4th December – Dam Good Morning!

Photo of the Day

Jacaranda lioness

Morning Drive

(Herold and Chad)

2 x lions (Jacaranda lionesses) – Peru, Sohebele Dam

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Peru, Sohebele Dam

Afternoon Drive

(Chad)

2 x lions (Jacaranda lionesses) – Argyle, Piva Plains

1 x rhino

3 x buffalo bulls- Motswari, Camp

Daily Synopsis

Today began with us doing a bush walk at the start of the drive as the temperatures were much more amicable to this than after breakfast, so off we trundled towards Argyle Dam where we met Petros for some coffee; it was a bit quiet, but we did still enjoy looking at some of the smaller things in the bush.

After coffee at the dam with the hippos, we headed towards Sohebele Dam a couple of kilometres upstream to see the two Jacaranda lionesses that had been found there, but we took our time getting there as Piva Plains was full of life with impala, waterbuck and zebra across the area.

A host of game on Piva Plains

The local baboon troop then spotted the lions and began alarm calling, and this usually causes the cats to move off, so we jumped ahead to see them, but still stopping to enjoy the baboons along the way!

Baboons watching the lions

 

The two cats then entered a playful mood and chased one another around as the walked along the Sohebele River in the direction of Argyle Dam, but soon went to rest in the shade of a wild date palm.

Playful Jacaranda lionesses

Moving onto the plains, they looked keen on hunting, but the impalas and zebras saw them and dashed off; the circling raptors caught the lions attention and the girls went to investigate and found nothing, so when they settled down, we left them and went back to Sohebele Dam for another sighting!

No luck for the lions on Piva Plains

This time it was a lovely herd of elephants feeding along the riverbed bank in our direction; we had some stunning up close experiences as the herd walked past us towards the water below the dam wall, well, what is left of it anyway!

We spent the rest of the drive watching the herd drinking and playing around in the water before making the relatively short trip back to camp, having driven a minimal number of kilometres this morning!  Quantity and Quality today!

Elephant textures

The afternoon saw another chilled drive in the north with some new guests, so we headed towards Argyle Dam to see if the lions were still around, but following a bit of rain, we knew tracking them would be difficult, and it was!  At the dam we saw the hippos, a crocodile in the water and a fish eagle with a massive catfish kill, as well as the usual waterbucks and impalas around the dam.

Fish eagle with a massive catfish kill

Hearing Argyle Jnr’s boy was at Buffalo Pan, we headed in that direction, and left Petros on foot to track the lions as we continued to see impalas, waterbuck and a nice herd of giraffes.

Sadly the leopard was lost before we could get there, but all was not lost, and we still got to see a lovely male rhino standing, feeding and eventually sleeping in the open.

Moving back towards Petros, we heard that he wasn't having luck, but we still scouted the surrounding roads; with Marka’s help, we soon found the lions, well I should say Marka soon found the lions, but they walked into a horrible area before eventually popping out on Piva Plains near Argyle Dam and we enjoyed a lovely sighting of them before leaving them to hunt the impalas in peace, and we went for a drink at Lover’s Leap.

Jacaranda lionesses again

Luckily for us, the two lionesses came bounding out into the riverbed below the cliff as we were drinking, clearly still in a playful mood after the impalas spotted them!  They then crossed to our side, and we relocated them about 100m from our drink spot as we drove out, but again they looked intent on hunting something, so we left them in peace and headed back to the lodge for a wonderful dinner, and ready to see what surprises tomorrow has in store for us!

Another tough day in Africa