Blog entries

Winter's coming

Field Guides — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:50:51 +0100

Hello Everybody

The past few days have been up and down with the weather fluctuating due to the change of the season. We’ve had some really cold days and a few sweltering hot ones in between, so the animals have been seen exploring new areas getting prepared for winter.

A massive herd of Buffalo (90 strong) were followed on a mission through the thicket to one of the waterholes. Most of them had a drink and some of the youngsters dived straight in for a good mud batRead More...

07 May 2012

Field Guides — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:03:43 +0100

Good day all bloggers….

This week we have seen some interesting movements from the animals as the winter is approaching animals are needing to move around more for food and water, and has kept our guides on their toes.

The young male lions are calling and claiming their territory, each day their calls getting louder and louder on couple of the drives this week our guests have been able to experience the roar of a lion up close and personal sending chills and excitement throughRead More...

Baby crocodiles

Field Guides — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:01:12 +0100

Hello Everybody

The past week has been packed with exciting sightings both big and small. Three male lions have been spotted a few times this week – one night silencing guests as they called across the reserve to another group of male lions – the atmosphere was amazing. A breeding herd of buffalo have also been seen -asserting their dominance by forcing a ranger to reverse off the road as they passed within meters of the vehicle! Elephant have been seen going about their usual businesRead More...

Spectacles of Autumn

Field Guides — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:22:29 +0100

Good morning fellow readers.

Just an update of the past few days, as the have been wonderous.

The weather is acting rather strange this time of year in autumn. It’s hot for 2 days and cold the next, which is great for sightings because the animals rest when it’s chilly and burst into action as it gets warmer.

A male Cheetah has been spotted on a few occasions. Early one morning he was tracked for 200m and was eventually found having a drink of waterRead More...

Colder days

Field Guides — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:02:02 +0100

With the changing of the season we have started noticing the Marula trees starting to loose their leaves and the winds getting colder. The weather has been getting much colder on the whole and the nights are starting to produce great sightings earlier in the evening. On one drive alone, there were two porcupines, two spotted eagle owls, a flap necked chameleon and a spotted hyena with the hyena being seen only 500 metres from the lodge. The one porcupine was incredibly inquisitive and approacRead More...

What the easter bunny brought us...

Field Guides — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:47:04 +0100

Morning everybody…

The Easter bunny brought us many surprises this past week. Many animals are fighting for territory to get their chance with the ladies. The Impala are rutting, the Giraffe are necking and the one Elephant bull is in full musth.

The wild dogs have been seen near our hide area which is one of their favoured spots for hunting. The one female is highly pregnant. She will probably have her pups at the end of the month, so they are looking to find a den sight soonRead More...

Busy week

Field Guides — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:26:26 +0100

Hi everyone,

This week has been an interesting one and has had Elephants all over the place.

We’ll start with a spine chilling sighting of three male lions showing everyone just why they are king of the bush, the lions followed the reversing vehicle for several kilometers vocalizing and making sure everything knew that this was their territory.

A male Cheetah has been seen to be moving great distances all around the reserve keeping everyone on their toes as to where heRead More...

27/03/12

Chase Kurucz — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:47:32 +0100

Good Morning Everybody

What a week of amazing sightings it has been!!! Where do I start?

A coalition of 3 brother lions have been seen this week near the river bed and everybody is sure they will settle in this area, as they were heard calling near Gwarri Road we wait in patience to see if the females will respond. Buffalo have been seen on numerous occasions and yesterday we were able to view them bathing and getting all muddy to help get rid of the flies.Read More...

19/03/2012

Chase Kurucz — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:38:22 +0100

Hi all,

This last week has provided some interesting sightings as well as a few rarer species included.

The newly released Lionesses have played “hard to get” with our male Lions, but their confidence is growing daily and the big day when they join to make a pride is soon upon us.

We have seen male Lions and Wild Dogs make successful hunts merely meters from the vehicle for some of our guests this was their first time seeing this, bringingRead More...

The Sun is Shining

Ivor van Rooyen — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 06:56:32 +0100

Good Morning all…

The Past 2 weeks;

The Rain came, and came hard with cyclone Eleonore. The River in front of the lodge has been flowing far more than usual, which has brought awesome birding all around and the lovely sound of flowing water. The clouds moved on and the sun is shining and the weather is sweeter. A couple of highlights of our great sights; one morning we spent half an hour tracking an Elephant Bull and eventually found him in a drainage line munching aRead More...

weekly updates

Wesley Cragg — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:39:41 +0100

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 oRead More...

weekly updates

Wesley Cragg — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:34:51 +0100

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 cRead More...

Painted Dogs

Ivor van Rooyen — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:22:57 +0100

Gallivanting (Painted) Dogs

Hello everybody…

This past week has been slightly wet, with many tiresome and resting animals. Although not quiet all around, the Painted Dogs (slipped under the fence from Tanda game reserve) have been extremely busy wandering all over the show. They would usually stick to the open grassy areas as for their own safety from other predators, but this time round they’ve been weaving in and out of the thickets trying to get lucky wiRead More...

06/02/2012

Chase Kurucz — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:42:59 +0100

Hi all…

These last two weeks have been extremely productive and game viewing on a high.

Some of the highlights,

After spending some time tracking the lions one morning we came across them in a lovely area with shade, water and noticed they had full belly’s. The next couple of days lead to some close sightings and watched them become more and more active as they digested there meal with this in mind we knew the next hunt was close approaching.

Sightings this week

Chase Kurucz — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:48:09 +0100

Good morning all,

This week has had some fantastic viewing, with several being truly unforgettable.

Early this week we watched a male leopard for over an hour as he casually spent the evening relaxing as the sun went down before he moved off into the bush to prepare for the nights actives.

One of the other big cat sightings this week was a female cheetah and her three cubs which have been adventurous and bold as they have been seen a numbeRead More...

The Lion Hunt

Dylan — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:46:39 +0100

Good morning all.

We’ve had 2 busy weeks pass, and special animal sightings all over the show.

The 3 lion brothers are growing up and are exploring vigorously. They seem to be slowly defining a territory as they’ve been hanging in and around a certain area for the past week. On a couple of occasions the dominant male has been heard vocalising, a new ‘truly African’ sound to Leopard Mountain. The brothers have certainly been eating well… They were found, havRead More...

drive updates

Wesley Cragg — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:58:42 +0100

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 spottRead More...

Christmas time

Chase Kurucz — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:23:24 +0100

Hi all and Merry Christmas.....

The last week has been festive and the animals have spoilt us with some really amazing sightings and specail christmas meals. On christmas eve everyone was treated to a full six course meal our chef Ashton spoilt everyone with a homemade christmas cake ice cream and then in the morning after game drive we stopped for a bush breakfast.

Sighting this week included three female leopards on separate occasions, one of the females was spotted meRead More...

weekly updates.

Wesley Cragg — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:37:27 +0100

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 Read More...

drive updates

Wesley Cragg — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:38:28 +0100

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 iRead More...