Our week started with a sighting of a Birmingham male lion walking along a road, marking almost every second tree and vocalising – he must have been busy for most of the morning as he soon lay down for a little rest.

One morning, we decided to head down to the southern section of the reserve and thankfully we did, as we managed to find fresh tracks of one male lion heading towards an open area. We spotted him moving through the long grass and eventually came across the 4 N’waswishaka male lions and Southern Pride female lying just off the road, absorbing the morning warmth. They say the lion is the “king of the jungle”, but this lioness was taking no nonsense from the four large males, putting each one in his place if they stepped out of line.

The following day, we had another wonderful sighting of these lions as they were interacting. The males were showing a lot of interest in the female, sniffing her urine and using their vomeronasal organs to test the receptivity of the female.

It was a very cold start to the morning as the clouds had set in overnight and the wind having a very icy feel, so we were fortunate to come across the Kambula Pride of lions hunkering down in a slightly more thick area escaping the cold breeze. With signs that they had recently fed, we were sure that they wouldn’t move any time soon, until a small herd of impala got their attention, showing the true opportunistic behaviour of predators.

We had an incredible sighting of Scotia and her cub at Earth Lodge this week... Read all about the sighting in Greg’s blog, “Earth Lodge lockdown”.

After knowing that the Scotia female leopard had brought a kill up a tree, we moved into the area to see if she was still there, only to realise that her kill had been taken by Xovonekela, an older and much larger male leopard. When we first arrived, he was high up in a tangle of slender branches, but this was obviously not his idea of comfortable dining, and we watched as he brought the kill down to a more suitable perch to finish it off.

In passing by towards the end of our safari we noticed the Hanyile male leopard who had just woken up. As the wind started to pick up, he began to smell the air - something had caught his attention. Not too far away, he found an old impala carcass and had a little nibble.

A brief but always pleasant sighting of Maxabeni male leopard as he walked past and into some thick bushes.

While on evening safari, luck was on our side as we came around a corner to find the White Dam male leopard sitting in the middle of the road. We watched him for a short while and then he moved, back-tracking in a stalking posture - he must have seen something that caught his eye. We immediately turned off the light to avoid ruining a potential hunt and sat in pitch darkness and absolute silence... listening. After a while we heard a commotion of scurrying in the thickets beside us, followed by silence once again. We sat, waiting to hear the cry of prey, or the crunching of the predator's jaws through flesh, but it was just silence. We eventually scanned with the spotlight, only to see him walking casually down the road behind us, looking for his next potential target, still hungry.

A majestic male kudu stands on some rocks for a good view while eating.

All the motions of a Pied Kingfisher hovering over some water, scanning for a potential meal.

We end off this week’s blog with the Monochrome Monday selection from the week...

An unbreakable bond.

Surveying the open plains, this young male cheetah found the perfect termite mound to relax on.

An old buffalo bull settles in some water for the day.

A Grey-headed Kingfisher keeps a close eye on us.

Until next time...