27th January – The Last Thing I Expected to See Today!

Photo of the Day

Cheetah!!!

Morning Drive

(Chad, Giyani and Herold)

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Karans, Western Cutline

2 x elephant bulls – Motswari, Marula Pan

Afternoon Drive

(Chad, Petros, Andrea, Giyani and Herold)

2 x cheetahs – Kings, Matambo Rd

1 x rhino

1 x rhino

5 x buffalo bulls – Vielmetter, Jaydee Access

1 x buffalo bull – Peru, Wilkins Way

2 x buffalos – Argyle, Long Rd

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Scholtz, River Rd

1 x elephant bull – Kings, Eagle Owl Plains

Daily Synopsis

Sunday was just one of those days that proves that you never know what to expect in the bush – while it was nothing “amazing”, it was just quite ironic as my guests had been asking me about seeing cheetahs several times, and I mentioned that “you never know”...but I knew...and I knew we were unlikely to see them...so imagine how chuffed I was to end the day with a sighting of two cheetahs!

Before I get ahead of myself, lets rewind to the morning that started out with spotting a zebra and foal on the airstrip, but our attention swung quickly to four hyenas on our left hand side; we followed them for a bit until Herold radioed to tell us that he had two hyenas eating a kudu calf not far from us, so we went to join him and spent some time watching they hyenas feasting before one walked off with the carcass. 

After kudus and impalas again, I was following Herold’s vehicle tracks (seems he stole my luck, as he always does!) towards a herd of elephants that luckily fed right on the road in an area that is still closed to off-road driving!  We had a lovely up close view before closing for coffee.

After coffee things were very quiet and we basically only saw a couple herds of impalas and a skittish baboon troop, as well as some more kudus.  The most adventurous part was crossing the Nhlaralumi River in a deep and very rocky pool as I was to find out when water came streaming in through my door!  We made it out and then also made it through another crossing before getting back to the lodge where we were greeted by two elephant bulls.

The afternoon saw me head south hoping for some rhinos, giraffes and spots (and yip, I did use those words when telling Herold my plans!).  the trip south was very quiet besides some nice birds, but on arriving at Java airstrip we enjoyed a big group of wildebeest and a journey of giraffe that were watching a hyena that strolled past, as well as some warthogs.

Carrying on south the giraffes kept popping up, but not the rhinos...on asking one of the land owners if he had seen any rhinos on the clearings in the south, he said “no, but I have two cheetahs if you want to come see”; im sure it was rhetorical, but I wasn't going to say no, so off I headed just a bit south of where I was to see two gorgeous cheetahs – both very fat bellied having clearly just enjoyed a meal!  They were reasonably relaxed and we had a good sighting of them (although the photos aren’t the best – I sadly had to leave my big camera at the lodge) before making space for our other guests to see them!

Trying for the rhinos that we missed by 5 minutes on our way down (at the very spot I radioed to ask for an update on rhinos!!!) we went back to see if we could find them, but sadly we had no luck, and not having Petros, I couldn’t track them down either – guess I will have to try tomorrow!

After drinks we headed back to camp, seeing a chameleon and an owl, but nothing else – still, we saw cheetah, so I guess I cant complain...now all I need to fulfil my guests other wish is to find wild dogs, rhino, leopard and caracal tomorrow...should be easy!

But you will have to read about it on Andrea’s updates this week, as I head on leave tomorrow!  Enjoy and we will catch up again in a weeks time! 

Cheers

Chad