17-18 April

The afternoon seemed very promising as we started for our afternoon drive as we barely started the drive and found a big bull elephant at kudu corner, he was in high must but very relaxed giving us great opportunity to ponder on his greatness. Shortly after we made a few loops on Nkorho where plains game was plentiful! And as we are entering the rutting season for impala, we saw an epic battle between two equally matched impala rams. Bernard headed west in search of Leopard and found very fresh tracks but unfortunately did not find it, but he did run into a herd of elephant. We headed towards Chitwa dam to see what was going on at the waterholes; we spotted a baby crocodile which meant the two big crocks are doing well. 

We stopped for sun-downers on double m, shared good stories and photos. We moved off to camp but before we got back we ran into herd of elephant witch (due to the low light) we had to try and avoid, but a young bull felt he had to make his presence known. There after a massive hippo bull grazing about in the open not really fazed by us and due to that we had to sit and wait for him to move off so that we could pass. Great way to end a lovely day! Even the moon made a marvellous appearance.

This morning was one for the books (definitely a first to me), we started the morning in the cold wearing multiple layers of clothing.

Bernard headed west and found a herd of buffalo moving east into the kruger, we headed west and as luck had it the dogs were out! Everyone was responding to see the dogs which was understandable as there has not been wild dog sightings for a long while, we slowly moved north as we were at the back of the line, we spent the extra time birding and talking about the bush and its wonders.

When our turn came to see the dogs, they had already dispersed and we had to try and hunt them down. When we eventually spotted a dog it was running at full speed after a young female impala! We dashed off to try and follow, and we succeeded! The pack joined the feast as they were ripping the carcass for pieces big enough to swallow! Great view and great sighting, we left the sighting for the next group, we barely left the dogs and came across a herd elephants, sat and watched them feed for a few minutes and then suddenly the dogs decided to join us! The elephants obviously weren’t happy about their presence and showed it by trumpeting and charging the dogs!

The pack of wild dogs wisely decided to move out of the area and left us with the stunned herd of elephant. And as you all can see this was a very exciting morning and we hope to have many more like these.