I wasn’t kidding …

…when I said that you can walk up very close to our cheetahs and get some of the best shots you can imagine here in South Africa. This is as unique an experience as it gets.

Of all cats, the cheetahs are the very rarest in Africa, with only about 3000 left in the wild on a continent that is larger than North America, Latin America and Europe combined. So you can imagine how unique a sighting like this one is. There are only about 300-400 cheetahs known to live  in the wild in South Africa, and that is a country twice the size of France. I think that shows what a rare gem such a sighting really is.

Uyai took photos of guests taking close-up shots of the cheetahs yesterday. We are able to find the cheetahs 2-3 times per week, so if you stay a week with us, you will see them, that’s quasi guaranteed. What a joy!

A truly outstanding safari day

Guests were treated to some fabulous sights today, they really were!

Fans of the big cats saw both cheetahs and lions feasting on a baby wildebeest.  That’s rare and incredible.

White rhinos were grazing and sitting in the warm sun, a young giraffe was using a bush to scratch an itch on its rump whilst another was sitting quietly with a red billed ox-pecker perched on its back. Beautiful, that’s African nature at its most stunning.

Other birds sighted were a cape gloss starling, a stepped eagle, a white backed vulture and a three banded plover, all posing nicely for the camera.

Other sightings included male kudu with their spectacular corks-screw horns, baboons drinking from water puddles in the river bed, black backed jackals, zebra, warthog and two shy waterbuck hiding in the bush.

I am posting the best shots of the many that were taken today, but I would saw a good dozen truly amazing sightings happened today, which is incredible. Our guests were treated to many of Africa’s rarest or most iconic animals, in one single day. The Vuyani Safari Lodge at its very best, I’d say. Well done to Themba and Uyai for their excellent work, today was spectacular.

Enjoy!

Giraffes
Giraffes
Rhino
Rhino

Massive male Kudu
Massive male Kudu

 

Baboons
Baboons
Jackal
Jackal
Zebras
Zebras
Super rare cheetah - but we have quite few around here!!
Super rare cheetah – but we have quite few around here!!
Warthog
Warthog

 

Who’s photobombing whom here?

So who is the photobomber?
So who is the photobomber?

It’s a difficult one … but I would say it is Togara and his guests that are photobombing here. The cheetahs didn’t eke their way into the photo by surprise. 😉  I think this photo illustrates exactly what I mean by “as close-up as a safari gets”. This is nature as palpable as one could possibly imagine it, I think.

A great experience for our guests, and something so unique that it is breathtaking. Only 300 cheetahs are left in the wild in South Africa, so to get this close to two of them (in a country twice the size of France!), that’s quite something.

As we say in South Africa: you must enjoy!

And yet another spectacular 2 days

Just as I thought it couldn’t get any better, it did … I am amazed about the quality and variety of close-up sightings we have had the last 2 days on our reserve while out on safari with our guests. They are seeing some of the best one can see in Africa, they really do.

Our days started out with the “usual” – wildebeest, Giraffe, a Goshawk, then we spotted a Chameleon crossing the road. We sat with him for quite some time watching him inch his way to the other side. He was blending in very well with his surroundings.Very cool.

We picked up the tracks of the Cheetah and it led us right to the cutline at Khaya Ndlovu – the riverbed where we managed to spot them is called Martin’s Drift. They were taking a nap as per usual and we stayed with them for a good 30 – 40 minutes. They looked up at us a couple of times for some photos but didn’t move much. That’s pretty much the closest you can get to cheetahs in the wild. This is one of those super exciting sightings, much rarer than most other sightings, and that includes the Big 5.

The next day Uyai was back in the tracker seat and the guests were very keen to see Elephants. Uyai is not the type of guy who likes to disappoint that is for sure! We tracked the Ellies from Muruti where MRL reported the last activity. It took us a considerable time but Uyai found them! The Matriarch was in the clearing with the rest of the herd in some VERY thick bushes. She hung around for a while posing very beautifully for photos. We waited around 45 minutes to see if the herd would move into the clearing but unfortunately this didn’t happen. Togara and Uyai both decided that with the temper of the Bull it was not safe to move into a more dense area. We watched the Elephant Cow for a while longer and then moved on.

