Each individual zebra has unique markings. Putting science and biology aside; these stripes make for wonderful abstract and pattern photographs.

This photograph shows how the stripes blend into each other as the Zebra run. Imagine a herd of over ten zebra together and you will begin to truly understand the dazzling.

Looking out from above. One strategy you will see the Zebra use time and time again is to face in all directions when feeding. This behaviour increases their chances of seeing potential predators by widening their perspective.

Elegance, grace and speed...three words often used to describe a dazzle of zebra.

Here you can see the prominent and enlarged knob on the bill of the male comb duck (Intra-African migrant) during breeding season. It is not uncommon for birds to grow tail feathers in breeding season but I’m not aware of too many birds growing appendages. Also visible in this photo are the iridescent (literally means ‘showing rainbow-like colours’) wing feathers which mostly appear dull greyish black.

A strange looking red billed hornbill perches with a scorpion held firmly in its beak. You’ll notice the short tail which is abnormal for this bird. A possible explanation lies in the fact that females voluntarily incarcerate themselves within a cavity in a tree to lay their eggs, thereafter undergoing a feather moult. This female may be regrowing her tail feathers and the scorpion is potentially food for her chicks. Incredibly, the lack of tail feathers didn’t appear to affect the bird in flight.

Two red-billed oxpeckers display to one another on the back of a rhino. The red-billed with its all red bill and yellow eye-ring (eye-ring absent in the less common yellow-billed) and the yellow-billed are both monogamous and co-operative breeders.

An oxpecker seen in action on the back of a giraffe (they have a very high concentration of ticks given their body structure). The bill is designed for a ‘scissoring’ action for solid prey in longer fur, ‘scooping’ for fluids such as blood and mucus and ‘plucking’ for solid prey on exposed skin.

Below follows a collection of photo’s of some of the bee-eaters found at Londolozi. Carmine Bee Eater above.

Juvenile White Fronted Bee Eater by James Hobson

Little Bee Eater by James Hobson

A flock of southern carmine bee-eaters feed on insects that the white storks are flushing as they walk. This is a good example of commensalism; symbiosis where one species benefits by the presence of the other (the bee-eaters) and the other (the storks), neither suffers nor benefits.

White Stork by James Hobson

A marabou stork in all its glory! Contrary to belief, an inflated pouch is not an indication of food consumed, but rather the need to thermoregulate. They expand the sac to expose more blood to the cooling or warming influence of the air or sun.

Over the last few weeks we’ve seen quite a lot of vulture activity and on inspection there never seems to have been any predation involved. We’ve witnessed vultures descending on young impala lambs which have died of natural causes. Here a bunch of white-backed vultures squabbled over the remains.

A white-backed vulture comes into land amidst a feeding frenzy.

A white-backed vulture perches on a dead tree at sunset. Diagnostic of all vultures (with the exception of the bearded and palm-nut vultures) are the bald or lightly feathered heads and necks. This is an adaptation for probing around in dirty carcasses, the grime and body fluids being much easier to wash off than if the bird was fully feathered.

Slightly smaller than the malachite kingfisher, the violet-washed ear coverts are also diagnostic of the African pygmy-kingfisher. Interestingly, 5 of the 10 local species of kingfishes (despite their name) don’t actively hunt at water sources, the pygmy included. These birds mainly eat invertebrates and small vertebrates, captured away from water.

Unlike the pygmy above, the malachite is certainly aquatic. We were fortunate to have this one nesting in the bank next to Camp Dam for a while. Amazingly, these small tunnels can be dug up to a distance of 3 meters into banks. The point of the bill does get worn as some excavations can take up to 3 weeks or more, but because the keratin of the bill is ever-growing, the damage is quickly corrected.

Malachite Kingfisher by James Hobson

Male Lion Fight by John O Brien

Male Lions Fighting by John O Brien

View from the Varty Camp Deck during the flood.

Two of the Majingilane Males cross the Sand River just prior to the floods - Adam Bannister

The Emsagwen Male. I photographed this male early one morning on Marthly. The sunlight was very crisp and as he looked up I snapped the picture. The eyes set the tone of the image, giving the leopard a specific character. Personally I think he has a menacing expression which fits the identity of this dominant male. I would have liked to take the picture of him with no branches, however these two branches frame him nicely nonetheless. f5.6, ISO 400, AWB.

