My guests for the next two nights were a family from Columbia
Now if you have ever seen lions on an old kill generally all you see are the remains of the prey and fat sleeping lions, however when we got there we were greeted by intense growling. Once we had positioned ourselves we could see that there was very little meat left on the carcass and the two of them were now in a standoff, trying to get what was left of the meat. Suddenly the lioness attempted to pull on the carcass and the lion turned on her and they entered into a huge fight, the noise was incredible and everyone in the sighting sat in awe of the spectacle that they were witnessing… Twenty seconds later they resumed their positions over the carcass and continued growling at one another. I turned to my guests to see their reaction and noticed the 7 year old was firmly tucked under her mothers arm and jaws were all on the floor. We enjoyed the sighting for another 30 minutes before we left to go see what else was out there. We at no stage got more than 2km from the camp and we managed to see elephant, rhino, zebra and a whole host of other general game.
The next afternoon out on drive our mission was to find a leopard. As we got out on drive I heard that some of the other rangers had picked up tracks of a female leopard and were in hot pursuit. When they found her she was nonchalantly strolling down the road. We had a large group in the other lodges and all these vehicles were moving in to see the leopard so I decided that we would go find another one to avoid the rush and spread things out a bit. As we headed away from the area we drove onto an open area and lying just off the road was a magnificent male cheetah. Lying there so regal, looking into the approaching sunset. He sat there posing for the cameras for about 20 minutes before getting up and moving along. We stayed with him for a little while and then made some space for the other vehicles to get in and see this rare and endangered animal.
Now if you have ever seen lions on an old kill generally all you see are the remains of the prey and fat sleeping lions, however when we got there we were greeted by intense growling. Once we had positioned ourselves we could see that there was very little meat left on the carcass and the two of them were now in a standoff, trying to get what was left of the meat. Suddenly the lioness attempted to pull on the carcass and the lion turned on her and they entered into a huge fight, the noise was incredible and everyone in the sighting sat in awe of the spectacle that they were witnessing… Twenty seconds later they resumed their positions over the carcass and continued growling at one another. I turned to my guests to see their reaction and noticed the 7 year old was firmly tucked under her mothers arm and jaws were all on the floor. We enjoyed the sighting for another 30 minutes before we left to go see what else was out there. We at no stage got more than 2km from the camp and we managed to see elephant, rhino, zebra and a whole host of other general game.
The next afternoon out on drive our mission was to find a leopard. As we got out on drive I heard that some of the other rangers had picked up tracks of a female leopard and were in hot pursuit. When they found her she was nonchalantly strolling down the road. We had a large group in the other lodges and all these vehicles were moving in to see the leopard so I decided that we would go find another one to avoid the rush and spread things out a bit. As we headed away from the area we drove onto an open area and lying just off the road was a magnificent male cheetah. Lying there so regal, looking into the approaching sunset. He sat there posing for the cameras for about 20 minutes before getting up and moving along. We stayed with him for a little while and then made some space for the other vehicles to get in and see this rare and endangered animal.
We stopped and enjoyed a great sundowner spot with the adults enjoying gin and tonics, the kids sipping on cokes and all of us discussing how lucky we were to have seen this beautiful creature. After drinks we headed back to where the leopard was. She was hunting bush buck and our head ranger had been sitting with her for the 30 minutes waiting for something to happen. He left to return to the lodge and the bush buck bolted through Selati Lodge and we caught a glimpse of the leopard circling round to get a better position. We went around to do the same and found the leopard crouched on the road and the bushbuck walking straight towards her. We went lights off so as not to influence the hunt but could fortunately see everything in the moonlight as it was approaching full moon. Everyone sat holding their breath waiting for the action to start…then suddenly the leopard was off and in three strides was on the bush buck. It was over so quickly and quietly. Once the bush buck was dead the leopards pulled her out into the open, as if to show off her prize, and started devouring the animal no more than 10 metres from the vehicle. We watched until she decided to hang the kill in the tree behind the Selati Ranger’s rooms which is no more than 40 metres from Selati Lodge’s entrance.
What an incredible two days, big 5 plus cheetah and a leopard kill. What can I say but… “Another tough day in
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