On the morning of the 3rd I went out to track the Wild Dogs and got signal for them close to the Villa. Almost an hour later they came racing down the hill chasing after some Impalas. They then went to drink water at the waterhole in front of the Villa and rested there. A little later there were Zebras, Giraffe, Wildebeest and Warthogs at the same Waterhole. The Dogs chased the Warthogs and the Zebras chased the Dogs. It was quite funny to watch them. Eventually they all just minded their own business and the Dogs went to sleep in the shade next to the waterhole.
On the morning of the 4th I went out to look for the Lions, but I heard a Southern Banded Snake Eagle calling and drove in its direction, because I really wanted to see it. Instead of seeing the Eagle, I found the two Lion Cubs from the Phinda Pride. The rest of them must've been hunting somewhere. They disappeared into the bushes and went into hiding which I'm sure is exactly what their mom wanted them to do in the first place. Boys...
On the morning of the 5th I went out to look for the Lions again. I needed to find the one Female from Phinda without the cubs so that the vet could dart and contracept her. The guides found her with the Male, but when I got there the Male was busy eating a Warthog and the Female was gone. I went out again just after lunch and saw the Lioness for a few seconds close to the Tented camp just before she disappeared again. I spotted a Leopard cub trying to hide in the grass close to the Lodge and saw her/him move deeper in with Mom. This is the second time I've seen the two Leopards here and I think it's the same ones that were seen above the Lodge last month.
On the morning of the 9th I went to look for the Lioness again as well as our one Elephant Bull, because we need to dart him again with anti-musth vaccine. I found the whole Elephant Herd close to a dam and as I came around a corner the Elephant Bull came running through the bushes towards me. I slammed on the door and shouted at him. He stopped about 10 meters from my Land Rover's bonnet shaking his head. I started talking to him nicely and he relaxed a bit. After a few minutes he came towards me again and as soon as I raised my voice he stopped. Eventually he turned around and walked away.
In the afternoon the receptionist and one of the laundry ladies came out with me and I told them that I was looking for the Elephants and Lions and that they were not allowed to jump off of the Land Rover if the Elephant charged us. I was actually hoping we wouldn't find the Elephant Bull, but I found the Herd and the Bull was also there. He came towards us shaking his head and when he got in front of me he lowered his head. I thought he was getting ready to throw my Land Rover over, but when I started talking to him he calmed down and it almost seemed like he was ashamed. He walked backwards into the bushes and started eating from a tree. He went deeper into the bushes and came towards me from the side. I thought the ladies were going to jump off, but they didn't. He stopped close to us again and raised his head to make himself look bigger. I kept talking to him softly and he then turned around and left us alone. After the big adrenalin rush we found the very lazy Male Lion resting close to a dam and watched him until it was too dark to see him.
The next morning I found the Male Lion in the same area and the Elephants were also close-by. The Elephant Bull was with them again. I left them to look for the Lioness and Russell brought the vet to dart him with the anti-musth vaccine. The Male Lion caught a Warthog in the meantime, but I could not find the Lioness.
On the afternoon of the 20th I had 3 guests at the Villa and they had dinner at the Lodge. On our way back to the Villa later I switched the Land Rover's light off, because the moon was so bright we could see everything around us and it was actually really beautiful.
The next morning on Game Drive we saw all the Buffalos and heard that somebody had found the Lions on the road right behind us. I turned back and saw the Lioness that I was looking for walking towards us. She stopped on the road in front of me and I actually started laughing. I'd been looking for her for such a long time so that we could dart her and on the day that I had guests with me she came and stood on the road right in front of me.
I went around the block and found the Male, Two Females and two Cubs at a dam drinking water. It was a beautiful sighting even though I couldn't dart her. They walked up the dam wall and into the bushes. I found some Giraffe close-by and we had coffee and tea there while watching these majestic animals. On our way back we saw the Buffalos again and found 3 Rhinos in the same area.
In the afternoon we went looking for the Elephants and saw the 3 Rhinos again. I drove along a hill to a look-out point and saw the Elephant herd two hills further. It was getting dark, but on our way to the herd we still managed to see one of the big bulls before it was too dark. After sundowners we saw 6 Hyenas and followed them for a little while until another Game Drive vehicle showed up.
On the morning of the 22nd we went looking for Cheetahs and when we couldn't find them decided to look for the Elephants again. Just before we turned back we found the big bull with a younger bull and followed them. Just around the corner we found the rest of the Elephants. I'm very happy to say that one of the calves is getting his tusks. He turned 2 years old on the 20th of January. At the moment it's only two very small white bumps on the sides of his trunk, but it's very sweet.
In the afternoon we went looking for the Cheetahs again and even though I knew they were on the hill behind the Villa we did not see them. Before Game drive started I heard thunder in the distance and told my guests that I thought there was a storm coming. Half an hour into the drive dark clouds gathered all around us. 15 minutes later the sky was filled with lightning and my guests still did not want to go back to the Villa. A few minutes later the clouds exploded and water poured down on us. My guests had ponchos on, but it did not help much. I didn't even bother putting one on. We went back to the Villa and I had to drive another half an hour to get back to Base Camp. I was laughing all the way and I think if somebody was driving with me they would've thought I was crazy. What else was I supposed to do?
The next morning only one of my guests went out with me and we found the two Male Cheetahs close to North Gate. They were sniffing everywhere and calling so I think there must've been a female in the area that they were looking for. We eventually left them to go and find the Wild Dogs, but they were sleeping on the hill where the repeater is and we could not drive up there since it was very wet.
On the morning of the 25th I went looking for the Lioness again. I followed their tracks for a long time before Russell saw her in an open area close to where I was. I followed her to where the other Lioness and two cubs were busy eating a Zebra. They went to a dam close-by and rested in the bushes. When the vet got there they went deeper into the bushes. We drove around the block a few times and heard that the Male Lion had dragged the Zebra carcass into a thicket.
We drove into the bushes later hoping to find the Females with the Male, but he was alone. Eventually later in the afternoon we walked into the bushes to try and find them and found some fresh tracks towards where the Male was. We found all of them close to the carcass and darted the Lioness. It was almost dark and we had to hurry to find her. The others moved away and we took the Lioness to the Bomas. We did a scan to see if she was pregnant, but she wasn't so we contracepted her. After she woke up we opened the gate for her to go out. We saw all the Lions again the next afternoon and the darted Lioness was doing very well.
On the afternoon of the 27th I found a female Leopard close to Base Camp. She was lying on the edge of a thicket and went to sleep there about 20 meters from my Land Rover. When another Game Drive vehicle showed up she went into the bushes. At least she was very relaxed when I got there.
The next morning I found the same female Leopard with 2 cubs close to the same area. She went to hide behind some bushes and one of the cubs started stalking my vehicle. The cub came right passed me and crossed the road behind my vehicle. Another cub showed up and did the same thing. He was calling the first one and then disappeared into the bushes. After a while when one of the guides was there with me one of the cubs jumped out a tree and went to sleep on the ground. The other one came from behind the bushes and jumped onto the sleeping one. They played for a long time and 3 hours after I first found them I left them there. Amazing.
Mariana Venter - Wildlife Monitor/Researcher
