July 4 - Great to be Home!

Photo of the day

Morning Drive

(Herold, Shadrack, Grant & Andrea)

Elephant (breeding herd) / Java - Broad Road

Elephant (breeding herd) / Peru - Hlaru Road

Elephant (breeding herd) / Argyle - Jan's Road

Elephant (6 Males) / Peru - Sohebele Plains

Elephant (2 males) / Vielmeter - Dizzy Drive

Rhino (1 female, 1 male and one male calf)

Lion (2 Males) / Java - Whiteys Rest

Afternoon Drive

(Herold, Shadrack & Andrea)

Elephant (breeding herd) / Mbali - Dungbeetle Drive

Buffalo (breeding herd) / Java - Java Dam

Lion (2 Males) / Java - Whiteys Rest

Hello everyone, after a month and a half of rainy Cape Town winter weather, I had had enough so was only too thrilled to start back here in July. Today seemed to be the days for elephants as on morning drive, 3 different breeding herds were seen as well as 8 elephant bulls. The morning started bitterly cold, so wrapped up in jackets and scarves we headed out. It seemed the bush was sleeping in this morning, as things started out rather quietly. I took the western side of the reserve in attempt to find giraffe and on the way came across a small breeding herd of elephant close to Buffalo Pan. They were slowly feeding, as elephant do and we were able to sit and watch them for quite some time. There were so many other elephant sightings around, that we had this one all to ourselves!

We continued on, crossing over into Peru and as we drove along Giraffe Kill, Jacky spotted a large male giraffe on the other side of the river. We quickly crossed over and found another two males, with this very dark and very old bull standing quite close and in the open for us to admire the battle scars and bumps he has developed on his face over the years of giraffe head butting.

After a drinks stop, it came through the radio that some of the Motswari trackers had found the two large male lion who have been quite elusive the last few days. It was, naturally, a very popular sighting so with stations responding from all over the reserve, we were quite lucky to be conveniently close by. Unfortunately, the lions were resting in quite thick bush (the trackers really did a fantastic job in finding them!) so the visual was not too clear but beautiful to see nonetheless. 

Some of my guests had opted for the morning walk instead of a drive to the first plan for the afternoon was to follow up on the two lion. We headed straight to the area, along with a number of other rangers who had the same idea in mind. On the way, this Dark Chanting Goshawk sat perched very nonchalantly on a tree nest to the road. Luckily, the two lion were still in the same area having only moved slightly further north. Lions being lions, they were flat cat in the grass and thus only showing their ears peeking out the top. 

The rest of drive was a very relaxed amble and a wonderful view of the sunset. The moonrise was arguable the most spectacular I have seen out here in the Timbavati and despite my best photographic efforts, the results just did not do it justice! I am also sharing a couple of pics from the last few drives where I have not been on blog duty, I hope you enjoy!

It's great to be back. See you all tomorrow,

Andrea