When one comes back from two weeks off, we come back with open arms and no expectations. If the bush has taught us anything, it’s that you “should always expect the unexpected”. You may be back in the driver seat the first day doing transfers and game drives or you may be needed in maintenance for the next three. There are few first weeks back that have been as jam packed with sightings as this cycle and certainly none with as many “firsts” for me.

It was “go” from the start. Back in the driver’s seat we were entertaining a group, but I didn’t have to do too much. Our first safari had everyone in awe with the Little Bush female’ cub up a tree with a duiker kill while she lay slumped in some tall grass trying to digest the contents of her swollen tummy. But that kill was to bring us even more excitement as the Southern pride split moved into the area overnight sending Little Bush’s cub up another tree; too nervous to venture down. There was nothing left of the kill, one can only presume that it fell at some point and with the spotted hyenas waiting in anticipation, it was readily devoured.

The following drive a coalition of cheetahs that had been found were called in over the radio. The radio went quiet and then someone asked the message to be repeated; but we all heard right the first time! Three young male cheetahs were making their way through the property at a fair speed! Luckily I was in the area and able to respond to the sighting. By the time I got there the safari vehicles had lost sight of them and we were tasked with trying to relocate under the pressure of a setting sun. Letting the guests in on our conquest, all nine pairs of eyes quickly worked together to spot the elusive cats. We followed them over the hills as they cris-crossed ahead of our vehicle, constantly calling out to each other in the tiniest most feeble and unfitting sound you have ever heard; all I could think of were words from a guest before “body like Tarzan, voice like Jane”. They were too quick for us to follow amongst the rocks and we lost sight of them just before dusk set in.

Only a couple days later I was to be astonished at the discovery of the Southern Pride and the Sand River males on a young elephant kill. With the afternoon’s game plan set, we ventured to “The South” after a significant amount of trying to convince my guests that it would not rain and that they should come on the drive. By the time we got to The South it was pouring. My vision was reduced to one eye thanks to the not-so-waterproof mascara that had now run down my face and lead me to resemble something from The Exorcist. Of course everyone was too polite to tell me and when three of my guests who had been delayed during their journey met up with us, it was no wonder I caused them to stutter. Great start. Anyway, we pottered on, everyone grateful for the anoraks. Voster on the otherhand seemed to be in his element, ruffling his feathers as it were, spotting things left, right and centre and giggling at the sight of all of us half drowned. Finally we arrived at the kill and it could not have been a more dramatic and worthwhile scene; even if I could have seen through two eyes. The three lionesses were tearing at the carcass and slowly two of the males joined in. Outbursts of snarling ensued, with one male putting his full weight and every last bit of energy into trying to tear off one of the legs, whilst all the others tussled for the best feeding positions. I will never forget the sounds of the heavy rain splatters, the growling, the tearing and the stillness all surrounding that scene. National Geographic, eat your heart out!

The next day, we found ourselves no short of luck either. The morning was filled with scenes of varied species of antelope intermingling as they grazed and browsed in the open plains, buffalo wallowing , giraffe curiously watching the vehicle as oxpeckers took flight to join to other myriads of colourful birds in the sky. We returned to the lodge for breakfast and some much needed rest after all the excitement. The afternoon swung by before we knew it and leopard was on the agenda. The safari started off slowly with few new species to show the guests between trying to find our own leopard. With the highest density of leopards in the world, one would think this would be an easy task, but you would be wrong. But that is the beauty of a large ranger team – we were not the only ones on a leopard look-out. Two female leopards were found on a kill not far from us. Before we could get to the sighting, the radio went again. A third female leopard had entered the sighting. Like a child on a sugar high, I was ecstatic! We spent hours in the sighting watching the dynamics change with ownership of the kill and interactions between the leopards but the cherry on the top was definitely when one of the female leopards – Little Bush- returned with her cub, bringing the total number of leopards in the sighting to four! A true leap of leopards! This inspired my first blog for Sabi Sabi – What Lies in the Unknown. For more details, photos or to watch the videos of the leopards fighting, give it a read!

