Leaving the camp this morning, the ODP Safari group headed straight for the southern areas of the Reserve where the cheetah family with tiny cubs was sighted yesterday. On the way, they shared some of their images from yesterday:

The first exciting encounter upon reaching the south was with a different cheetah family, a mother and her two eighteen month old cubs. The family was very active and it soon became clear that they were hunting.

The ODP Safari group followed the family, capturing wonderful images.

The family soon spotted and caught up with a herd of impala, the ODP group close behind ...

Action!

The mother approached closer and closer to the impala, followed by her cubs.

The photographers held their breath, cameras trained on the action. Through the long grass she walked, quietly, intense, ever closer, concentrating, focussed ...

And suddenly, she leapt and the chase began.

She isolated and chased an impala up a ravine, veered to the left, came around behind the safari vehicles, and caught the buck almost back where she had started. A full 360 degrees of chase right around the photographers. Who could ask for better!!! One or two ODP guests were breathless - this was the first time they had witnessed a kill in the wild! Actually even those who had seen a kill before found their pulses racing!

During the chase, other buck who were dotted around the area, started running in all directions, scattering and adding even more drama and excitement to the scene.

The action safely captured by the cameras, it was time to return to the camp for lunch, and after only a short hour, everyone was out again.

This time, the destination was the northern marsh area again to check on the lions and to hopefully photograph some rhino.

Passing giraffe, dams with hippos, and different buck species, they arrived at the lions, who performed really well for the cameras. They rolled, snarled, and played, in a most photogenic manner. The back and side lighting made the images even more magical. Thank you for sharing the stunning image, Trix:

The Phinda Reserve is so diverse, with multiple ecosystems that within relatively short spaces, the changes can be dramatic. The ODP group decided to venture to the top of one of the mountains for some scenic, panoramic and artistic landscape photography, with great success.

White Rhino were spotted a few times before it was time to return to the camp in the oncoming darkness.

Everyone is feeling so very excited and stoked after a most successful, amazing day.

The consensus is to leave early again tomorrow ... to be present for any action.