Daily Diary: Duba Plains - March 2012 / Day 2
Everyone was really keen to get going this morning, so after an early rise (04:45), and a quick breakfast, the vehicles were on the road by 05:30.
The drive on to the Plains was truly beautiful, with a morning mist lending an ethereal feel to the area. Beautiful shots were captured of tsessebe in the morning mist with the sunrise making the scene quite breathtaking.
The vehicles headed straight to the buffalo, and on the way there found a pride of lions with a newly killed red lechwe. The large male, group of lionesses and two youngsters feasted while cameras clicked.
While with these lions, the ODP Safari group could hear the buffalo not too far away, and decided to start heading toward them.
The decision was just made when the pride of lions suddenly started roaring.
Imagine the vehicles, surrounded by roaring lions, in the morning mist. As they roared, the vapour from the lions' mouths joined the mist, and the situation, with the fantastic light made an ideal opportunity for some more magnificent photography!
The group moved off toward the buffalo and soon came across a Duba Plains legend - the star who featured in many movies, including 'Relentless Enemies' and other movies made by the Jouberts. This star is of course Silver Eye ... pictured here -
Silver Eye, accompanied by her pride, was stalking the buffalo. She climbed termite mounds, crept, stalked, and together with her pride tracked and followed the buffalo ...
Surely there would be a kill.
But the wily buffalo were roaming just on the edge between the territories of two lion prides, and when Silver Eye and her pride approached a little too closely, they moved to the territory of the neighbouring pride.
At this stage, the lions and buffalo decided on a siesta and lay down to rest while the Safari group returned to the lodge for lunch.
After lunch, straight back to the lions and buffalo, who were still lying down, enjoying the warm afternoon.
After numerous bird and animal shots, a spectacular sunset provided vibrant colours as a backdrop for the buffalo in the foreground.
Unfortunately it was time to return to the lodge in the evening, leaving the buffalo surrounded by lions. One pride had split so that there were (are) three groups of lions, meaning that there is very little room for the buffalo to manoeuvre.
Well, the stage is set yet again for a very interesting tomorrow.
No wonder everyone wants another really early start to capture as much of the action as they possibly can ...
Tagged in:
Brendon Cremer
Buffalo
hilton kotze
Lion kill
Lions
ODP Safaris
Tsessebe
Wim van den Heever
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Stunning Brendon