16 January - Lion Cubs!

Photo of the Day

 Morning Drive

(Herold)

Lion (2 Mahlathini males, 1 female, 3 cubs) / Motswari – Shlaralumi River Road

Buffalo (3 dagha boys) / Motswari – Bush Braai Road

Afternoon Drive

(Herold)

Lion (2 Mahlathini males, 1 female, 3 cubs) / Motswari – Shlaralumi River Road

Elephant (1 Kambaku) / Peru – Long Road, Flooded Crossing

Daily Synopsis

After Herold told me that he had seen cubs this morning, I was dying to get on afternoon drive. It explained why the lioness had been so unhappy with Herold and Diff’s presence on foot yesterday morning.  Herold got all new guests today, which meant we could go back to the sighting. By Three ‘o clock, the Foam Nest Frogs were chirping and the wind had picked up, it didn’t take long for the heavens to open, and although we desperately need the rain I can’t say I was too chuffed with it. However, taking this blog seriously and not wanting to miss out on cubs, I wrapped up my camera in a black bag and even donned a poncho! We headed straight for the area of the lion, where they had now dragged their buffalo kill into the riverbed. As we approached, the rain lifted and the sun peeked briefly through the clouds…I couldn’t believe our luck! One adult male was tucking into buffalo ribs (we could hear the crunching!) while the other waited his turn. A few meters away lay the proud mother lioness with her three cubs. The cubs had been a little nervous this morning with the presence of the car, but this afternoon they barely seemed to notice us as they played with each other, fought for milk and groomed.  The buffalo kill was almost finished, so I really do hope they will stick around, as it was a beautiful sighting!

There had been a pre-drive sighting of Kuhanye near to camp, so we decided to investigate. We had also heard bushbuck alarm calls and started in that direction first. We found the bushbuck, doing what it does best; hiding in the bushes! And although we searched for quite a while, all we found was Kuhanye’s tracks. Hopefully we will have more luck tomorrow!

Herold then decided to follow up on the Jacaranda Pride that had been spotted earlier. On the way, we bumped into a solitary bull elephant, who was clearly not in the mood for paparazzi and he moved off. General game was sparse due to the weather and all we found was a small bachelor herd of waterbuck. Once again, we only found the tracks of the lion, which had unfortunately moved into a very thick area. On the way for a drinks stop at Lover’s Leap we came across a small python resting half on the road. It wasn’t very mobile due to the cold and we were able to snap away. Although the rest of our drive was relatively quiet, the lion cubs certainly made up for it.