This image of the Marthly Male was taken whilst he was looking to mate with the Vomba female. There are many elements which I like about this image, however the facial expression, focused look and mid-step are what define it for me. Leopard photography is often about capturing the single moment when the animal looks up, turns their head or flicks their tail. I touched up the pic with a mild blurry vignette around the edges and lightened up the road as I like a curved line in my images. I often find it adds another element to draw the viewers eye deeper into the picture. f4.5, ISO 800, AWB

A critical trick with photographing cats, or any other animal, is to get below the eye level of the subject matter. Too often Safari photographs look amateurish owing to the fact that they were taken from above the subject looking down. We were lucky to photograph the Maxabene Female on this termite mound one cloudy morning. Eye level with us, she turned to stare at a vehicle full of photographers, spreading her whiskers out wide. This image could have been improved slightly by, perhaps, having a greater depth of field to include the remainder of her body which is blurred out. f5.6, ISO 800, AWB.

The Maxabeni Young Male struck this regal pose in the late afternoon sunlight. Summer had just arrived and the foliage around him was lush and green. In order to bring out the animal, I put on a heavy vignette in photoshop, blurred out the edges and brought out the yellow and pink in his face/eyes. I also crushed the blacks and heightened the whites to place a greater emphasis on his camouflouge in the brush.

Sometimes great pictures arrive without the animal even needing to be there. Fresh leopard tracks in the mud, late afternoon sunlight to generate crisper, longer shadows and a shallow depth of field to set the viewers eye on one particular focal point. f4.5, ISO 400, AWB

The Tutlwa female has always been a tough leopard to find and that is what made this shot so special. Upon finding her, she allowed me to take multiple pictures of her whilst she kept an eye out for her cub not too far away. Although I love the pose, the soft colors of green, brown, blue and gold work together beautifully. As this was taken in the middle of the day I brought my ISO right down to decrease the sensitivity of the light sensor. f5.6, ISO 100, AWB.

Taken in the same sighting as above, this shot is one of those quintessential leopard poses and deserves to be included in any album about these animals. Low ISO, Fast shutter speed and waiting for the moment when she raised her head of the branch, this shot came together quite easily. f4.5, ISO 100, AWB.

One of the few advantages of taking a picture in the middle of the day is that your subject matter is going to get good light in their eyes. This picture is made by the gleaming eyes of the Tutlwa Female and her intense expression. Right after this was taken, she descended the tree and called her brand new cub out of the thick bush. f4.5, ISO 100, AWB

The Tamboti female Leopard lies in the shade of a tree after feeding. The color of the rosettes mixed with the texture bring this image alive whilst also making me wonder what she was staring at with such focus. A light, blurry vignette just around the edges to braw the viewers attention back into the subject matter. f4.5, ISO 100, AWB.

All the confidence and beauty of a young female leopard reaching maturity. With her right paw laid across the termite mound and confident stare straight into the lens, this leopard's pose truly signifies her coming into her own. It was great to be able to photograph her straight on making eye contact the entire time. The curve of her front paw also adds a nice dimension amongst the gold and blue shades. f4.5, ISO 400, AWB

Probably my favourite picture of the year. This image captures all the intensity, focus and elusive nature of the leopard. In the closing seconds of an August evening, the Vomba Young Female walk towards our vehicle and looked us dead on. As I said above, a split second later and the moment would have been missed. I contrasted the blacks in photoshop and popped the vibrancy to give the image a final edge. You could even make the image darker if you wanted to, but I quite like it with the golden edges. f4.5, ISO 650, AWB

The Male Leopard who came right past our vehicle

The Young Tsalala Lion Cub

One of the dogs from the pack

A Very Large Scorpion

A pair of White Rhinos

A beautiful vulture in the morning sun

The two Sparta Pride cubs play with a twig whilst their mother rests in the background. Growing at a rapid rate, these cubs are gaining more and more of an adventurous and curios streak which sees them investigating every aspect of their surrounding environment.

It is not often that we get the opportunity to view the Ximungwe Pride. Their territory falls lies quite far west of our break and are thus infrequently seen by our guiding & tracking team. When we sighted them on this particular morning, it was the perfect opportunity to capture and image of one of the pride's lioness and her cub.

With their penchant for covering large distances on a daily basis, only large obstacles such as the Sand River will slow down the pack of Wild Dogs. The characteristically big ears intently listening for strange sounds and clues, it was only a matter of minutes before the pack decided to go straight through the river and continue their journey north.

