Nature is unpredictable. Currently there is a favourite route that I take on most of my safaris, purely because it proves to be very successful. Little did I know that on this morning it will me more so. The morning started early and with an elephant right next to the road we felt it was a great start. I drove along the Sabie river and was rewarded with some buffalo in the river bed. As we passed the high level bridge crossing the river I suddenly heard some vervet monkeys alarming. They were staring in the direction of the river. And following their stare I could figure out that this predator was walking back towards the bridge. I instinctively knew that this was a leopard, but from our position we could not see it in the river bed. I went back to the bridge and scanned the river. Suddenly a male leopard emerged from the reeds. It walked straight towards us and crossed underneath the bridge right below our vehicle and eventually disappeared into the reeds again. Still enthralled by the whole scene, we hardly noticed the baboon running passed the vehicle, but as I did, I managed to pick up the movement of another leopard’s tail as it disappeared among the dense reeds. By this time quite a crowd joined hoping to get a glimpse of the elusive leopard. Since it didn’t reappear, everybody left, but we kept patiently waiting. And we were rewarded. With all the vehicles gone, this female leopard felt comfortable enough to head towards the male, and she followed the same path, right underneath our vehicle. We were still discussing our fortune when we came across a few hyenas. We soon realized they were eating from a freshly killed buffalo. We also realized that they were a bit more than just a few. We experienced a consternation of 13 hyenas, each trying to get their bit of the buffalo. There was a lot of noise, biting and blood. It was something that documentaries are made of. We were discussing the death of the buffalo. 13 hyenas could possibly have killed the buffalo themselves, but chances are that these hyenas chased a small pride of lions off their freshly-made kill and enjoyed their prize. We headed towards the open basalt plains on the east of the park. These plains attrack bigger herds of grazers as well as rhino. We were not disappointed. We saw rhinos no less than six times. Zebra and Wildebeest (gnu) were everywhere. It was just a beautiful scene to have all these animals around us. If I was a lion, this is where I would hang out. Those were the words I spoke just before spotting a lioness inbetween all these herds. She didn’t really show any interest in the animals, but I guess with so many animals around she could hunt whenever she wants to, and the heat of the day is not be the smartest time for a hunt. Driving along the Sabie river again proved to be the best for this time of the day. Water attracts life. We had elephants, buffalo, and baboons entertaining us. We were also surprised to find a black rhino lying in the mud. The rarer of the two types of rhinos found in the park are difficult to see as they prefer denser vegetation and often go unnoticed. Having only a few hundred of them in the park doesn’t make it easier either. The end of the day brought another surprise as a male lion was walking down the road. We were only a few meters away from it. It was calling softly as they do when they are searching for other pride members. We followed it for a while and stopped on a looped road as it lay down for a rest. Suddenly another male came out of the bush and crossed in front of our vehicle. They reunited in a very cuddly way, so typical for these social cats. It was a great way to end the day, and after seeing all of these exciting animals we had a wonderful night’s rest, knowing that the following day it will be a brand new page to be rewritten.
Simon Vegter
Wild Wings Safaris
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