Lion Photos taken early morning

Good Morning Everybody,
It is always nice to see photos of wildlife, and especially lions, as it is one of the species of African Wildlife that most visiting guests when asked want to see. These photos were taken by one of our guides Amanda while out on an early morning game drive. It is always great to have guides that have good cameras, that can take good photos, but as good as the photo is, it is at the same moment that one must understand that there is a very fine line between guides taking photos and doing the job of guiding clients. Guides have to understand, that when coming into the sighting, their full concentration must be on their clients, and not on their personal job of taking or teying to take the best photos. This is deemed to be totally unprofessional, as your guests and their needs always comes first in every way, even if that means that you as the guide loose the shot of the dat, month or year. a guide never sacrifices their clients for self gain in any shape or form.

I in my days of been a guide, witnessed so many times, guides coming into a sighting, and you see the guide taking photos, before the vehicle has even come to a complete stop. and this goes on for ten minutes, before a word is said to the guests on the vehicle, all this time, the interpretation that should be taking place, is totally non existant, thereby leading to complaints, bad atmosphere on the open safari vehicle with the group or even boredom. Not a pleasant place to be.

A professional guide, always thinks of their guests, and puts everything else second. Always keep it clean, and professional with no room for complaints and guests finding fault.

Below are some phots from the same sighting:

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

Some of Nhongo Safaris Fleet of Open Safari Vehicles

The photo shows some of our fleet of Open Safari Vehicles used while on safari in the Kruger National and Hwange National Parks. These vehicles are purpose built, for carrying nine passengers and are open to  give the guest the best viewing experience while also been able to take some great photos while traveling around the parks. The vehicles are safe, been purposely built for the job of game viewing, and most operators keep them in very good condition.

For me, there is nothing better than having a client get on their open safari vehicle for the first time, and compliment the guide on the condition and neatness of the vehicle. The first impression always sticks in the guests mind, and this part of the business i must admit a huge number of operators miss by miles. If you want to be one of thew go to operators, then your operation needs to not only look the part, but the looks need to turn into action very quickly.

We hope that other operators wanting to be part of uplifting the image of their businesses and the greater tourism offering on the whole in South Africa, maybe need to take heed. A bit of a thought provoking post for the day.

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za

Pride of lions in vicinity of Phalaborwa is not a known pride from KNP

As many have no doubt heard over the last couple of days the story regarding the breaking out of a pride of 14 lions from the Phalaborwa region in the north of the Kruger National Park.
It has been well known for quite a time that the Foskor Mine road has lions on it, just like many other animals such as leopard, elephant and kudus are seen regularly. A lot of people voiced their opinion on the fate of these lions, but over the last couple of days, the "Kruger National Park Management", went ahead and verified that these lions are not theirs, and that they come from somewhere else.

Nobody can really say, just where they have come from, but when one goes down to "Olifants River Safaris", and you spend a bit of time there doing some of their activities, one can hear the roar of lions in the area, and yes we know the Balule Game Reserve is on the opposite side, however this occurs in a completely different direction. The lodge is visited frequently by elephant, and has resident hippo in the area as well as leopard.

I think that a time has come to just leave these lions to live their life, as they have not worried anybody for years. It does not help the situation to now go and euthanise or move the pride, as the road and surrounding area falls into their "Home Range". People need to understand, that if we can live with elephant and other animals walking down the main road in Victoria Falls Zimbabwe, then having Lions, Elephant, Leopard and whatever other animals roam onto the Foskor Mine Road, need to be left alone. There is now an operation afoot to capture these lions, and to move them somewhere outside the KNP and are to be monitored. For piets sake, can nobody leave their dirty hands off the wildlife in the area, and let them be. It makes one quite sick and tired, when man makes a decision and it is 99% wrong in the first place. Just sickening stuff.

Below is the "Press release", by SAN Parks on the "Phalaborwa Pride Of Lions".

South African National Parks stated this morning that the widely reported pride of lions seen recently in the mining area outside Phalaborwa is not a known pride from the Kruger National Park (KNP) or the adjacent private nature reserves. It has been reported that this pride has been residing for more than a year within the Foskor, Phalaborwa Mining Company and direct adjacent areas, moving along the Selati river system. This area outside but adjacent to the KNP also contains elephant, buffalo and other wildlife.

The pride might have established in this area, due to the current availability of prey in these areas, and due to a lack of competition from other lion prides. The lion population within the Greater Kruger is very healthy, growing, and suitable habitats occupied. It would, therefore, be unwise to relocate a lion pride in the territory of an existing pride. The disease status of animals is also a consideration when looking at possible release areas.

KNP GM: Conservation Dr Marisa Coetzee said in a meeting between various parties it was agreed that a capture operation to be coordinated by Limpopo Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) will be carried out as per the approved protocols. LEDET is the responsible authority on this matter. “The plan is to capture the pride and move them to a suitable area outside of the KNP and private reserves, where after they will be closely monitored by LEDET.”

Issued by:

South African National Parks (SANParks) Corporate Communications

For more info on our safaris, please visit www.nhongosafaris.co.za