It is interesting to see the tipping points in a pack of Wild Dogs. Once the first member had taken the plunge into the water, closely followed by the second, the remaining member of the pack all ran headlong into the water not wanting to be left behind.

Safely on the other side, this member stopped for a brief moment, ears pricked forward, allowing me to capture this portrait.

Male Weavers spend hours building their nest in order to impress the potential female mates. More often than not, the female will fly along and strip the nest bare if she is not happy with the quality of the build. Clearly this male was too focused on getting it right the first time to notice our presence close by.

There is an unrelaxed female leopard who spends much of her time on the Marula Crests in Marthly. We were fortunate enough to have a brief sighting of her delicately perched in a Marula tree. Eyeing us out and clearly, still uneasy, about being viewed she soon descended down the trunk of the tree and melted off into the brush.

A Steenbok looks and listens in the tall grass. Hiding & camouflage are their primary means of defense again predators and given their large hindquarters, they will crouch down in the bushes, barely moving a muscle before exploding away at speed should a predator come near to them. This tactic of explosive speed serves them well against many predators who cannot match their speed over short distances.

One of the Sparta Pride cubs walks towards us. The beautiful dappled spots on his legs should lose their intensity over the next few months and fade into tawny markings. It is always such a pleasure to watch these cubs grow and progress in a seemingly stable pride environment.

The darkness of the night is when the Majingilane Males are most active. The dusk has just turned into darkness when we flipped on the spotlight and captured this image of one of the males staring intently into the night.

The next morning we realized why as the Sparta Pride and cubs had joined up with one of the Majingilane Males. The cubs were playful and inquisitive, spending much of their time jumping on the big male.

True to form, he tolerated their presence for a while and then snarled his disapproval at this cub who scampered away.

One of the lionesses was obviously not impressed with the males behavior and promptly walked over to swat him. Much to his consternation she succeeded causing him to leap back in fright. If you look to the left of the photograph, you will see the young cub watching the dynamic unfold with obvious fascination and fright.

Perhaps she was scowling at the cub for upsetting the male or for something else, either which way this young lion certainly learnt a new lesson about pushing the tolerance boundaries of the pride members. As Freddie mentioned to me, however, it is very encouraging to see how the Sparta Lionesses have accepted this Majingilane Male into their pride allowing time and exposure for both the male and the cubs to occur.

An enormous hippo yawns exposing his large teeth.

Although these are not my images, I felt I could not leave out a few pictures of the floods that came down the Sand River over the last few days. This picture is of Granite Room 3 Plunge Pool. Typically the river flows behind the tree line in the background of the picture.

A view from Tree Camp Deck. For a lodge built around Leopards, Leadwoods and Orchids this raised deck had a much closer river view than usual. You will see the northern banks of Marthly far in the background of the picture.

And lastly, a view from Varty Camp Deck.

Camp Pan Male Hoisting Impala - Lauren Major

Camp Pan Male Feeding in a Tree - Lauren Major

The Tamboti Female just prior to mating - David Dampier

The frequency of mating varies depending on how far into the cycle they are, but can be as much as once every five minutes or so at the peak of the roughly five days that they spend together - David Dampier

The Tamboti Female just prior to crawling underneath the vehicle - Rich Laburn

The afternoon light catches a group of waterbuck on Winnis' Clearing.

A Lesser kestrel, a very rare bird for this area, flies with a grasshopper. We saw it for a brief minute and somehow my camera focused on it as it flew by, luckily as I needed the photo to get a proper identification on the bird!

We waited for 2.5 hours in order to capture a potentially epic sighting of a leopard climbing a tree. Unfortunately for us she did not move a muscle, proving that sometimes you just have to be content with getting a glimpse of a leopard in the first place.

The Maxabene Female relaxes in a Marula tree. This leopard is famous for her tendency to rest in thickets, so when she was spotted this week sleeping up the tree, out in the open, we were all very happy!

Two zebra stallions fight for dominance in a bachelor group.

As David Dampier mentioned on Wednesday, one of our big sightings this week was of the Camp Pan Male and Tamboti Female mating. Early on in the week, they started out aggressively, typical of leopard mating.

The Tamboti Female stares longingly towards Camp Pan. Female leopards are generally the ones to initiate mating.

As if we weren't lucky enough to see leopards mating, they also drank side by side!

