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| Pic of the Day. |
( Grant, Herold & Shadrack.)
Leopard ( Kuhanya) / Motswari –
Xinatsi Dam Rd North.
Lion ( 3 x Sohobele Males) / Karans –
Top Rd East.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Karans –
Majavi Dam.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / JayDee –
Ngulube Link East.
Buffalo ( Breeding Herd) / Karans –
Bottom Rd.
Afternoon Drive.
( Grant, Herold & Shadrack.)
Lion ( 3 x Sohobele Males) / Karans –
Top Rd East.
Lion ( Mafikizolo Male) / JayDee –
Tshabalala Rd.
Leopard ( Unknown Female) / Peru –
Sohobele Plains.
Leopard ( Khlakiso's son) / Peru –
Giraffe Kill Rd.
Rhino ( Male)
Rhino ( Tshangula)
Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Buchner.
Elephant ( Kambaku's) / Buchner.
Elephant ( Kambaku's) / Buchner.
Elephant ( Kambaku) / Buchner.
Elephant ( Kambaku) / Buchner.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Mbali –
Antheap Corner Rd.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boy) / De Luca –
Mpela Mpela.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Buchner.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Buchner.
Buffalo ( Breeding Herd) / Buchner.
Buffalo ( Breeding Herd) / Buchner.
Daily Synopsis.
With things slowly
picking up drive by drive the mornings expectations were once again
getting higher. Having guests arrive late yesterday and miss
afternoon drive this was to be their first so for Jacky and myself
anything and everything was new and exciting. Herold decided that he
woulddd try follow up on Kuhanya around Motswari and headed off to
the North of camp to check hefavouritete haunts. Shadrack in need of
Rhino headed directly to the West where they had two sightings of
Rhino the day before.
Being the last out
we decided to check Xinatsi Dam ( Magic Dam) on our way to see if
the Sohobele Lions were still with their Buffalo carcass. While
casually driving along chatting to our new guests, the ever composed
and relaxed as a cucumber voice of Jacky casually expressed that
there was a Leopard. Stopping and looking to where he pointed on the
right there sat Kuhanya, naturally, up in a Marula Tree watching the
world pass by down below her. I think my guests jaws hit the floor as
this was the very first animal we had seen! This never bodes well as
the expectations are suddenly raised. None the less it was a great
sighting and I can honestly say the best I've had for the month! The
sighting only got better when she started to call out every now and
then obviously still in pursuit of her male companion. It's great to
see how our little girl is all grown up now and looking to start a
family of her own. With the magic of the dam working for us once more
we left the sighting for the others to enjoy while we continued our
journey towards the Sohobele's.
Passing through
Kudu Pan clearing we picked up a very nice herd of Zebra that was
very relaxed with our presence. We once again delayed our trip to
spend a little time with them as they went about grooming on another
and generally interacting.
Setting off once
more we were now very close to arriving at the sight of the
Sohobele's when we again found something to distract us from our
goal. This time it was a small herd of Dagha Boys resting at Majavi
Dam. This sighting was further enhanced by the presence of a clan of
six Hyena that were also milling around the waters edge, with some of
them having been actually resting in the water. This was a good sign
as if the Lions were not present then they would be off fighting over
the nearby carcass instead of weighing up their odds in killing their
own Buffalo. At the rate we were going there was a good chance we
would not make it to the Lions with this in mind we set off directly
in their direction.
Arriving on scene
they were all still to be found on the road. They had rolled the
carcass over to access the meat on the spine and dragged it to the
base of a nearby Apple leaf Tree. Truth be told there was not much
left on the carcass but they still guarded it from the eight
surrounding Hyena and the ever mounting vultures. This was
interesting to sit and watch as their tolerance was both tested by
bird and Hyena. With the Hyena eventually realising they would still
have to wait a while longer they moved off to rest under some nearby
vegetation. The Lions then also relaxed and fell asleep next to their
prised carcass. We took this as our cue to head for morning coffee
lest we fall victim to sleep as well.
