Good morning all.

The last weeks sightings has been great and has infact produced loads of activity from buffalo herds.
One particular herd has been hanging around just south of the lodge, enjoying the last of the green summer grazing.

The coalition of three lion brothers has been located on more than a few occasions. Something quite special is the fact that the pride of lioness' seem to be in the same area as the boys now, stirring up a bit of hope for the formation of a pride.

There has been a rare sighting of a bronze winged courser on two occasions this week. This particular individual is so relaxed that it was as close to the vehicle as 3 meters away.

One of the large elephant bulls was also seen on a couple of occasions this week. He is currently not in must and is a pleasure to watch as he utterly destroys the trees by pushing them over to get to the fresh leaves at the top.

There has also been loads of tracks and signs of leopard now that the weather has bettered with the cyclone moving off completely. On three occasions the guides have found fresh scent marking and tracks and signs this week.

Have a great week all.

The guiding team

Good afternoon all.

The last week has been a success.

We have had some great sightings of one of our cheetah males.
A particular sighting of the cheetah being chased by a herd of giraffe cows was quite something to view. This particular herd of cows all have calves at present and seemed to be feeling quite threatened by the cheetahs presence.

An elephant bull has also been sighted on a few occasions this week. He is quite relaxed at the moment and seems to completely ignore the vehicles whilst we view him. He was viewed most recently heading straight for leopard mountain.

The wild dogs are still extremely active at the moment and dont seem to sit still for a minute of the day. They were viewed chasing a large herd of impala this week and could only have caught one of the antelope as there was lots of noise in a bit of thick bush for a few minutes and they pack very shortly moved on again.

The spotted eagle owls are very active at the moment too. This is the first week of sunshine we have had in a while so the owls are actively on their hunting routes again. there was a particular sighting of four spotted eagle owls sitting together in the middle of an open road and allowed us to view them for quite some time whilst they interacted.

A few herds of buffalo have also been in the sightings bag this week. there seems to be a lot of mating taking place at the moment amongst the buffalo herds. The clear signs of dominant bulls ever present in the herds makes for some very entertaining viewing, they dont allow any younger bulls near the cows at all.

Have a great week all.

The ranger team.

Good morning and happy new year everybody.

The new year has brought an array of sightings with it.

A couple of drives have produced leopard shortly after sunset.
A large male leopard has been seen twice in an area that he hasnt been seen in before. This is a great sign as it may mean we have a new comer to the area and some new jeans.
The female with two cubs of about one year of age has finally showed her cubs off.

She and her two sub adults were spotted only 400 meters from the lodge, crossing the road and making their way up to the rocky outcrop just above the lodge.

The cheetah has been spending the heat of nearly every day on a dam wall which is very well shaded and full of water after the last rains.
It seems he never looks to be hungry, he rather looks full and content and even proud of himself as he lies and enjoys his afternoon naps.

Buffalo sightings have been plentyful too. Two herds have been viewed on a number of occasions here at leopard mountain.

The elephant breeding herd along with the dominant bull have decided to come back to the leopard mountain area from up north. after finding tracks and signs in the form of broken marula branches it was very simple to catch up with the herd.

Elephants, although large, can simply melt into the thicket right beside you leaving nothing but dust and tracks in their paths. The most effective way to find elephants in thick cover is simply to switch off the vehicle and listen out for the sounds of cracking branches and deep rumbles that elephants produce when communicating.

The coalition of lion brothers have also made a strong presence in the last week.
with bellies even fuller than the cheetah, viewing has been a pleasure.
The three brothers even splayed themselves out in the middle of the road on one occasion, surprising every vehicle full of guests as they turned a corner and happened upon these large felids.

Have a great week all.

The ranger team.

Good morning all.

There have been a number of leopard sightings over the last week, with two being of particular excitement.

A large male leopard was viewed drinking water at close range. When the leopard was approached,he merely moved about 10 meters away from where he was drinking, clawed away at a weeping boerbean tree and slowly moved off into the Msunduze riverbed.
This particular male leopard is believed to be the largest of the leopards on the reserve, possibly explaining his relaxed manner.

