I have not gone on a safari drive for quite a while and I jumped for the opportunity to take some images of lions after Ranger Sam told me that a group of 8 male lions were resting not too far from camp on the 8th of December. This was the group of males from the Mohlabetsi pride that I was writing about a week or two ago and I was quite excited to see them on Pondoro land for the first time. The big Mohlabetsi male and his younger coalition partner are now quite aggressively expanding their territory and only time will tell how this is going to play out.
So what an exciting drive we had: 3 Buffalo bulls close to Koppie road cooling down from the midday heat while lying in a small pond, 8 male lions lazing around, 2 elephant bulls having a tussle at Nyari dam and 2 sightings of black rhino. The last black rhino bull seen on our way back to camp gave us a proper warning charge or a good rev if you speak Rangernese, that weird concoction of English, Afrikaans, Shangaan, Zulu and Swazi. Our nerves had barely settled when a male lion crossed the road in front of us barely 200 meters from home.
This what I enjoy so much about the bush. Some days my camera would stay neatly packed away in its case gathering dust while on others the shutter release would work overtime. You just never know what to expect and no game drive is ever the same.
