28 January
AM
This morning, we decided to go and explore some new areas of the Manyeleti. We headed straight north, and went quite far past Manyeleti Main Camp and Big Dam. Along the way, besides the beautiful scenery, we saw plenty of daga boys, plus a breeding her of buff. We also saw a few elephant bulls about, chomping on marulas. The bird life was also very interesting. Besides the usual assortment of raptors, we saw a flock of white storks, and a kori bustard. On our way back south, we stopped at Big Dam, to watch a pod of hippos and some crocs sunning themselves on the bank.

PM
The bush was fairly quiet, this afternoon. We sat, watching some hippos at Nyala Dam for a while, and stopped for a scenic sundowner on the wall of Big Dam, on Buffelshoek. After dark, things got exciting, when we bumped into the Sandy Patch Pride, near Hardekool. The two girls were on the prowl, stalking through the bush. It's always amazing to watch how they use their acute senses, even in the dark, amid such thick bush.

29 January
AM
This morning was gloriously sunny, as we set out from Vuyatela. We headed north, and scratched around in Manyeleti for a while. We came across several elephant bulls. Some were drinking from various pans, while others just ambled along, feeding. At one point, we came across an area where there were many vultures, roosting in the surrounding trees. We figured that there must be a kill of some sort nearby, so we decided to investigate a little bit on foot. We didn't manage to come across a carcass, but we did manage to get a great look at the vultures, as they sat on the tree branches around us.

PM
This afternoon, we managed to locate the two Sandy Patch lionesses, as they were prowling about, near Vuyatela. We noticed that one of the females looks pregnant. This is great news!! This lioness will be having cubs for the first time, and it's a great chance for them to add numbers to their small pride. Hopefully all goes well for her! We also came across a pair of elephant bulls, swimming in Nyala Dam. They were having a blast, pushing each other about, trying to dunk each other under the water. After dark, we came across a herd of buffalo, at Twin Dams. They were slowly heading south, so we managed to catch them before they crossed over the boundary.

30 January
AM
Once again, we had a thoroughly exciting morning. It started, when we joined a cheetah sighting, in front of Jacobin's. The female, was lying up, watching a herd of impala in the distance. Eventually, we left her to go and join a sighting of the female leopard, White Cloth, nearby on Central Road. She took us on quite a ride, through some very thick bush, but eventually settled down to let us have a nice sighting. We then headed back towards the west, where we came across a breeding herd of elephants, feeding on Cheetah Cutline. There were several youngsters with the group, who were a bit nervous and took off into the bush. The adult females were much more relaxed with us, and continued feeding, while watching us from the corner of their eye. Another interesting sighting we had this morning, was of a pair of waterbuck mating! It's not often you get to see that.

PM
We headed into Manyeleti, this afternoon, determined to find some rhino. It's been a while since we'd had a rhino sighting, so we though we'd try our best. We searched about all over the place, until we eventually got very lucky on Rhino shortcut. The crash of three, were very relaxed, and walked along in a nice open area, grazing. We stayed with them for about 45 minutes until they eventually disappeared into some brush. After dark, we were driving past Longpole, where we bumped into a hippo, grazing out of the water. It ran off a bit, until it felt it was a safe distance from us. It then stood still, trying to make us out with its beady little eyes.

The Ranger's diary is updated weekly

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