It’s been a “hectic” couple of days … we have seen loads of large game and loads of predators … cheetahs, lions, wild dogs, bird predators, … all sorts.

We tracked and found the Ellies south of Big dam – the whole herd together – the bull was again showing us who is bigger. 😉 great sighting!

We then picked up fresh tracks of the Wild Dogs and spotted them at the Giraffe Road / Nyala Road split. Three of
them have veered off from the rest of the pack – but our guides are convinced they will reunite soon.

Amore snapped some great photos of Togara driving in the riverbed and on sundowner stop – one of the perks of working at the Lodge – you can sometimes join the Safaris. Amore, as an avid photographer, managed this great shot.

This morning we tracked and found the lions at Seekoei dam. The female with the sub adults had managed to take down not one – but TWO wildebeest!!!! They were feasting on the remains (which were pretty gruesome, see photo below). We snapped some incredible photos and let them be after about 15 minutes. Our guests have had a seriously spectacular couple of days … gruesome at times, but that’s nature. It’s raw and real here. And we keep it that way.

Mike owns a small private lodge on the reserve, and he is sometimes in touch with me to share news and sightings. He sent me over some stunning shots of the lion pride drinking at a water point near his lodge … and I thought to myself, why not post and share this with our fans? These are truly iconic photos, and it’s a pleasure to see our pride do so well. Our guests can be assured that they will see some of the most stunning lions on our reserve. Our male lion is one of the largest ones I have ever seen, and he is a truly handsome boy.

But see for yourselves … many thanks to Mike for allowing us to share this photo with our fans!

Why am I never there when the most amazing stuff happens? Sod’s law. But I am happy for our guests who witnessed something so insanely unique, I mean, to be honest, I am bloody jealous actually … I really am.

So what happened? We had seen Zebra and then picked up fresh Cheetah tracks, it was the mother with the cubs and we decided to follow up. That in itself was already exciting enough …

We found them near Jackal Plains – they were stalking some Wildebeest. We didn’t think anything would come of it! And then………….They raced past the ranger and our guests and took done a young wildebeest calf right next to the vehicle. Unbelievable!!!! We witnessed the entire hunt from start to finish. One of the young cubs injured his leg in the hunt – we hope he has a speedy recovery. We got some cool photos of them feasting. A real cheetah kill, so close … this is something that some film crews spend months and months on capturing. Sometimes years … and our guests saw it right in front of them. It was a highlight for everyone on that game driver, including the ranger and tracker.

Here the photo footage, right after the kill. How exciting. I am lost for words … envy can be so cruel.

The month kicked off with regular sights of lions, and the many other frequent game we see … and then of course there was the huge animals. Actually, the largest to roam the planet (these days at least).

Rhinos and elephants!

The weather has been warm with cooler mornings. We have now moved our game drive times to 06h00 AM and 16h00 PM as the days are much shorter. We tracked and found the herd of Elephants just south of Scheepers Khaya. They were happily munching away and even came closer to inspect the vehicle. We got some very nice photos. They are truly immense, and no photo will prepare you for when you see them right in front of you. Many tons heavy, measuring up to 4m shoulder height, these animals are true giants. They need to eat 22 hours out of 24 to sustain that weight, and eat up to 400 kg of grass to do so. Incredible.

MRL tracked and found Rhino strolling down a bush track. We followed him for a bit and also got some cool photos. I mean … just imagine. They weigh close to 2 tons. A cow is about 250kg. So they are about 8 times the size of a cow. Just try to imagine.