Making the most of what is around you and never giving up.

It was a really rough few weeks in the start as I could see the struggle for food and water between animals, the distance they were covering was mind blowing especially with all the babies present.

Even with this drought, sightings were really good especially the big cats, they were making kills almost twice a week which was good for the cubs. It was great spending so much time with the Southern Pride - watching the cubs grow and each one of them getting their own unique personality. The amount of energy that they have when the rest of the pride was trying to sleep made for an awesome show.

There was also a lot of bonding between the Charleston males and the two cubs who seem to be very protective over them. But the really good news was seeing the two males mating with the rest of the females, I can’t wait for the next few months to pass so we can see more cubs. The two males also surprised us one morning when they were found with a kudu kill at Earth Lodge and made the most of the suites there.

I have been spoilt with leopard sightings over the past six weeks and that is something to brag about! The amount of time I got to spend with the Little Bush female and her cub was so amazing.

Her cub is growing so fast and mom is really looking after her! She’s been showing her hunting skills and made the most out of every antelope she walked into. The cub hadn’t even finished one kill and mom already hoisted another one not too far away.

The one day I found Maxabeni male leopard in a riverbed where he was sleeping so we stayed with him for a while. He eventually got up and started moving very fast in circles. We caught up with him and he walked into Little Bush female and her cub! It was the first time that a saw a baby leopard greeting a male leopard in such a way, he then started following them and they led him to a big Jackalberry tree where she had an impala kill hoisted.

Maxabeni went up and started feeding. While he was busy, Little Bush and her cub were lying down just to the right of the tree, grooming each other. All of a sudden one of my guests told me that there was a male lion approaching us. By the time I looked, he was already in full charge on his way towards the sighting! Little Bush reacted fast to save her cub and put her body right infront of the big Charleston male trying to give her cub a chance to run away. She stopped less than two meters away from the male lion with her claws out and growling at him. He turned and went straight up the tree to try and get to the kill but Maxabeni reacted just as fast and took the kill all the way up right to the top where the big male lion could not get to. The other Charleston male joined and also made his way up the tree. We now had two male lions having an argument as to who is going higher and a male leopard with an impala hanging from his jaws and growling at these two male lions! Little Bush was in the background, running away with her cub, which was a real relief that the lions were not focused on them but on the food. Eventually, both males gave up and proceeded in the direction of Little Bush and her cub. We followed them and they caught up with her and chased her up a big Fig tree where they decided to sleep on a big rock.

This all happened so fast that I never had a chance to take out my camera but at least my guests and myself have the images stuck in our heads.

To end my cycle off on a good note, we had a lot of rain and the bush changed so much in just 2 days - new fresh shoots of grass and little ponds of water all over the place, you could just see the relief in the animal’s eyes!