13th June: Murphy's Law.

Pic Of The Day.

Morning Drive.

( Herold.)

Lion ( 10 x Pride) / DeLuca – Deluca Bushcamp.

Lion ( 1 x young male, 2 x females) / Motswari – Marula Pan.

 

Afternoon Drive.

( Herold & Grant.)

Elephant ( Kambaku's) / Argyle – Argyle Dam.

Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Vielmieter – Back Nines.

Lion ( 2 x Males & 2 x Females.) / DeLuca – DeLuca Bushcamp.

Daily Synopsis.

With our guests choosing to sleep in after a fair few early mornings and young children we were not able to go and check on the Lions for any new developments. This did not stop Herold who headed there first thing to check on what happened over night. To his surprise there were no longer eight Lions but instead there were now ten all feeding from the Buffalo carcass! During the evening they appeared to be joined by two young females who were allowed to take their place at the carcass to feed. It raises a few questions to the prides identity but I still stick with them being the Mafikizolo Pride as they did have a few youngsters in the pride when they first arrived and if anything it goes a little further to affirm my thoughts.

Joining Herold on afternoon drive he was still in search of his Leopard which now have done a disappearing act since the arrival of the Lions. It would appear that we can't have both at the same time. While Herold favoured his chances in the South we chose to stick to the North. We decided that we would leave the Lions till after dark and set of to Argyle and Sohobele Dams. With the weather having warmed up considerably it was a good choice as the water attracted a fair amount of general game. We started off with the usual Impala and Steenbok, getting close to the dam we found the large population of Hippo out the water basking on a sand bank but they unfortunately headed back into the water on our approach. We did find the new addition to the family which must not be more than a couple days old and mom was very protective not offering us much of a view. 

Moving on across the plains we found a nice herd of Waterbuck and Kudu that were making their way down to the water. Carrying onto the West we picked up a nice herd of Zebra as well as a journey of Giraffe.

While we had landed ourselves in Noah's Ark, finding everything in two's, Herold had visited the Hyena den and on this occasion found two adult females and the two younger pups, which were in a very playful mood and kept them entertained for sometime. Returning to his quest for Leopard they scoured the South but instead of finding the elusive spotted cat they found themselves a number of Spotted Hyena.

After dark and on our way back to the lodge we stopped in at the sight of the Buffalo kill to find that the carcass was now reduced to the ribs, neck and hide only remaining and it looks like they will finish it off overnight, after which I'm sure they will return to Marula Pan located a hundred metres South of the lodge, where three of their members had already spent the afternoon. With fully bellies we left two males sleeping while the two young females that arrived late fed on the leftovers.

Tomorrow is D day for Herold and his Leopard lets see if he can work his magic.