The second encounter was also rather close, with a well known female lying in the middle of the road, enjoying the early hours of the evening darkness.
Even when approached, the leopard seemed quite relaxed. After a few minutes of her lying about 3 meters off of the road, she slowly moved off into the darkness to assume her nightly duties.

The buffalo herds have also been ever present, a particular herd of 40 have been spending most of their time very close to the lodge. With the summer heat beating down and the absence of rain over the last week, the animals seem to be making good use of the shaded riverbed again.

The tortoises have also been very active of late. Now that summer is here there is alot of mating and egg laying taking place too. Leopard tortoises are the more common species in the area, yet there have been excellent natal hinged tortoise sightings too.
Natal hinged tortoises are a protected species and this particular species is one of the reasons Zululand Rhino Reserve is proclaimed to be a Protected Area.

Bush babies have been at the top of the nocturnal species sightings over the last week too.
The thick tailed bush baby is the more common of the two species found in this area and only shows signs of activity once the sun has set completely and the stars are out above. A small family of three have become quite relaxed with our presence on game drives. we have had the opportunity to view them vocalising, interacting with one another through grooming and even viewed them feeding on tree sap.

Large spotted genet have been out in large numbers too. It seems there is a lot of pairing up between male and female genets of late due to breeding beeing very present. more than just a few pairs of genets were viewed this week, scuffeling about at ground level under the cover of nightfall.

A rather rare sighting of red headed weaver birds was shared this week too. The last time one of these beautifully coloured weavers was viewed anywhere close to this area was four years ago, not to mention the fact that the sighting was some 40 kilometers from leopard mountain. A definite rare speciality.

A male cheetah was also ever present this last week, with most of his time being spent relaxing under a shady patch, generously provided by an overhanging acacia on a dam wall. this dam wall also seems to give the cheetah a great vantage point to overlook the open plains surrounding him.

Have a great week all.

The ranger team. 

Good evening all.

So much has been going on over the last week, its been a really busy and productive one.

Buffalo sightings have been shared amongst the guides very often this week with a number of the sightings being around the leopard mountain area in specific. A couple of very relaxed old buffalo bulls were viewed wallowing on numerous occasions. Something buffalo favour once they start loosing their hair as the summer sun beats down in the heat of the day.
There is also an abundance of buffalo calves amongst the larger herds that seemed somewhat intrigued by our presence as we viewed the herd wallowing and drinking in the late afternoon.

A nesting pair of tawny eagles have been very obliging this last week.
Tawny eagles are one of the true eagles which are generally shy raptors, however this particular pair allowed for some great photography opportunities and excellent insight into their daily activities.
Sightings of paradise whydahs and pin tailed whydahs in their full breeding colours and plumage have also been abundant this week.
We have also noticed the arrow marked babblers are teaming up and calling in large groups along the rocky outcrops just below the lodge lounge area.

The vervet monkeys have been amongst the most entertaining over the last couple of drives with the large amounts of youngsters playfully interacting with eachother at ground level.
Although amongst the most intelligent of the animals in the african bush, these young vervets seem to be completely oblivious of what is going on around them whilst playing together.

One of the male cheetahs on the reserve managed to get himself into a bit of a tangle with a journey of giraffe earlier this week. Whilst happily minding his own business, the cheetah seemed more focused on marking his territory than anything else, however the giraffe felt otherwise about the whole debacle.
A couple of giraffe cows wondered over to investigate what the cheetah was up to and seemed to scare the cheetah right out of its spots. At a speed of what seemed to be the equivalent of light, the cheetah jumped and turned to face the giraffe, hissing and spitting at them and then almost at the same time, ran off!! The disgrunteled giraffe stood very confused and eventually lost interest before tucking into some fresh acacia shoots and carrying on normally as if nothing had happened!!

Have a great week.

The ranger team.

Good afternoon all.

This weeks drives have been extremely productive.
A really close leopard encounter is right at the top of the BRILLIANT sightings list. It seems a particular female leopard is roaming and hunting in a very small area, not moving very far at all. This gives us good reason to suspect the possible birth of a leopard cub or maybe even two.
This leopardess allows us to look closely into her daily activities shortly after sunset. She is also very relaxed and never seems to move too far whilst we view her.

