20 January - 22 January

January 20
Afternoon drive

After a brief look at fresh leopard tracks, in front of the lodge, we headed off to the far side of the reserve as the tracks headed north into thick bush in which we could not track. On the far side we found a couple of dagga boys (buffalo bulls), wallowing in shallow water pools, trying to escape the biting insects and at the same time cool down. As we moved onward we came across the breakaway pride (4 lionesses and 9 cubs) but could only see one lioness as she was left behind by the pride in the thick impenetrable bush, we followed her as she smelled the air trying to relocate the pride, not long after she headed into the thick bushveld. Good fun trying to follow her!

January 21

Morning drive

Departure from the lodge seemed to be a bit early, but well worth it as we spent most our time watching a bull elephant, picking up marula fruits and literally tossing them into his mouth. As he headed on doing his business, he gave us the perfect opportunity to take lovely photos of the sun glaring off the side of his face, while he lifts marula fruits with his trunk and pops them into his mouth.

21 January

Evening drive

The lilac breasted roller was the star of the day as its beautiful colours were very attractive to the guests, and wanted to stop for everyone, and with good reason, the bright blue colouration on the back and the wings makes it a very attractive bird to watch. Three dagga boys had just got to a mud wallow as we arrived, and it did not take them long to indulge themselves with the fresh water accumulated in the wallows. Three dagga boys using a small pan to cool themselves down! Short their after, just a few hundred meters further. We stopped at the hyena den! Two juveniles and one cub still suckling on his mother. Soon after we stopped their curiosity took over the new smells coming from the game viewer was irresistible. After a couple of laughs we left the cubs in the very capable female hyena’s hands. After drinks, as soon as the sun has set, we ran into another hyena, this time it was a male just scavenging around for some left overs. On our way back in the darkness we came across another dagga boy but he used a telephone pole as a scratching post, this was a long lived buffalo bull as he only had one horn and most of his hair has been rubbed off with the years! The stars were very bright and beautiful and made for a beautiful back drop at dinner.

22 January
Morning drive

Not even out of the gate we spotted and followed fresh lion tracks heading west, we followed them a few hundred meters on the road before they went into a well bush covered area, since the tracks were very fresh we decided to follow them! The bit of bush waking was well worth it as we found three lions (one male and two females) on a blue wildebeest (brindled gnu) kill!! Since we had a short drive, to catch a flight, we spent most our time watching the lions feasting on the plentiful meat on the wildebeest kill. Headed back to camp for a nice warm breakfast! But our day was not over. Soon after a delicious breakfast we spotted a leopard from the deck! We took the vehicle out to go have a better look and what a beautiful male leopard it was! We followed him for a couples of minutes until he headed into the drainage line north of the lodge but what a wonderful surprise!
Greetings from the Nkorho team.