Resuming after
coffee with not much time left we still managed to find ourselves a
small breeding herd of Buffalo and a fair amount of general game. I
hope our guests don't think this is typical of every drive!
So having had a
very successful morning and with our guests staying five nights we
decided to head up to Buchner in the far North East corner for the
afternoon, see if we could find ourselves an Elephant or two. I love
heading up there and although many of the times that I visit we see
very little it is just a beautiful piece of property with the most
amazing landscape. Having said that it has always been good for big
game and it is seldom that we have not seen one or two of either
Elephant, Buffalo or Rhino. With the sky once again breaking and
following the pattern of the last few afternoons we were in for a
sunny afternoon. At least this would guarantee us the best sundowner
spot in the entire reserve if nothing else!
We got off to a
good start finding a couple of different groups of Buffalo Bulls. It
was made that much better by the fact that the rest of the reserve
sounded dead and it would appear our decision was a good one. Things
then started to shift with Herold finding a Rhino, unfortunately it
was not relaxed and ran off after only getting a brief visual. This
was to be the same when he visited a Impala kill that had been found
earlier in the morning by Johannes. On approach the female Leopard
took one look at them and disappeared off into the bush. At least
Herold's sighting of the Sohobele's was a good one and he had all
three of them feeding on the very little bit that was left of the
Buffalo carcass.
Shadrack had
himself a very busy afternoon and seem to be in all the right places
at the right time. He started like we did, with a couple of
Dagha Boys which he promptly followed up with Khlakiso's son who
seems to like a particular termite mound in the Tsharalumi River as
he has been now found resting there in the afternoon on a number of
occasions. With a number of stations responding to him it brought
eyes into the area and with that came a run of finds! First it was
one of the Mafikizolo Males who was very relaxed and lay nicely out
in the open for the guys to view even though he was alone and there
was no apparent sign of the rest of his pride. This sighting then led
to Tshangula, our large male Rhino, being found. Not bad for an
afternoon in the Mid West!
Hearing all of
this action over the radio serious doubt was starting to creep into
our decision but having travelled in the opposite direction there was
no turning back now. So we continued on our way trying to pay as
little attention to the radio as possible. We picked up on a few more
groups of Dagha Boys along the way and it looked like this would be
our afternoon. This was until we nearly reached our Northern Boundary
with the Kruger where we picked up on a nice group of Elephant Bulls.
Half the fun of this sighting was actually the challenge of getting
to them and everybody on board was witness to the great capabilities
of Land Rover. Finding our way in through the maze of drainage lines
we spent some quality time with OUR Elephant. Wanting to get to the
koppies before sunset we eventually left our gentle giants to go
about their business.
Shortly before
arriving at the koppies we found fresh tracks for a breeding herd of
Elephant in a riverbed. We did not have to look far as they were
feeding in amongst the koppies where we were going to stop for
drinks. On our approach they all conveniently moved off to the
Western side allowing us to scale the top of the koppie for our
intended sundowner. This we now enjoyed looking over the herd with
it's many youngsters down below us feeding on the plain. Double bonus
was the huge herd of Buffalo feeding to the East of us off on the
hills in the Kruger. There could not have been a more perfect spot to
stop for a drink and all the worries of about how much the others
were seeing and had we made the right decision suddenly disappeared.
Our trip North
certainly paid off as we found another three groups of Elephant Bulls
and also another smaller herd of Buffalo once setting off from
drinks. Being the only Elephant found within the reserve Jacky and I
were duly satisfied. So what if we didn't find Rhino, that after all
is what tomorrow is for!
How could I
forget! The highlight of our trip, well for me that is, was finding a
Pennant Winged Nightjar on the way home! This was only the second
time in my life to see one and I'm not sure how it can be classified
as a local summer resident! None the less, we had a great view of it
as it flew around the car hawking insects. What makes this nightjar
unmistakable is the broad white stripe across the primaries, and
elongated inner primaries which trail well behind the bird. Who says
the bush does not hold a surprise for you on every drive.
hello tchad
ReplyDeletebeautiful light on te pictures
stéphane