Cool cats

After a quiet afternoon and a a little power nap needed to help get the body back into the swing of things we headed out on the afternoon safari. Everything started out slow and it appeared that all the animals had gone somewhere to watch the rugby...

Eventually we got into the swing of things with five male rhinos all milling around an open area. After a bit of time with them we moved off and bumped into a slender mongoose that was attempting to catch a couple of doves, unfortunately for him they were way to clever for his moves and he quickly moved on to look for a more unsuspecting victim. 

We then found a herd of elephants with a tiny little baby that was just enjoying the company of all the other elephants. This little guy was running at one stage to catch up with his mother and managed to trip over his own feet...he got up shook himself off and hurried back to his mothers side...

Once we had gathered ourselves after the fits of laughter we then headed off to our sundowner stop. After a good drink we headed off to find the 7 adolescent lions. They were up and on the move looking for another meal. We kept jumping infront of them and at times were completely surrounded...this left a couple of the guests hearts beating a little faster than normal.

This morning was blessed with more lions but of a different type...the cubs were moving with mom and their auntie and we were able to follow them for ages. It is always such a privilege to spend time with the little ones. After about an hour of following them we headed back to the North to find a leopard. Three vehicles all following tracks for a female and none of us having lick, until Brett hit the jackpot... He watched as she disappeared into the river and left the rest of chomping at the bit to find her. We found a way into the river bed to relocate her and waited for her to come round the corner but she never did. Like yesterday we were given the slip. Just as we thought all hope was lost some baboons started calling but again it was a false alarm as they were just calling for territory and had no worries about any leopard.

So now the pressure is on to find her this evening...I will have to let you know how it goes tomorrow! 

Easing back in

Getting back onto the vehicle after a holiday is always a little daunting. All the information that was so easily available before the break is now shoved way to the back of the brain, behind the memories of all the good times that were had whilst on leave. Running through the safety brief with my new guests is the start of the relationship that is formed and from the looks of things the three Swiss ladies and myself were going to get along like a house on fire. The request from the ladies was to see some cats and they said that they were interested in everything else. After the first 15 minutes we found the lions that I had sneakily found that afternoon and after watching the 7 adolescents trying to keep out of the afternoon sun and were still digesting the buffalo that they had killed and eaten within a day and a half. By my calculation that is nearly 80kg of meat each in a day and a half...WOW!

From then onwards the drive just got easier, the ladies really starting enjoying the little things and we still managed to finish the rest of the drive off with buffalo, elephant and rhino... Whilst having our sundowner, I managed to find out that I had a secret agent in the group as one of the ladies works at a lodge in Tanzania and was out visiting on holiday...her bush knowledge had seemed too good for a regular tourist, but as a ranger it is always nice to teach someone with a lot of knowledge a little something more...

After dinner and some deep and meaningful conversations about the meaning of life we headed to the parking area for a star gazing session...the stars were just magnificent and we got there just as the moon was setting. Once I had pointed out some of the major constellations we all just lay there on the ground staring at the stars. Through the whole time we were there we had a small meteor shower come through and within the space of 20 minutes I saw 5 shooting stars... Lets just say that I was happy to have a place to lay my wishes down...

This morning started off with a bit of adrenalin as our little bush leopard was busy calling in the river bed as we were heading round doing wake up calls. Obviously she was now our target for the morning drive and by no means an easy one. This female is the shyest of all our cats that live in and around the property and an absolute nightmare to track on foot. We set out and immediately picked up her tracks in the river and we could hear the birds and squirrels alarm calling near by. So we set off in to the next crossing point in the river to try get ahead of her. Solly and I hopped out of the car to see if she had crossed and as we walked down the river we heard another squirrel betraying the whereabouts of the leopard. We decided to jump into the landie and head down the river so as not to scare her if she saw us on foot...we hadn't driven thirty metres before we found her looking down on us from a fallen down marula on the bank of the river. She hung around for 30 seconds and then jumped down into the long grass. Trevor was also trying to get in to see her and we were now trying to pull out of the river while Trevor was moving around to see if he could cut her off. But true to the nature of a leopard she just proved too clever for us. She was always crossing just behind us and to make matters worse we had birds alarm calling like mad in a tree nearby and we were certain that it was her...turned out to be a verreauxs eagle owl that had been spotted by every animal that side of the property and with our attention pointed in the wrong direction our leopard slipped away from us. 

It was now time to find some other things and again start talking about and explaining the little things. The questions from the ladies were just perfect and always of high intelligence which just allows me to get really deep into all the subjects. We spent some time with 2 male rhinos and a pair of zebra, then went off to have a cup of coffee and finish the morning off with a walk. 

Back in the bush

Time has flown past over the last 10 days while I have been on leave and I am happy to be back. My leave was spent enjoying time alone, time with friends and indulging in some sporting fun. Six friends all got together on Sunday for a ride on the motorbikes, all of us screaming around the dirt track, some of us more novice riders tasting the dirt once or twice but none the less we had an awesome time. The stiffness the next day was extreme but felt good to know that I got some good exercise. The next activity on the list of things do on leave was play some golf, after a nice warm day in the sun and a some monster drives it was time to enjoy a well earned beer.

On the way back from Joburg to the bush I was really looking forward to a quiet evening in the bush to ease my way back into work....fortunately/unfortunately I bumped into a group from work in town as I was buying a pizza for dinner and headed off to have a drink with them....what a quiet drink we had, until 3am... 

First guests have arrived and now its time to get the ball rolling again and see some amazing things...the best part is I already know where the lions are as I bumped into them this morning ...but shhhhhhhhhh, don't tell the guests, I want to keep it a surprise...

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...