Gifted

What seems to be becoming the norm for my last drives before going on leave is that the bush gives me a gift, something that I could hold onto for my 2 week holiday... this time was no different.

We were enjoying a wealth of great sightings, ranging from us crashing through the bush following a leopardess heading to what appears to be new den site for her cubs to rhinos and giraffe. This always brings a smile to my face as I know that in a couple weeks we will have these little ones around us offering us new insights into their daily lives. These cubs would be offspring of the new big male coming in from the east. 

We were very fortunate on the evening drive to again find the same boomslang still in the same tree from the night before. On closer inspection I could see that the eyes were looking very milky which indicates that it is close to shedding its skin. The eye goes milky because the scale that forms the protective covering to the eye has to detach in order to be removed with the rest of the skin.

The next morning we picked up tracks for our lioness and her cubs and I was sure that the lionesses had made a kill and she came to fetch the little ones for a feed. When we got in the cubs were feeding from mom and the area was very quiet with sleeping lions. This was until one of the other females started moving for the carcass but was warned off by her more dominant sibling, the mother of our cubs. They were not the only animals there...a lonely male hyena was wondering around the carcass trying to suss out a way to get in and steal some food.

The last gift to us was schlegels beaked blind snake...this is an incredibly rare snake to see and the one that we saw was full grow. What an amazing creature....

Now I am well into the holiday mood and have been enjoying some well earned rest I am still looking forward to getting back out to the bush to see what new surprises are waiting for me...