For a few days there had been a lot of track and sign of two leopards around Bush Lodge too. Through various short sightings – some of which were from the deck- we identified the leopards as Warthog Wallow and her cub Tortillis. Unable to find the kill that we presumed had been hidden in the drainage line we just had to take the evidence as a sure tease and an ode to the leopard’s naturally elusive nature and camouflage. Perhaps after we had given up the search for the pair, they got bored of their games or the smells of kudu loin on the grill got their stomachs grumbling like it does mine – but Tortillis decided to pay us a visit during dinner with a casual waltz along the deck in full view of everyone! For fear of him becoming too comfortable around the lodge and our guests, we had to chase him away, but, it was no better way to remind us all how wild this area is and that one should always “expect the unexpected”! Everyone went to bed with a little adrenaline flowing through their veins that night. A couple weeks later during dinner once again, he was found on one of the less used decks, but this time sound asleep. Their presence was largely felt around Bush Lodge for the majority of this cycle, which begs the question whether Warthog Wallow’s territory has shifted further North again after some time of absence? Only time will tell...

And that was all just in my first week back! It surely set the tone for the rest of my cycle though for sightings continued to be jaw dropping. We the saw wild dogs on countless occasions playing games between the vehicles (which on one occasion was rather disturbing when we discovered that the “ball” was a slobbery half chewed duiker head), sleeping and even get charged by a large Cape Buffalo whilst trying to drink! Whilst as rangers we are permanently trying to plan our next step trying to surprise our guests, I was to be the one surprised when trying to get to a male giraffe we came across an impala pronking. The behaviour is usually associated with expressing excitement and good health but when we advanced further I could barely react fast enough! The wild dogs were pulling down another impala – my first Wild Dog kill!

The first of the large herds of elephants entered the property to quench their thirst at the pan infront of Bush Lodge and a herd of approximately 200 buffalo awoke to a misty morning in the plains infront of Selati Lodge. Being completely surrounded by some of the largest land mammals on the planet, watching them carry on and prevail, barely acknowledging you, always leaves me feeling humble.

The news of Notten’s cub being killed was nothing but devastating. Her mourning was felt by everyone who had watched the little cub grow in the last year, but, with death there is also life and a clan containing two heavily pregnant hyenas have been showing every sign that they have found a new den site and are preparing to give birth in the next few weeks. The highlight of all however, was without a doubt, seeing my first set of cheetah cubs on an impala kill. At first there were five little Honey-Badger look-a-like balls of fluff, and then it went down to four, but, with a bit of luck on their side we all anticipate watching them grow up into beautiful big cats. I was lucky enough to see these cubs on a few occasions, able to watch them feed, suckle, sleep and all attentively groom their mother in mutual affection.

As I mentioned earlier, you never quite know what a cycle will have in store for you and a week of mine took a bit of a different course with some recapping and training amongst the team with the renewal of our First Aid course conducted by local paramedic JC Le Roux. As an optimist, I was hoping it meant that we had a sparkling wine sponsor, but after a boot-camp first day I quickly realised that it was not the case. After training for three days, 8am-4pm, we were assessed with treating everything from snake bites, broken bones and epileptic fits, to cardiac arrests and burns, just to name a few! Having done First Aid numerous times in the city, safety is a factor but it is definitely on a whole new level when you are out in the bush. Having to deal with the stress of an incident but also organise armed rangers to keep an eye out for predators or other animals, evacuation procedures, improvisations with available equipment or resources until further assistance arrives and to keep calm and focused is far far far from easy. Hats off to JC who does it on a daily basis and makes it look like a piece of cake. You’re the man JC!

The First Aid training could not have come at a better time too. The low rain yield this year has brought with it the onset of Autumn in all its glorious hues of yellows, golds, pinks and reds. With the grasses quickly drying out and leaves falling, we prepared ourselves for an early fire season by maintaining our fire breaks. Last year we fell victim to a run-away fire that we fought for three days; this year, we are all a bit wiser to it and despite the danger of fire, Eve and I managed to have a great time operating the Bakkie Sakkie.

All-in-all I feel it has been a well-rounded and eventful cycle through February and March. It’s certainly clear that identifying only a few highlights was slightly impossible, but I think that is part of the beauty in working at a well- rounded lodge - the variation keeps your mind fresh and breeds enthusiasm, making it quite frankly rather difficult not to enjoy yourself! Anticipating returning to the lodge last night after two weeks at home, I was greeted with the arrival of the rain we have all been praying for; Mother Nature it seems has indeed not left our side and as her rain is sure to bring new growth to our burnt areas, April and my next cycle look set not to disappoint.