4 January
AM
This morning, we headed straight to Gowrie Main, to see if we could relocate the male leopard, from yesterday, at the kill. When we arrived at the site, he was up in the tree, feeding on the young kudu. We sat with him for some time, as the sighting was really fantastic. We then headed east to Nkorho, where we bumped into an elephant bull, meandering along feeding. He was heading to the pan for a drink.

PM
This evening, we had one action packed minute after another! We first went to check on the leopard kill, but found that the leopard wasn't visible. Instead, a hungry hyena was sitting below the tree, staring at the carcass, nestled in the branches, hoping for it to fall. We the joined a sighting of a herd of elephants at Treehouse Dam. The herd was quite large, and they were in a hurry as usual, disappearing into a thicket. We drove down Cheetah Cutline, next, where we bumped into an old elephant bull, feeding atop a termite mound, before heading to Three in a Row Pan, in the southeast. Here, we came across a herd of buffalo, which had just finished drinking, and were now grazing. Shortly after that, we came across a huge herd, of about 80 elephants (Of varying sizes.) near Nkorho, who were scattered through the bush, surrounding us in every direction. We then headed west on Gowrie Main, where we bumped into a very relaxed hyena, on his way to the leopard kill. It stood in the middle of the road, staring at us with much curiosity. At the kill, the leopard had returned, but had become mobile once again and sauntered off into some thick bush.

5 January
AM
We headed north, into Manyeleti, this morning. We thought we might have some luck, finding lions up there. There have been so many elephants about in the south, that the lions down here have been scarce. We often find that when the elephant population is up, in the area, the lion sightings become less, and vice versa. We had a few lion spoor near Ivory Route, but they didn't seem to lead us anywhere. The general game in the area was abundant. We had a lovely sighting of a family group of wildebeest, with a few tiny calves. We also came across a big elephant bull, feeding near S9 Dam. Nearby, a group of curious giraffe was watching us with their big brown eyes.

PM
We had a very busy afternoon, flying from one place to the next. We started just east of Cheetah Cutline, where we found a female leopard, in a tree with an impala kill. Below the tree, the big male, Pink Nose, was asleep in the long grass. Nearby, also on Cheetah Cutline, a herd of elephants were motoring through the bush, trying to get somewhere fast. We couldn't keep up with them as they maneuvered their huge bodies through the bush, and disappeared. We then headed to Jordaan's, where the two Sandy Patch lionesses were enjoying an afternoon nap in the shade. From there, it was off to Galago, where there were two cheetah sightings, within a kilometer of each other! After dark, we had many a sighting of interesting critters.... chameleons, a white faced owl, and a black backed jackal were among the nighttime menagerie.

6 January
AM
The sun was blazing as we headed into Manyeleti, this morning. The bird-life was abundant and general game was lurking around every turn. We enjoyed our morning coffee with a pair of hippos in Dixie Dam, as they bobbed about, watching our every move. All the way, down in the south, a male lion was lying up in a knob-thorn thicket near Jack's Pan. It was a bit hard to see him through the bush, so we were hoping he'd become active later in the day, and show himself out in the open.

PM
This afternoon, before leaving the lodge, we had a report of some monkeys making warning calls near Hardekool. We went to investigate, to find a male cheetah lying up in the open area in front of the camp. He was very relaxed, and quite full, so we knew he would probably settle in here for the night. We then headed to Jordaan's Dam, where we came across a pair of elephant bulls, swimming playfully in the dam. They were having a blast, pushing each other about, and tying to dunk each other under the water. Kaalkol female (The leopard) and he male cub were located at the same time, down near the Mala Mala boundary. Mom had killed an impala, and the two were feeding.

The Ranger's diary is updated weekly

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