1 July
AM
One male Cheetah was found on the southern boundary, heading west and was followed for some time before he headed north towards Bush Lodge. Besides a faint limp in his back left leg he looked in good shape.
One female cheetah and her male cubs were found at Quarantine slowly moving south.
A herd of Buffalo was seen to the South of 3 in a row pan moving slowly south.
One big male Lion was found heading East towards the airstrip.
6 male Elephants were seen north of Cruse Camp.

PM
This afternoon we started off tracking the Mother and two young male cheetahs that went north into Torchwood and we finally didn't find them because it was getting dark so we could hardly get to see any tracks. From there we continued going to try and find some other animals and we sported one Elephant bull that was busy feeding under the Torchwood tree. After that we went North into Buffelshoek then we sported about four Rhinos in a distance then we approached them and they were very relax so that the big bull even got to lay down in front of the vehicle while the other three were approaching him slowly, and he didn't got worried about it at all. Later on we went down to Frankel's dam then we saw a breading herd of plus or minus twenty Elephants with some calves. While we were busy watching them we then saw the small head of Daga boys that came from behind the dam and they were walking in the direction of the Elephants. Then on the way back to the Lodge we saw a Bushbaby and the civet. We also went pass the Hyena den to see if we could get anything but there was nothing because it was little bit cold.

2 July
AM
The morning was very beautiful and we went straight to the Hyena Dan where we manage to see Two of the adults and four puppies. One of the adults was playing together with the young stars and they were having lots of fun playing and biting each other for at least ten to fifteen minutes. They even got too close to the vehicle and they were biting off the cruiser's tyres. We then went away from the Dan and headed to the North were we got to see the same four Rhinos that we saw last night, two of them laid down again very close to the vehicle. we stayed with them for quiet some times, then we finally left them and we went to Jordan's dam for our morning drink and there was one big Hippo bull. The Hippo was showing up a lot by yawning all the time. While we were busy having our coffee break, I spotted some fresh male Leopard tracks. I then left every one and follow those tracks all the way to Manyeleti boundary were the animal went straight to the north away from our reserve and we could not follow that anymore. We then left the dam and started going back South then we saw one female Giraffe that was limping. We also saw Kudus, Impalas, Warthogs, Zebras, Waterbucks and the gray or common duiker.

PM
This evening's drive was so beautiful, we went to the east of the property were we got to see the big Rhino bull, while we were busy viewing that Rhino, our other ranger Solly sported a big male leopard [Mafufun'yaan] at triple M. The Leopard then went east to western Gowrie. We took our chance to go and see him but by the time we got to Philemon's deep the animal went back to Simbambili's property. so by then we had already spotted some Daga boys drinking water at Philemon's dip, while we were there with them, the other vehicles sported more Rhinos incite Buffelshoek. We then went away from the Daga boys, on our way to Impala plain we saw one Hyena, Zebras, Impalas and few birds. We had a beautiful sundowner at Impala plain where we stopped for our drinks. On our way back to the Lodge, we finished our drive with a Hyena just outside the Lodge.

3 July
AM
This morning's drive was completely covered with the mist, one of our colleagues called in the tracks of the Styx pride coming from cheetah plain's pan to the west in the direction of Bush lodge. We went out along our Djuma new entrants then we find them lying between new and old entrants. They were all about eight animals. After we left the sighting ,in another five minutes we sported three cheetahs mother and two sub-adult males playing and chasing each other on the firebreak north of the old entrance. We stayed with them for about twenty to half an hour and they still continued playing. We then left them and we sported a head of Buffaloes that was walking diagonal from the position of the cheetah sighting. The cheetahs spotted the buffaloes then approached them, then the Buffaloes started chasing off those cheetahs but nothing happened. We left them then got to see the Zebras, Impalas, and Wildebeest.
Another big male cheetah on the Mala Mala boundary with Djuma. while we were viewing that one cheetah, Rexon from Galago sported another female cheetah with five cubs laying at Rhino Cutline, cubs are about four and half to five months old. That has blown all the guest's minds. On our way back to the lodge we saw some beautiful Dwarf mongoose.

4 July
AM
This morning's drive was very cold, but we got to see the large head of Buffaloes drinking water at three in a raw pan. two Elephant bulls feeding in the direction of tree house dam, lots and lots of Zebras every where, big heads of Impalas, Kudus, Monkeys, that were sitting way on top of the tree for warming-up, Waterbucks and some Warthogs. Before we even close down for the morning we sported three Cheetahs, Mother and two sub-adult males that were sitting in front of Bush lodge. We then started following them walking in a southerly direction away from the Lodge. They sported some Kudus that were little beet far to start chasing but the sub-adult went for a chase and scared the Kudus away. Then they all gave up. After that they sported some Impalas also in a distance and they were all stalking then they finally went to lie down facing those Impalas and still showing interest but no chasing.

PM
This evening started with a flurry of activity as a large herd of buffalo tried to chase the Styx pride off a young kudu they had stolen from some cheetah earlier in the day. The charging back and forth carried on until the last vehicle left them still at it before dinner. The hyena den was also very active and a hyena managed to lope of with one of our blankets before we realized, luckily it soon lost interest and the blanket undamaged was reclaimed.
Piet had great sightings in the south seeing a male lion, breeding herd of elephant and three rhino around three in a row pan. With all this happening so close to bush lodge we look forward to tomorrow.

The Ranger's diary is updated weekly

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