WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS #68
We had a few very cold mornings during the past week, the lowest temperature we recorded was 4 degrees Celsius. With a few extra blankets and a hot water bottle to keep you warm we set out each morning excited of what we may find.
There are currently two herds of buffalo of at least 60 members each roaming around. While each herd favors there own area it usually has a waterhole nearby which made it easy to find them. During sunrise we felt was the best time to be with these large herbivores as they wake up and get ready for the day ahead.
A leopard cub was found one evening hiding in the tall grass, we very briefly managed to see the cub gracefully move through the grass back to the thickets. We went back there in the morning to see if we could find it again, with a bit of luck and good tracking skills from Eric we managed to get another brief sighting.
After spotting signs of a leopard that had dragged a kill over the road we immediately got very excited. We managed to find Nkanyi feeding on a grey duiker up in a Marula tree. On our approach she removed her kill from the tree and found a thick bush nearby where she could safely hide her kill from the vultures above as the trees have no cover at the moment, she then hoisted her kill again later that night to keep it away from the lurking hyenas.
Chavaluthu was seen numerous times during the week. He was found one late afternoon enjoying a kill of another young male leopard that had to watch from below as Chavaluthu finished what was left of the impala.
So many small herds of elephant are scattered all over the reserve with one large herd moving in the south.
All 3 Machaton males were found sleeping one morning, we went back to them that same afternoon and found them patrolling their territory and marking every few meters.