We also sat watching a masked weaver (Female) inspecting a nest built by the male.

If she doesn’t like the look of the nest she will move on to another male. Tough life for the Male weaver. 😉 next time!

The males have a very bright yellow and black face, where the females are more of dull brown/grey and yellow colour.

Lucky females!

The last 2 days in review

I often get a very poignant question: “What can I expect to see? What does one see on your safaris?”

We live in a world that is shaped according to our human needs, and one of those is predictability. It is something that we hold onto, that is dear to us, in a world that seems (it just seems that way, because it has always been like that) more chaotic.

The thing is, nature is totally chaotic. It has its rhythm, yes, but it is rather unpredictable. You cannot time things at all with nature, and one most certainly cannot “guarantee” anything. While I always say that, it is hard for urban humans to fully grasp the concept of “anything can happen”. It is true, sometimes (this is VERY rare!) guests arrive, and on their first safari they see a lion kill. Well, I have never seen one. But many seem to think that this is “normal”, only to find out that the next day they see mainly plain game. That’s nature, and it is like a box of chocolate. You never know what you are going to get.

What I can promise our guests though is that they will see a LOT if they stay 5-7 nights. A heck of a lot actually, and no safari will ever be boring. It is the unexpected that is the thrill of it all! That’s the adventure. Every day is totally different.

To give our prospective guests an idea of what one can see, I am posting here some photos of what we have seen over the last 2 days, which is quite typical in terms of spectrum of wildlife and also proximity to animals. I could look at some of these photos for hours, one is more stunning that the other.

Well, here the are. Enjoy! And welcome to South Africa if you are visiting us this year! We are looking forward to hosting you here for a safari adventure that you will talk about to your grand-children.

Baboon in pensive mood
Baboon in pensive mood
Wildebeest calfs - there are a lot of these at the moment.
Wildebeest calfs – there are a lot of these at the moment.
Hyena cub
Hyena cub
Rhino
Rhino
Jackal
Jackal
Warthog with massive tusks
Warthog with massive tusks
Giraffes
Giraffes
Yellow bill Hornbill
Yellow bill Hornbill
Long Tailed Paradise Whydah - one of the prettiest birds on earth!
Long Tailed Paradise Whydah – one of the prettiest birds on earth!
Marabou storks
Marabou storks
Herd of zebra
Herd of zebra
Super rare cheetah brothers
Super rare cheetah brothers
It is VERY hard to see cheetahs as close-up as on this reserve!
It is VERY hard to see cheetahs as close-up as on this reserve!

Very special lion sighting

After tracking down the Lions for the past two days Themba and Uyai found them. They were taking a nice little nap on Impala “Road” (it’s more of a dirt road of course) in an area we call “Leopards Bend”. We spent quite some time with them as this was the first time the current guests staying with us got up close and personal. The one Lioness gave us a bit of a yoga stretch and Themba snapped the photo at just the right moment. Awesome!

Lionesses resting on the dirt road
Lionesses resting on the dirt road
Lioness up-close
Lioness up-close
That's a very unique shot - well done!
That’s a very unique shot – well done!

The gory and the beautiful

That’s all I could think when I saw today’s safari photos.

Our guests had a truly wonderful day today, with many amazing sightings. I don’t even mention the plains game, or the odd jackal resting on the dirt road, or the many antelopes all over …

Our guests took some amazing shots of the lion pride, which was resting in an open area … getting ready for yet another nightly hunt. The photos show how freshly green nature now has become after the strong rains we had about 10 days ago. The rains were so unusually strong that all perennial rivers started flowing, and I am sure they will flow every time it rains a bit for the rest of the season. As soon as the water table reaches a certain level, these rivers start flowing every time it rains, even if it is just for a few hours at night. That said, rain at this time of year is usually short, but strong.

Anyhow, we also found this rather gory giraffe carcass … we are not sure if it had died of natural causes, or because it was killed. Not that the vultures cared much … a meal’s a meal right? One can’t be picky.

We then also had a flat tyre on the way back, and quickly it was changed. This is always part of a safari adventure, with some guests testing their powerlifting strength … 😉 it’s all good fun, and everyone’s having a great time over here!

