a female Spotted Hyena at a den. She was very relaxed, lying next to the road at the den entrance, with one of her adorable cubs, about 3 weeks old, popping out of the den for a bit just giving us a quick sighting before going back into hiding, a great start to the day!

We then had a couple of very nice Elephant sightings, First a large breeding herd, about 50 strong, came down to a waterhole as we arrived there and all lined up along the water's edge to drink, with some of the youngsters getting playful in the mud. Later we found a large bull about 3 meters from the road, very relaxed and leisurely feeding on a Marula tree. He was specifically enjoying the branches and we watched in astonishment as he repeatedly crunched up branches as thick as a human arm accompanied by some rather loud cracking noises and savoring every mouthful!

The highlight of the day came while we were watching a large Waterbuck bull overlooking a drainage line. Suddenly a leopard appeared from the reeds and was apparently stalking the waterbuck who was unaware of its presence. It then spotted the leopard and started threatening it as the leopard tried to look extremely disinterested in the large antelope. We then watched as the leopard continued walking through the grass and eventually jumped up a Marula tree where it lay in full view and perfect light for about 15minutes surveying the surroundings. It eventually got down from the tree and crossed the road in front of us and disappeared in the tall grass, a fitting end to a great day and as far as leopard sightings go we could not have asked for better!