Game viewing over the last few weeks has been incredible to say the least!! and not only this but the quality of the sightings has been extraordinary. Two of our male lions have been having a territorial dispute with a lone male on the southern boundary, to witness the power and aggression the males possess is spine chilling.
The males taking a breather from there territorial dispute.
Chavaluthu has been making regular appearances, twice we have found him on kills. The first being a young impala ram which he had dragged up a maroela tree and made for some great photographic opportunities, the second being a adult warthog which he fed on for 3 days.
Chavaluthu guarding his kill, Pondoro Game Lodge
The 2 young male cheetah we were seeing a couple of months ago have made a return, Robbie was lucky enough to see them hunting warthog and impala yesterday but unfortunately they were unsuccessful, lets hope they stick around this time.
The highlight for me over the last few weeks was our Black rhino sighting we had a week ago. Robbie had found fresh tracks for a male heading in the direction of a Euphorbia forest, the Euphorbia is part of a very large variable family of trees,shrubs and herbaceous plants. This particular species looks like a cactus and is extremely poisonous, when the flesh is broken it will secrete a white creamy latex and it is this substance which is toxic.
Black rhino. Pondoro Game Lodge
The African people have been using this latex as a fish poison, they would drop small amounts of the latex into a small body of water and allow it contaminate the water, this causes the fish to go into a state of paralysis allowing them to be easily caught. The black rhino is one of a very few species which can tolerate the poison allowing them to eat it and on this particular morning we would witness this for the first time. The rhino used his horns to knock off branches which he would then pick up and eat. Such an amazing privilege to witness this!
Eating on the Euphorbia. Pondoro Game Lodge
