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In
the Ranger's Diary we tend to concentrate on the "Big Five"
or rather the "Big Seven" since these are the most popular
animals. The "Big Seven" includes lion, leopard, elephant,
rhino, buffalo, cheetah and wild dog. The term "Big Five"
(the first five animals listed) was historically used to denote
the five most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa. Fortunately the
term is now used to describe the most popular animals.
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20
June
PM
We started our drive with a sighting of two big Male Kudus. They
moved off the road into the bush after we had all had a good look.
We then sat with a herd of Impalas, before our tracker heard Buffaloes
vocalizing some distance to the North. So we headed off in search
and arrived at Torchwood dam just after a good-sized herd of Buffalo
had finished drinking and were moving east from the dam. Whilst
a few old males were milling about on the water's edge a small group
of Kudu slowly moved towards the water for a drink of their own.
We moved towards where we had left the male Cheetah in the morning
and only a few hundred meters from that spot we found him resting
under a tree, looking very proud about the young kudu he had killed
and started to devour. It started to get dark and we decided to
leave him and check to see if he could manage to keep it throughout
the night without loosing it to one of the larger predators, which
is what so often happens with these weaker cats.
After it was dark we spotted a white tailed mongoose and an African
civet before rolling into camp for a well-earned "boma"
dinner.
21 June
AM
We started the morning drive with the intention of heading straight
to the location where we had left the cheetah and his kill the night
before but that was to take longer than we thought! We had a few
distractions on the way!! First we bumped into two very relaxed
Elephant bulls, and watched them feeding on some round leaved Kiaat,
about a kilometer on, we met a road block of a different kind. A
big herd of buffalo blocked the road and a good space on either
side, so we sat with them for about half an hour before they all
moved west presumably towards Torchwood for a drink. We did get
to the cheetah, where we found some Bateleurs perched in the tree
above. They were obviously waiting for a chance to grab some of
the meat, but the Cheetah wasn't budging just yet!! His belly was
swollen to the brim, yet he wasn't about to share his meal just
yet. Knowing that with his kill being in the open would soon be
spotted by Vulture we decided to leave him in peace and come back
for the action. So after breakfast we went back and had an awesome
sighting of the Cheetah being chased off his kill by more than 30
Vultures, and devour it in less than 20 minutes.
PM
We left the camp and headed straight to the front of the lodge where
we had seen a few male Buffalo approaching the pan for the routine
afternoon drink. We sat and watched them for a while before being
radioed by one of the other vehicles about a very rare sighting
of a Caracal not too far from the lodge. A caracal is a medium size
cat capable of bringing down prey the size of antelope young, but
because of their scarcity in the region, is not one you'd expect
to see on an average safari!! We responded immediately and were
rewarded with a great sighting that lasted at least 30 minutes,
as this particular caracal was very relaxed. He lay on a mound grooming
for some time before heading of into the bush.
A group of male Elephants were also spotted near Nyala dam. We saw
two female Reedbuck at Big dam. After dark we saw two different
African wild cats, a family of Jackal, a white-faced owl, a white
tailed mongoose and had a close encounter with Lesser Bushbaby.
22 June
AM
This morning started with an awesome sunrise, and the red in the
morning warning, should have been taken from a young Nyala who unfortunately
found itself as breakfast for a big male Lion Just west of Vuyatela.
After killing the young antelope the Lion took little time devouring
its meal, bone and all, before making his way north in search of
a quiet place to lay down. The Lion was identified as one of the
Manyeleti Males, who have been seen increasingly in the central
and Northwest of our reserve.
There were Elephants seen drinking at both Jordaan's and Buffelshoek
Dam, along with some Hippo.
We also saw Kudu, Duiker, Impala, Steenbok, Nyala and Waterbuck
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