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15
September
AM
Weather this morning was nice and the sky was very clear. Our morning
drive was excellent, we headed west along Gowrie main and we stopped
to watch a beautiful Lilac breasted roller, then we heard the Hyena
screaming in the direction of Hyena den, then we drove down to the
den to investigation. When we get there the Hyenas were busy fighting
and chasing each other for the female Nyala that one of them had
stolen from the Leopard at quarantine close to Vuyatela Lodge. We
watch them eating the whole carcass, bones and every thing. We almost
spent one hour at the den and every body in the vehicles was very
happy to see the whole thing happening while they were there. As
we were driving away from the den, one of our neighbours called
us for the Cheetah that was crossing Gowrie Main into Torch Wood
where we went straight to get to follow it. She was not interested
on hunting because she looked like she had something big already.
We followed here for such a long time and she finally got to the
Northern part of the rocks and she then got to lay down. We then
went away to leave the gap for the other vehicles and we went to
the Northern part of the farm where some of the neighbours had seen
three Rhinos and left them walking into the bush. We got to the
area and there was nothing which means they were long gone by then.
We then started tracking then where we find them in the middle of
the block. We follow them until they got out of the thicket block
where they were. On our way back home we located waterbucks, mother
and two different age Giraffes, the youngest one looked between
one and half to two months old. After that we saw some Buffaloes
and Zebras.
PM
This evening's game drive was also very active. We went East where
we find a breading head of Buffaloes walking away from three in
a raw pan, which means they had already finish drinking. One of
our other vehicles located one big bull rhino drinking water at
paradise beach. Then we responded to that sighting and spent some
times with that animal. After that we went to Buffelshoek Dam for
a drink and there was three Elephant bulls that had already finish
drinking and they were playing by pushing each other. In the Dam
itself there was four Hippos, the big bull was showing-up every
now and then. After our lovely sundowners we headed in a south from
the Dam, one of the other game drivers sported a leopard walking
along Gowrie Main road and we then made our way in that direction
and got to see him as well. This was the Mafufunyana male. He went
south of the main road where we couldn't follow him at all then
we left him and headed back to the Lodge and we came across a very
big head of Buffaloes crossing Gowrie main towards our neighbour's
waterhole for a drink.
16
September
AM
This morning's game drive was beautiful, we started off with the
nice pride of Lions [Sticks] that were feeding off the smelly dead
Buffalo close to one of the camp. They were all about ten Lions
all together; two big males and eight females. In that same area
there was some Hyenas and one Side striped Jackal which they were
waiting for the Lions to finish eating. The carcass was very smelly,
and the Lions did not like the meat as well because the carcass
looked quiet old. The Lions finally left the meat and headed for
water at the neighbouring camp. We then left them and headed away
where we saw two big Elephant bulls. After the Elephants we went
further north and got to see the crocodile in one of the Dams. On
our way back to the Lodge we sported a female Cheetah that was walking
along the road and she went off the road to go and lay down under
the tree. We stayed with here for some times then we left as the
other vehicles got in the sighting. Before the Lodge we spotted
some Buffalo bulls laying down.
PM
This evening's game drive we only got to see the Very big head of
Buffaloes that were looking quiet relax on the Eastern site of Rhino
Cutline. There was also one Elephant bull feeding right close the
Hyena den, this was happening while we were sitting and watching
the Hyena puppies. We also saw Zebras, Impalas, Kudus, Steenboks
and the Grey Duiker.
17
September
AM
This morning game drive was quite amazing. We headed east from the
Lodge to work that part of the Reserve. We were tracking the Styx
bride that went pass our Lodge, also roaring a lot early in the
morning. Tracks went towards our neighbour's camp where we spotted
one sub-adult female Lion that was running around the garden amongst
the ferns, we called the other vehicles to come and give us a hand
to get that Lioness out of the camp, which was difficult. She climbed
two different trees to get away from us and she was always calling
where the other lions responded from the distance. One sub-adult
came closer and finally run away as well. This one Lioness in the
camp also run through the ferns at such a way speed and she disappeared.
We ended tracking them by feet and we find them laying in the middle
of the block and they were all eight. After that we drove to Three
in a Row pen where there was a big herd of Buffaloes drinking water
and they had lots of Oxpeckers including two yellow billed Oxpeckers.
There was also five big Elephants Bulls feeding as well.
PM
The evening drive was fantastic today! Heading East towards Kruger,
we were on the lookout for giraffes that had been scarce for a few
days. Before we could locate some we came across a breeding herd
of buffaloes numbering over 200 crowding into three in a row pan
drinking and wallowing. We stayed watching them for a while and
were rewarded with a rare sighting of a pair of yellow-billed Oxpeckers
perched atop a large male bull. Continuing East to Kudu Corner we
heard trees breaking and followed the sounds to find three large
elephant bulls busy pushing over a tall Knobthorn tree. One of the
bulls was an enormous tusker whom we see from time to time. A lucky
find indeed! We followed them down to the waterhole where they had
a drink and a bath. Hearing about some leopard cubs from the radio
we quickly headed northwest to Buffelshoek Dam to see if we could
locate them. We found 2 young cubs hunting birds in some thickets.
Their inexperience showed and they didn't manage to catch any. Their
mother was nowhere to be seen and we assumed she was off hunting.
We left the cubs lying resting under a fallen tree trunk to await
their mother. As if that wasn't enough already we then located the
Styx Pride lying in a big clearing resting up. The full moon meant
that they weren't in a hurry to go hunting and so we left them resting
up. We eagerly awaited the next morning's drive when we were hopeful
to find that they had successfully hunted during the night.
18 September
AM
This morning we went directly to where we left the Styx Pride sleeping
yesterday, only to find they were long gone in a Northerly direction
from Nkorho. We tracked them over a long distance and at one stage
we found the spot where the Lions had hunted Zebras. Suspecting
that they had killed one we left our guest in the vehicle whilst
we went on foot to follow up on their tracks. After ten to fifteen
minutes of hard tracking we finally found 8 lionesses feasting on
a zebra carcass. Returning with our guests we watched as 2 lionesses
gorged themselves while the remaining 6 lay panting in the shade
of some nearby bushes, their huge stomach's telling of the dinner
just had. Whilst we were watching the lions the call came in of
the leopard cubs being relocated still at the same place as last
night - their mother had not returned! Near first rock we found
large herds of zebras and buffaloes drinking and grazing. As we
headed back towards camp we were very excited to locate 4 bull giraffes
as we had been looking for giraffes since the previous day.
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