… goes to this!

This is maybe even the cutest sighting in years. Mike and Uyai found this cheetah mother, with her super-adorable cub. We believe she also raised the other two males that are being seen very regularly. She is totally relaxed around the vehicles, and she is passing on this behavior to her offspring, and it shows. The cub and mother were totally chilled, giving our over-joyed guests a lot of time to enjoy this rare sighting and to take lots of photos. A cheetah sighting in itself is the cherry on top – type of event, but to see this … that’s incredible stuff. Lucky guests indeed!

Cheetah cubs are very vulnerable, as they are being hunted by other predators, such as lions, and so as such their survival rates are quite low. Fingers crossed for this one! Cheetahs usually have 2-3 cubs, so she may already have lost one or two others. We will never know. But she is a very good mother, having reared successfully her previous offspring. Amazing job!

Here some more photos, I cannot really decide which one is cuter, they are all lovely. Enjoy!

Speaking of motherhood … we also saw this young zebra and her mum. It seems to be that time … 🙂

… also seen was this resting wildebeest herd. It is rare to be able to spot them (and photograph them) in this relaxed state.

Mike and Uyai have sent in so many photos of so many amazing sightings, I didn’t have enough time to post them all. So here a collection of the week’s most beautiful and striking sightings. There were many more, and the week’s blog posts show them as well. Consider these photos the “week’s best of”.
Hats off to Uyai, he has managed to capture some real gems!

First off, 4 days ago, our guests wished to see rhinos, and Mike performed! Here they are. Our guests got close up to these giants of the bush. They were very relaxed, and we had plenty of time to capture some amazing footage of them. You can see that most of their horn is de-horned, which has been done to protect them from poaching. They are about to be de-horned again, so as to keep their black market value as low as only possible.

We then also had yet another beautiful lion sighting 2 days ago. The entire pride was resting in an area we call the “cotton field”. I am amazed, I haven’t seen the male myself in quite a while, and I am astonished by how much his mane has grown. And he is really, really big now! Mind that lions can weigh up to 500 pounds, so you can imagine. This cat is a lot bigger than it looks on the photos. Seeing them up-close, in wild nature, is a once in a lifetime experience, and it should really be on absolutely everyone’s bucket list.

And then, again, the piece de resistance, two male cheetahs (they are brothers)! We see cheetahs more often here than pretty much any reserve, so this is becoming increasingly something we are famous for. We now see cheetahs on a quasi weekly basis, and often more frequently, and given that only a few hundred of them still live in the wild in South Africa (a country twice the size of France!), that is something to be very proud of. The two cheetahs are used to seeing game drivers, so it was amazing for our guests to observe these immensely rare and beautiful animals in their natural habitat. This is the dream sighting of any African safari!

Uyai and Mike have very keen eyes for the small things in nature, that only the very well trained eye can spot. Chameleons! Here is one we saw this week, much to the amusement of our guests. When we find one of them, our guests have the opportunity to hold one on their hand and see them from very close. Unique!

 

This concludes this week’s review, it has been an excellent one indeed. I am looking forward to all the things that our rangers and tracker will find for our guests next week. There is always something special going on.

 

Well, it has been a while since my last elephant sighting blog story (not that we seem them rarely!), but the photos of today’s elephant sightings ought to be shared with our guests and fans.

Our guide, tracker and guests found the whole herd grazing near an area called “Porcupine Dam”. We noticed that the older bull has moved off, and that a younger bull seems to be “in charge” now. He has quite an attitude, and gave us a good show and display. Well, he is a sight to be seen, for sure. He will still grow larger over the next years, however, so we are looking forward to seeing him, and the whole herd, grow bigger. The herd has increased in size steadily over the years, which is a great development. Elephants are essential to the eco-system by clearing the thick bush and making room for new growth and allowing more space for predators. This also prevents rapid bush fires.

There really isn’t anything like watching these huge creatures, seeing the social interaction, the love and care they give to their offspring, … this is a sighting as African as it gets. That’s what a travel thousands of miles makes it all worthwhile.

Enjoy the photos!

The last 3 days have been truly great safari days. The previous days were muted, because of the extreme weather conditions, but this week’s sightings were amazing, quite frankly.

We saw the lions three times, over three days, as they move around on the Southern portion of the reserve, on the Moditlo part of the conservancy. The youngsters are trying to boss around the guides, and they have developed quite an attitude as of late. It makes for interesting sightings, but overall, they are very relaxed around the vehicles, and the male lion is pretty much sleepy all the time. He rules unopposed, and he knows it. No sweat there.

But we saw so much more. Here below a warthog family, which is a staple sighting on our reserve. The little ones have grown up a lot by now, and in about a year, they will set out on their own.

And then of course this beautiful cheetah sighting, right in the bush. He was very relaxed, as he is used to being seen and observed. This is the sort of sightings that make me jealous that I wasn’t out there to see for myself. What a sighting!

