28th July – Wild Dogs Make an Appearance

Photo of the Day

Morning Drive

(Chad, Marka, Herold and Grant)

3 x wild dogs – Peru, Lily Pan

2 x rhinos (2 relaxed female rhinos)

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Argyle, Great North

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Vielmetter, Jaydee Access

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Jaydee, Vielmetter-Albert Cutline

Afternoon Drive

(Chad, Marka, Herold and Grant)

1 x breeding herd of buffalo – Scholtz, Scholtz Access

1 x breeding herd of buffalo – Motswari, Motswari Northern Access

4 x buffalo bulls – Motswari, Reception

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Scholtz, Scholtz Big Dam

1 x elephant bull – Peru, Mbali River Rd

1 x elephant bull – Motswari, Camp

Daily Synopsis

So afte one day back, only some of the animals had run away – not bad, but the ones that didn’t made a pretty good effort today to remain unseen!

My morning was very quiet, and besides some fair general game, the chilly morning didn’t produce many sightings.  After coffee though, things picked up a bit, and Herold had found two relaxed female rhinos in the north, so I headed over to see them.  Whilst on route, things heated up with some tracks for wild dogs that had been found, and after getting word that the wild dogs had been seen near Jaydee Camp, Herold moved into the area, and sure enough, he used his wonderful instinct and when he headed back to a waterbuck that he had seen earlier, suspecting that the dogs might go after it, he soon saw it dashing off and sure enough, the wild dogs came out of the bush after it!

The dogs failed to make a kill and later settled near Lily Pan.  The guides all got to see it, but I wasn't prepared to sit in the line up, and knowing that nobody would be going in the afternoon, took my chances and left the sighting for later in the day.

Instead I continued to the rhinos, and had an enjoyable sighting of the two female white rhinos as they casually grazed in the area and paid us no attention – wonderful to see!

After the rhinos, I carried on back towards camp, and saw some nice impala, kudu and waterbuck.

We then came across a lovely breeding herd of elephants that were amazingly relaxed, and allowed for a real up-close-and-personal sighting that really made up for the otherwise quiet morning.

In the afternoon, I had one mission – enjoy a nice wild dog sighting.  Sadly though, the drive turned out to be even quieter, and when the one guide reported that the wild dogs were no longer where they had been left, I suddenly felt very upset that I hadn’t gone to see them in the morning!

I tried finding some good general game along the Nhlaralumi in the late afternoon, and besides the usual impala and kudus, we did find a lone bull elephant close to a wonderful sighting of a group of giraffes.

The young male giraffes were engaged in fights of varying intensity, with one particular pair really having a full go at one another.  With each massive swing of the neck, the head would thump into the opponent, and the power of it could really be seen nicely!

After that, we tried our chances in the area where the wild dogs had been, but despite a search, we didn’t even come up with a single track and ended up just enjoying a sundowner at Lily Pan, even without the wild dogs.

The drive back to camp was quiet, and it seemed that only Herold had a good day, in the east of all places!  He saw himself a nice breeding herd of elephants swimming in Scholtz Big Dam, as well as a massive breeding herd of buffalo moving towards Scholtz Camp for a drink of water.

Tracks for the Mafikizolo Pride in that area were once again unsuccessful, but with the breeding herd of buffalo nearby, there could be some action tonight!

Grant's photos of a kudu bull he saw jumping from a standing position!