Photo of the Day
Makepisi male watching his brother and mother |
Morning Drive
(Chad, Grant, Herold
and Andrea)
3 x rhinos
1 x rhino
1 x rhino
1 x breeding herd of elephants – Timbavati
1 x breeding herd of elephants – Motswari, Airstrip
2 x elephant bulls – Motswari, Hanger Rd
2 x elephant bulls – Argyle, Mangova Rd
Afternoon Drive
(Chad, Grant, Herold
and Andrea)
3 x leopards (Makpisi male, Shindzuti male and Klakisa
female) – Peru, Mbali River Rd
1 x leopard (Machaton male) – Mbali, White Syringa
1 x breeding herd of elephants – Motswari, Xinatsi Dam Rd
North
1 x breeding herd of elephants – Motswari, Airstrip
1 x breeding herd of elephants – Per, Mvubu Crossing
1 x elephant bull – Mbali, Buffalo Kill
1 x elephant bull – Motswari, Camp
Daily Synopsis
Wow, sorry, im really way behind on these blogs, but will
catch up tomorrow, I promise!
Saturday was a quiet morning for me, but an exceptionally
exciting morning for the rest of the crew – Andrea, Grant and Herold joined the
WildCon group and their guests as they went to microchip three rhinos in the
southern Timbavati, but read more about that on Andrea’s
blog post on this blog.
I was thus alone in the north and spent the first part of it
trying to track down the six lions that had walked through camp last night as
expected; after drinking at Marula Pan, they moved past elephant room (after
breaking one of our path lanterns with a swipe of a paw) and carried on north;
sadly we tracked them off the northern boundary into Ingwelala, just as some
other guides tracked the two Ximpoko males into Ingwelala further to the west –
once more having literally covered the entire length of our traversing area in
one night.
I did enjoy a couple of elephant bulls around the northern
areas, some steenbuck and impalas, as well as the hippos at Argyle Dam, but it
was generally very quiet.
Elephant bull and steenbuck |
Zebra, kudu, giraffe and slender mongoose |
Injured elephant calf doing great |
Mating monitor lizards and martial and tawny eagles |
Makepisi male disappearing |
After giving up on the search (seeing some giraffe on the
way), we had a drink and then headed back to camp. Heading on the road, Petros told me he could
smell popcorn – no, we weren’t at the movies, but rather this was a sure sign
that a leopard had just urinated close bu.
Seeing tracks in the spotlight for a male leopard heading in the
direction we were going, we followed up and a minute later found the leopard
responsible; Machaton male!
He soon left the road and we had the odd flimpse, but had
lost him when we decided to leave; then Stuart, one of my guests, said he heard
something, so I switched off, and could hear the sounds of leopard growls not
far off. My immediate impression was
that there were two leopards, and possibly a mating pair that had caused the sound
heard by Stuart.
We entered the bush, and after three stops, the low growling
eventually led us back to Machaton male, but he was alone and we followed him
for a short while until he was lost in some thick mopane and we conceded defeat
and headed back to camp; not the greatest leopard sightings ever, but a lovely
experience, and always fun finding your own leopards!
Machaton male walking down the road |
Maybe my luck will turn tomorrow!
Wonderful pictures!!!!From Argentina !I feel that I'm there in the middle of the bush!
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