The Tamboti Female tries to seduce Camp Pan.

`Five days is quite a long time for a mating pair to remain together. They definitely started to slow down towards the end. Here, they seemed more interested in posing for us than actually mating.

Towards the end of the five-day honeymoon, they began to resemble a couple in an argument!

A Burchell's coucal, nicknamed the 'Rain Bird' because of its tendency to call before a storm, comes out of its usual habitat - deep in a thicket - giving us a rare glimpse out in the open.

A Ground hornbill holds its prize while calling to other birds nearby.

A young Bateleur eagle flies above. Spending their early years with a tawny brown plumage, these young birds only grow their distinctive black and white feathers once they are mature enough to hold their own against other territorial bateleurs.

The Vomba Young Female uses a termite mound for elevation to look at a herd of impala. She was unsuccessful in her hunt, but we returned the next morning to find that she had killed a wildebeest calf instead nearby.

After mating with the Tamboti Female, Camp Pan was very hungry. He luckily managed to kill an impala and hoist it in a tree, and we were lucky enough to catch him when he climbed up it one morning to feed.

A young zebra feeds on grass from a termite mound

A young elephant bull gives himself a mud bath. I just love the airborne mud about to crash over his back.

If you have ever wanted to know the difference between a male and a female Plum Coloured Starling, look closely at this image. On the left is the male with stunning plum colored feathers on his back. To the right is the female with speckles on her breast.

The scar nosed Majingalane cranes his neck to look behind our vehicle. All 4 members of the coalition spent time as one unit this past week. An impressive sight to witness but also to observe the ever unfolding dynamics of dominance between each of these 4 male lions.

High above the wilderness a Martial eagle flew above our vehicle carrying a kill. After looking closely at the image I am still unsure what was grasped in its talons. Can you see what it is holding?

Seeing a chameleon at night is a special sighting to begin with, but seeing one during the day is perhaps even better. The natural light allows one to carefully observe the complex arrangement of patterns, colors and textures that these 'Dwarf Lions' have dappled all over their bodies.

A herd of impala stare at the Majingilane Coalition as they nonchalantly started stretching in the late afternoon. Herd animals, these impala use a variety of alarm calls to indicate potential dangers or outright distress.

A member of the Majingalane Coalition drinking. After a few deeps sips he looked up to a noise in the bush, his eyes staring intensely at the source of the commotion - a Swainson's Francolin.

It is a common sight to see flocks of Red-Billed Oxpecker feeding off the tics on a buffalo's hide. What is unique, however, is to witness one oxpecker feeding another. Here an adult feeds a juvenile whilst one looks on.

Two piglets nuzzle each other in the late afternoon. Having being born along with the rest of the calves, lambs and foals in Nov/Dec these two have done well to stay out of harms way.

This was probably the most unique sighting of the week for me. I had never seen a crocodile actively feeding. Apparently it had killed this large male warthog when it had come for a drink

Whenever climbing a termite mound, a leopard will always get into stalk mode when nearing the top, not knowing whats on the other side until they have a clear view.

Just like any other leopard, the Vomba Young Female doesn't enjoy her presence being given away-here she snarls at an annoying Rattling Cisticola chirping incessantly above her head, alerting any potential prey nearby of the threat.

Having spotted a herd of impala rams and wildebeest cows with calves, she is immediately alert and begins planning her approach

After being seen by some impala, she settled down, waiting for the commotion to pass. We left her to hunt in peace from there and on returning the next morning to follow up, Byron and Judas found her with a wildebeest calf that she had killed. She spent the next few days feeding on the carcass. This is another attempt at an "arty" (with arty generally being the term used to describe a photo that you completely messed up but are trying to salvage something from!) image of her walking across a clearing in the full moon to have a drink. It didn't quite come out as I had hoped, so will have to wait for another full moon to try again!

She then proceeded to drink for almost fifteen minutes at this small wallow!

She tried a number of different poses, constantly looking over her shoulder for any potential danger.

The Tamboti Female was seen this week as well, but quite far out of her territory...

The reason for this soon became clear as on the following day she was seen mating with the Camp Pan Male. A males territory is up to five times the size of a females-as such she will often have to leave her own territory in order to mate. Here she presents to Camp Pan, flicking her tail in his face. Males often come across as reluctant and disinterested participants in the mating ritual

Tamboti Female takes a break from mating, resting on the cool sand of the Mxabene drainage.

