29th and 30th December - Cats still feasting!

Photo of the Day

 

29^th December - Morning Drive

5 x lions (Xakubasa Pride with giraffe kill) – Vielmetter, Back 9’s

1 x leopard (Thumbela female) – Kings, Cheetah Plains

1 x Elephant bull – Argyle, Mfene Crossing

29^th December - Afternoon Drive

5 x lions (Xakubasa Pride with giraffe kill) – Vielmetter, Back 9’s

1 x leopard (Mbali female with impala kill) – Jaydee, Jaydee airstrip

1 x breeding herd buffalo – De Luca, Mpela-pela Pan

3 x buffalo bulls – Peru, Francolin Pan

30^th December - Morning Drive

5 x lions (Xakubasa Pride with giraffe kill) – Vielmetter, Back 9’s

1 x leopard (Mbali  female with impala kill) – Jaydee, Jaydee Airstrip

1 x Elephant bull – Argyle, Argyle Rd

1 x Elephant bull – Peru, Voel Dam

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Mbali, Buffalo Kill Rd

2 x buffalo bulls – Argyle, Horizon Rd

3 x buffalo bulls – Peru, Tawny Eagle Rd

30^th December - Afternoon Drive

5 x lions (Xakubasa Pride with giraffe kill) – Vielmetter, Back 9’s

3 x lions (Sohebele Young males) – Borneo, KNP Cutline

1 x leopard (Mbali female with impala kill) – Jaydee, Jaydee airstrip

1 x breeding herd buffalo – De Luca, Mpela-pela Pan

1 x buffalo bull – Scholtz, Scholtz Big Dam

3 x buffalo bulls – Argyle, Lover’s Leap

1 x buffalo bull – Argyle, Argyle Dam

1 x breeding herd of elephant – Motswari, Camp Dam

Daily Synopsis

So Grant and I were away from the lodge on Wednesday, but I arrived back to resume my full time guiding at Motswari on Thursday!  It was a good day to return, as hearing that both the white lions and Mbali leopardess had kills meant that I could take a leisurely trip down to see them, even if they were in the south.  I bumbled around up north after a warm day, but the large dams were not overly productive, with just some impala and a few buffalo bulls showing themselves.  A breeding herd of elephants did arrive to drink at the lodge’s waterhole after the game drives had departed.

Marka and Elliot spent their afternoons in the east, and Marka tracked down the three young Sohebele male lions – my long last friends that I never thought I would see again!  From their accounts, the three males were looking in very good shape and had grown nicely in their few months absence.  I was extremely tempted to go see them, but knew that my guests wanted to see leopard, so I stuck to the west and went to see Mbali.  She was lying in a marula, very typical of a leopard, except she had chosen the smallest and worst marula I had ever seen!!!  She lay there and all we saw was a flicking tail, flicking because of some serious wounds she had picked up!  They didn’t look great, but she should recover no problems.  As it was getting darker, she climbed down and went to her impala carcass that was stashed under a nearby weeping wattle and began feeding.



Mbali, her kill and her wounds



 As it was getting dark, we left her and went to go and see the white lions on their giraffe kill that was near hide dam.  The one white lioness and the young male were feeding when we arrived, but soon gave up and went to lie with the others to watch the activities of the Rockfig hyena clan members, 7 of which were walking about in the clearing near the kill.  Sadly no real interaction was seen, but still great to see these predators together in the same sighting!

Will catch you again tomorrow to see what the last day of 2011 has in store for us!

Cheers

Chad Cocking