22 Feb - Back to Work

Photo of the Day

Morning Drive

(Marka & Shadrack)

Buffalo (Daghaboys) / Motswari - Motswari Southern Access

Buffalo (Breeding Herd)/ Scholtz - Kudu Pan

Leopard (Argyle Jnr)/ Motswari - Motswari/Ingwelala Boundary

Leopard (Skittish male) / Peru - Old Gate

Elephant (Kambaku) / Peru - Peru entrance

Afternoon Drive

(Herold, Shadrack & Andrea)

Elephant (Breeding Herd) / Scholtz - Kudu Pan

Buffalo (Breeding Herd) / Scholtz - Kudu Pan

Elephant (Breeding Herd) / Vielmeter - Vielmeter Khaya

Female Leopard (Ntombi) / Sweet Water Southern Access - Vielmeter

Hi All, as Grant explained I am filling in with the blog for a little while, so I hope you enjoy the posts. After a weeks leave, I was thrilled to get back out there especially after hearing that some of the breeding herds of buffalo and elephant were back as they had been rather scarce since the floods. With a car full of new guests, air thick with humidity and high ambitions we set out on afternoon drive. I headed past Argyle Dam towards Piva Plain’s where a magnificent herd of Impala was feeding in golden afternoon light. It really was a healthy sized herd, with the young males new horns just starting to break through the skin on their heads. Definitely worth a couple of pics! 

I then headed slowly towards Java ambling along quite contently. After about an hour of driving without a peep from the radio I started to be come a bit suspicious and after fiddling with every button on the radio I eventually got through to Herold who informed me that they had been trying to contact me for the last hour, and had already seen Elephant and Buffalo! Seeing as though we were driving a group it was rather important for guests to get roughly the same sightings so feeling decidedly frustrated with my rookie radio mistakes, I began a game of catch up. A breeding herd of elephant had been seen on Vielmeter, and so we heading south. By the time we got there, the herd had made their way to the water reservoir right outside the Vielmeter house and we were able to sit for a considerable length of time and watch them drink. One little one struggled humourously to stretch its trunk over the top of the reservoir.

After a wonderful sighting of elephant, we headed west where Herold and Shadrack were sitting with Ntombi the female leopard. It was a bit of a race against time as she was up in a tree and the surroundings were very thick so if she jumped down, it would have been near impossible to find her again. However, we all managed to have a beautiful sighting of her. And even though the photos do not really do her any justice, I hope they do portray at least some of her atmosphere in the dusk time setting.

 

By the time we left the leopard, it was already quite late and we were all far south. So after a quick drink we rushed back to camp, stopping along the way for an inquisitive hyena who seemed very perturbed by our scent. Clearly the days heat had taken its toll and it was time for a shower and dinner.

It certainly feels good to be back in the Lowveld.

Until tomorrow, Ciao

Andrea