As you can see above, mating is quite an aggressive affair. This is in part due the male's barbed penis-this in fact helps stimulate ovulation during the first few days of mating.

She was almost always alert in between bouts of mating, and he immediately passed out after the deed was done!

The frequency of mating varies depending on how far into the cycle they are, but can be as much as once every five minutes or so at the peak of the roughly five days that they spend together

A pup surveys the long grass from an elevated spot on a termite mound. Curiosity took over and he ran over to a tree and began biting at the bark - Adam Bannister

Soulful eyes protected by long eyelashes - Adam Bannister

Elephant tusks in black and white - Adam Bannister

Close up of elephant's face - Adam Bannister

The week began with an appearance by the Marthly Male. Still arguably the most dominant male in our area, he has been spending much of his time near the river of late, which means that sightings of him are a bit rarer due to the thick riverine vegetation and high water at this time of year. Luckily he posed nicely for us on a termite mound after stalking impala on a cloudy morning.

Another visitor this week was a very large 'mustering', or 'phalanx', of White storks, which are not normally common in the area.

We also came across an unknown and rather shy female leopard in the 'Deep South' of Londolozi. She was relaxed enough to let us view her, but definitely kept a watchful eye on us. She was laying low in a thicket watching a dazzle of zebra and an implausibility of wildebeest, both with youngsters. Unfortunately they moved off before she could get close enough to hunt.

At one point she circled in the small thicket which hid her amidst the open plains, all the while you could see a hint of nervousness in her eyes.

A kudu bull stands tall atop a termite mound. Even though we view these beautiful animals fairly often, I have always struggled to get decent photos of them due to their rather shy nature.

More common to see sitting in the roads at night, this Nightjar was a fantastic daytime spot by Robert Hlatswayo, with whom I worked for a few days this week. Completely blending into his perch on a stump, a close look reveals its very large eyes, perfect for viewing its insect prey at night.

A White rhino bull after a mud wallow. He had been showing off for some nearby females, and marking his territory, rather aggressively digging his horn in the mud. He was definitely in a territorial mood, and just after this photo was taken, even trotted towards our vehicle in a gesture of, in no uncertain terms: 'You are in my space and need to leave now!' We obeyed.

After James Tyrell's post yesterday, these two Sparta cubs seem old! They are growing fast, and were an absolute treat to watch as they played in the mud. The pride had been feasting on a wildebeest kill, and while the females were far too full and tired to move, the little ones had some energy to burn. One of the Majingalane Males was also present at this sighting, and it was interesting to note that they played with him quite happily. They are the fathers, but given the recent Tsalala Pride tragedy, it seems that anything is possible with these males.

A Yellow-billed stork fishes at Taylor's Dam.

I think wildebeest calves are becoming some of my favourite animals! They are simply adorable, and definitely don't fit the classification of being in the 'Ugly 5'! It has been a joy over the past few weeks to watch the Londolozi population grow immensely. They seem to play more than many other young antelope, and can often be seen lying together in nursery groups. Quite often, as seen here, wildebeest intermingle with groups of impala: the more eyes and ears the better when it comes to predator detection.

Another unfamiliar leopard, this time on Marthly. This female was very skittsh, less relaxed than the one we had seen in the south. We still managed to view her, but at a distance. She curiously looked at us from atop this termite mound. Since that day she has been spotted quite a few times in the same area. Personally, I believe the fact she has remained in the area is a good indication she may eventually become more used to seeing the vehicles.

An extremely rare bird for the area, the Kori bustard, was seen this week at Londolozi. It holds the esteemed title of being the heaviest flying bird on earth.

Quite often in the bush it's not the wildlife that takes your breath away but the dramatic landscapes, particularly at this time of year when the weather is unpredictable.

The 'older' Tsalala cubs are really maturing. They are paying careful attention when their mother hunts, and, as they approach their first birthday, are looking less like cubs!

The Maxabene 3:2 Young Male feeds on a zebra foal. Perhaps taking after his father, the Camp Pan Male, who loves to hunt prey 'bigger' than your average impala, he managed to kill a young foal and hoist it into a nearby marula tree, where he fed on it for about 2 days. He spent much of this time lying on the ground beneath, resting between feeds, but we were lucky enough to come have a look while he was active.

