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!
