January 11th

Rhino calf

 Morning Drive

(Chad, Herold, Grant & Andrea)

Elephant (1 Kambaku)  / Karans – North of the Airstrip

Buffalo (Daghaboy) / Motswari – Shlaralumi Crossing

Afternoon Drive

(Chad, Herold, Grant & Andrea)

Rhino (crash of 4 – x3 females, x1 male)

Elephant (1 Kambaku) / Motswari – Xinatsi Dam Road North

Lions (x2)/Umlani, marcos dam


Lioness (x1) / Kings - argyle rd


Buffalo (breeding herd) / Tanda tula - Tanda tula waterhole


Leopard (Umfana male) / Vielmetter - Vielmetter access

We woke up to an overcast, rainy day and we were delighted. It has been so hot recently that this change in weather was just beautifully refreshing. You know the rain is welcomed when Chad go outside onto the front lawn and stands arms stretched out for 10 minutes in the rain! The animals, however, did not play along. It was a painfully quiet morning with Grant being the most successful with one bull elephant and one bull buffalo. Still, it was so pleasant driving in cool air, I didn’t really mind!

The afternoon was far more successful. The lion were down on Umlani and with 4 cars out on drive Grant, Chad and Herold went to the lion while I set off on my own solo mission. The boys also had a huge breeding herd of buffalo down on Tanda Tula on their way down south. Chad had called in rhino tracks in the morning, so we went to follow up wit those. With some careful road choices and a bit of luck, we eventually found a crash of 4 rhino – A mother and her calf, a young sub-adult female and a large male. We had a great view of them feeding along with the male following behind. The youngster lay down at one point, grudgingly getting back up when mom moved on!

After a drinks stop, I was called to say Herold found leopard! With his guests checking out in the morning and yet to see leopard or lion he had a very successful afternoon – typical of Mgiba magic! I was thankfully not too far and managed to see the beautiful Umfana male trying to stalk impala. With the wind up, I am sure he will catch some dinner tonight! By this time it had started to rain again, and being quite far south it was the usual rush back home in time for dinner, but all in all a pleasant drive.

See you all tomorrow,

Andrea