Photo of the Day
One of SIX cheetahs found in the east on Wednesday! |
12th February Morning Drive
(Chad, Peter, Grant
and Johannes)
1 x lion (Machaton young male) – Tanda Tula, Giraffe Plains
1 x leopard (Rockfig Jnr female) – Vielmetter, Elephant Dam
Rd
1 x leopard (Argyle Jnr’s boy) – Argyle, Leadwood Access
4 x rhinos
1 x rhino
1 x breeding herd of elephants – Java, Sjambok Pod
1 x elephant bull – Motswari, Airstrip
2 x elephant bulls – Motswari, Camp
1 x buffalo bull – Kings, Cheetah Plains
12th February Afternoon Drive
(Chad, Grant and
Johannes)
2 x lions (Mafikizolo males) – Karans, Bush Braai
4 x rhinos
1 x rhino
1 x buffalo bull – Scholtz, River Rd
1 x buffalo bull – Jaydee, Nkombi Pan
13th February Morning Drive
(Chad, Grant and
Johannes)
6 x cheetahs (mother and 5 cubs) – Karans, Bottom Rd
1 x elephant bull – Karans, Bottom Rd
1 x elephant bull – Peru, Entrance Rd
2 x buffalo bulls – Motswari, Giraffe Pan
1 x buffalo bull – Scholtz, Kudu Pan
13th February Afternoon Drive
(Chad, Grant and
Johannes)
1 x leopard (Nthombi female with duiker kill) – Kings,
Little Ridge
1 x breeding herd of elephants – Vielmetter, Lower River Rd
1 x breeding herd of elephants – Vielmetter, Double Highway
1 x buffalo bull – Scholtz, Kudu Pan
Daily Synopsis
What a blog entry to mark our 1,000th blog post
since we started blogging in 2009! And I
don’t even know where to begin, but I guess Tuesday morning would be a good
starting point?
Heading out following 7mm of rain during the early hours of
the morning, we were soon reaching for our own rain coats as a drizzle started,
but luckily it didn’t last long and the clouds made for a stunning backdrop for
a stunning elephant, Classic, as he fed on our airstrip.
I was again looking for rhinos, so moved to the south via
the eastern section of the reserve – heading to the west we saw impala,
waterbuck and even some necking giraffes (just for you Julian, if you are
reading this!).
Cutting back towards the Nhlaralumi, I went to check at one of the
river crossings where I had been stuck to see if my sunglasses were still
there, but they weren’t...what was there was a rhino! As we pulled out the crossing he surprised us
by running out of the bushes nearby, but he was on a mission, following the
scent of something and eventually went running off, so we left him.
Johannes had relocated on a group of four rhinos nearby, so
I went to join him and spent good time watching the crash graze around the
vehicle before moving on to go and see a leopard that Marka had again
found.
It was Rockfig Jnr was up in a marula tree, but in an area
that was still quite wet, and after about 20 minutes I eventually made it into
the sighting and we got to watch as she just lazed and posed for us before
moving back towards the camp.
Once again the trip past Java was very productive with lots
of giraffes, zebras and wildebeest.
My trusty tracker, Petros |
My guests still had one request for the afternoon –
hyenas. As there had been some of the
giraffe carcass in the morning, I planned on heading there late and just having
a chilled drive...starting on our airstrip again we had a lovely group of
warthogs feeding in the sunshine.
Along our northern boundary we didn’t see all that much besides
impalas, but we did tick off a nice herd of giraffes and a couple of zebras
before moving south along Argyle Rd to Nkmobi Pan where we found a lone buffalo
bull chilling next to the water.
Grant was tracking some rhinos, and we managed to bump into
them feeding along the one river bank...at a crossing...that Grant told me was
crossable...needless to say, I was once again reaching for my towrope; I could
almost attach it with my eyes closed I’m getting stuck so regularly now! That is 7 times in the last 4 weeks!!! We moved around to a crossing further south
before coming back to the same crossing for an early sundowner for Caroline’s
(our new intern) birthday...the rhinos even made an appearance and spent the
time grazing on the opposite bank!
