21st December – If You Are Reading This, Then the World Didn’t End!

Photo of the Day

Mabande male lion

Morning Drive

(Chad and Grant)

2 x lions (Ximpoko and Mabande males) – Peru, Voel Dam

1 x rhino

2 x buffalo bulls – Peru, Voel Dam

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Argyle, Rudi’s Rd

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Argyle, Oppikoppie Rd

Afternoon Drive

(Chad, Grant, Shaddy, Marka and Andrea)

2 x lions (Ximpoko and Mabande males) – Peru, Voel Dam

1 x leopard (Argyle Male) – Argyle, Argyle Rd

3 x rhinos

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Motswari, Camp

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Motswari, Wisani Access

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Argyle, Buffalo Pan Access

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Java, Terminalia Rd

1 x elephant bull – Peru, Klipgat Crossing

1 x breeding herd of buffalo – Motswari, Airstrip

3 x buffalo bulls – Motswari, Wisani Access

Daily Synopsis

Okay okay, so the World didn’t end, but I know that this is no excuse to have lagged behind on the blog posts, but has been a pretty busy few days for me, so its catch up time now!

The day wasn't meant to begin so beautifully considering that it was meant to be our last day on earth, but stopping to enjoy a lone wildebeest (possibly Frankie?) and some waterbuck and impalas on the airstrip, I got the distinct impression that the Mayan’s were going to be wrong this time around.

Shaddy then radioed to tell us that he had seen the two Mabande male lions at Voel Dam as he was coming back to work in the morning, so Grant and I headed in that direction and notified some of the other stations that were already closer to that area.

Grant began well with his guests and ticked off a male rhino, and I found a herd of elephants as I went to try follow up on the rhino, and was kept company with the usual impala and waterbuck herds scattered around the north.

Moving towards the lions without having rhino luck, we had a lovely sighting of these two impressive beasts, as they lazed about in the open, clearly having had a goof feed recently.

This was proven when two male buffalos arrived on the scene and the lions barely even looked at them!  Instead they decided to go and seek the coolness of a nearby drainage line and once they settled, we moved on.

Grant had found his rhino again while watching some elephants, and this time I managed to respond!  He was slowly feeding towards a dam, so we went and stopped for coffee there, and sure enough he pitched up and came and fed on the dam wall, quite unaware of the 6 of us having coffee about 30m away!

Heading back to the lodge we found another large herd of elephants, waterbuck, impalas and some warthogs to round off a very productive morning!

The afternoon saw me not taking my camera out (sorry, but had a special surprise visit from a friend!), but instead taking out a new family of guests; we took it easy in the north, which wasn't the initial plan as I needed leopard, and as the north had been so dry of late, I was planning on heading south until Andries told me that he had found one near buffalo pan...sadly, as I was heading there, he was lost and not relocated again the whole afternoon, so being in the north, we made do with what we could; that makes it sound tough!  We enjoyed impalas, kudus, giraffes, waterbuck, impalas and a herd of elephants before stopping for a drink.  After sunset, we headed to the lions and arrived as they woke up and went to drink at Voel Dam; with thirsts quenched, they moved off a bit and laid down, giving an almighty roar as they did so...they then flopped over and went to sleep; as I still needed leopard, I left the lions and went to Buffalo Pan, but I had no luck, made worse by the fact that both Grant and I knew they would roar again as I left...which they promptly did!  I had no sooner passed Buffalo Pan when Grant radioed again, not to brag about roaring lions, but to ask a favour...he was stuck!  I turned around and raced back to give him a hand as the lions lay a short distance off, and in no time he was mobile again, and so was I back to the lodge...i chose to take the tar road, and in a way, it paid off, as we got to see a leopard!  It was a very brief sighting as Argyle Male walked into Ingwelala, but it was a sighting none the less, although to be honest, at first I thought he was a lioness!

Mabande and Ximpoko male lions

So, it appears that good deeds are rewarded sometimes...and in any case, Grant promised me a leopard tomorrow morning!