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| Photo of the Day |
(Herold & Andrea)
Elephant (Kambaku) / Peru – Timbavati/Umbabat Cutline, East
of Pan Rd
Elephant (Breeding Herd) / Motswari – Airstrip Access Road
Lion (Jacaranda Pride) / Mbali – Buffalo Kill Road
Lion (Mafikizolo Pride) / Jaydee – Entrance Road
Rhino (Mother and Calf)
Afternoon Drive
(Herold & Andrea)
Rhino – (Mother and Calf)
Lion (Mafikizolo) / Vielmeter – Back Nine
Buffalo (Breeding Herd) / Karans – Western Cutline
Elephant (Breeding Herd) / Peru – Sohebele Dam
Leopard (Umfana male) / Kings – Xibejane Road
This morning brought an amazing sunrise just as
we found a bull elephant feeding on Timbavati/Umbabat cutline. Morning bush
traffic stopped us briefly as a colony of Matebele ants marched across the
road.
Spotting the resident Marabou Storks at Vyeboom
we headed down the western side of the reserve. Herold and Diff found lion
tracks, and so Petros and myself went to help follow up. Leaving the trackers
out in the bush, Herold and I covered the area in attempt to get a visual of
the lion as well as the leopard brothers, as we were near their usual hang out
spot. With no leopard luck, I stopped for a cup of much needed coffee. By the
time I got back on the car, Petros was frantically calling me on the radio. Him
and Diff had tracked the lion, except they were in an area on which we could
not drive off-road making things a little trickier. However, we had some luck
as we reached the area, and the Jacaranda pride walked over the road. There
were only three of them, two adult females with one youngster. The elderly
female is looking very thin and still has a large wound on her back right leg,
which looks rather worrying.
Being a difficult area to follow, Herold decided not to
respond which proved a great decision as he managed to view the Mafikizolo
pride and a female rhino with her tiny baby. Herold’s afternoon was fantastic, and he managed
to show his guests the entire Big 5 in one drive. Me on the other hand had an
incredibly quiet afternoon and just as I was about to stop for drinks, we were
invited down south to a leopard sighting.
Not being able to give this a miss we hurried
down onto Kings property where we caught up with Umfana the male leopard. He
was in a rather cantankerous mood and brazenly tried to stalk a giraffe,
following which he turned his attention to Petros on the tracker seat. Petros
gave a shout, and I reversed the car and to our relief Umafana then bolted off
and climbed a nearby Marula tree where we got to view him quite nicely… from a
slight distance!
Once again finding ourselves so far south it was the usual
rush back to camp in attempt of making it in time for dinner. This was halted
by a breeding herd of buffalo who ha taken up a large portion of Western
Cutline.