As they feed on a carcass, leopards have to continually shift it to anchor properly, so it doesn't fall down. Here there was only the forelegs and neck left, and he eventually stopped bothering trying to keep it in the tree. Apparently he felt the threat from hyenas was minimal, so he brought it down himself and fed on the ground.

A Lilac-breasted roller shows us his stunning colours.

Two impala lambs run back to the herd, realizing they've strayed too far!

A big bull elephant picks up some small shrubs, while bypassing the effects of years of elephant impact through feeding: the tree skeletons that have been ringbarked, as well as a living knobthorn tree that has also been partially ringbarked. Even though the trees have died, however, they provide essential homes for many different bird, reptile, mammal and insect species.

I've included this photo as the start to a series of shots taken of a great leopard sighting. One blog reader asked recently how the leopard's spots help to camouflage them... Can you spot the leopard in this photo?

When zoomed in, you can see that she is lying in the shade to the right of the tree. The spots help the best in dappled light to hide them, blending into the shade. Here, the Vomba Young Female was stalking impala to the right, only about 40 m away. They could not see her, but unfortunately the wind shifted and they smelled her. They came even closer, alarming, but still could not see her as she remained dead still. Sometimes if impala don't get a visual confirmation that a leopard is around, they will continue on their way. In this case, however, the lead ewe was just too suspicious and she turned the rest of the group around.

Having been discovered, she sat up and began grooming, the white on her tail raised as a 'surrender' flag to those sounding alarms around her. Usually in this situation, a leopard will move off. However, just as I was explaining to the guests the leopard's need to ambush prey and hence her

The Vomba Young Female took her title as 'opportunist' very seriously that morning. It was already about 35 degrees and while us spectators were boiling and thinking it was not a good time to hunt, she kept pursuing the impala as they moved over the rolling hills. Here she squints her eyes from the already harsh sun.

She eventually found a patch of shade to lie in, but not before chasing (and not catching) two very surprised Slender mongooses. I hadn't seen this beautiful female in a while and she is always fantastic to photograph.

The Sparta lioness carries one of her cubs across a clearing on her way to her new den site - James Tyrrell

Sparta Lioness carrying her cub - James Tyrrell

The Lioness disappears into the scrub with her young cub - James Tyrrell

The Short Tail Male looks back over his shoulder towards a disturbance somewhere in the long grass

After a long walk through his territory, calling and scent marking, he settled down to groom himself, showing his bright white underbelly

The Maxabene 3:2 Young Male sits atop an enormous termite mound. Estimates as to the age of mounds this big range from anywhere between 100-700 years. Unfortunately they don't have defining markings, such as the rings of a tree trunk, so no-one really knows for sure.

On the following morning he was found with a very young zebra foal hoisted in a marula tree. After watching him sleep for some time, he finally woke up and launched himself up the tree with ease.

He pauses for a moment once up the tree before moving to the kill

Ever alert to the potential threat of another leopard, Maxabene 3:2 Young male pauses mid-meal, with a large chunk of zebra mane dangling from his mouth

Sometimes a leopard will bring a kill down from the tree to feed more comfortably. For some reason he decided to bring it down after eating and store it on the ground. I can only think that inexperience is the reason for him putting his kill at risk of being stolen by hyaenas.

Maxabene 3:2 Young Male-back down the way he came, this time with the zebra in tow.

We had stopped to view some white backed vultures when Lucky spotted the Tutlwa Female as she stuck her head up from some long grass.

After her first attempt at hunting impala failed, she regrouped and searched for another opportunity

At this time of year we have been seeing more and more of this female on the clearings north of the Sand River. As the grass grows longer with the summer rains it provides just enough cover for her to hunt the large herds of impala that congregate there.

The change in intensity of her facial expression is immediately evident as she spots an impala lamb that seems abandoned, some 300m from the main herd

Low to the ground, she gives a good illustration as to where the term "leopard crawl" comes from!

On the final approach she picks up speed. By using a slow shutter speed and panning the camera with the object you are photographing, you can get an effect like this where part of the picture is in focus, but the rest blurred. Unfortunately for her, the main herd of impala spotted her a mere ten meters from the lamb, alerting it just in time to make a hasty getaway.

The Vomba Young Female rests in a marula tree at last light

The Vomba Young Female descends the same marula tree. This is taking motion blur photos to the extreme, using a 1/5 shutter speed. Unfortunately I managed to cut off her front legs, but it illustrates the effect nonetheless, looking more like a painting than a photo.

