September 2006

September turned out to be a month of empty promises. Rain clouds would be building up nearly every day only to disappear over the next horizon.

The Mohlabetsi pride made a welcome return after an absence of nearly 4 months. The rest of the pride's territory is in an area of little or no vehicle movement with the effect that they are not as habituated to game drive vehicles as our other lions. Luckily the more time they spend down here the more relaxed they will become.

A Narina Trogan, the nemesis of many serious birdwatchers, was spotted in the camp and several other sightings of this very beautiful and shy bird were recorded in and around the camp thereafter.

Game viewing throughout the month has been excellent with the most exciting probably the mother cheetah and 4 cubs that appeared out of the blue. Lions were seen feeding on zebra, wildebeest and giraffe. Elephants were seen eating, drinking, bathing, charging and even playing with my tracker Kenneth. But that is a story for another day!

Sightings of the month:

• Narina Trogan at Main Camp
• On the 21st of September a wonderful afternoon was spend in the company of the mother lion and her 4 cubs. As the last rays of the sun were replaced by a veil of darkness the cubs replaced the safety of solid ground with uncharted territory. They went on an epic and very clumsy journey of adventure and misfortune into two small Marula trees within touching distance of the game drive vehicles.
• On the 20th of September the 4 lion cubs decided to go on a giraffe hunt. Try as they might, the huge bull giraffe could not be intimidated. Luckily no other lions were present to witness the humiliation.