It has been another incredible week on safari here at Sabi Sabi and we trust you will enjoy this week’s highlights.

We received some good rain this week and with that came new life in the form of the beginning of the impala lambing season and these little ones are super cute!!!

Staying with the cute and small (well not as small as a baby impala...) – this baby elephant stole our hearts this week. A special sighting of a rare pink (albino) elephant calf.

Ally and her guests were also treated to a wonderful sighting of another new born elephant. This little one was still covered in what looked like peach fuzz, with ears and eyes as pink as can be. Such a special sighting for all!

We came across this young male cheetah just after he killed an impala. Unfortunately for the cheetah, he only got to take a few bites before a hyena and a whole committee of vultures came to snatch his kill away.

A pack of wild dogs have also been spending some time of the reserve this week, making kills right in front of Bush Lodge! Although often hard to witness, this is nature.

We had the most incredible leopard sighting earlier this week. Heavy rain and windy weather can disrupt the senses of most animals, but leopards can use it to their advantage. We came cross a young male and a female together with an impala kill hoisted up a tree. As always, hyenas were roaming the area with the scent of kills in the air. But it was not just about these leopards and their kill – but Louise and her guests came across a pair of mating leopards just as a huge storm hit; soaking wet and just pulling in to the see the leopards, both male and female had managed to catch an impala each! The male took his prize and dragged it off into a very thick area which left us with the female, still suffocating her kill where after she started to feed on it once it had died. What an experience! Read all about the sighting in Louise’s blog, “An ultimate safari experience”.

The White Dam male was lying all huddled up in the rain near a tree where he had the remains of an impala.

We managed to keep up with Maxabeni as he made his way through the bush looking for a good shady spot to have a little grooming session.

Love is in the air on the leopard front... N’weti and Ntsumi has been seen mating for several days, mating often but N’weti was getting a bit tired, resorting to rather grooming her when she presented herself to him. Later on, 3 hyena stopped by to investigate what all the noise of the mating was about and he let them know he wasn’t impressed with their presence.

A mature male leopard in the form of Xovonekela was seen this week as he was moving around at pace, marking his territory.

We followed the Msuthlu female as she was walking through a dense bushy area. Suddenly her body language changed and we knew she had spotted something. Knowing this, we immediately switched off our vehicle's engine and lights as to not disturb the prey or the predator. After a minute or two we heard a high-pitched squeal, after turning the lights on we saw that she successfully made a scrub hare kill.

General sightings have been abundant again this week.

We end this week’s blog with an update on the Southern Pride. They remain constant at 5 members and seem to be thriving as a small pride. Here they were seen doing what lions do best – sleeping – before something caught the attention of this female and she got up and started stalking. Even with her full belly, she didn’t want to miss an opportunity but whatever caught her eye, took off and she returned to her horizontal position.

Until next time...