WEEK IN PICTURES #35
Winter is in sight, we had few cold misty mornings during the week which actually produced beautiful sunrises each morning.
The Kudyela pride was on the move during the week and kept on moving until late in the mornings, the lionesses were seriously looking for their next meal and sure two of the Machaton males knew they could get a meal soon if they just stuck with the females. They were, after two days, finally seen with blood on their faces but only the males had full bellies, they clearly overtook the kill from the females. Later 4 of the females were seen together with 8 little cubs, two litters of three and one litter of two. Over the last few days these females have covered majority of their territory with these little cubs now that they are able to at least keep up to a certain point.
Many breeding herds of elephant are moving through and so we are seeing many young males that have recently been kicked out of the herd trailing far behind. They are still enjoying all the greenery in the reserve and eat as much of the softer vegetation as they possibly can before the dry winter season creeps in and they are left with woody material.
The 2 young leopardesses, Nkanyi and Thuli, were seen separately during the week each on a mission of their own. They have really grown a lot during the past few months going from little cubs relaying on their mother’s ability to provide food to catching and hoisting their own kills.
We have yet to see large herds of buffalo, as the drought of the previous 2 years or so have really brought down their numbers, but we still get to enjoy sightings of a few ‘daggaboys’.
A rhino sighting is always a highlight on safari due to their unfortunate decline in numbers. South Africa is home to about 74% of the Rhino population in Africa. That is why anti-poaching units, like the Black Mambas, are important for the prevention of illegal poaching.
