WOW...It has been a really long time since I last posted on my blog and finally today is the day that we catch up on the last month... SO HERE WE GO...
The two weeks after Inkombe Camp were again filled with outrageous sightings. With the bush being so dry the animals are having to move around a lot more to find adequate grazing and water. With the herbivores moving around this much there is sure to be a great number of predators following them.
We have had an increased number of cheetah sightings from the male who frequents our property as well as seeing 3 young male cheetahs that have not been seen at Sabi Sabi before. This was a thrill for all the rangers and on the morning that they arrived some of the rangers witnessed these boys try to tackle a bushbuck in a river bed and come off second best. From all accounts the bushbuck male didn't run away from but instead ploughed over the males and managed to chase them off.
That afternoon was my first drive after the camp and my plan was to see if I could find the cheetah. I eventually got a turn to get in and see the three guys as they were setting up for a hunt. The target was a herd of impala and the set up took about an hour. As we were about to pull out due to failing light we saw the one guy set off at full speed toward the impala...hitting 110 km/h he forced the herd straight towards his brothers and in the blink of an eye they had pulled one down. We had to get a red filter for the spotlight so we could see all the action without disturbing the animals. They had near finished the impala within about 15 minutes and was definitely one of the highlights to the cycle.
We also had the privilege of watching our dominant male mating with one of the females for about an hour. These guys were mating as frequently as every 3 minutes for 3 days. This is always a heated affair as the female ends the mating session snarling and attempting to slap the male. This is all because the male has barbs on his penis which face backwards and as he pulls out he hurts the female and this is meant to stimulate ovulation. Unlike humans, leopards only ovulate when there is a chance of fertilisation so as to maximise efficiency.
I was then fortunate enough to have some family come visit and we saw some amazing things. The first drive we went out we saw wild dogs hunting, we saw a leopard and her cubs on a kill other leopards and lions. But the highlight of the whole time was the last drive when the dogs made a duiker kill and we watched as it was being devoured by these ravenous predators. This was also my last drive of my cycle so I left on holiday on a high.
My first guests back were a big Nikon Gear photographic group and we had 6 days of photography to look forward to. From the moment that the group arrived the cameras were clicking. It was a ridiculously hot day with the temperature soaring to 40 degrees Celsius and our plan was to go see if we could catch a glimpse of the cheetah that had been close to the lodge. We hadn't driven 400 metres from the lodge and there was a rhino with her calf on the same open area where the cheetah was meant to be. The cheetah in fact was a stones throw away from the rhinos sleeping under a tree. It sounded like full on war behind me as the cameras were firing in all directions trying to capture all the animals. We were then joined by a big bull elephant, kudu and impala and the latter of the three caught the eye of the cheetah. He started to stalk but came up against a wall of rhino and after a brief stand off he slipped past and made a run for the impala. Hitting full speed the cheetah was flying at 110 km/h and the cameras were all clicking at 9 frames per second. The other ranger, Rika, managed to catch the best shot of the lot though and I have popped it below.
Unfortunately the cheetah didn't get his target but just the sprint was enough to put a huge smile on everyone's faces.
The next morning we set out to find a leopard...and boy did we find our leopard. We found our female with her 2 cubs at an impala kill near a dam that was surrounded by giraffe, zebra, impala and warthog all drinking. The cubs were stalking the impala, mom was lying under the tree containing her kill and to top it off there was a hyena sleeping 30 metres from the leopards. 3 hours and 400 photos later we left the waterhole to head back for breakfast.
Unfortunately this would be the last time I would see the cubs together. A male leopard from the next property caught, killed and ate one of the cubs and since then we have not seen the other one.
The rest of their stay was spectacular with many more big game sightings, stunning sunsets and tons of little things to photograph.
All in all it has been a successful start to the cycle and I have posted a bunch of the photos from the 6 days with the photography group for your enjoyment.
