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| Pic of the Day. |
( Grant, Shadrack & Herold.)
Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Peru –
Jacks Camp.
Elephant ( Kambaku) / DeLuca – Mpela
Mpela.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Motswari –
Timbavati Cutline.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Vielmieter –
Sweetwater Southern Access.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Peru – Mvubu
Crossing.
Lion ( Maghlatini Male & Timbavati
Female) / DeLuca – Argyle Rd.
Afternoon Drive.
( Grant & Herold.)
Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Argyle –
Timabavati/ Umbabat Cutline.
Rhino ( 2 x Males)
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Vielmieter –
Jaydee Access.
Lion ( 3 x Machaton Females & 7
Cubs) / Kings – Cheetah Plains.
Daily Synopsis.
Our mornings mission was to find Hyena,
a breeding herd of Elephant and Rhino. Seems to always be Rhino!
Knowing of a place we were nearly guaranteed Hyena we headed off to
the Hyena Den in the South hoping luck would be on our side. It would
also make a nice change of scenery as we have spent the majority of
the last few days driving in the North. It looked like we would be
lucky as we found a lone Hyena walking down the road not far from the
den itself. This young Hyena looked like the previous seasons young
and he walked up alongside the vehicle and continued on his way North
following the trail of something. Pulling into the den itself we only
found the mother of the two sub adults but none of the youngsters So
although we had success it was still a little disappointing not to
see the pups. With time on our side we will try again before sunset
as this seems to be the best time.
Continuing on our way we checked all
the drinking holes of the South and saw little more than a couple of
Dagha Boys who had recently finished off mud bathing in one of them.
Hearing that our two male Rhino's had been located by the trackers we
slowly started to make our way back North in their direction. We
thought it only a matter of time till the sighting would be
established but by the time we got into the area they still had not
been found with the vehicle. Apparently they got wind of the trackers
and took fright running off to the West. With a couple of us in the
area we spent a fair amount of time trying to relocate but they were
nowhere to be found. Apparently Rhino are like Leopard if they don't
want you to see them, you won't!
Stopping for a cup of coffee at Lily
pan we gave them time to settle and would try again after drinks.
With it warming up quickly we did not think they would go far.
Resuming again we checked the block they had last been seen in but to
no joy. With time running out we thought we would make that our
afternoon mission. Heading back to camp our luck returned as we found
a nice breeding herd of Elephant drinking along the Tsharalumi River
they then proceeded to head off into the surrounding Mopane to feed
We had an ok sighting of them but there
was a large male present that had them unsettled and they kept moving
off as soon as he came near. Hopefully we will find them this
afternoon a little more relaxed.
Shadrack and Herold had themselves an
interesting morning as well. They had chosen to stick to the North
and were rewarded later in the morning when they found one Maghlatini
Male mating with a Timabavati female. As nobody expressed any
interest in the sighting they had it all to themselves for the
morning and spent a fair amount of time with these two very
impressive Lions.
With the mercury climbing rapidly we
all headed back to the coolness of camp. It looks like we already
have an active afternoon to look forward to.
With temperatures once again reaching
the mid thirty's we were hoping it would attract our bigger game to
the water or at least keep it in the area as it was to hot to move
off. Our drive was beyond perfect this afternoon with us making all
the right decisions, choosing the right roads and being in the right
place at the right time. The whole drive flowed for us and we had an
amazing time which included some very special sightings. Keeping to
our word we headed off in the direction of where we left the Elephant
and it was not long before we received a message from Christoff that
they were not far from where they had been. We joined him in the
sighting and watched as these great grey giants tried to rouse
themselves from their lethargy and get active. We chose to sit under
a large Maroela Tree with a youngster and his mom as they went about
feeding on the lush grass, both of us enjoying the shade from the
tree. Finally having to head off as we wanted to leave ourselves
enough time to track our two Rhino's from the morning we headed back
West
We were to start our search at Lily
Pan and then check Hidden Away Pan as we thought there was a good
chance they both would be resting in the Pans themselves.
Not far from the pans Jimmy radioed
that he had two Rhino unfortunately they were in Klaserie and not in
our traversing area. He did however mention that they looked like
they wanted to cross to the East and he was not wrong as a short
while later they did. Being right there we joined him in the
sighting as the two of them slowly made there way towards the pans.
With our guests now having seen all that they wanted the rest of the
afternoon was to be a bonus and having not to spend time tracking the
Rhino we had some extra time available.
Kings had found the Machaton Pride and
had extended us an invitation to go visit which we dually accepted.
So heading off South we found the pride resting in the shade of a
couple of trees on Cheetah Plains. As things started to cool off they
began to become active and started grooming themselves and preparing
themselves for the nights hunt. They had been following a herd of
Buffalo which I'm sure they would try pick up on again and hope for
success after dark. With the sun hitting the horizon we took our
leave as we still wanted to try once more try our luck at the Hyena
Den.
Driving past Hide Dam we found the
mother of the two young Hyenas sleeping in the dam itself. This did
not bode well and we did not hold out much hope that they would be
out without their mother present.
So when we pulled up to the den we were
pleasantly surprised to find an adult with one of the very young one
present. Sitting with them as the youngster played around our
patience paid off as the other one eventually came out to join the
party. Then another adult joined followed by the two sub adults, they
all totally ignored us and we were witnesses to some amazing Hyena
behaviour and interaction. Eventually with it getting dark we had to
pull ourselves away from this enthralling sight and head off for a
drink that was now a little later than a sundowner.
To wrap things off nicely we found
ourselves a very relaxed Genet and a Civet on the way home, oh and a
Chameleon!
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