As the days pass it’s becoming harder and harder to get out of bed. The winter chill has certainly set in. But once you get going early in the morning, just before the sun rises, you soon realise that it was worth waking up regardless of the cold. I personally prefer this time of the year. Predator activity is much higher and I like to make my way towards as many waterholes as possible. A lot of the waterholes around the reserve are also visited by several big breeding herds of buffalo that are scattered around the property.

The past week has certainly been very interesting with the lions in the area. Firstly, our local pride, the Southern Pride, made a brief appearance to our Northern property, after spending much of their time down South. This visit was short lived as they made their way within 500 or so metres away from the two Fourways males and immediately left the area. The next morning they were found far down in our Southern property, a long distance away from where they were the previous night close to the Fourways males.

The Fourways males were found on the property for most of the past week and had not moved much over night from night to night. They have been following a big herd of buffalo but haven’t since caught anything. They certainly are trying to establish themselves on our Northern property. The absence of the Sand River males may play a part in this.

After more than a week of absence, two Sand River males were found resting overnight close to where the Southern Pride was found the night before. The tracks of the six Southern Pride females suggest that they probably ran away from the two males. Will this happen again whenever they come into contact with each other or will they ever accept each other? Only time will tell.

The new kids on the block, the Matshapiri Pride, consisting of two males and one female, made an appearance for a day on our property. They are newcomers from the Kruger National Park and have been seen in quite a few reserves in the area as well. They were actively calling and scent marking in our area so we might get a glimpse of this pride during the next few weeks again.

Sabi Sabi is well known for its leopards and once again this past week did not disappoint. Characters such as Warthog Wallow, Tortilis, Maxabeni, Little Bush and her cub, and Nottins were found. Two individuals that put a smile on our faces was the brief return of Mahlathini and seeing the Lisbon female still lactating. Mahlathini provided a great sighting after he had stolen a kill from a hyena, which was stolen from Nottins. After that the Matshapiri males and female appeared and stole the kill from him, with one of the male lions climbing up a tree to steal the kill.

Probably one of the most visited sites this past week has been our hyena den. With two recent additions to the clan, we have been lucky to witness the clan and around 8 youngsters go about their daily routine around their den site.

Besides the animals that usually take centre stage, there is nothing better at times than watching an African sunrise with a spectacular blanket of mist covering the bushveld. Watching the sun peek above the horizon in such a splendid landscape every day is an absolute privilege.