3rd and 4th June – Sohebele Surprise!

Photo of the Day

Sohebele male lion

3^rd June Morning Drive

No drives

3^rd June Afternoon Drive

No drives

4^th June Morning Drive

(Herold)

3 x lions (Sohebele males) – Borneo, Zebrawood Pan

2 x lions (Jacaranda young females) – Scholtz, Kudu Pan

1 x breeding herd of buffalo – Karans, Kudu Pan Rd North

1 x breeding herd of buffalos – Borneo, Zebrawood Pan Rd

4^th June Afternoon Drive

(Herold and Chad)

3 x lions (Sohebele males) – Borneo, Zebrawood Pan

1 x leopard (Rockfig Jnr female with impala kill) – Vielmetter, Vielmetter Access

1 x rhino

Daily Synopsis

This time I’m not being lazy with a double post, it was just that on Sunday, our guests leaving had the morning off and wanted to just rest, while the guests arriving only got into Motswari after 6pm, so there were no drives that day; although I was tempted to pop out and go and see the Sohebele male lions that Johannes had spent his own free time tracking down after breakfast, and found them about 2km from the lodge, but the windy and cloudy weather wasn't fantastic, so we played cricketand had ninja fights instead!

Boys will be boys...Chad and Peter clearly way too bored today

Johannes also got to see Mbali female leopard again!  This old, and definitely nomadic superstar of a leopard pitched up right in the middle of our traversing and was found sleeping on some rocks near the old Makulu Dam!  Glad to see she is indeed still alive and doing well from the photos I saw of her!

Monday returned to normal, but we still only had one drive out, Herold and his magic.  He had seen a nice herd of buffalos in the east when he attempted to follow up on the Sohebele males, and chose to stop for a drink in the open areas around Zebrawood Pan; everyone had jumped off the vehicle when two heads popped out from behind a termite mound about 80m away!  Guess they found the lions afterall!

The lions weren’t done for the morning, as Johannes, after leaving the Sohebele males found the two Jacaranda lionesses drinking at Kudu Pan not too far from the other lions!  There was also a herd of buffalos in the area!

In the afternoon, we decided to do a bit of a staff drive in that same direction; I made a conservative prediction that we would see only 5 species of mammals in the short drive to a dry area of the reserve, but we ended on 8, which wasn't the worst performance (sometimes I’m delighted to see one there!). 

These included small things like tree squirrels, scrub hares, steenbuck and impalas, but also the three Sohebele male lions still resting at Zebrawood Pan (thanks to some superhuman spotting from Dave, who saw the lions leg sticking out from a thick clump of grass...okay, I just said that hoping to get a raise!).

Sadly they were fast asleep, and we carried on with the drive to the Kruger Boundary where we found some hippos at Majavi Dam and zebras on the boundary.  With a magical full moon rising, we stopped at Kudu Pan to enjoy it, but as our wonderful planning for this staff bumble saw us forgetting drinks, spotlights, and in Dave’s case, long pants too, at home, we turned and headed back to camp.  While we didn’t bump into the Jacaranda lionesses as hoped, we did bump into the resident male rhino en route!

Zebra on the Kruger Boundary, and Moon Rise over Kudu Pan

Herold managed to see Rockfig Jnr leopardess a bit further south, so he has a mission to look for some rhinos tomorrow morning...and knowing Herold, he shall succeed...no pressure mate!