18 June
PM
Our afternoon started with a sighting of a young Elephant bull on Cheetah Cutline. He was breaking off branches from a Red Bush Willow and twisting them trough his molars to take off all the bark. It resembled a giant sized pencil sharpener!!
We saw some Kudu and impala before making our way to a group of Cheetahs that had been "spotted"("not intentional") to the South of Galago. Our timing was perfect, as we arrived just as the sun was about to start setting. Perfect time for photos!! They were sleepy and looked to have fed recently. All three (mother with her two sub adult male offspring) got up together and started to head east and we decided to leave them and have a sundowner before whilst the sun was still red and setting.
After dark we found a big Male Lion (one of the Manyeleti Males) walking west from the Buffelshoek airstrip. We followed as he padded down the road scent marking on the occasional Guarri bush.

19 June
AM
We started the drive with a great sighting of a herd of Buffalo, about 100 strong, drinking at torchwood dam. After they had finished, they moved off South. We then found two Hyenas making their way back to the den after the nights hunt. North of twin dams, we found two male Elephants feeding in the Mlowati riverbed on lush grass and saplings. One of them was old "Twisty Tusk", an adult male with a deformed tusk that resembles a kudu's horn rather than an Elephant's tusk. We left them and headed north in the river sand, past a White Backed Vulture sitting in it's nest, towards Buffelshoek Dam where we stopped for Coffee and were treated to a good "show" by four Hippo, who hadn't quite settled down for their days rest. We also saw impalas, steenbok, Kudus and Zebra.

PM
We set off on yet another warm winter's afternoon. First sightings were Impala, steenbok and Kudu. We arrived at cheetah plains and were met by a huge herd of Zebra and Wildebeest grazing out in the open plain. We then moved to Cheetah pan and were met by another herd of Zebras who were all staring in the same direction. What they were staring at was soon apparent when a Black Backed Jackal came trotting out of the scrub and onto the plains towards the pan for a drink. The afternoon light was perfect and great pictures of the Jackal and his mirror image in the glassy water rewarded us.
We then had a great sighting of a very rare Reedbuck male. These antelope are extremely rare, and what made it even better is that this individual was very relaxed in our presence. We headed on to Kudu corner dam where we were promptly stopped in our tracks by a massive rhino bull making his way gently down to the waterhole. We backed up to the waterhole to give him room and were soon treated to a great sighting of him drinking below the massive Jackal berry tree that overhangs this water point.
After the guests had enjoyed a "Gin and Tonic" we were radioed by the lodge to say that someone had spotted a leopard at the "crib" in front of Bush Lodge. We got to the camps driveway where we spotted "nchila"(the young male offspring of the White Cloth Female), with his characteristic "kink" in his tail. We followed him for some time before he disappeared west into our adjacent property. We also saw a bush baby and a large spotted Genet.

20 July
AM
The morning started out crisply cold, but after the sun rose our spirits warmed. We had early sightings of Zebra, Impala and Duiker, before spotting a Big Elephant bull at hyena dam. The light was magnificent, and we couldn't resist just sitting with him for well over half an hour. He first fed on some buffalo thorn; he had a rub on a Marula tree and then sauntered down to the dam for a drink. We left him still drinking on the waters edge.
After a much needed cup of tea and coffee to warm our bodies, we got to Sussen's dam where we found a Nile Crocodile trying to warm his body too, by lying in the water. He was closely been watched by a herd of impalas, waterbuck and a lone Wildebeest.
We drove towards the airstrip, but before we could get there we spotted a large male Cheetah lying on the top of a termite mound. He lay in the same position for some time until he spotted something in the long grass. He quickly stood up, where we could see he was in fact quite hungry, and took off towards another termite mound. We saw dwarf mongoose scatter in all directions, and it then became obvious just how hungry he was. Cheetah normally take larger prey, but a bite-sized mongoose, might just have helped to curb the hunger pains. We too returned to camp to take care of our own rumbling stomachs, and left the Cheetah to contemplate his next hunt lying in the shade of a tree.

The Ranger's diary is updated weekly

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