A visit from the pride

It was with great excitement that we spotted a dark shape lying in the shade beside the waterhole mid-afternoon. It could only be a big cat and the telltale outline of a small tufty mane confirmed it to be a young male lion. He soon moved off to a clump of bushes behind the waterhole but wasn’t lost from sight for long.

Half an hour later, as the sun began to dip and the air became appreciably cooler, the rest of the pride began to materialise. One by one, females, males, and sub-adults came down to drink from the waterhole before gradually making their way off along the road, one of the old adult males taking up the rear and scent marking as he went.

Although they had moved off, their presence was heard late into the night with a chorus of deep roars punctuating the other night sounds. What a treat!

Elephant monitoring drive

Yesterday afternoon we were lucky enough to join the warden of Olifants West Game Reserve and his team of staff and students on an afternoon’s elephant survey. Following radio leads from other rangers out and about we came across a breeding herd of cows and calves and were able to see first-hand the monitoring that goes on with photographs of any identifying features recorded (e.g. large tear in the right ear of this young cow).

 

On the way back to camp we also caught up with 9 youngsters from the York lion pride, lounging in a dry river bed.

Highlights of 2010

The New Year’s in full swing, and with several resolutions already down, we decided to look back instead and bring you a brief selection of our wildlife highlights from 2010.

There was only ever going to be one contender for Neil’s choice – the incredible sighting in November of the 18-strong pride which often frequents our waterhole. With several larger males, females and youngsters, there was never a dull moment! 

For Ann the wildlife highlight of the year came when a large bull elephant visited the lodge…literally. Having drunk from the small bird pool just below the deck the elephant took a tour of the lodge’s surroundings, ending up peering through the lodge gate!