We then went to see if the hyenas had come back to the
carcass, and luckily they had, so we watched as they rolled around in the sand,
splashed in the water and then went to feed on what looked like rather putrid
meat!
The trip back home was a bit quiet, with more giraffe and a
white tailed mongoose showing themselves...Grant got lucky and found that our
hyena den now has two brand new cubs, while Johannes had a great afternoon in
the “quiet” east, finding himself a buffalo, a rhino and the two Mafikizolo
male lions!
It was purely because of Johannes’s efforts that I decided
to move into the area to go and look for the lions, especially as John said he
heard lions roaring there during the night.
We found leopard tracks, impalas and some zebras, as well as
a short jackal sighting, but no sign of lions.
We checked Kudu Pan before going back through Kudu Pan Clearing. Looking at it in the morning light made me
think of a recent blog post I saw for another reserve of a cheetah sighting
they had, and I thought to myself how nice it would be to have cheetah
around...but I guess I think that every time I drive this area, and I know I have
often envisaged finding a cheetah sitting on one particular mound – a mound
that Grant found a cheetah on last year, much to my annoyance.
Passing groups of impalas, but still seeing no lion tracks,
some light coloured animals caught our attention up ahead, on a termite
mound. On “my” termite mound. “Lions?” I asked Petros, but he didn’t answer
and kept staring ahead in a fashion that lets me know he has seen something
that is not just impala. I stopped and
picked up my binoculars and raised them to my eyes, quickly focussing on the
mound. I think I might have forgotten to
breathe. I answered my own question with
a resounding “no!”...these weren’t lions...these were cheetahs, and a lot of
them!
They moved off immediately, and I feared that they were
skittish having come in from the Kruger, and they were moving into an area
where off-road driving still hadn’t been opened. But I radioed the property manager and asked
if off-road driving was allowed; he said no before asking me what I wanted to
follow. I don’t think he was expecting
me to say “six cheetahs!” he very kindly
allowed me to follow them to the next road, and actually an adjacent property,
so I carefully drove through the bush, and soon saw that they cheetahs weren’t that
nervous; the mother and most of the 7-8 month old cubs were quite chilled. I managed to get to the cutline and wait for
them there...
This was the point when I was most gobsmacked as one cub
came stalking to within 3m of Petros!
Un. Be. Liev. Able. Really! Then we sat and watched as six cheetahs
walked down the road before crossing into the bush, and we kept up with them as
they walked to a small open area near a waterhole in the east, but made space
for Grant and Johannes to enjoy, and by the sounds of it, enjoy they did! All the guests were absolutely delighted, and
could see from all of our reactions what a rare and special sighting this
was!!! None of us had ever seen so many
cheetahs together in the Timbavati...and of all the places to find them, it had
to be in the east (and almost an identical spot to where I found the 30 wild
dogs for the first time last year!).
On an absolute high, we carried on through the east hoping
to find elephants, but after coffee, we continued and don’t think we even saw
an impala, but it was so great just driving in the east with no pressure, and
enjoying solitude out there, driving on roads that disappeared because they
were overgrown with grass – a wild feeling that epitomises the east, and its
the reason we spend many quite hours driving around there seeing very little,
because we know that something magic could be waiting around the next corner!
Moving back towards Argyle Dam, things picked up and we saw
impala, waterbuck, zebras and hippos before closing down at the lodge, with all
of us still beaming!
