29 April 2016
We headed out
early for our morning drive and had a fairly quiet morning, the highlight being
a visit to a small waterhole where we had a good few hundred Impala
congregating in the area. This would have been several herds together and they
where quite loud, from the females contact-calling to keep track of the
youngsters in the chaos, to the males doing several versions of their
rutting-calls and trying to simultaneously chase off rival males while keeping
their own herd females in check! A family of Warthog and a lone Giraffe
browsing in the background completed the scene.
On our
afternoon drive, while watching a few young male Kudu browsing close to the
road, a female leopard came trotting out of the bush, crossed the road in front
of us and continued into the bush on the other side, disappearing out of sight
- a quick but very good sighting. Further on we found 5 very lazy lions, males
in their prime, sleeping in a shady spot, obviously bothered by some flies, as
they were constantly flicking their ears and tails to get rid of them. 2 of
them got up while we were there, but only to change position and get more
comfortable again!
In the end, a
very successful day and we can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
30 April 2016
After an early
breakfast we loaded luggage and departed for our final morning Safari.
While having
breakfast we could hear Spotted Hyena calling close-by and about 300 meters
into our drive we found 5 of them in a drainage line close to the road. They
must have made or found a kill earlier in the morning, as they were feeding on
what was left of a male Impala, tugging at the carcass and one trying to claim
all of it, carrying the carcass off into a thicket; some good action to start
the morning!
Driving along
the river front we also found a couple of very large Nile crocodiles basking in
the morning sun as well as a young hippo grazing on the bank.
We managed to
find another very lazy male Lion sleeping in the shade of a tree and had a
quality Elephant sighting at a small waterhole, as a breeding herd of about 30
individuals, joined by 2 very large adult males, drank and splashed around,
also having a few mud-baths. They were quite vocal and there was certainly some
tension between the 2 large males, spilling over to some of the younger males,
all very excitable, chasing each other around, but keeping their distance from
the larger males!
We exited the
park just before noon, which signaled the end of another successful safari!
