Safari Updates

Brendon's News: As we started to search for leopard tracks near the Lodge this morning we received news of a male lion close by. It took us moments to reach him, and found him busy with a large buffalo kill. You can imagine how large, healthy and strong he is ... he captured and took down that large, adult buffalo single handedly .                                      We spent ages with him as he fed, and only left when he had gorged sufficient for a while and collapsed on his side for a siesta.At around this time we became aware of alarm calls. Impala snorts were followed by kudu and then baboon alarms. We started to follow these, and passed a large herd of buffalo, ...                           ...

Brendon's News: Yesterday afternoon found us following some promising leopard tracks when we were told of a cheetah toward the eastern side of the reserve. He was magnificent! Seated on the top of a large termite mound from where he surveyed the area, he kept our cameras really busy. He stood, turned around, stretched, yawned, and then flopped down on one side ... and then the other. His poses gave us plenty of time to compose some excellent shots.                                            When he decided to move on, we followed at a leisurely pace. He examined a few bushes, glanced back at us from time to time as though encouraging us to accompany him - and then strolled over the border into the Kruger Park.We returned to our interrupted leopard tracking, and followed these until...

Brendon Reports: Everyone was here by lunchtime yesterday ... and none of the guests have experienced the wonder of Elephant Plains before!So, it was with great excitement that we left for our first afternoon drive.And Elephant Plains sure lived up to its well deserved reputation.We were hardly out of the gate to the Lodge when - about two minutes into our safari - we found two lionesses. As we approached we recognised Bebe from the Salala Pride. She was accompanied by a young - probably about two years old - gorgeous young lioness. The two were lying out in the open on the airstrip, soaking up the afternoon sun.   While we started filling our cameras with images of these two we heard alarm calls nearby. Then again, more urgently! Baboons were in a real state, letting all and sundry know that there was real danger close by.We followed the sound and sure...

Andrew 's News:Our first stop in the predawn darkness was for four lions - two lionesses from the Talana pride and two large males from a different pride. We used spotlights and some flash to capture images as they interacted with each other.   One of the males was very interested in one of the females but she consistently rebuffed his flirtations. This confused him somewhat but he persisted - and again and again she made her lack of interest very clear! We remained with them until the sun was well above the horizon, enjoying the amazing, almost gentle interactions between the four. And the beautiful light made photography a cinch.   We left the lions eventually to enjoy our morning coffee break - and to watch the glorious sunrise, with an ethereal mist over a small dam - and lazy hippos popping up to show their heads in the mist...

Andrew's News:We started with a wonderfully restful morning after all that excitement yesterday when Salayexe grabbed her kill in front of us ...                   Sparring Impala, a shy Steenbuck -                                                       - and curious Starlings kept us busy for much of the morning.   But the afternoon was quite different. After the new ODP Safari group arrived everyone was anxious to get started and what a packed afternoon we had!First, a large herd of elephant drinking at a small dam was followed by a mud bath. As the mud sprayed everywhere, including on themselves, at times it looked as though it was actually raining mud!Hearing noises nearby we went to investigate and found a bachelor herd of impala,...

Andrew's News:There was a tremendous commotion early this morning as we woke up and prepared to depart. The whole bushveld sounded alive ...We could hear Wild Dogs yipping incessantly, punctuated by lions roaring. At the same time leopard calls echoed across the valley in front of the lodge, and exited hyena were carrying on about something or other while the sounds of jackals mingled with all the above. The cacophony spurred us on and within minutes we were on the vehicles prioritising our first move, and wondering what event had sparked the din.We decided to follow the sounds of the Wild Dogs and headed in the direction of the now diminishing sounds. We followed their tracks and found 13 Wild Dogs. It was a great sighting, and the whole pack was still milling around. We searched but could not determine the cause of their disquiet.              ...

Andrew Reports:It was still a bit cloudy when we started out early, intent on finding Salayexe, the young leopard mother resident in the area.We found her tracks with those of her cub and were following these through a dry river bank when we looked up and saw a young Hippo bull on the river bank at eye level with us.     After a stop for for about ten minutes for photographs we followed the leopard tracks again. In an open clearing we encountered four hyenas ... three adults and a young subadult. They were cavorting around, playing and enjoying family interactions in the early morning light.                  Thirty elephants were drinking at at waterhole when we arrived. The youngsters and babies were enchanting,                                           ...

Wim Reports:Heavy clouds rolled into the area overnight fuelled by a chilly wind that caused us to bundle up before setting out this morning. The animals seemed to react to the cold as well but as we moved around we saw impala and numerous Fish Eagles again.                                                                        We moved to a side channel for a while and as we returned to the Chobe River the sun was breaking through the clouds, sending strong shards of light to illuminate patches of the beautiful scene.This afternoon we returned to our favourite spot - Elephant Beach. Many Fish Eagles were around, fishing and swooping above the water, keeping us busy for some time.         A large herd...

From Andrew:   We left about 45 minutes later than usual this morning because of the rain. At first we felt a little dismayed that some roads were closed and off-roading was impossible, but the rainy conditions brought us some amazing opportunities that may not have been possible or that we may have overlooked in sunny weather.   After passing impala, zebras and giraffe we came across the Styx pride of lions. They were just finishing off a young zebra, and we stopped to watch the interactions between the four lions. As we watched the mother zebra came closer and closer to the lions, searching for her foal, and when she approached too closely the lions started to hunt her, causing her to turn and flee. Undeterred, however, she came back many times and as soon as she was close enough the lions gave chase and again and again she trotted...

Andrew reports:   We woke up this morning to a cloudy day with intermittent drizzles. The cool weather meant that the animals were quite active and we passed numerous Impala, Giraffe and Zebras, and a large herd of Buffalo. We did not stop for these animals because our aim was to try and find Salayexe and her cub, so we made our way to the den where we had last seen her, but there was no sign of her or her cub. We were following her tracks when we came across Shadow – another stunning female leopard. She had been pregnant earlier in the year, but had lost her cub, and we were delighted to see that she appears to be pregnant again. Shadow was busy patrolling her territory and we followed her on her patrol as she demarcated her boundaries. In fact we spent most of the morning with her,...