The year is marching on into overdrive with the Festive Season upon us. It has been an incredible year here at Sabi Sabi and we look forward to what the last couple of weeks of 2018 will have in store for us...

Regular sightings of African Wild Dogs have continued well into this week with one pack hanging around Selati Camp's waterhole, sleeping, cooling down in the water and getting chased by Rhino. Not a bad day to be a guest at Selati Camp with a full day’s viewing of one of Africa’s most endangered animals.

From the dogs to the cats...

After an extensive tracking, session we located 4 lions – 3 young males and a young female – who we believe are breakaway lions from the N’waswishaka Pride. They were very nervous around the vehicles and assume they must have been kicked out of their pride recently and are nomadic at the moment and a bit unfamiliar in a new area.

The Southern Pride were seen resting after having dried off after the rain experienced through the night.

The young Ntsumi female leopard moved off the remains of her rotting impala kill in search of something fresher. Her attention was taken by a Scrub hare, Common Duiker and Impala, however, she was unsuccessful in her attempts. She was found the following day trying her best to keep cool in a large Boerbean Tree as the morning temperature kept rising.

Maxabeni showed his face again this week, resting atop a termite mound with a very round stomach. He was seemingly attempting to digest his recently consumed meal after a period of scent marking due to the recent rains washing away his old scent.

Kigelia female was discovered having just ascended a tree to get away from a nearby clan of Spotted Hyenas who followed her and hung around below.

After hearing some Vervet monkeys alarm calling, we headed off in the direction they were looking and we were pleased to find the Msuthlu female laying up on a rocky outcrop.

General game sightings have been fantastic and with the rain, came the return of some of the smaller creatures seen here at Sabi Sabi...

An outstanding kudu bull rests mid-morning showing off his impressive set of large spiralled horns, whilst a female quenches her thirst not too far away.

An overdue and much-needed thunderstorm brought out many welcome visitors, including this beautiful Ornate Frog.

While tracking lions, we came across a large herd of Elephant who were making their way to a nearby waterhole to cool off in the scorching sun.

A large herd of Cape Buffalo made their way to a waterhole to quench their thirst before the evening dawned upon them.

The Verreaux's Eagle-owl is the largest owl in Africa and preys on a variety of species including Hares, Genets, Rodents and other bird species.

A juvenile Bateleur perches in a magnificent Sycamore Fig tree before wowing us with his impressive wing span as he took off.

A dazzle of Plains Zebra quench their thirst as the sun rises, heating up the day.

A clan of Spotted Hyenas seemed to have killed a young Cape Buffalo. We watched in amazement as the hyenas played in a nearby pan - darting in and out of the water, playfully fighting over branches.

Earth Lodge’s new arrivals!

We were pleasantly surprised to notice two hippos in the waterhole near Earth Lodge and enjoyed watching the large mammals play in the water. A few rarely seen Yellow-billed Storks perched in the surrounding trees, seemingly also observing the antics below.

A Tower of giraffes came together to groom one another and feed.

"Do dung beetles occur at Sabi Sabi?" This is a frequently asked question and whilst we do not see any dung beetles throughout most of the year, the last downpour has bought out many of these valuable insects. Here a dung beetle can be seen rolling his ball around, stopping and climbing to the top to orientate himself before proceeding to move in the desired direction.

Until next time...