Uyai managed this superb photo of a squirrel right on top of a tree. Priceless.

We also saw zebras (in fact we seem to be seeing them more and more) …

… and rutting impala, they are getting ready for the next mating season.

Allison is just now staying at our lodge, and she is enjoying herself so much that she shared these photos with me already yesterday. I am so pleased to share them with our fans and future guests. They are truly stunning.

It’s also nice to see some more photos of some of our staff: Jesse (ranger), Mike (ranger) and Uyai (tracker).

Allison also emailed through some beautiful animal shots she took over the course of the first days of her stay: lions, zebras, some beautiful landscapes. In fact they have seen of course many more animals, but it will take more time to email them through. Here some of the prettiest ones!

Rita and Eric Bauer stayed with us for 3 nights, early on this month in March. They had a fabulous time, and they have emailed in some of their prettiest photos and permitted the publication of these. Many thanks, that’s super kind of them! It is a pleasure to share our guests’ photos here with our many fans and future guests, and I think they always reflect the (beautiful) reality here at the Vuyani Safari Lodge.

The weather was much better on Friday, and Uyai and Mike have managed some beautiful sightings.

They spotted rhinos from very close distance, which was amazing. We cannot disclose the location, of course, as this would make it obvious for poachers (but a warning to poachers: Our conservation team is patrolling on horseback, so it’s at your own risk and peril)

They were very relaxed, and our guests were able to spend quite a bit of time with these giants of the African bush. What a pleasure to spot these super-rare (and sadly endangered animals). We are one of a few reserves where their numbers are actually rising, so we are very pleased with this development.

We then also found the lions, same day! A lot of game has moved south of the reserve, as conditions are better there now than north, where lots of areas are still flooded. This suits us fine, as that is where we are focusing on now when out on safari.

But that’s not all we saw, far from it. We saw lots of “plains game”, which is always interesting. Here some photos of some of what we saw:

The last days (in fact almost 10 days) have seen several episodes of very strong rain, local floods, and very muddy safari conditions. That said, we were out most days, and our guests had a tremendous time. In fact, some of the most interesting and partially hilarious photos were taken over the recent 3 days. See for yourselves!

A couple of days ago we managed a very close-up sighting of elephants. They were crossing the dirt road, and soon disappeared in the thick bush. Our guests managed to take some really nice photos as well.

We also found a young male cheetah resting at one of the many small riverbeds. These riverbeds are usually dry, but due to heavy rainfall, they are now flowing. This is one of those “cherry on the top” sightings! It doesn’t get any more exciting than this, especially when it is such a close-up sighting, with a very relaxed cheetah. He was more than happy for our guests to snap away at him, and remained very calm.

Then our guests managed some hilarious photos of zebras fooling around, bathing in the dust, and seemingly laughing at them. Priceless!

As Kim describes it on our Facebook page (please subscribe for daily updates: ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vuyani-Lodge/160291423981740 ): we don’t have traffic here, we have giraffic here. What a beautiful “journey” of giraffes, right ahead of us, blocking the game driver. But we never mind, we have plenty of time.

I just have to share these pretty photos that Uyai took of our reserve over the last recent days. Nature is so green now, and with the summer sunsets, it makes for some spectacular African summer safari photos.

Can you spot him?

And finally, one of the prettiest photos ever of an impala herd. All alert, but most photo-genic! Nice.

I hope you enjoyed the photos, we are looking forward to welcoming you here soon!

The weather seems to have calmed down now, and after these truly unusually hefty rainfalls, the good times are on their way back it would seem. Conditions are also improving, but safaris are still an adventure, and our guests have actually really enjoyed safaris as genuine and authentic as they can only get. Pulling game drivers out of mud, several times on a single game drive, it is all hard work, but it is 100% the real African adventure. Sightings have also been decent, and as soon as we can enter more parts of the reserve, they will improve further of course.

Here some of the sightings yesterday:

One of the most beautiful sightings was this Great Eagle Owl, the third largest owl in the world (the species in general, not this particular one 😉 )

These belong to the Bubo family of owls, and traditionally all owls that have ear tufts were included, but that is not exclusively the case anymore. You can see the ear tufts on this one though. What a beautiful bird, and it was a close-up sighting. Very rare thing to see indeed! I have personally never seen one on the reserve, so this is excellent news.

… do not see a leopard on their way to work. But here, it can happen!

Janus, one of our chefs was on the main road over the reserve (this happened 3 days ago), on his way to the lodge where his shift was soon to begin. And as he turned a corner, he spotted a leopard on the side of the dirt road! He switched off the engine, understandably very excited, and watched him for a while. The leopard then proceeded to cross the road right in front of the car, and disappeared off into the bush on the other side.

Many thanks for the photos, and what an experience. Great way of starting a work day, there’s no doubt there.