29 - 30 April

Drive started off well as we spent some time with a small journey of giraffe, with one beautiful melanin rich bull standing out in the light background. 

We headed west as there were reports of wild dogs in the area, as there was a hustle and bustle after the dogs we went north, not far, and we sat with the Styx just south of knob thorn pan. 

We were all alone with the pride and we seemed to bore them as they were sleeping since we got there and after we left. We started to lose light so wild dogs were out of the equation. So we headed out for sun downers were a tawny eagle kept us company. 

This morning the Styx was not far from where we left them. But they were much more active! The cubs were running all over the adults, wrestling and biting everything and everyone they come across, the playful nature got contagious as the mother started to play with one of the sub adult males, soon after the cubs started to use a tree as a play thing. We left the pride as they left the nice open area and moved into the bush. 

We then approached Arathusa airstrip to enjoy the wild dogs! They found a nice and cosy area just west of the air strip and snuggled in, here and there a young dog would be moving, chewing a stick or looking for a good place to lie down.

 We were hoping the rutting of the Impala males on the airstrip would entice them to start a hunt, they didn't budge so we headed back to camp, on our way, on Gowrie main, a small herd of buffalo was planning on crossing south, and closer to camp a big elephant bull was feeding next to the road. So a great day yet again but the elusive leopard has yet to be found! Jaces Bornman

28 - 29 April

Our afternoon was dedicated to seeking out elephants. The great pachyderms were the last on a long list of requests which included hippos out of water, giraffe, zebra and warthogs!

Twenty minutes and a plethora of plains game later we found a fairly sizeable herd of elephants along a road known as Faga Nyawu (which in Shangaan literally means “Put Foot”, a fairly descriptive manner of saying ‘walking’).
While watching the herd a new bit of insight dawned upon me. The grass surrounding all the Greenthorns (also known as Torchwoods and belonging to the family Balinites) was completely flattened, s one would expect around Marula trees in the fruiting season.
Further investigation amongst the tree’s canopy revealed that the tree was in fact fruiting with many little oval shaped fruit present.
These are a great favourite of elephants and may be the reason for the sudden influx of herds. We too can use the nuts as they have a very high concentration of oil within them which in fact rivals the quality of olive oil! The burning of these nuts with their high oil content is where the tree gets the common name Torchwood in the first place as they burn extremely well.

Though we did not see the following sightings I do know that both the Styx and Shadow were found, the latter with her cubs (I’m pretty sure I heard cubs mentioned in plural). Apparently Shadow was doing her usual and taking the cubs into the densest thickets imaginable.

We spent our entire drive this morning with the Styx as they led us on a wild goose chase through thick bush and dense riverbeds. We stuck with them as other rangers were desperate to see the cats.
Finally, after an arduous half hour the Styx decided it was time to lie up for the day, not one hundred meters from a group of buffalo bulls! Talk about terrible luck. Oh well, maybe they will bump into the buff later this afternoon...

Other sightings in our traversing area included a pack of wild dogs coming in from Londolozi and onto our area. This of course, will be our port of call this afternoon.
There was also a cheetah spotted on the Kruger Park boundary, close to Kudu corner on Nkorho’s property but the wily cat walked off into the Park, not to be seen again.

27 - 28 April

We started our drive quite late with no intention of going far, as I only had one guest on my vehicle and did not feel too well. We barely left camp for our short mumble, when we came across something spectacular! No not a leopard or lion nor a big animal of any sorts. This was a infamous mammal not many knows exists, I for one was a non-believer, as I had thought I would never see one in my life time. It looked stone like from a distance but as soon as we got closer and saw its scaly body, it could not be denied, we were looking at a pangolin! He was very relaxed and did not seem to mind our presence; we spent our whole drive, which was a short one, pondering in awe of this animal’s presence. We could not believe our luck as we headed back to camp.
This morning was another story. The animals were plentiful. Sean went west and saw Mvula, the Styx pride a dagga boy and a herd of elephant. I however stayed in the east with a vehicle full of eager photographers. We found a herd of elephant with a very cheeky youngster trying to scare us off, soon after a big elephant bull with one tusk blocked our way so we headed north were we came across a young crocodile sun bathing out of the water.
A lot of plains game and birds were seen and right at the lodge a herd of impala and a dazzle of zebra were grazing away in the lovely morning sun. Jaces Bornman

26 - 27 April

Two wonderful drives awaited us.

Last night was spent solely with Xivambelana as he paraded around the bush, scent marking in the heart of Mvula’s territory. Brave actions for a cat not yet in his prime! Hopefully this new agenda of his will go by unnoticed by the Great One, otherwise he will be soon finding himself a new abode in unknown lands!

This morning was steeped in grandeur. My Sunday hex has finally broken; no more sad excuses of animals all being at church!!!

We landed our first big 5 drive since my return to Nkorho. But not merely did we see the big 5, but every single sighting was special in its own special way and not merely a tick off the list.

It began with a gorgeous keratin-infused grey marking his territory and feeding right next to the vehicle.