My new guests were after cats, and only staying at the lodge
for one night, the pressure was on. It was
a chance to go out east again, but those cheetahs had to be there somewhere, so
with everyone once again loaded on the Land Rover, we moved off in that
direction – I had a route planned in my mind, but then we met one of the camp
attendants on his tractor, and in my best broken Shangaan, I asked him where my
cheetahs were...to my amazement, he began explaining to Petros exactly where he
had seen them with a kill!!! Could we
really be this lucky? We saw a lone
buffalo, impalas, wildebeest, zebra and giraffes as we approached the area, but
I didn’t want to waste time, as I wanted to find these cheetahs again...sadly,
it was too good to be true, and we found the remains of the kill, but they had
moved on. We tried searching for them,
but the ground was hard and we couldn’t find any tracks...the area was also so
thick that it would have taken an even greater miracle to find them in that
mopane...dejectedly we left the area (later hearing that they had indeed
crossed our southern boundary and made another kill at around the time we were
looking for them) – still with loads of zebras and impalas on the Scholtz
airstrip, the trip wasn't in vane.
We saw the mother hyena, but no cubs as she lay well
obscured by the bushes, but we didn’t stay long as we had a leopard to go and
see. Eventually we got into a sighting
of Nthombi as she fed on the last remains of her duiker kill up a marula tree
before climbing down and eating the scraps off the floor – the guests were
again delighted, so we moved on and went to have a drink before making the trip
back north.
We tried to look for another leopard with a kill on Java Airstrip,
but the only spots we found were on the many giraffes there, and the only cat
we found was a baby African wild cat, which in itself was an even bigger treat,
as I had never seen a small one before! It
posed for photos before sneaking off.
Arriving back at the lodge, we were still all smiling from
the morning, and it was a day that reminded me just why I love the Timbavati so
much! Hope you enjoyed reading about
it! im back on drive on the weekend, but
will keep the blog updated until then!
Cheers
Chad
Always a treat to read your Blog and even better with a great Cheetah sighting.
ReplyDeleteStunning photos Chad!
ReplyDeleteWhat a stunning blog and most appropriate for the 1000th blog. It been a while since I read the blog and just wanted to say I miss you guys, the pics and the stories about your experiences in the bush. Please be safe. Till later.
ReplyDeleteChad as you rightly said we are absolutely green with envy - totally unfair
ReplyDeleteAs you so aptly put it "this is what dreams are made of". Well captured.....thanks for sharing your dreams for all to see.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Wow awsume thanks for shareing :-)
ReplyDeleteWaouhouuuu, fantastic pictures !!! :-)
ReplyDeletewww.steffroy-botswana.book.fr
Seeing your work is like taking a holiday -thanks
ReplyDeleteWe ran into Mora and Julian in Capetown on their usual good form, and I am sure they will check out the blog: your photos are terrific, and I am sad we did not see cheetahs, but still delighted by our experiences. Apropos your raybans check out clic! http://www.clicgoggles.com/index.html
ReplyDeletehelen
Thanks you for your photos. MERCI
DeleteHey Helen!
DeleteThanks for looking, and also sorry that i didnt get to share this sighting with you guys! Even saw necking giraffes!!! Alain and Caroline were still with me, and loved it...they enjoyed it so much that they almost came back to Motswari from the other lodge they went to visit :) Glad you got to see Julian and Mora down that side too...i never got to cape town this week, maybe next week though! Have fun and good luck for the conference :)
Hahahaha, thanks so much for the link for the glasses :)
Cheers
Chad
Glad you all liked this post, and thank you all for your continued support, wonderful comments and loyal following of the blog - makes all the effort well worth it!
ReplyDeleteHere is to the next 1,000 posts!
Congrats on 1000 posts Chad... What a way to do it!
ReplyDeleteLove the blog as always, and thanks for all the updates.
Cheers
Lourens
Hi Chad,
ReplyDeleteI just saw your report of our trip last Wed. We really enjoyed it very much, as well as the dinner with you ! Thanks for the womderful photos !,!
I was redirected to this blog via the WildCard mail of 7 March in which some of your leopard photos were published. Amazing pictures, absolutely love your work and the posts!
ReplyDelete