African Wildlife

Where to start? Our 5.30am call meant we enjoyed a fabulous sunrise. Our mission to find rhinos and complete our Big Five was quickly solved in our morning game drive. That's a pregnant mother and her approx 3 year old. On the way we spotted a saddle beaked stork catching fish in the river. Then the radio cackled to tell us that the female leopard we had followed last night had been spotted with her two cubs, so we hightailed it along the tracks to find them. Two gorgeous 5 month old cubs walking with mum and occasionally playing. One of them stuck close by mum and the other kept bounding into the undergrowth at the side of the track. Mum kept turning her head back to wait patiently for them to catch up.
We had a bush breakfast cooked by our trackers and guides. After a rest, lunch and short siesta the afternoon drive started with a race to find a group of rare African Wild Dogs that our guide had spotted during the day, on the edge of the concession. They dozed and groomed each other in the sun, then as the heat cooled, they suddenly set off on a hunt. Our land cruiser struggled to keep up with them. But they carried on into the Kruger National Park and we could not follow them in. Several other lovely sightings of an impressive male kudu and a zebra stallion followed. A vain attempt to find a group of lions after a sunset drink by the river ended the days animal watching. Oh, and there was also a martial eagle in a tree. Many extras to show off these wonderful animals. We are assured that we will find the lions tomorrow.....