09th August – Kuhanya Kills Again!

Photo of the Day

White Lion

Morning Drive

(Grant, Godfrey and Herold)

5 x lions (Xakubasa Pride – 2 lionesses, 2 white lionesses and 1 young male) – Karans, Old Closed Rd

1 x leopard (Nthombi female) – Jaydee, Nkombi Pan

1 x leopard (Kuhanya female with bushbuck kill) – Argyle, Argyle Dam

4 x rhino

2 x elephant bulls – Motswari, Airstrip

1 x elephant bull – Motswari, Airstrip

Afternoon Drive

(Chad, Grant, Godfrey and Herold)

5 x lions (Xakubasa Pride – 2 lionesses, 2 white lionesses and 1 young male) – Karans, Old Closed Rd

1 x leopard (Kuhanya female) – Argyle, Argyle Dam

4 x rhino

2 x elephant bulls – De Luca, De luca Access

1 x elephant bull – De Luca, Drongo Drive

Daily Synopsis

Firstly, I just want to start off by wishing all of our lovely lady followers the happiest of Woman’s Days, and I trust that the men in your lives all spoilt you and that you had a wonderfully relaxing day!

My day was a bit more relaxed too, and that was because my guests had an early check out and slept in.  I thus too got that valuable extra hour sleep before heading out into the bush to do some brush-packing of old sightings roads.

I was listening to the radio and sounded like a good morning for the guys out there!  Grant had a bit of a déjà vu morning, and heading west was almost a repeat of a few days back.  He found fresh tracks for a herd of rhinos and soon found four of them in the mopanes of the west.  Later, he was having coffee at Nkombi Pan and saw tracks for Nthombi leopardess...he then spotted her and got the guests back onto the vehicle and followed her as she stalked, but missed, a steenbuck.

Elsewhere, Herold and Difference made quick work of tracking down the Xakubasa Pride and found them before they went to rest in a mopane thicket of all places.  Imagine that.

Kuhanya was also found near Argyle Dam, and despite only having just finished a large impala kill, she was found with a young bushbuck kill.

This was all great news, as everything my new guests asked to see was there waiting for them, and all within a  couple of kilometres of camp; it was this reason I only drove 15km on afternoon drive and still had a wonderfully enjoyable time. 

The drive started off with a family of nyalas walking past us before we had even left the parking lot.  We then found some impalas and had a good sighting of a pair of steenboks.

Steenbuck

While watching them, we spotted some giraffes on the opposite bank of the Sohebele Riverbed, and a little later found a herd of not-so-cooperative zebras and a distant visual of a large herd of waterbuck near Argyle Dam.  At Argyle Dam, Kuhanya was found resting in the grass not too far from Fish Eagles Nest, but there was no sign of her kill – although I am sure that it is still hidden nearby.

Kuhanya chilling in the grass

After spending time with the leopard, I slowly headed towards the white lions, and found a lone male waterbuck as well as a lone elephant bull, the same collared individual that has been spending all of his time near the camp the last two weeks.

Red-crested korhaan and elephant bull

While watching him, Godfrey called to let me know that I could make my way towards the lions, and I promptly did so.  While they were all still fast asleep, they were at least doing this in the open, and it was the best sighting that we managed to get of them in the last few days.

Resting white lions

There was a bit of stirring late in the evening, but not all that much, and judging by their much fatter bellies, they had no doubt killed again last night.  Godfrey is of the opinion that they managed to catch a young zebra, but it could well have been a baby buffalo from the herd from last night?  Either way, they looked well-fed and we left them sleeping in peace.

Thier usual sleepy selves :)

After sundowners we headed straight back to camp with no further sightings.  Herold managed to see the four rhinos Grant had found in the morning.  Some other interesting info was that all of our new guests got to see a cheetah driving into the reserve today, as did all of the guests leaving!

Cape Glossy Starling and the moon in the late evening

Marka took the Java guests down the Argyle Rd towards the reserve gate in the afternoon and also got to see this cheetah while on drive; heading home, he bumped into Nthombi leopadess all the way down south at Rockfig Airstrip! 

Let’s hope that the guest’s good luck continues for the next few days!