19 January
PM
1 male lion (old eastern male) was found at 3 in a row pan. He was resting next to the road and moved north after dark towards the Jacobin clearing.

20 January
AM
-2 Male Cheetahs were found at Cheetah Plains resting on the boundary. There were Wildebeest and Jackal nearby but the Cheetah brothers seemed to have something else on their minds. They were vocalizing and moved South across our boundary into the neighboring reserve probably trying to make contact with other Cheetah.
-3 Elephant bulls were seen grazing north of Big Dam.
-4 Buffalo Bulls were seen mud wallowing at Rhino Pan.
-5 Lionesses (Kuhuma Pride) were found on the Manyeleti boundary near Galago. There was no sign of the males.

PM
-The five Lionesses from the Kuhuma Pride were found on our western Boundary resting right next to the road. Their bellies were filled to capacity and remained asleep the entire afternoon.
-A large Rhino bull was seen near Impala Pains moving slowly to the North.
-A nursery herd of Elephant, numbering more that 50 was seen at Sidney's dam. After a drink they moved eastwards and into the woodland.

21 January
AM
-The Torchwood clan of Hyenas which are currently denning near 1st rock were found devouring the carcass of a freshly killed Zebra foal. The Adult Zebra were looking on from a safe distance. There were 5 adult Hyena females and 6 cubs feeding on the carcass. The "shrieks and shrills" of the Hyenas whilst feeding were very laud.
-1 female Leopard (White Cloth) was found resting in a Marula tree near Torchwood Camp. After a short while she climbed down and resumed scent marking towards the north.

PM
-6 Elephant bulls including one huge "tusker" was found at Big Dam. They were all drinking and mud bathing on the southern side of the dam.
-2 Rhino bulls were found at Buffelshoek dam. They moved slowly north and away from the waterhole grazing slowly as they went.
-3 Buffalo Bulls were found at Gowrie dam and were seen wallowing in the mud.

22 January
AM
-A skittish female Leopard (Sussen's female) was found north of the airstrip with her two, 6 month old cubs. On seeing the vehicle, this nervous Leopard trio moved quickly toward the riverbed and it was decided to leave them in peace.
-2 Wild dogs were found devouring the remains of a duiker near Khaya Manzi waterhole. After they finished they moved eastwards and into the woodland
-A large Breeding herd of Elephant were found near Guarrie pan, feeding on Marula.

PM
-The year old cub of the white cloth female leopard was found drinking at Cheetah Pan. The cub moved slowly north and leads us straight to where his mother was busy feeding on a Steenbok, high in a Marula tree. There were 2 hyenas watching closely in case the leopard made a wrong move, but with the experience of an old campaigner like white-cloth, they had to be content with the odd bone that she dropped on purpose.
-A Rhino bull was found on Impala Road grazing towards the Sandy Patch area.
-A breeding herd of Elephant was found drinking at 3-pan.

23 January
AM
Our guests were treated to a rare spectacle this morning.
It started as we approached Cheetah plains open area. The sun had just started to rise and the first of it's raise were uncovering the wide open plain for all to see. A nervous herd of Wildebeest were seen on the southern side of the open area and were herd snorting from the distance. They had to be something there, and out came the Binoculars. After scanning a short while a group of three Lions was spotted lying down. They were so far away that one had to use one's imagination to see that they were lions. Something amazing would have to happen to get these lazy beasts closer.
We moved on and to our joy just a short distance away we spotted 3 Cheetah but once again to the south of our boundary. On responding to the sighting another vehicle bumped into a well known face at Djuma, Ncila, the young male Leopard. We couldn't believe it. Africa's three largest cats were all meters apart on the same clearing and oblivious to each others presence. The cheetahs were first to spot the Leopard and surprisingly took off straight away in the direction of Leopard who in turn began to chase the cheetahs in circles. This then attracted the attention of the Lions (2 males and a female). They ran after the cheetahs, giving the Leopard a chance to disappear and he was not seen again. The cheetahs were chased over the boundary into our reserve and the lions gave up just short of our boundary giving us a great view of all the animals. Eventually all the animals lay down to rest.
- 2 lionesses were found at the Buffelshoek airstrip feeding on a Wildebeest.
-A small group of Buffalo bulls was found near cheetah pan.

The Ranger's diary is updated weekly

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