14th June: The Fantastic Four From The Comfort Of Motswari's Lounge.

Pic Of The Day.

Morning Drive.

Lion ( 3 x Males & 3 x Females) / Motswari – Marula Pan.

Elephant ( Kambaku's) / Motswari – Marula Pan.

Afternoon Drive.

Lion ( 3 x Males & 3 x Females) / Motswari – Marula Pan.

Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Vielmieter – Hide Dam.

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

Buffalo ( Dagha Boy) / Motswari – Motswari Dam.

Leopard ( Unknown) / Motswari – Motswari Front Lawn.

Daily Synopsis.

We once again did not head out on morning drive but Dave and myself did pop out to Marula Pan which is located a little South of our staff village. The reason for our visit was to monitor the six Lions that had made themselves at home at the pan and at on stage looked like they wanted to relocate into the staff village itself. While sitting there with them they seemed quite content to sit next to the waters edge, that was until eight Elephant Bulls arrived on the scene also wanting to quench their thirst. The Lions once again retreated towards the village taking shelter in a Mopane thicket not far off. Finding themselves comfortable they chose to spend the rest of the day there and both Herold and myself did not have to travel far on afternoon drive to find our first cat.

A guest of ours with a reacquiring back problem chose to stay in camp while the rest of the family and I headed out to try our luck with the Hyena Den down South. Making our way straight in the Dens direction we arrived to find one of the adult females out sunning herself and as we rounded the termite mound we had a brief glimpse of one of the youngster before it retreated at high speed into the hole. We chose to sit quietly at the den entrance and wait for them to reappear but after some time it appeared they were not coming out, so we chose to head off to Hide Dam to see if anything was there and then would return and try our luck again.

With the dam in sight we noticed a solitary Elephant approaching the water and getting ourselves in position the rest of the herd popped out the surrounding bush and made their way for a drink. It was a great sighting as it was a medium sized herd with members of all ages in amongst it. While the adults drunk the youngsters seemed more content mucking about with one another and after finishing off they moved on to dust bath before heading off to feed. All in all they spent some time round the dam and provided us with a great sighting and well worth the long trip down South.

Making our way back North we once gain dropped in at the Hyena Den but on this occasion we did not even find the adult and the den was dead. It looks like my luck with Hyena Dens has not changed, glad something in my life is consistent. Turning our attention to finding something that vaguely resembled a Leopard we continued our journey North. Our spotted friend was not to play along and we had ourselves a few good sightings of general game before closing down at the lodge early. Chatting with our guest that remained behind it sounded like he had himself a great afternoon while resting on a couch in the lounge, as he first had a herd of Elephant come down to drink at the dam in front of the lodge and then at dusk a Buffalo Bull moved into camp and was seen feeding on the long grass on the banks of the river. If this was not enough while resting on the couch he heard a scuffling and on lifting his head to see what was making the noise, a Leopard walked nonchalantly across the lawn in front of him towards the pool and took a drink as if it was a daily ritual before slipping down into the riverbed and disappearing. It would appear at the moment that the best place to see everything you need only stay in camp.

I'll be off drive the next couple days but not to worry as I leave you in the very capable hands of Mr Cocking who will bring you update on all the goings on.