16th March: Stumbling At The Last Hurdle.

Pic Of The Day.

Morning Drive.

( Grant.)

Lion ( White Timbavati Female & Female Jacaranda Sub Adult) / Ingwelala – Argyle Rd.

Afternoon Drive.

( Herold, Andrea, Pete & Johaness.)

Elephant ( Breeding Herd) / Motswari - Motswari Wedge River Rd.

Buffalo ( Dagha Boys) / Argyle - Mfene Crossing.

Daily Synopsis.

So hearing the Lions calling all evening to the North of camp Jacky and I needed no second invitation to go investigate although our mornings main focus was to find Rhino, a little distraction never hurt anyone. Anyway it was on the way, well not really, but we could make it be. While sitting on the Ingwelala Airstrip watching a Wildebeest we could hear the end of the low “ ho, ho, ho, ho, hoooo” of Lions calling far beyond our boundary to the North. Immediately Jacky said it was the Maghaltini's and that it was not the contact calls we could hear during the night and that we must continue to check our Northern boundary. We first checked to the East where they had been left the night before but came up empty handed but when we returned to the West our luck changed and we found the two of them sitting nearly directly opposite the entrance to Ingwelala, as if waiting for the gates to open to be let in. They have seemed very content in hanging out in this area for the last couple days and look as if they are eating well and look in great condition. We sat with them as they rested alongside the road occasionally uttering a contact call. It was great to see how they interacted with one another and how a very strong bond has formed between these two distant relatives. They eventually stood and started to walk back to the East but then took a turn to the South. Jacky and I are guessing that they changed their direction once hearing the calls of the Maghlatini's as they did not seem that set on travelling South but the alternative was not a choice. We eventually lost sight of them as they headed into Ingwelala Camp. Our guess is they will either turn up on the Ingwelala Airstrip or around Motswari on afternoon or tomorrow mornings drive. Watch this space.

Hiding.

Love Is..........

As we found ourselves on the tar road again we set off West in search of our mornings objective. Normally not held in high regard we have seen a lot in the last two days on this road and it begs the question of how often do we miss things here by not checking it. This morning we again found, Giraffe, Steenbok, Impala, Kudu, Hyena and of coarse the White Lion. 

Reaching Enkombi Pan a favourite with our Rhino we immediately found tracks heading to the West. Great that we had found tracks, unfortunate that it was on our boundary heading in the wrong direction. Having heard that a station was tracking Rhino a little further to our South East we reckoned it was the same Rhino and that we were both a little late. Never the less we continued to check and found that this particular individual walked in a massive circle eventually exiting nearly exactly where he had entered, to the footstep! It was not long ago that I would not have been able to say this but we were not detered as we have more than one Rhino in area that we can look for. So knowing our best chance stood in the West we continued to check the region. It was not long before we picked up on the tracks for our two relaxed males and these were fresher than our previous set. We took morning coffee as part of our reccie at Lily Pan where we were able to check for tracks as they had been heading in this direction. Returning to drive and not having found any signs of them we now had a pretty good idea of where they were heading, it was only a matter of time till we found them. This unfortunately was stolen from us when reception radioed me that there had been a mix up with our guests departure and they were in fact due to leave two hours earlier, oops! Needing to be back at camp in twenty minutes with a thirty minute drive ahead of us, left us with no option but to abandon our search and head back to Motswari swiftly. After the unbelievable sightings they have had in the past two days they were not phased in not seeing the Rhino and promised to be back to continue the search in the near future.

Jacky and I were meant to be joined by reinforcements this afternoon but with our guests having missed there connecting flight from London it looks like we will only join the rest of the gang once again tomorrow morning, but not to worry I'll have all the stories from this afternoon for you and will resume with the first hand accounts as of tomorrow. Ciao 4now!