28 March - Fantastic Feline, Feeble Photo!

Photo of the Day

Morning Drive

(Herold, Marka & Shadrack)

Elephant (breeding herd) / Java – tamboti Link

Buffalo (breeding herd) / Java – Tamboti Wallow

Afternoon Drive

(Marka, Herold, Shadrack & Andrea)

Elephant (Kambaku) / Argyle – Sohebele Dam

Elephant (Kambaku) / Java – Java access

Buffalo (Daghaboy) / Argyle – Broken Dam

Buffalo (breeding herd) / Peru – Giraffe Kill

Leopard (Makepisi male) / Peru – Legevaan  Link

Lion (Xubasa female) / Vielmeter – Albert-Vielmeter Cutline

Hi everyone, I am back to work and back on drive. Java was certainly the place to be this morning with breeding herds of both elephant and buffalo spending their morning in and around Tamboti wallow. However, the magic seemed to come alive in the afternoon. I have just come back from a week in the Kruger, and I had some wonderful sightings there. Although, it hit me hard how spoilt I am out here where I have the opportunity to drive off-road and where we have the exclusivity of only two vehicles per sighting! My guests flight had been delayed which meant we started out later than the rest.  By the time I got out there, a couple of sightings were already on the go…just my luck! Now it was more of a case of trying to prioritise, which is definitely not my forte.

However, I started off to the leopard, knowing how elusive the spotted cat can be. On the way though, we had wonderful sightings of Giraffe, hippo, waterbuck and kudu. The leopard was Makepisi who along with his brother had a baby impala kill. By the time I approached, the brother had moved off (as usual) and Makepisi was lying up desperately trying to digest with one very full belly. Unfortunately, he was in quite thick grass and the light was fading on me fast. I snapped away, but the shots were not quite how I hoped.

After waiting for another station to arrive, I then decided to head lion-wards. This was partially selfish as I had not seen the white lion in a good 2 months and was dying for a glimpse. I explained to my guests that we had to choose between a drinks stop or a lion sighting and I was thrilled that they chose the lion! On the way we passed a breeding herd of buffalo in the riverbed below. The sun had just gone under and viewing from up on the riverbank was not great for photography! However, we watched them briefly and then shot off towards the Xubasa Ngala (white lion). She had not budged by the time we got there and was still ‘flat cat’ (as one of the neighbouring lodge guides so aptly described her!) on the road. Although a great visual, she was being a typical cat and did not perform too much for the camera.

It is always a treat for me to see the white lion, being one of so few to naturally occur in the wild. By this time we were far south and had quite a drive back home, which was stopped briefly for a chameleon, which Patrick spotted on Western Cutline.

See you tomorrow,

Andrea