It has been another absolutely incredible week of sightings!! The lions have once again kept us on our toes and with new lions on the reserve... things are about to get more interesting...

Luck was on our side! We found this large crocodile basking in the sun and had a good view of it before some impalas approached the waterhole to drink and the crocodile quickly positioned itself for a potential kill.

We know elephant are fussy when it comes to water, but it was incredible to see this herd turn their noses up (excuse the pun) to water that they deemed not good enough. Following the lead of the first adult female, who pulls up a trunk-full and sprays it on the ground, the herd moved on, hardly with a second glance. Making their way to the next closest water source, the dam in front of Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge, where it seemed the water was of a more acceptable quality, and so the herd stopped to drink.

On the way back to camp we came across this Pearl-spotted Owlet perched on top of a dead tree. A wonderful sight to end our evening safari.

On leaving camp we found a clan of hyena which we suspect stole the Southern Pride’s kill from the day before.

This young elephant didn’t stray too far from its mom while they crossed the road in front of our vehicle.

There is always an air of excitement associated with wild dogs, the thrill we get from following them as they go the prowl in search of prey. This sighting was no different as we followed these dogs that led us straight into a massive buffalo herd!

The young Golonyi female leopard gave us that extra sense of excitement as she tried to hunt an unsuspecting herd of impala but unfortunately the wind changed direction and her position was given away. She then proceeded to stretch and roll around before heading off into the thickets.

We located Kigelia one evening as she was attempting to hunt but to no avail. We found tracks of her the following morning - she had been walking up and down the same road a couple of times, joined by some extra tracks - her cubs!! They were together on an impala kill – a wonderful sighting!

We enjoyed a few more sightings of her and her cubs as she’d hoisted her kill up a Marula tree. The one cub climbed up the tree, but the kill was placed slightly higher than expected. A quick readjustment and up the cub went to feed on what was left.

We came across the Msuthlu female leopard on the way back to camp and soon realised that we had not seen her in quite a long time. Graeme’s last sighting of her was two years ago so although a short sighting, it was incredibly sweet!

We found tracks of two male lions as we left the lodge one morning. We followed the tracks which led us to a herd of buffalo and after searching much of the southern section of our reserve, we heard over the radio that a male lion had been found. We spent some time with this male lion, who we believe is the Dark Mane Avoca male, as he relaxed under the shade of a Fever Tree, before lying down to rest.

While searching for African Black Ducks, we found the tracks of a pride of lions leading towards where we left the above-mentioned male lion the night before. After a long tracking exercise, we were rewarded with a sighting of the Mhangeni Pride and this male lion together. There was a lot of tension between the females and the male to the extent that the male moved off a considerable distance away from the rest of the pride. The females kept following him with unpleasant growling as they got closer.

The Southern Pride was also seen this week. After a day of grooming after taking down a wildebeest, we again found the pride together and seems the remains of their kill had been stolen by hyena.

With his calls drawing us into the right area, this male lion was making his presence known to all within earshot. After a short rest in the long grass, he called again, this time making his way into an open area where he sent all the plains game into a flat panic. The herd of impala did not take their eyes off of him as he walked, because a threat you can see, is much less of a threat.

A few days later, we again heard lions calling in the distance. It wasn’t long before we caught up with two male lions walking down the road. As we viewed them, they seemed a bit nervous, walking in circles and not seeming to settle. We turned off our vehicles and that’s when we heard another lion calling in north from where we were. Before long, the two new males to Sabi Sabi spotted the N’waswishaka male alone in an open area where they proceeded to push him out of his own territory. The N’waswishaka male made a run for it to seek backup from his coalition partners, while these two males made their way into uncharted territory, and rather confidently too.

What a way to end the week... We cannot wait to see how the next week unfolds...

Until next time