What a spectacular way to start the week...

We were lucky to spot what we think may be one of the last Woodland Kingfishers before departing for the winter.

Whilst watching hippos at a nearby watering hole, out popped a Blacksmith Lapwing chick from the reeds. Unsurprisingly, this little guy stole the show for the afternoon, as he poked and prodded at the soil looking for something to eat.

A group of White-crested helmetshrikes foraging in the cool of the morning. It's not too often we get to capture an image of these birds as they move off relatively quickly, but this was our lucky day!

We found this Verreaux’s eagle-owl preening itself as we were returning to the lodge for dinner.

Egyptian geese, calm on the surface but...

A Little Bee-eater perched patiently waiting for an unsuspecting insect to fly by.

We spotted this monitor lizard peering out of a crevice in a Knobthorn Tree.

A small herd of buffalo bulls lie in the open, waiting for the early morning sun to warm them.

A large male hippo surprised us as he was out of the water in the heat of the day. He approached the water for a short drink before resuming his grazing.

Cute pic of the week goes to...

A lone hyena was seen finishing off an impala kill early one morning. It didn’t look full from the kill, so assume it stole the kill from another animal – possibly a female leopard after finding some tracks close by.

With the benefit of a place to rest their heads, comes the added benefit of having a 360 degree view, making it easier to keep a look out for potential predators.

Late one afternoon, we found these four lionesses lying lazily on the road with full bellies. They were not to be seen again for the rest of the week.

The Styx male and Nkuhuma male were on a kudu kill. They were uncomfortably full and with heavy breathing, they lay down to rest. Some hyenas and vultures were also in the area trying to get the scraps as the lions had moved the kill into a thicket and left some bones on ground.

Later in the week, they were resting just behind a herd of buffalo. Clearly interested in staying nearby for a potential meal, they followed the herd’s every move closely.

A wonderful sighting of the Hanyile male leopard just outside Bush Lodge, marking his territory.

Our evening ended with a well-earned sighting of Ntsumi and her cub. After a few hours of tracking, we found the female and her cub, playing in the shrubbery in a drainage line.

As we left Earth Lodge one morning, we found tracks of a male leopard that had walked past early in the morning. As we were discussing the tracks with our guests, the male leopard started vocalising which helped us locate him in the nearby thickets.

The morning started off cool, crisp and quiet; only to be broken with the rasping call of a male leopard. Heading towards the sound of his vocalisations, we discovered he had already moved off. Our tracking exercise started. A few scent mark clues and fresh tracks kept us intrigued. The final clue was given by a highly strung group of impala making sure that their warning echoed far and wide.

After tracking for a while, we found Ntsumi female leopard on an impala kill. Unfortunately, it seemed like we weren’t the only ones looking for her as hot on her trail was a small clan of hyenas who snatched the kill from her.

We managed to track and find two leopards who were following each other. N’weti male and Xivindzi female seemed to be courting for quite some time before eventually mating. They then moved off into some thickets and suddenly there was screeching as the male leopard had caught an unsuspecting baby warthog. It is not often one gets to see two leopards mating, and then catching a meal! What a sighting!

A quick sighting of this big pack of wild dogs who successfully brought down a young kudu but it was not enough for the whole pack to feast on so only a few individuals enjoyed the meal.

The following morning, our safari started with quite the "bang". Wild dogs on the hunt is always a special treat. Although they were not successful, we were able to watch them bound and dive through the vegetation, plotting strategic moves against the impala.

Our last wild dog sighting for the week was of a pack running extremely quickly through the bush. It was very hard to keep up but after some time, we were rewarded as we watched them feed on a young impala.

Until next time...