The flood warnings were flying in and slight panic had hit the lodge...2 of my guests were leaving on a cruise and couldn't afford to be late so they ended up checking out early and we had to take some of the other guests vehicles off the property to ensure that they would be able to drive out the next morning. The wind was howling and it started to drizzle, ominous black skies loomed overhead and we were battening down the hatches but before we knew it the rain stopped. It never cleared up but the weather was just perfect for a game drive and possibly a chance to see a leopard (the first one in 4 days for me).
As we drove out of the lodge we bumped into 3 massive male lions lying next to the road sleeping. It was our big male and his 2 brothers...this is the first time that I have seen the coalition together and this was a very exciting moment for me. Our main mission though was to find a leopard so we first went to follow up on tracks from this morning. The guys had lost them as they went off the road and there was no sign of him coming out of the bush. We then picked up tracks from the afternoon and followed them all the way to the next property :-(
We then went to follow up on fresh female leopard tracks and after about a half an hour of tracking one of the guys found her and we enjoyed a short but sweet view of her as she strolled down the road and then disappeared into the bush.
We also managed to find every single giraffe on the property and I think they enjoyed viewing us more than we enjoyed viewing them. The one male blatantly refused to leave the road even with a little pressure as I drove closer.
The other highlight today was that some of the other guys watched our pride of females pull down a wildebeest. One day I will have the fortune to watch a successful lion hunt....but for now that is some thing I can just hope to see.
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