After a great 2 week leave I am back in the bush ready to start a new cycle and very happy to begin the new Sabi Sabi blog.

Our guests arrived yesterday on a scorching day at Sabi Sabi, as they walked into the lodge they were greeted by the sight of an enormous elephant bull posing in the riverbed in front of the lodge. The cameras were out in a second as they all approached cautiously to get a closer look at our larger than life guest. As we watched from the raised boma the elephant didn’t even take notice of all the noise and commotion being caused by the excited onlookers. Finally he moved off to enjoy some more peace and quiet down the river.

This great start to their Safari experience left our Australian family twitching to get out on safari and everyone was raring to get out into the bush by the time high tea had arrived. As we left the lodge we immediately picked up tracks of three lionesses that had wondered past the front gate of the lodge sometime during the afternoon. It wasn’t long before we found the lazy cats lying in the shade of a tree having a sleep before the evenings hunting would commence. They lay comatose and we decided to leave them and come back when they got a little more active.

The rest of the afternoon was spectacular and was topped off by a herd of giraffe, rhino and elephant all doing their own thing on the same open area. We watched as two young bull giraffe sorted out some dominance issues by swinging their long lanky necks and connecting their counterpart with their horns.

The beautiful sunset just added to the beauty of the sighting. After a great drink whilst enjoying the rapid disappearance of the African sun we head back to the lions to see what they were up to. Unexpectedly though we found a serval hunting and before we knew what happened the small cat started bouncing all over as he chased a mouse and eventually sat up briefly to show us his prize before running off into the thicker bush to enjoy his spoils. When we eventually got the lions they took us on an unforgettable walk as they picked the thickest bush possible leaving myself and Fred to try navigate the minefield of trees and rocks to keep up with them. We followed them for a while before calling it a night and heading back for dinner. Obviously the morning was filled with as much excitement as the night before and we got underway just as the sun was rising above the horizon. We enjoyed countless sightings of giraffe, were greeted and inquisitively investigated by a baby rhino and surrounded by a breeding herd of elephants.

The morning was completed by the discovery of a nyala bull that had been killed by a leopard and then abandoned as it was chased off by a herd of elephant. With vultures circling overhead we waited to see if the leopard would come back to claim its prize. Unfortunately he remained elusive and we will have to wait till our afternoon safari to see if he is back on his kill.