Then Bahuti running down Gowrie Main, tail in the air like an antenna in is excitement of the chase. We watched him stalk and chase first waterbuck, then a small herd of impala shortly after.
He wasn’t successful at any time and we saw him again en route back to camp, running across Gowrie Main perpetually in pursuit of his quarry.

We then headed west and first encountered a lone buffalo bull before finding the Styx pride on a bushbuck kill. The cubs were jubilant and full of beans, stalking and chasing one another all over the place in the early morning sun.

The last and final surprise for the morning came in the form of a breeding herd of elephants being pursued by the biggest elephant I have seen in all my years of coming to and living in the bush.
A truly magnificent beast with a behemoth of a head he stood in front of our vehicle and shook his head, a large plume of dust settled on the bonnet as I decided to reverse just a little. Giant elephant bull in musth, I think I’ll give way thanks!

Enjoy the pics!

25 - 26 April

Bahuti was found on Mike’s kitchen early on in the afternoon.
He initially walked across the open area, occasionally showing interest in the impala which littered the clearing.
By the time I got to the sighting Bahuti had moved into the dense brush surrounding the Kitchen and Jaces entire focus was on a hyaena standing in front of his bumper.
We searched for Bahuti for some time but eventually ceased and stopped on the airstrip for some stargazing through binoculars and drinking sundowners.

During the sundowner we spotlighted the surrounding area and found two hyaenas stalking and then chasing impala. That was truly amazing and most enjoyable, even though they were unsuccessful.

This morning was very busy with breeding herds of elephants being found everywhere. Always great to watch, they forever surprise you with both their verbal and non-verbal communication, so expressive!

The Styx pride was also out with the only members missing were the mother and three cubs. Where they are exactly I have no idea. The two adolescent males, their sister and the one large female were all on Methluane open area where they had killed an impala and devoured it in the night. The tally of impala rams that have to date been caught unawares in their conquest for dominance is definitely tallying into the double figures now.
The lions were quite active, walking around the clearing and sniffing as they went along, the two males exhibiting flehmen on a regular basis. It would seem their sibling is coming into oestrus...

As soon as we arrived back in the camp we had fifteen vultures soaring just above the roof of the lodge. There were two white-headed vultures in the committee of white-backs.

24-25 April

Earlier the day of the 24^th after morning drive, around breakfast time, we noticed vultures circling just north of the lodge, so firs thing that afternoon, as soon as we headed out for drive we went looking for the main attraction of these vultures. 

Our search party lead to a dead Impala ram freshly killed lay over a small pushed over marula tree, and barely touched! Nothing and no one was in sight so we decided to circle around to see if we could find anything. 

We found a female giraffe heading north from the lodge as we came up cheetah road; she was in a hurry to get somewhere. So we headed back to the kill. There she was! Inkanyeni the female leopard and her two cubs, she had done it again! Inkanyeni means marula as she seemed to favour the marula trees. She was lying in the grass cleaning her daughter (light coloured cub), while her son was playing around the kill (dark coloured cub). She eventually got up to start feeding, not long and her daughter took over while she made sure everything was safe. The young male wanted to join but his sister wanted it all for herself!  After a while she moved off to clean her bloody face, and her brother did not even hesitate to take her place! He was so eager to feed he tried to keep his mother away, Inkanyeni however, did not budge and joined her son for the feast! We started to loose daylight, and as the cubs were merely five months old we could not use our spotlight, so we left the area, but had a wonderful sighting! This morning as soon as we had daylight we headed back to the kill. To our demise the kill was gone and no sign of Inkanyeni or her cubs, we circled the area I hope to see the kill in a tree, we did not find anything but tracks. 

Hyena tracks lead into the area, we believe they stole the carcass and Inkanyeni ran with the cubs, we are positive that both cubs survived the encounter as we found both their tracks following their mothers’ tracks, heading south towards graveyard pan. We hope to see them or more signs of them this afternoon!

Jaces Bornman

23-24 April

The afternoon was filled with high expectations as most of my guests were new arrivals. We started the afternoon in search of any animals close to camp and worked our way out, we eventually got to the west, not long and we had our first sighting. The three Styx cubs and two females were resting in a drainage line in the shade on the cool sand, the three cubs even it here lazy state were cute as always. We left the lions and headed north to have our thirst quenching sun downers.

 Short there after we responded to a sighting of witch I was eager to get to. Tingana, (my favourite leopard of the northern Sabi Sands) was seen at a kill but in the thick bushes. When we found him he had left the kill in search of a good resting spot to clean himself before taking a nap! This morning we did not go far, we found a herd of elephant crossing east into Kruger national park just east of the camp, we watched the sun rise at chitwa dam where a Malachite king fisher was fishing for breakfast. South of the dam on our way for a coffee stop we came across another herd of elephant peacefully feeding, we later realised the size of the herd as we were surrounded by them. 

Not even taking a second look at us they moved along, feeding as they went. But two teenage bulls decided to stay behind and keep us entertained! As the playfully nudged each other, and included us in their dust baths! Sean went west and found the Breakaways far south in the londolozi concession and some elephant on the cut line. 

Got to love the bush!

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!