“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” ~ Helen Keller

It’s been another week of the “Magnificent Seven” on safari and we start this week’s highlights blog with wild dogs!

A pack has been seen around the reserve throughout the week as they displayed their amazing hunting techniques by catching a couple of Scrub Hares which we were witness to. When they weren’t off hunting, they were soaking up the morning sun or playing with one another as they stalked one another. Some very special sightings this week!

This stunning male cheetah caught our attention as he was moving quickly through the bush scanning for any potential meal. We watched as he tried to hunt some reedbuck but was unsuccessful in his attempt.

The Little Bush female was seen eagerly feeding on her duiker kill whilst some hyenas watched and waited from below. We unfortunately have not seen her cub with her for almost 2 weeks now which is not good news for the female who has been very successful in bringing up cubs to independence in recent years.

The Msuthlu female was seen one morning, multitasking between scent marking and looking for her next meal. A couple of days later we found her on an impala kill which she had safely hoisted into a tree.

“Every day is different” - those words proved true, when we came across this interesting interaction between two male leopards – Maxabeni and White Dam male. The father/son sighting was interesting as White Dam was being very submissive as he passed through his father’s territory with Maxabeni looking extremely relaxed.

A couple of days later, these 2 were in one another’s company again as Maxabeni ascended a Marula tree to bring down the remains of a warthog that he killed the day before. That afternoon, the White Dam male was seen trying to approach to assess the situation and try scavenge off of the remains, however there was no love lost as Maxabeni sent his son running!

The week started off with an intense tracking effort as we managed to locate two Southern Pride sub adults. We enjoyed sightings of them on a regular basis as they attempted to stalk waterbuck, wildebeest, zebra and impala but unfortunately for them, they were unsuccessful. Later on, they were seen giving a mature male leopard problems as they kept him up a Marula tree for a while.

General sightings have again been plentiful and we hope you enjoy the selection below...

Until next time...