7th January – Strange animals with horns???

Photo of the Day

Thumbela up an apple-leaf

Morning Drive

3 x lions (Mahlathini males) – Peru, Voel Dam

2 x leopards (Rockfig Jnr and Thumbela with impala kill) – Vielmetter, Vielmetter Access

4 x white rhinos – Vielmetter, Western Sharalumi

1 x breeding herd of buffalo – Argyle, Vyeboom Dam

4 x buffalo bulls – Peru, Madash Dam

2 x elephant bulls – Argyle, Argyle Dam

Afternoon Drive

Daily Synopsis

Friday started out dry, so from that respect, it was already an improvement on yesterday!  As the day progressed, it turned out to be another goodie for the Motswari Guests!

The three Mahlathini males were relocated at Voel Dam after having finished their buffalo kill during the night, but during the course of the morning, they slowly made their way across Argyle Rd and off into the Klaserie, but not before Godfrey and Johannes got to see them.

Grant and I headed straight south to go and see what was happening with Rockfig Jnr and Thumbela with their impala kill, and found them still with the kill.  The Rockfig hyena clan members were around and waiting patiently under the tree for any scraps to fall as Thumbela ate, but she soon fell asleep and left the hyenas with little chance of getting a free meal. 



Thumbela and the kill with a clan of hyenas underneath!



Rockfig Jnr was milling around the area, but was chased up a small russet bushwillow when some of the hyenas approached her.  Despite her hissing, she decided it was still safer to take refuge in the tree.

Rockfig Jnr seeking refuge from the hyenas

I was going to try and make my way back north to see the Mahlathini males, but wanted to check on the western side of the reserve after some guides had reported fresh rhino tracks.  I got extremely lucky when my tracker quickly stopped me for fresh rhino tracks, only to look up and see the four rhinos standing next to the road!  Two of them ran off and were very nervous, but the other two, one of which we think was Nhlangula male, were much more relaxed and just stood on the road, even walking towards the vehicle before going to sleep.  All of the guests got to see them, and this was the first good rhino sighting we have had for almost 2 weeks!  Let us hope that they don’t run off again too soon!

Return of the rhinos!

The rest of the morning was filled with good general game; I had nice herds of waterbuck, plenty of impala, giraffe, warthogs, baboons, tortoises, black mamba, a raft of hippos, nice birds, some buffalo bulls as well as a couple of elephant bulls.  In addition, Grant had the Xanatsi clan of hyenas near camp, and Godfrey had a small breeding herd of buffalo; in fact, Godfrey managed to get all of the Big 5 on his drive in the morning, and I managed to do the same over two drives for my guests that only stayed for one night!  What pressure? LOL!

Chacma Baboon

Elephant bulls at Argyle Dam

Comb Duck

Waterbuck at Makulu Dam

In the afternoon,