Super rare animal: wild dog sighting!

Exciting news! Wild dogs have been spotted again!

We had not seem them in a little while, so it was fantastic news to get such a clear and up-close sighting of a pack of wild dogs. They are the second rarest carnivore in Africa (only about 2000-3000 specimen estimated in the wild out there how sad is that?) after the Ethiopian wolf, which is even rarer.

This pack is spending a lot of time on the reserve, and it usually dens here as well, as conditions are perfect for them here.

They may not be the “prettiest” of all animals, and all too often our guests are at first not aware of the huge rarity of what they are seeing, but there are safari experts out there looking for these animals for months and years on end, with barely one in sight. Most reserves will never have seen one of these super rare animals, as conditions have to be 100% perfect for them. I have met many rangers who in many years in the job have never seen one single of them, ever. When you go to the “Sleepers”, in the local town, and you want to tell your mates about something awesome, then it would be about the wild dogs you saw earlier in the day. And if you took some photos to prove it, that’s definitely going to get everyone’s attention.

So here the photos, in HD quality. Enjoy! What a pleasure, and what a day.

Wild dog!
Wild dog!
Hunting together ...
Hunting together …
... and that just next to us
… and that just next to us
This is the "diamond" of safari sightings
This is the “diamond” of safari sightings

 

That's the sort of quality sightings one gets here
That’s the sort of quality sightings one gets here

Wow! What a leopard sighting!

I got back from my annual leave yesterday, and wow oh wow, what a surprise when I got to the office! Uyai and Mike had found a leopard and uploaded about half a dozen stunning shots of it on my blog system. What a sighting! Well done! Mike, Uyai and the guests spent an entire hour observing this leopard who was very relaxed. Leopard sightings are of course fairly rare, in general, but we are starting to see them more and more regularly. One reason is that the number of leopards is clearly on the rise (which is great news!), and also because of the regular game drives (it is on busy days 4 game drivers now), they are starting to lose their inherent fear of anything large moving around them close by.

We often hear that misconception that animals associate game drivers with human activity. They don’t. A leopard will see a game driver as an odd thing on 4 wheels that moves around. Over time the leopard will realise that it is a “thing” that is not presenting danger. If there is a relaxed female leopard, then she will pass on that knowledge and behavior to her litter, and they will turn out very relaxed around game drivers too. But: if a guest does as much as standing up or opening a door and stepping out of the vehicle (which is why we strictly prohibit such behavior), then they will spot the human shape and in almost all cases run away.

Anyway, I am going off on a tangent, let’s go back to this leopard sighting! See the photos below. What a beauty. Many thanks to Uyai for taking the photos and sending them to me. I wish I had been there to see this leopard for myself. So here some interesting facts about leopards:

– it is one of the “Big 5”

– historically, it could be found all the way from Western Africa to as far as Eastern China. It is also not uncommon in the Middle East, but in some countries such as Tunesia, Kuwait, Singapore, Libya and a few others it has sadly disappeared. This is primarily due to habitat loss and hunting.

– the leopard is not threatened (yet!), due to its versatile hunting skills, speed and climbing skills. But still, any reserve with leopards is a big welcome in the conservation of these beautiful cats.

– they even existed for a long time in some European countries around the Mediterranean basin, but they are extinct there now.

– there are about a dozen sub-species of the leopard!

And the cheetahs again …. !!

I have been a little absent on the safari blog in recent days … that’s not because we have had less sightings, quite the opposite actually. No, my wife has had some very urgent medical issues I had to attend to, so I took my eyes off the blog for a few days. But there would have been plenty to report on, rest assured! We have seen all sorts of animals recently, ranging from elephants, lions, rhinos to the ever-more frequently seen cheetahs and many, many more.

The trend can be confirmed, we seem to be turning into a cheetah hotspot more and more so. Just a few days ago I received a guest’s photo (beautiful shot!) of a cheetah cub, which is doing very well, so that will be posted as soon as I get the guest’s “best of” photos. That shot will be part of that posting. But yes, super cute, that much I can say already now.

