While most guests are usually keen on seeing the best known African animals when on safari, the vast majority of rangers, trackers and guides are always on the lookout for something that is so rare, or skittish that one can spend years trying to find it, and yet it remains elusive. Wild dogs is one of those animals, but then there is the ever-elusive “Pangolin”. This animal looks bizarre, it is often mentioned (“Have you ever seen one?”) and yet it is little known outside these circles. It is certainly not famous, but seeing one, up-close, is considered a real treat for any ranger.

Yesterday was Jonathan’s turn: he spotted one, all of a sudden, while out with guests on our reserve! This would be the first sighting in his entire career, so the excitement was more than palpable, as one can imagine.

Mike rushed towards it, and took some very cool photos. This turned out to be a “proper” sighting, and the guests as well as the delighted Jonathan spent quite some time observing this truly bizarre animal. As always, when they are feeling threatened, they roll themselves up and bury their head in this odd-looking ball that they turn themselves into.

The name Pangolin comes from the Malay word “pangguling”, meaning “something that rolls up”. It is the only mammal with keratine scales protecting its skin in the world. It feeds off ants mainly, and so it doesn’t have  any teeth (it clearly doesn’t need them). They are now endangered, as deforestation as well as hunting for re-sale in China (yep, usual suspect) as Chinese culture believes in medical curative powers their meat is supposed to have. That is not true of course. The Pangolins on our reserve are safe though, and it is great to see that they are around here and doing well. This is the third sighting in 4 years, which is a LOT considering how skittish and nocturnal they are.

Here the photos taken:

 

 

 

 

Gerdine just sent through some of Mike’s best photos taken last week while out on safari with our guests. Some of these shots are really spectacular, and some of them really moved me. Overall I am stunned (and very happy) by the quality and frequency of Big5 sightings, as well as sightings of lesser known species, some of which are extremely rare.

Here some amazing shots, close-up of our beautiful male lion. He’s not to be messed with, he’s now grown to a handsome, and extraordinarily large male. Judge for yourselves!

Mike and his guests also witnessed a very sweet moment with an elephant herd. Lots of padding and touching between the mothers and their little ones. The baby elephants were having a lot of fun, and looked very happy. Elephant mothers are fiercely protective of, and caring towards their little ones, and who can hold it against them? These baby elephants are irresistibly cute!

I also liked Mike’s shot of two giraffes grazing. Everyone is obsessed about Big5, but seeing the huge and elegant giraffes is usually more memorable than most of the Big5 animals. Seeing giraffes grazing away is probably one of the most special things to observe on an African safari, that’s guaranteed. It is difficult to imagine the sheer size of these animals, until one actually sees them right in front of oneself. Very, very impressive indeed! You can see how dry the bush now is, but with some early rains now having occurred now, the bush has started greening up already, so the hungry times are coming to an end for all herbivores now.

 

Wild dogs are the rarest, or the second rarest according to who you ask, carnivors in Africa, with an estimated 2000 specimen surviving in the wild only.

So how is it possible that a species that used to roam the entire African sub-continent, a continent larger than the Americas and Europe combined, has been pushed to the brink? Well, it is the usual suspects: land grab, agriculture, urbanisation (though this is debatable), and then in this particular case: tuberculosis! Wild dogs have a very peculiar social behavior, whereby only one dominant female in the pack has all the cubs (sometimes up to 20 at a time!), but then all the females of the pack raise and feed them. Problem is, if only one animal catches TB, then it will be passed on around, as all pubs feed from all mothers, and so the whole pack ends up infected, and as a result gets wiped out.

Our wild dogs are relatively safe here, as we only have TB-free buffalo, which is one of the main TB carriers.

We had not seen the wild dogs in a long while as they move around a lot, and so it was amazing to see them again. Well done Jonathan and Mike! They may not be the most famous of all African game, but definitely one of the most interesting and subject to loads of rehabilitation efforts. Our pack is very successful in the sense that they raise lots of pubs, and that is cause for celebration. For those who want to stand a chance of seeing these animals up-close, we definitely are the go-to reserve!

 

 

About a week ago Nkateko, our lodge maintenance guy, was working on the jacuzzi pump of honeymoon suite 1, when he suddenly saw an impala run past him. Before he knew it, two cheetahs were in hot pursuit, and took down the impala right in front of him, we’re talking 12 meters away from him, literally. It all happened within a couple of seconds, and immediately Nkateko realised that this is the sort of stuff you only see on TV, but this was so much more powerful. It took him a short while to recompose himself, and he ran off to the lodge to tell everyone what was going on right at the lodge.

Justine radioed Mike and Jon who were out on safari with all the guests to let them know that the action was happening so much closer to home. As noone knew how the cats would react to humans approaching them on foot, Mike drove the Landcruiser (with all guests) past the lodge to show everyone the two cheetahs who, in the meanwhile, had dragged their kill right in front of honeymoon suite 1, and were happily feeding away. But these two cheetahs are like honeybadgers: they don’t care! They were very relaxed indeed.

After this, Mike escorted Brittany and Tim back to their honeymoon suite, and after they had been observing the two cats right from their patio, they invited all other guests over as well, and so everyone could see the going ons literally a few yards away. What a spectacular sighting, what a moment, and what amazing photos taken! Wow, really.

While this is most likely a one-off event, there is definitely a trend where I can say that we start seeing cheetahs now on such a regular basis, that this reserve, amongst others, seems to be gradually turning into a cheetah-specialist reserve. Well, good for them, as the cheetah is uniquely rare, and so to see them hunt so well, and feed so well, it seems that we have created here with the conservancy something truly amazing for the conservation of these animals. Something to be proud of, for sure.