The elephant bulls have been seen on a number of occasions too. The large one tusker bull has returned to the south of the reserve which has allowed for some excellent viewing. The bulls still seem to be pushing large acacias down for the nutritious roots below ground level.
The two tusker bull is always following very closely behind the breeding herd, never allowing the herd to stray too far out of reach.

With the recent rains there is a large amount of water all over the reserve. This provides for good mud wallows for the older buffalo bulls, also known as 'dagga boys'. The old buffalo bulls also have copius amounts of grass available to them after the rains and never have to stray too far from the wallows which they appreciate on the warmer days.

Bird life is booming at the moment. Sightings of narina trogon have been shared amongst the guides. It seems there is a lot of competition between the male trogons at present as they chase eachother through the thick forrest canopies fighting for territory and females.
A great sighting of black cuckoo shrike also added to the birding list this week, aswel as a great sighting of a scaly throated honeyguide in the forrests just above the msunduze river banks.

Have a great week all.

The ranger team. 

Good evening all.

Last nights drive was yet again a definite one to remember.
Shortly after sunset i decided to head up to a hill top that hosts two large old reservoir tanks which are often filled to supply certain areas on the reserve with water.
These tanks also supply animals such as elephant, giraffe and even leopard with water.

Just before the tanks were in sight, i caught a pair of golden eyes reflectiong the light from my spotlight back in our direction. There it lay, a beautiful female leopard. She again was so relaxed and unphased by our presence that she merely moved 20 meters off of the beaten track and came to a lying position facing in our direction.
The bonus was definately seeing a large male arrive into the sighting shortly after we discovered the female.

The moths are also out in numbers at the moment. Shortly after the rain had stopped, we noticed that species including lunar moths, atlas emperor moths, owl moths and the very glossy peach moths have been very active.
These species all make for great photo oppertunities.

Have a great evening all.

Wez.

Good morning all.
Yesterdays drive was another to remember.

The plan was to head out and enjoy some birding and also to do a bit on trees.
myself and my guests did just that.
The definite highlight with regards to the birds was the incredibly relaxed Narina Trogon that we spent a good ten minutes viewing.
This particular Narina Trogon was so relaxed with our presence that he sat right above us and was more concerned with the babboons milling about a few trees down than anything else.

Besides the fact that we spent some time viewing a nice group of old buffalo bulls, lying fast asleep right beside the road and an equally good amount of time with a very relaxed breeding herd of elephant, we also saw a LEOPARD!!!!

This particular female leopard was as relaxed as the trogon was earlier the same afternoon. She lay right beside the road, looking over at the vehice, almost as if to say: "WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU STARING AT ME LIKE THAT"?

The more we see of this female leopard, the more we are starting to understand her and how she moves through her territory.

Stay alert for more updates.

Wez.

Good evening all.

This morning and afternoons drives were of some great interest to our guests.
Whilst spending a large amount of our time talking about the birds and trees this warm spring weather has to offer, we happened upon a few great buffalo sightings and elephant sightings.

The elephant bull was incredible to watch as he spent the majority of his morning having his way with some knob thorn acacias, pushing them over to get to the nutrient packed roots below the ground. He is also very relaxed at the moment as he is no longer in musth, at least  for now he's not!!

A great sighting of about 65 buffalo right in the middle of the road late this afternoon was quite a plesant road block. Definately far prefered to the busy hustle and bustle of the city life.

have a great evening.

Wez.

Good morning all.

Hard to believe November is here already. With the last couple of days, sightings have been somewhat progressive.

As it goes, buffalo sightings have been plentyful. Sightings of old dagga boys, mixed herds and calves have been shared. the last week has brought some welcomed rain and ofcourse some green grass shoots with it.

A great sighitng of african crowned eagle was also added to the list yesterday. Although usually quite shy, this individual was incredibly relaxed and did'nt move off at all when we stopped to view it.

A wahlbergs eagle was spotted and watched as it chased tree agamas around in a marula tree.
The wahlbergs eagle, even with the wings getting in the way slightly, still moved very effortlessly through the marula tree along the branches as it persued its potential prey item.

One of the elephant bulls is also hanging around the lodge area at the moment but is constantly on the move making it quite a challenge to find him.However, tracking him down is very exciting. 

Have a great day all.

Wez.