Yesterday, Mike and Uyai hit the jackpot again: both cheetah brothers were spotted in the river (to be honest, that’s where they spend most of their time), and then later on that morning also a rhino close-up. What a morning! Our guests were ecstatic, and for good reason. Cheetahs are amongst the rarest of all animals and highly endangered, so seeing them do so well, and from so close, that’s a privilege and something never to forget. Plus they are arguably the most elegant and prettiest of all cats, so that makes it all the more special.

So yes, two of the world’s most famous (and sadly rarest) animals seen in one morning. Nice.

So here the photos. Enjoy!

Spotted!
Spotted!
One of the two cheetah brothers
One of the two cheetah brothers
Digging in the river sand ...
Digging in the river sand …
Let's go hunting!
Let’s go hunting!
Male rhino spotted up-close
Male rhino spotted up-close

 

The full Shneur W. safari report

Shneur stayed with us for 2 nights in April, with his wife. This was a special treat for them, away from their kid, to get some time on their own.

Shneur has sent in some of his best photos (many thanks for sharing them with us!), with a short text to share with our fans. See below:

“The highlight of the game drives was the morning. Mike noticed lion tracks along the road. After a couple of turns, it was clear that the lion was inside the block we were circling. And sure enough after turning a corner, Mike somehow spotted the lioness behind the bushes. It was a young female and she wasn’t happy. Mike told us that she’d been separated from the pride and that if we followed her, she’d lead us to the pride. No tree or bush got in the way of following her as he used the jeep to magically carve out a path through the tickets. Eventually the roaring grew louder from both ends and suddenly directly in front of us were a huge lion and lioness on the run. After eyeing us, they ran on roaring as they grew closer to their missing daughter. We were about to witness the reunion of a young female with her parents and pride.

For a moment, we lost the lions but somehow we made it just in time for the historic reunion. She ran over the hill straight into the pride! It was emotional. They rubbed each other, hugged, purred and played. We were lucky to have been privy to such a moment.

We stopped off for our mid-drive snack in a big open field. One of the guests stepped away to use the loo behind a tree only to run back seconds later. “Holy s* there’s a cheetah under that tree!” And sure enough there was. Just 100 metres down sat two male cheetahs eyeing us. We packed up the picnic early and headed over to get a good look at these beautiful cats.

What a morning it was and what a way to finish off our trip!”

Many thanks to Shneur for sharing his experience with us, and I must say: very cool! I wish I had been there, that’s for sure.

Here see below some of his best shots:

Elephant herd crossing in front
Elephant herd crossing in front
Shneur with some of our guys (and girls)
Shneur with some of our guys (and girls)
Shneur with his wife at one of our many lakes
Shneur with his wife at one of our many lakes
Drinks break!
Drinks break!
Lion encounter
Lion encounter
Shneur in the swimming pool
Shneur in the swimming pool
The two cheetahs!
The two cheetahs!

 

Some ancient creature

We saw monitor lizards quite a few times over the last fortnight, and I personally find these animals really interesting.

Monitor lizards are in general a term to describe large lizards, though some might only be about 20cm long. There are over 70 sub-species, all over the world. The one that is common here is the Rock Monitor, and the photos we took is indeed a Rock Monitor. It is the second largest Monitor species in Africa and the heaviest-bodied, so they can get large. And I have seen some massive examples over the years! They sometimes reach weights of up to 17kg! That’s one big lezard. It is not rare for a mature Rock Monitor to exceed 1m in total length, making them look like dragons.

Funny fact: they are quite intelligent! In experiments it was showed that they can count up to 6 (not in English though 😉 )

So, here some photos of this grumpy-looking ancient creature. I would warn the one that is sunbathing at a lake, I have seen eagles snatch monitors, and then drop them from high up to kill them on impact (and then eat them of course). That said, an eagle has to be careful, they have a nasty bite I would imagine, and they fight back. And they are heavy!

Rock monitor
Rock monitor
Never looking happy
Never looking happy
Taking it easy ...
Taking it easy …
.... having a bad day?
…. having a bad day?