Saturday 16 July 2011

A Right Royal Run Around!

Pic of the Avie.
Morning Drive.

( Chad.)

Buffalo ( Breeding Herd) / Borneo – North/ South Sumatra Cutline.
Elephant ( 2 x Kambaku's) / Motswari – Tsharalumi Crossing.
Elephant ( 3 x Kambaku's) / Motswari – Ingwelala Boundary.
Elephant ( Kambaku) / Scholtz – Kudu Pan Rd.

Afternoon Drive.

( Grant, Chad & Herald)

Elephant ( 5 x Kambaku's) / Motswari – Wisani Crossing.
Elephant ( 4 x Kambaku's) / Karans – Twin Peaks Rd.
Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Vielmieter - 2nd Tsharalumi Crossing.
Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Vielmieter – Entrance Dam Rd.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boy) / Motswari - Northern Access.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boy, Female & Calf) / Argyle – Long Rd.

Daily Synopsis.

Having not been on morning drive myself I can't really comment on what it was like out there but from what Chad passed on it was relatively quiet. They once again picked up tracks for Lion, actually two different sets, one in the East and the other in the West. This led to some confusion as to exactly who was who as the tracks seemed to vary in number and size. The one's in the East could be the White Lions as they came from the area they had exited into Kruger but it could also be the Mafikisolo Pride who were also in the area the night before. So then, who was it in the West? While a few stations followed up in the East others tried to follow up in the West. To cut a long story short neither tracks led to any success and only added to the mounting confusion. The tracks in the East headed South West and the Western tracks headed North across into Ingwelala and out of our traversing area, leaving us cat less once more.

Starting with new guests in the afternoon both Herald and I stayed in the North introducing them to the wonders of the bush, we both picked up a fair amount of general game that included, Impala, Kudu, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Hippo, Crocodiles, Steenbok. On the Big Five front we had a close encounter with a Bull Elephant Group with them approaching within metres of the vehicle feeding. It gives you a great perspective of how large and impressive they truly are. We also found a unusual combination of one Dagha Boy, a female Buffalo and her calf, but no sign of a herd.





Herald then headed back to the surrounding area of Motswari as we received news that the monkeys were alarm calling from camp. We decided to head to the area the Lions were last tracked in the morning hoping to bump them after dark. All this time Chad had headed far South in the hope of finding anything with sharp teeth and claws, which he was successful in, with three different species of mongoose in a fifty metre stretch. Unfortunately the cats still eluded him.

Herald was unable to locate on the female Leopard that was around camp but he did find her tracks heading to the West. We to had no luck on our side and once again the Mafikisolo pride eluded us. At least we were able to id the pride from the tracks thus clearing up some of the confusion from the morning, if that was any consolation.




Well, we know what tomorrow morning holds for all of us, here kitty, kitty!

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