22 - 23 April

A new group of guests arrived today.
Of course, the benefit of having three leopards in front of camp is certainly a gift-horse I will not look in the mouth!
At first glance, the kill was nothing more than a set of horns trailing a spinal column and shrouded in skin. This being said, my first thought was that Inkanyeni and her cubs had finally moved off.
It took a good twenty minutes of searching before we finally found first her, then soon after the two cubs who at the time were lounging in a dense bush in the riverbed and next to a body of water.
When mum walked past their hidey-hole they too came out and walked back towards the pathetic remains of the impala in the Marula.
We drove around and parked next to the tree while all three leopards lying together and grooming.
Soon after Inkanyeni and the two cubs all climbed the Marula, mother going straight to the kill and the two cubs to various parts of the canopy.
With the sun setting in the backdrop it made for another special moment in time. A look into the lives of the ones we hold dear, immaculate being the only word that springs to mind.

After sundowners we could hear jackals calling in the east side of the camp, we headed that side and found Xivambelana crossing the road from camp and stalking impala in the eastern thickets.
Not wanting to disturb his chances we left it to him and returned to camp where we found Inkanyeni lying not twenty meters from our swimming pool in a grass thicket, intent on a group of impala feeding on the camp perimeter.

This morning we searched all locations around the camp in the hopes that a kill had been made and thus securing more leopards for the upcoming drives. Alas, all leopards seem to have left the area...

Heading west we first had a brief sighting of a caracal walking and then jumping out of the road and into a dense drainage line.

Jaces first had a long distance visual of what looked like a female leopard on the main road toward the gate.
I little further westward he encountered Tingana, walking through rather dense bush, drinking water and moving on.

We found the Styx pride together in the Marekene riverbed with all three cubs. They walked all along the riverbed and occasionally stopped and lay around. Not for long though we eventually lost sight of them as they headed eastward.
It would seem they had killed an Nyala bull the night before but the Nkahuma male lion had stolen it from them. Judging by their girths there couldn’t have been much to steal.

En route home we were surrounded time and again by elephants cavorting and feeding in the road while little calves rolled around. Too awesome!