14 Sept - Grey but Great!

Mbali - our granny leopard!

Morning Drive

(Herold, Peter, Godfrey & Andrea)

Buffalo (4 Daghaboys) / Vielemeter - Ndlovu Road

Buffalo (3 Daghaboys) / Peru - Phiva Plains

Leopard (Mbali) / Mbali - Woza Woza Cutline

Afternoon Drive

(Herold, Peter, Godfrey, Shadrack & Andrea)

Rhino (3 - mother, calf and male)

Elephant (Breeding Herd) / Peru - Lily Pan

Lion (Mafikizolo Pride) / Jaydee - Nkombe Road

With  a cat mission on my mind we naturally started to weave down south. It started quietly as the wind was up and the sky grey. A  herd of buffalo had been seen so I decided to head there first. En route we found 4 Daghaboys lying down. trying to stay out of the wind. It was while we were watching them that Herold found Mbali leopard all the way back up north - just my luck. We therefore did a quick U-turn and headed back up toward Peru where we had a lovely sighting of our granny leopard. At one point we disturbed a duiker who bolted off into the bush with Mbali on hot pursuit. She lost interest soon and continued to make her way into rather thick mopane belt. After watching her for quite some time, we eventually left her wandering into Mbali.

Sunrise

Mbali's old and tattered ears :)

Heading towards the hyena den was part successful, unfortunately none of the youngsters were out but this one adult lay relaxed in front of our car so we had a lovely view of her. Soon after, Chris from Simbavati called in to say he had found the Mafikizolo pride. Lions have been so scarce the last few days, we were all delighted. I started making my way slowly towards there and bumped into rhino somewhere in between.

New adventure on every path

It was a great lion sighting! They were even relatively relaxed today, letting us view them without running off!

It was starting to get dark, so we made our way to Lily Pan for a drink and got the finale show of an elephant herd drinking at the dam, a hippo displaying to the elephant, bull elephant fighting with one another and then turning their attention to the hippo and they proceeded to chase the hippo continuously back into the water while the hippo tried to make his way out! Unfortunately it was a little dark for photos but wow - what a drinks stop!

Hopefully tomorrow brings us just as much action,

Andrea