Pic of the Day. |
( Grant, Shadrack & Marka.)
Rhino ( 1 x Male)
Buffalo ( Breeding Herd) / Karans –
Managa Cutline.
Leopard ( Klakiso's Son) / Peru –
Giraffe Kill Rd.
Wilddog ( 13 x Pack) / Kings – Eagle
Owl Plains.
Lion ( 1 x Timbavati Male, 3 x Machaton
Females & 7 Cubs) / Umlani – Elephant Walk 3.
Afternoon Drive.
( Grant, Shadrack, Petros & Chris.)
Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Argyle –
Horizon Rd.
Buffalo ( Dagha Boy) / Motswari –
Motswari Southern Access
Daily Synopsis.
Not sure where to
start todays blog so much to tell you. Waking to a clear blue sky the
bush looked amazing as we set off on drive able to actually see the
sun. There were a few clouds on the horizon that would eventually
close in but the majority of morning drive was under near perfect
conditions. All we needed now were the animals to come to the party
which they did in a major way.
All of us decided
to head South as both Shadrack and Marka were very keen on Lions.
Marka chose to head directly South while I checked on the East and
Shadrack to the West. With all the areas covered we felt pretty
confident that we would find what we were looking for. Jacky and I
decided to try relocate on the very big herd of Buffalo that has been
in the area hoping that we would also find Lions trailing them. It
was not long before we picked up on their tracks and as was the other
day when they ran Chad around in circles it looked like they would do
the same to us as we had there tracks going in every direction. It
was while following up on these that Jacky nonchalantly pointed out
an extremely big Rhino twenty five metres from the car walking
through the bush. Knowing they are very skittish in this area we
decided to head straight onto foot, get ourselves a better view. With
him not having run off and seemingly quite relaxed it did not take us
long to track him down. With the wind and sun in our favour we were
able to approach him quite closely. At first he was in a rather thick
area but as he slowly walked East marking his territory by scraping
his hind legs and urinating he moved into a clearing which afforded
us a great view of him. He seemed to be aware of our presence, as at
one stage he paused and stared right in our direction, yet he was
unfazed and went about his business after a short while. Having had a
great experience on foot we decided to head back to the vehicle, as
we did not want startle him or walk into the Elephant that we could
hear getting closer by the breaking of branches to our left.
Back in the car
with the adrenalin pumping we were now ready to tackle the challenge
of the direction-less Buffalo. The general direction seemed to be
South but they would criss cross us continually from East to West and
back again, putting Land Rovers power steering to the test and my
three point turning! Still heading steadily South we now had to
factor in that we were fast approaching our traversing boundary. Just
as we started to speed things up we started to pick up on the old
Dagha Boys that had been left behind by the herd and were now
trailing behind trying to keep up. Not spending to much time with
them we shot off to our Southern boundary just as the actual herd
approached and began to cross. It is hard to saw how many there were
as they were spread out over a distance of about a kilometre crossing
and another kilometre deep but conservatively I would estimate around
five hundred, give or take one!
While sitting with
them I received news from Marka, who was further to the South West,
and had been following up on other Rhino tracks, that he had found
the pack of thirteen Wilddog sitting out in the open plains. If not
to be left out Shadrack then contacted me to tell me that he had
found Klakiso's son not far from where the guys had seen the pair of
them the night before. Amazing what a little sun can do! Having seen
both the dogs and the Leopard the day before we were still on the
hunt for Lion and sitting with our very relaxed Buffalo it did not
look like they were here.
Taking in the
impressive sighting of this herd and trying to decide our next move,
it was made for us when we received an invitation from the stations
in the South to visit the Machaton Females and their cubs. They also
had a surprise in the form of a Timbavati Male that was also present.
We had to go see this as I don't know when last myself or Jacky had
seen one of the “Boys,” it could possibly be nearly a year.
Being very far
South we set off on our adventure but first as we were in the area,
we popped in at the Hyena den. At first we only found an older female
who looked like she herself had just returned to the den and was
calling out to the inhabitants to let them know she was back. She
circled the entire termite mound calling and whimpering into all the
holes but no one appeared to be home. It was only after ten minutes
of this did two of the older youngsters pop out to say hi. She
continued to call out for another five minutes but to no avail. I'm
not to sure if the younger one's did not respond cause they were
warm, comfortable and secure in the den, or that it was not their
mother so they did not respond, or that something more sinister has
happened to them. It is early days though and a little difficult to
call at this point but we will keep an eye on it and let you know.
Having been
distracted by the antics of the sub adults for long enough we set of
South to the Machaton Pride. It was a very pleasant drive down there
as it is an area we rarely drive and with the sun out on the open
plains it was a typical African picture. This was completed by the
pride of Lions sitting out in the open and the majestic male watching
over his pride and surveying his lands. You could not get a more
typical African bush scenery. As most of the stations were busy with
the Wilddog we were able to sit with the Lions a fair while as they
went about preparing themselves and getting comfortable for an
afternoon of sleep. As they all began to flop over we took it as our
cue to make the very, very long journey home, which was a small price
to pay for an amazing morning in the bush!
A long lost friend! |
Things had once
again clouded over for the afternoon but it did not look like rain.
Having had such a good morning drive it would take a lot to match it.
Having received new guests my afternoon was a relaxed affair as
everything was new so we could spend time taking in all things big
and small. Which is just as well because it was very quiet out there
on the “ Big Five” front, well unless you wanted to travel to the
far South that was. I chose to stick to the North and checked Argyle,
Sohobele and Vyeboom Dams and although we did not find any cat family
we did pick up on a large amount of general game which is perfect for
a first drive. I had intended to eventually make my way to Klakiso's
cubs who had been found in the morning with a young Impala kill but
apparently they had finished it up and had moved on. We did however
tick off one of the “ Big Five” in the form of Buffalo which
could be added to our impressive list of Impala, Kudu, Waterbuck,
Steenbok, Duiker, Warthog, Zebra, Giraffe and Hippo. I'm not going to
go into the smaller things except for the baby Scrub Hare who we
found trying to hide from us on the side of the road.
Writing this now I
actually realise we had ourselves a great afternoon filled with lots
of interesting sightings. After our sundowner break I tried to
emulate Marka's luck from the previous evening when he relocated on
Klakiso's cubs that we'd found earlier but to no avail and our drive
home after dark was a very quiet one. Lets hope the sun is out
tomorrow.
Oh I think I may have forgotten to mention that Shadrack checked on the Hyena Den and I'm glad to report they all doing well. Sorry for the false alarm!
Thanks for the update Grant. Some really great pictures.
ReplyDeleteI must say your photography is getting better and better.
Cheers
Lourens