It was a special start to the week with an incredible elephant sighting! A herd of elephants moving closely together revealed a tiny young calf. The calf proceeded to drink from its mom. Calves suckle directly with the mouth moving the trunk into a comfortable position against its mom.

With summer moving in swiftly, several of our summer critters have started to emerge. Here a Southern Foam Nest Tree Frog sits with its feet tucked under its body, the skin has become lighter in colour to reflect heat and light to prevent desiccation.

A Yellow-billed Hornbill posed on a dead branch with clear blue skies allowing us to get a rare unrestricted portrait. Yellow-billed Hornbills are monogamous and will live in breeding pairs or small family groups. Once they have mated and the nest is ready, the female will enter the nest (hole in a tree) and close the opening with her faeces, leaving a small slit in the entrance for her devoted partner to feed her while she incubates her eggs.

We set off on safari in search of the elusive cheetah. While on our way, we spent some time with a giraffe who was enjoying a drink at the waterhole in front of Selati Camp. Our journey led us to an abundance of zebra feeding on the fresh green grasses that are pushing through the soil. After some time, we managed to find the mother and son cheetah pair laying in a small shady spot on an open area. We watched as they would lay and sleep but keep a careful eye out to their surroundings as they are the weakest and most vulnerable of the big cats and must be cautious of the rest of the predators around them.

Out on her own, we found one of the Styx females. As we wondered where the cubs might be hiding, she made a contact call to her cubs. We sat and listened as we hoped they would appear out of the bush at any time but as it got darker, we pulled out of the area to go and enjoy the beautiful sunset and a sundowner drink. After our drinks stop, we made our way back into the area where we left the female, and to our surprise, we found 6 cubs with her!

When mothers and cubs are separated from one another, they will make use of a contact call to relocate one another.

Following up on trees filled with vultures, the Styx Pride were found feeding on a buffalo while some hyena hung around for scraps. The Styx Pride have gone through a tough couple of weeks, so it was great to see the pride all well fed. There were two adult females present accompanied by eight cubs.

Some lions had been seen earlier in the day so we decided to head into the southern part of our reserve to see if we could locate them again. We were successful in finding tracks but very soon realised it wasn't going to be an easy task for us to find them! We worked our way up and down the roads and every now and then, got out of the vehicle to try and track on foot but still we couldn't find them. After a long and hard battle and the thought of giving up, one of our guests said softly, "What is that over there?" It was the head of a great big male lion just creeping over the ridge.

We started our guests’ last drive and decided to head into the southern part of our reserve and see if we could find some lions and finish their stay on a high. After hearing on the radio that one of the Gijima male lions was seen not too far from us, we headed over to see if we could find him.

Upon arrival, we saw that the male had recently had his share of a meal was resting in the shade of a small bush. He was so full he could barely move and would just every now and then lift his head to look around.

Setting off in search of leopards, we decided to look for tracks on the eastern sector of the reserve. As we drove, we would keep checking for more fresh tracks and signs all throughout. While on our way, we came across zebra enjoying the lush green grass and watched birds as they made their way through the trees one Little Bee-eater stopped and gave us its best pose. With no luck, we decided to go and enjoy a sundowner drink and try again later. Just as we set off after sundowners, we found a female leopard – the beautiful Tsutsuma female.

She made us work hard through tough terrain to keep up with her but rewarded our efforts by settling down on top of a termite mound where she showed us and our guests just how beautiful a young female leopard can be.

Until next time