Enjoy the photos!

 

Mal and Lee stayed with us from the 26th of September to the 3rd of October. They had a great time and they have sent in quite a few of their best shots of sightings and of the lodge. Many thanks for allowing me to post these on our safari blog, it is always a pleasure to share our guests’ experiences with other guests.

I was pleased to see that Mal and Lee saw pretty much everything one would love to see on an African safari, but then they saw so much more than that. African safaris are, of course, about seeing the Big 5 (though this is a rather arbitrary term and list of animals), but then it is also about introducing guests to the vast diversity of wildlife here. For example we have about 400 different species of birds here, some of them the largest on earth, and some of them the prettiest, and some of them again the most peculiar, and quite a few of them being very rare, and, sadly, a very few being close to extinction. A visit her gives these animals a chance for long-term survival as it provides the funds for nature conservation. Our rhinos, for example, are doing well, and we have now introduced the super rare Black Rhino, which is very exciting news.

Mal and Lee had (I think this is obvious on the photos) a grand time, and they were such a joy to have around. And that’s the other aspect about a safari here: one reconnects with nature in ways that are unknown or unimagned by most, and this environment leads to de-stress levels that are rare in urban areas these days. If you want to leave the rat race, totally recharge your batteries and gain an alternative perspective on life, then a visit here is just perfect for you.

You can leave Africa, but Africa never leaves you!

 

 

 

 

I wrote a few weeks ago that our reserve’s “specialty” might just become cheetah sightings, which, in general, are very rare (given that cheetahs are one of the very rarest animals in Africa)

Well, it seems that this is becoming truer and truer as the weeks and months go by. A few days ago we saw two young cheetahs happily munching away at a very recent kill in the riverbed, very close to the Vuyani Safari Lodge. Pointless to mention that both the ranger and the guests were ecstatic! What a treat!

These cats are usually very skittish, but these two could not care less about our presence. The photos that our guests took were second to none as a result. This is the sort of stuff that safari dreams are made of, and that’s why we get so many raving reviews. To enjoy such a sighting for sometimes up to an hour is a real delicatesse, and definitely one to savour.

See the photos we took below. Both cheetahs, after eating most of the impala kill, proceeded to resting and then fooling around, clearly being in a good mood after such a delicious meal.

And, I will not disclose more, but very soon I will post yet another cheetah story that happened just two days ago! Even more spectacular than this one! Possibly one of the most unique cheetah sightings one can imagine. To follow very soon!

 

… the most spectacular leopard photos ever taken on our reserve!

I wrote a few days ago that there are the “staple” sightings for African safaris, and then there are the “cherry on top” sightings. Well, a leopard sighting, this close-up is exactly that! This is quite rare, and all the more breathtaking then, as leopards tend to be quite skittish in general, and hunt on their own.

This leopard was seen two days ago, by Jonathan and Uyai, from our game driver full of guests, in a night game drive. The leopard was all but 5 yards away, and all guests could take great photos of it. What an amazing sighting! I wish I had been there myself, I really do.

The leopard is the smallest of the big 4 cats, with quite short legs (giving it great pulling power, remember physics in school?), a long body and quite a large head. Its success in the wild is due to its stealth-like predatory techniques, as well as a wide variety of habitats it can live in. Indeed leopards are found in Asia as well as the whole of Africa, it can live in rainforest as well as desert areas. It is near-threatened now, however, and has disappeared in several countries where it used to be quite prominent, such as Libya, Syria, Tunisia and several others (this is not linked to the Arab Spring and revolutions, that is purely coincidental)

Enjoy the photos, they certainly put a smile on my face. Lucky guests of ours !!

 

 

… and definitely the most colorful one: the lilac-breasted roller!

Jonathan sent in a photo of a lilac-breasted roller yesterday, a photo he had just shot on his game drive. I couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty of this bird, its “design” is almost over the top. 20 different color patterns on its feathers! Incredible.

This bird is quite common in the sub-Saharan area, and is not endangered. It needs trees, so it is quasi absent from places that have little to no trees. It also breeds in trees, in natural alcoves or holes in tree trunks, laying 2-4 eggs at a time. It also sits on top of trees, to spot lizards, snails, bugs and other insects that it will drop down onto and eat. They are also quite aggressive fellows! They will defend their nest with ferocious energy against intruders, and they usually get things their way. By the way, both females and males have quasi the same feather and color patterns, so it is impossible to thell them apart when observing them. They also both incubate their eggs. Equal rights and responsibilities. 😉

By the way, the lilac-breasted roller is the national bird of Botswana and Kenya.

So, curtains open to the lilac-breasted roller! Here’s Jonathan’s photo!

 

 

A couple of days ago Mike got back from game drive, very excited. While the weather had been a little crummy (this is very rare!), they  had run into a cheetah couple which was totally unskittish as if they were posing for guests.

Now there are what I call the “staple” sightings, and that would be lions, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, and many others. Not to say that they are not amazing sightings, far from it, but they are the sort of animals one sees very regularly. And then there are the “cherry on the top” sightings, the sort of sightings that one should not expect to experience, in order to enjoy them even more when they do happen. Hyenas are one of those animals, or wild dogs, and then also the elusive cheetahs. This is one of the rarest and also one of the most beautiful and elegant of all the world’s animals. Seeing a cheetah in the wild is a completely unique treat, a privilege really. So it was lovely to share this with a full game driver, and all our guests were in awe, and rightfully so! Two cheetahs, resting just a few yards away from the vehicle! Truly amazing stuff.

The photos are not the best, but one gets the idea. Enjoy!