From Derek and Chris: 3 incredible days at Pondoro with Shaun (ranger) and Eric (tracker) guiding us through some awesome game-viewing.  Here are some highlights:

Male leopard

With our most excellent ranger, Shaun – thanks bro!

Above photos taken with Nikon D5000 and Nikor AF-S VR 70-300 Lens

To see the rest of our photos from Pondoro, check out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33749463@N00/sets/72157624204548755/

Rul discovered that there are actually 2 leopard cubs when he followed their tracks away from the kill. The female are hiding them in a very inaccessable area and the only one seeing them thus far is Rul who is slowly habituating them to his presence. We found Big Boy and Mazinyo, the 2 dominant male lions, feeding on the 30th at a wildebeest carcass. From the tracks it looked like they chased the lioness with the 2 cubs away from the kill and then took it for themselves. The next day the whole York pride was found feeding on a kudu. It was quite something to have Big Boy and 11 cubs feeding and fighting over the remains right next to the vehicle.

The morning drive of the 3rd of November was also a highlight as we found a black rhino. True to form he turned around and charged at the vehicle as soon as he became aware of our presence. I was lucky enough to get a few pictures.

As promised a photo of the leopard cub that we saw yesterday. I know it is a bit busy, but beggars can’t be choosers. The cub and mother were chased away during the night by a male leopard which must have been alerted of the kill by the noise of hyenas as they tried to get to the impala. Rul saw the male leopard at the kill and later followed the tracks of the mother leopard and cubs to the densite.

I have not written on the blog for a while as I took a bit of a break from game drives. The highlight of the last week was the sighting of a 3 month old leopard cub high up in a tree last night. His mother killed an impala the night before and while she was busy feeding one of the guides spotted the cub in the tree. This morning Rul found a big male leopard at the carcass. Can’t wait for the night drive!

We also found the York pride on mangwa road this morning. They were hunting and we saw them chasing zebra, but without any success. I was once again amazed at the lions hunting ability and how they can strategize to increase their chances of success.

I will put some photos of this morning’s drive on the blog later in the day.

I took this photos of a male leopard early evening at Hamerkop dam on the 3rd of September. If you look carefully you will see the wound on his right flank which was probably caused during a territorial fight with another male.