13 April
AM
We started our morning, with a large herd of buffalo, on Longpole. They were walking quite fast, towards the south. We knew they were heading to water, for an early morning drink. The biggest water source in the direction they were heading is Gowrie Dam, so we guessed they would turn up at Vuyatela later in the morning. After leaving the herd, we bumped into a lovely old elephant bull on Gowrie Cutline. He was enjoying a morning snack of bark and leaves. We then headed onto Torchwood, where we came across some fresh leopard tracks. They looked like the tracks of Pink Nose, the dominant male in that area. We ended up following them all over the place, but unfortunately couldn't find him. When we returned to Vuyatela, the herd of buffalo was at the dam having a drink and a wallow.

PM
There was a strange, hot wind blowing, this afternoon. There are some bush fires in the area, causing the air to be filled with smoke and ash. A weather front was blowing in at the same time, so the wind would change from hot, to cold and the air had a strange feel to it. The sky was also an odd shade of gray. We came across an old daga boy, at Twin Dams. He had a slick coating of mud on him, from wallowing in the dam, and was now heading into the drainage line. After dark, we managed to locate the Manyeleti male lion, on the Manyeleti boundary, but he vanished into the bush, before we could get too close.

14 April
AM
This morning we set out in clear skies and crisp air. We saw a female lioness on the prowl for food; she has cubs in a den on Djuma property, which is very exciting! We also bumped into a large Elephant bull in musk, stripping the bark from the branches of a tree. We were up before the Buffalo this morning and found a large herd lying in the grass - including calves.
There are about six Hippos in the dam that we watched while having a cup of coffee and a muffin. We saw a pearl spotted Owl, and a Pied Barbet that is very rare in these parts. A white backed vulture soared overhead as we headed down Gowrie Main Road. we saw many smaller birds like an African hoopoe, Drongos and arrow marked babblers. A great drive!!

PM
This afternoon we saw two Wild Dogs on the move, we followed them for a while which was great to see. We saw two Buffalo as well as an Elephant. We had a drink while watching a stunning sunset.
we saw a very relaxed Duiker - which is unusual, they usually run away. A young Bateleur watched us from his perch and a troop of Monkeys sat watching us from the trees at another dam. We headed home for dinner around the campfire.

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