15th Dec - What a Day!

Morning Drive

(Peter, Marka, Shadrack & Andrea)

Buffalo (7 Daghaboys) / Motswari – Wedge River Road

Elephant (Breeding Herd) / Vielmeter – Mangawaan Road

Afternoon Drive

(Peter, Marka, Shadrack & Andrea)

Rhino (1 male)

Leopard (1 female) / Mbali – White Seringa Link

Lion (2 Ximpoko males) / Peru – Shkari Road

Elephant  (Breeding Herd) / Vielmeter - Pump crossing

Buffalo (Daghaboys) / Argyle – Horizon Road

With extremely VIP guests I was really to pull out all stops! Okay, so the VIPs were my parents but who better to share this amazing wildlife than the people who instilled this love and respect I have for nature in me? The first part of our morning was filled with me babbling on about the area and taking them along my favourite roads, and most importantly of course, birding! We came across some lion tracks on Pan road and decided it best not to follow and instead I headed slowly down Buffalo Kill – a great spot for birds and we parked off in the shade while Woodlands Kingfishers, Burchells Coucals, an assortment of Cuckoos and shrikes flew over our heads. Some southern stations had found a breeding herd of elephant on Vielmeter so I thought I would amble down that side before a morning coffee stop.

 

We had an incredible sighting – firstly, the herd was enormous, large than I have seen in a considerable while. Then, a tiny little one started performing for us doing ‘handstands’ on it’s trunk (trunkstands!) and head-butting an older sibling. Another two youngsters began play fighting as well, while one literally jumped on top of the other – it was delightful.

 

Just as we were about to pull out of the sighting, two large bulls started tousling with each other, with a couple of serious clashes of tusks. What a spectacular sighting! After a coffee stop, we made our way slowly back to camp.

The afternoon started with a couple of Daghaboys (male buffalo) and some good general game. The Simbavati guys had followed up on the lion tracks and had found the lion in the morning. So, after deciding to spend part of our afternoon with the lion, I slowly headed to Peru.

Now, I get the huge privilege of seeing some incredible leopards and I desperately wanted my folks to get that experience too so when Shadrack found an unknown female leopard on Java – I took the risk. By the time we got to the sighting, she had already pushed quite a way north. She was not the most relaxed leopard but if we gave her space we could follow next to her without her running away. Although she didn’t really pose for us, it was so exciting to follow her through the bush, especially due to the fact that I had not seen this leopard before!

When we arrived the two male Ximpoko lions were quite typically ‘flat cat’. Although after sitting for a while, the larger male sat up and began giving an almighty full lion roar. It really is an honour to hear a full call happening right next to your vehicle – the car vibrates it is so loud! The roar was by no means directed at us and we thus watched them for a little while longer before they lay down again and we headed off for sundowners!

With new guests arriving tomorrow, I certainly hope this great luck will stay with us! Chad is taking over the blog again from tomorrow, so I will see you all again soon.

Signing out,

Andrea