Pic Of The Day. |
(
Grant, Herold, Andrea & Chad.)
Elephant
( Breeding Herd) / DeLuca – DeLuca/ Luttig Cutline.
Elephant
( Breeding Herd) / Vilmieter – Lucky's Rd.
Elephant
( Breeding Herd) / Peru – Klipdrrift Crossing.
Rhino
( Female & Calf)
Afternoon
Drive.
(
Grant, Herold, Andrea & Chad.)
Elephant
( Breeding Herd) / Motswari – Wisani Crossing.
Elephant
( Kambaku's) / Peru – Peru Entrance.
Leopard
( Makipi's Male) / Peru – Mbali River Rd.
Leopard
( Mbali) / Peru – Simbavati Access.
Daily
Synopsis.
Greetings
and salutations, I'm back. I'm, being Grant . Actually
been here nearly a week, after an amasing holiday in the Drakensberg
Mountains, but returning to blogging duty for the rest of this week.
Hope you are all well and enjoyed yourselves over the Easter weekend
and that you have been keeping up with Andrea's and Dave's posts.
Thanks to the both of them for stepping up to the plate and keeping
everyone up to date on all the goings on, sounds like you had
yourselves a busy time filled with lots of great moments.
Since
being back on drive people would say that things have been quiet in
comparison to the previous couple weeks but Jacky and myself have not
had ourselves a bad drive yet, always finding something to keep us
entertained whether it be big or small.
This
morning our intentions were to head out to the West along the
Tsharalumi River and follow up on Makipi's and his brother Shindzuti
with their Impala kill which Herold had found the previous evening.
Starting a little later than the rest we had to take a detour as the
initial part of our intended route had already been checked. It was
on this detour that we found ourselves three very nice Tawny Eagles
and on closer inspection we found a couple of White-backed Vultures
in the same vicinity. This raised our alarm bells as the two
different species only seem to congregate when something has died.
With the calling of Hyena's further to the East the temptation was
too great and Jacky and I decided to abandon our Western dreams and
headed off East to investigate. Being in an area of very few roads it
is difficult to check the area you would like, so we checked what we
could. Initially we only found tracks for a very large herd of
Elephant that were moving to the East and continued to do so as we
moved further and further to the East with them finally crossing our
Eastern boundary out of our traversing area. As we sat at the
junction heads down pondering our next move, salt was rubbed into the
wounds when we noticed fresh Lion tracks for two females. They too
headed across the boundary and away. Who knows how long they have
been sitting up here in the North Eastern corner and if they had
anything to do with the collection of Raptors and Vultures, they
possibly have been here all weekend feasting on one of the many Dagha
Boys that frequent the area. I guess it will remain one of the bush's
mysteries.
As if
sensing our disappointment we were thrown a life line when our
Elephant herd decided to do an about turn and we found them whilst
travelling South along the boundary towards Majavi Dam. Finally a
small success for our efforts and a reminder that you never know what
surprises may wait around the next corner, so never give up hope. I
think we were pushing our luck when after our visit with the Elephant
we now continued South in search of the Lions.
The
rest of our morning was to be fairy quiet with scattered sightings of
general game throughout the drive, the highlights being of the young
Zebra and a very young Kudu. The rest of the gang had themselves a
mixed morning with Andrea and Herold heading South. Herold tried
following up on the Mafikizolo Pride, who had abandoned their Giraffe
kill, although he had success on foot they were unable to relocate in
the vehicle with his guests. Guess this prides habit of running from
being tracked has not changed. Herold then went on to visit the
female Rhino and her calf which ran him into overtime and he now
finds himself in the same box with the kitchen as myself and Chad.
Andrea took over following up on Makipi's but he and his brother had
also disappeared after their meal. She did however have what sounded
like a great Elephant Herd sighting to make up for the
disappointment. Ele's to the rescue once again and I think they made
it a triple when Chad visited a herd that was feeding along the
Tsharalumi riverbed saving him from also a uneventful drive.
Afternoon
drive found us receiving new guests so it was back to the drawing
board for Jacky and I. As has been with a couple of our previous
guests of late Leopard was the first request for the Christmas list.
Oddly enough this was the second request we had for Leopard from
guests who had been on Safari in Tanzania and Kenya before in as many
days. Not having any other immediate requests Jacky and I decided to
head off to the Tsharalumi River and check if we could find our
regular brothers who spend a fair amount of time there.
Whilst
waiting to set off on drive a couple of my guests mentioned they saw
Elephant approaching the dam wall in front of the lodge as Herold was
heading off I mentioned this to him and he followed up to find a
small breeding herd drinking from the pools below the dam wall. We
joined him to watch as they cooled themselves off and slowly fed
along the river bank. It was interesting to see how the older
Elephant helped the youngsters up the steep bank, pushing them from
behind with the front of their leg or trunk. With them moving off
into a particular thick area of Mopane we decide to take our leave
and head West.
No
sooner had we formulated a plan we received news that Makipi's had
been found along our route. Not needing a second invitation we headed
in his direction. As we made our way there the sighting was on and
off as they guys struggled to keep up with him as he made his way
along the river bank. We did however get lucky as he came to rest on
a rocky outcrop and we accelerated our arrival in the hope to get a
glimpse of him. Arriving at the sighting with him still static we
could see why everyone else had struggled with us being having to
perch ourselves on a steep sandy bank between rocks, thick vegetation
and a metres drop off into the river below. Makipi's played along
though and sat out in the open grooming himself. Spending some time
with him we eventually decided to make our way out the sighting which
was an adventure in itself and try squeeze in a visit to our female
Rhino and calf, who had been found further in the South.
Chad
had headed straight South towards the Rhino's but unfortunately
shortly before getting into the sighting they were lost as they made
their way across the Machaton River in an area the vehicles could not
follow. Chad then spent the rest of his afternoon trying to relocate
but it would appear a fully grown Rhino and her calf are pretty
elusive and evaded his efforts successfully. Finding ourselves at
Elephant Dam with the sun going down we decided to leave the Rhino's
for tomorrow and stop for drinks.
Resuming
after sundowners we headed to Hide Dam to check if the Mafikizolo
Pride had made their way to the water after dark. Chad was also in
the area checking the surrounding roads but once again they evaded
the both of us. So heading home we had to be content with the many
Chameleons that seem to be out and about at the moment.
I love the rhino pictures, with all the poaching going on you relise how very precious such a sighting is, and she is so cute.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the updates
Kerry