11 Sept - Finally!

Two bulls fighting it out

Morning Drive

(Shadrack, Herold & Andrea)

2 Rhino

Elephant (BH) / Peru -Goya Road

Buffao (BH) / Peru - Mangwa Clearing

Elephant (2 Kambaku) / Peru - Schobanine Road

Afternoon Drive

(Shadrack, Herold & Andrea)

Leopard (Thombela) / Kings - Rockfig Road

Leopard (1 Male) / Peru - West Mangwa Clearing

Elephant (Breeding Herd) / Peru - Mangwa Clearing

Buffalo (Breeding Herd) / Java - Java/Mbali Road

Elephant (Breeding Herd) / Peru - Klipgat Crossing

Buffalo (2 Daghaboys) / Peru - Bulala Road

Today was finally the day I got to see the blue eyed leopard Thombela. But, I am getting ahead of myself, as that was this afternoons story...After a very windy night, we woke up to an overcast and rather quiet morning. Other than a steenbok and a few shy baboons, the first hour was pretty still. A herd of buffalo were found and so we responded there, having only seen Daghaboys in the last few days, it is always good to see a herd. Hopefully they pull in some lions this afternoon! There was also an elephant herd nearby so we watched them for a while as well. Two young males bantered in front of the car. All in all, it was a rather slow morning but we still got good quality sighting of buffalo and elephant and one thing that is certain about those two animal species - the are never boring.

With new guests in the afternoon, it as back to square one and to enjoying whatever the bush brought. Slowly heading back south to find the herd of buffalo, we stopped off to view some of the smaller things along the way. With one of my guests being interested in birds, we were able to stop and bird watch for a while which is always a treat.

Pied Kingfisher

We caught up with the herd of buffalo on Java and sat with them as the sun started to sink. Buffalo herds moving through grass always remind me of a flowing river with the sound they make.

A good scratching post

Kings Camp then kindly invited us down onto their property to see Thombela, the blue eyed leopard. I was quite far but not having seen this leopard yet, and having wanted to very badly since arriving in the Timbavati - I was not going to give the chance up. En route we found this warthog ending his day reversing back into a termite mound. We also swung past the Hyena Den to see a few youngsters out and about. By the time we got to Thombela, the sun was down so not great for photos. I was so excited about seeing this leopard though that I did not really care! She is such a beauty and lay relaxed at the base of a Knobthorn tree in which she had placed her impala dinner. An adult hyena lay nearby waiting for her to start feeding again in the hopes of picking up a few scraps.