Pride of lions as seen today
Pride of lions as seen today
Giraffes on our reserve
Giraffes on our reserve
This giraffe has reached the end of the road - the cycle of life
This giraffe has reached the end of the road – the cycle of life
Lightweight! ;-)
Lightweight! 😉

 

Something very cute to kick off the year

We’ve had a huge amount of amazing sightings this year already, but before I go into the many lion, cheetah, rhino etc etc sightings, I have decided to kick off the new year with something very sweet: a Leopard Tortoise that we saw earlier on today.

So first off, what’s the difference between a turtle and a tortoise? Well, Turtles live in water, and Tortoises live on land. Go figure why the Ninja Turtles are not called Ninja Tortoises, given that they seem to be on land pretty much all the time, but hey, maybe the creators should have gone on safari first to educate themselves. Speaking of which … I read somewhere a few years ago that the creators of “Lion King” were sent to Africa for several weeks after they submitted the draft drawings to the Disney studio bosses. Posh as they are, the bosses had, of course, been to Africa before on a swanky safari, and so they immediately saw that what they saw didn’t capture the magic of Africa at all, and shipped them all over. Well, the rest is history. Africa’s charm (they went to South Africa actually, I think) wasn’t lost on them, and they went on to produce Disney’s most successful film … ever! It is still running as a musical in several places now, about 20 years on.

I digressed a little, my apologies, so back to the Tortoise:

Well, this one is called a Leopard Tortoise. It is not too clear on this photo, but their checkered pattern of the carapace looks like a Leopard’s fur. The eat mostly grass and other plants, and they are home to most of Southern Africa. We have quite a few around on our reserve. They can live up to 100 years, so these guys have seen it all … and with their carapace protection, they are fairly safe of predators. They are still scared sometimes, and there is nothing funnier than seeing a tortoise trying to “run” away from you. It’s the sort of thing that makes you feel sorry for them. 😉

That said, they can grow quite large, up to 80cm actually, and with their large carapace domes, they can leave many of our guests well impressed. These are not tiny animals, far from it. They are also clever. For a reason or another, noone knows really how they do it, but they are rain predictors. When we see them out and about, you can bet that in a few hours it will rain, even if the sky is blue and the sun booms down on you. They know what’s coming. When I was told this I didn’t believe it myself, but over the years, I have come to believe this to be true. Somehow, every time I see a few out, that same evening it rains. It really works, incredibly enough. When you are on visit here, do remember this when you see them, and check if it is true … you’ll be amazed.

Enough talk, here the photo! 🙂

Leopard Tortoise
Leopard Tortoise

Happy New Year !!

Wow … what an amazing year has come to an end!

Lots of fun safaris, lots of changes at the lodge, and lots of improvements. And LOTS of amazing reviews, showing how well all of these changes have been received by our many guests and fans. We are now rated officially as one of the top 10 safari lodges in South Africa, and that says something, because there are about 400 fully fledged safari lodges operating in South Africa. All of this bodes well for yet another exciting and successful year here at the Vuyani Safari Lodge, and we can’t wait to welcome all our many guests who are set to visit us. Welcome to South Africa, and all our best wishes for a Happy New Year!

The festive season is also always a particularly busy time of year for us, but we always get caught up in the festive mood too, and it is a fun and uplifting time indeed.

This year things were even more complicated: we got several days of very serious rain fall, and a flood on the reserve (all perennial rivers are flowing by the way) caused a supply pipe to the main water reservoir to be washed away, and as a consequence we were without water. That’s obviously a big problem, so Craig had our own water reservoir built, within 15 hours, and connected to our own Water Mains. Phew, that was a challenge! The thing is, where most lodges just give up, we don’t, and we go the extra mile to make sure our guests have the best quality stay possible.

We also had some amazing sightings on the last day of last year, so that made for a perfect day out here in South Africa, and a send-off of 2014 in true style and beauty. Here photos of some of the animals we saw yesterday:

A massive "journey" of giraffes
A massive “journey” of giraffes
A rather large Water Monitor
A rather large Water Monitor
Super rare cheetah
Super rare cheetah
Cheeky Blue Velvet Monkey
Cheeky Blue Velvet Monkey
... and then also a pretty Woodlands Kingfisher!
… and then also a pretty Woodlands Kingfisher!