24th and 25th February – Dare I Say "Yet More Cats and Dogs"

Photo of the Day

Mafikizolo young male

24^th February Morning Drive

 (Andrea, Peter, Grant, Shaddy and Robin)

3 x lions (Ximpoko, Mabande and Mayambula female) – Tanda Tula, Jackalsvlei

1 x leopard (Xindzuti male) – Mbali, Moeniejag Crossing

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Mbali, Western Cutline

1 x elephant bull – Argyle, Hennie’s Rd

1 x elephant bull – Mbali, Moeniejag Crossing

24^th February Afternoon Drive

 (Chad, Grant and Andrea)

14 x wild dogs – Peru, Woza-Woza Cutline

1 x leopard (Xindzuti male) – Peru, Sohebele Dam

1 x breeding herd of buffalo – Buchner, Buchner Access

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Peru, Piva Plains

25^th February Morning Drive

(Chad, Grant and Andrea)

3 x lions (Mafikizolo Pride) – Java, Back of Java

1 x leopard (unidentified male) – Peru, Argyle Rd

3 x rhinos

1 x rhino

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Borneo, Zebrawood Pan Access

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Java, Terminalia Rd

2 x buffalo bulls – Mbali, Moeniejag Wallows

25^th February Afternoon Drive

(Chad, Shaddy and Andrea)

14 x wild dogs – Peru, Jack’s Camp

3 x lions (Mafikizolo Pride) – Java, Back of Java

1 x breeding herd of elephants – Argyle, Flooded Crossing

Daily Synopsis

So after all my promising of getting the blog back up to date, I failed!  Even this isn’t a full post, but rather just photos of some of the sightings I have enjoyed over the last few days...Andrea will be blogging the next couple of days, but will catch you again soon!

Some the many, many zebras around at the moment...so great to see them in the reserve again

Small breeding herd of elephant on Piva Plains

Zebras on Sohebele Plains

Spent quite a bit of time with this pack of 14 wild dogs one afternoon as they set off on the hunt, but sadly they didnt have any luck before it got dark and we left them

The main reason we did leave the dogs was to go and see Xindzuti male leopard resting on top of Sohebele Dam wall - it was wonderful to see just how relaxed this cat is getting!  he paid little attention to anyone the whole afternoon and we left him strolling down a road into the darkness

 

Another stunning sunrise as the baboons wake up at Argyle Dam

Once again, impalas, giraffes and zebras were quite common across most of the reserve

Petros managed to track down these three rhinos for us in the morning

Java Airstrip continues to be a hub of activity - this morning there were 24 wildebeest and 16 zebras...the giraffes were absent though.......

Buffalos have been extremely scarce the last few days...although fresh droppings and tracks for buffalo bulls have been around, finding them was a whole different story!

....until the afternoon that was!  Then about 20 giraffes, the wildebeest, zebras, impalas and warthogs were all out on the airstrip making for a magic scene

Marka tracked down the Mafikizolo Pride in the morning, but they went into a very thick area and literally disappeared!  I took a chance and went back in the afternoon, and on arriving where they had been left, i gave myself no hope of finding them, but i drove around every thicket before giving up...as i was announcing i was having no luck with them over the radio, i almost rode over one!!!  The grass was so long that we didnt see the male until we were about 5m away!  At least we found them and enjoyed a rather good sighting...the females are slowly getting more relaxed - not sure where the one eyed male is now?

Im still waiting to see the two new cubs, so these ones will have to do for now!

Early morning impala exercise

Loads of vultures gathered in the north close to where an impala carcass had been found yesterday

A hyena following the scent of some wild dogs - we had a short sighting of three of the wild dogs as they ran past, but despite extensive searching, we had no luck...we did again see quite a lot of general game - impalas, zebras, waterbuck and giraffe

An African Crake - a first for me at Motswari

Martial Eagle

Rockfig Jnr leopardess - good to see her spending more time in the northern parts of her territory again!