One of those weeks!



27 February - White rhinos

 

3 March - one of the evicted young males



Game viewing in a nature reserve is always a matter of luck:  sometimes you see little and at other times animals and birds appear almost continuously, inlcuding some of the less frequently seen species. 

This last week (end of February – start of march) has been one of the latter times.  It began in the evening of Sunday 27^th February - three white rhinos at the waterhole:  next morning, four rhinos.  That evening (Monday), the giraffe was killed by power cables and later discovered by lions, as reported in our previous blog entry, which covered up to the morning of Thursday 3rd March.  In the late afternoon on the 3^rd, the same older female from the morning was still there at the carcass, now with all three of the young males evicted from the pride a few months ago.  Their manes are now well developed and they have grown bigger.  Two current members of the pride then appeared and there was much tension from both groups.  However, something caught all their attention off to the east and all six lions ran off to investigate.  Frustratingly, we don’t know exactly what it was but the behaviour suggested another lion or possibly another carnivore.  We then went to our neighbour’s property for supper but had to rush back to Leopard’s View to help Iris chase a big bull elephant away from the trees by the deck.  It moved off in the neighbour’s direction so we hurried back, just in time to drive it out of their garden. 



3 March - pride male at waterhole



Lion noises were very close during all this, and then, during dessert (!) one of the big pride males walked through their garden, 10 m from where we were all sitting.  It went down to our waterhole, drank and then rested under a nearby tree. 



4 March a.m.



4 March - evening: the two pride males



Next day, Friday, an elephant drank and bathed at the waterhole during the morning; in the evening, we watched the two pride males at the remains of the giraffe carcass, although there seemed little meat left by then.  To round the week off, on Saturday morning there were two hyenas at the waterhole at dawn, and buffalo on Sunday. 



4 March - black-backed jackal near giraffe carcass



We hope we haven’t used all our luck up and that the next week will also be a good one.