The week started off with a heavy rain which settled in for a couple of days and somewhat dampened the Christmas spirits of our sun-seeking guests. In terms of wildlife viewing, however, aside from the tracks we rely on to find the animals being washed away quickly, the rain can bring out different sides of the bush. Here, an 'implausibility' of wildebeest huddle around their soaked calves as they wait out the storm.

A lioness from the Sparta Pride braves the rain before seeking shelter under a nearby bushwillow tree. As all of us shivered under our ponchos, we were reminded yet again of the hardships these animals must face from day to day!

One of the two Sparta cubs was not so keen on the intensifying storm, and trotted to shelter long before the adults.

A flock of Wattled starlings try to dry their feathers in a brief break from the downpour. These chattery birds are often seen in large groups in the summertime following herds of herbivores, hoping to catch the insects they stir up as they graze. The male has the distinct, striking yellow and black wattle on his face.

As I've mentioned before, another benefit to wet game viewing is that leopards seem to like hunting in a light rain! Freddy and I aren't shy of a good couple of hours spent following an individual animal, and in this case we shadowed the Vomba Female as she stalked, hunted and territorially marked on another rainy afternoon. We noticed immediately that she had an injury to her right eye. I have seen similar injuries in leopard a few times which for the most part, seem to heal quickly.

After spotting a herd of impala, she ran in a crouched position into thicker cover. Unfortunately, the impala saw this and shouted alarms.

After the failed attempt at impala, she used this fallen tree for some elevation in the thicket to try to spot other prey.

As the rain subsided, her journey became more territorial than for hunting, and she continued on her typical eastwards route crossing the airstrip. However, she suddenly leapt up in an acrobatic flip, and we could only assume she had been stung by an insect!

She then searched around for whatever had disrupted her walk, looking back at us with a bit of embarrassment, it seemed!

That evening, the clouds began to break, which provided a striking scene with the Leadwood skeletons against a dark sunset.

A Fork-tailed drongo mobs a Wahlberg's eagle on a cloudy - but finally rainless - morning.

In the aftermath of rain, there are lots of puddles around, and it's always a nice surprise to drive round a blind corner to a leopard drinking in the road! The Tamboti female, apparently full from a recent feed, has a drink before beginning a very territorial walk around the Tortoise Pan area.

Showing clear signs of having been in a fight, with a big gash on her side and on her face, she scent-marked heavily and growled as she moved through the area. We are not sure who she fought with: perhaps another female for territory, or even hyenas or another leopard for her kill?

That evening, a stunning pink sunset marked the first sure sign of a sunny morning ahead!

We got some well-appreciated sunshine the next day, and the animals came out in full effect! Here, a female Saddle-billed stork shows off her brilliant colours while searching for frogs at Serengeti Pan.

After a big rain, the insects are everywhere! Specifially at this time of year, termite 'immersions' flood the sky as the winged creatures leave their mounds in swarms to start new colonies in the softened soil. This makes for incredible bird sightings, as many birds (and mammals) like this pale morph of a Wahlberg's eagle, sit at immersion sites waiting for the protein-rich insects to come out. However, it also creates an interesting aspect to our night drives back to camp: we warn the guests, 'Zip up your jackets, put your sunglasses on, and close your mouths!' Even though they are harmless, and, in fact, edible to humans, the shrieks of the guests (and sometimes rangers) can be heard for miles!

The Camp Pan Male struts towards us after a day-long snooze in the shade. He was lying next to Tortoise Pan, the same area where we had seen the Tamboti Female the day before.

He had a drink at the pan and then walked around the area, smelling curiously and scent-marking on top of the same places where we had seen the Tamboti Female scent-marking.

A Red-footed kestrel catches the late afternoon light.

On his final morning, the young Tsalala cub, or 'Shayne' as he was known by some of his biggest fans, lies away from the rest of the group. That night would be the fateful evening when one of the males, who is potentially his father, killed him as described in Adam's post yesterday. A tragic end to his short but incredible life.

A Vervet monkey keeps watch from a tree while the rest of the troop forage below.

One of the South Pride Males looks for his three companions after a day of sleeping in the long grass.

One of the other males rests his head on a branch nearby.

The biggest of the four South Pride Males walks by, showing us his stunning profile. His mane is looking very full, and they are getting stronger by the day it seems. They have not behaved territorially as of yet, but it could be soon...

A young elephant bull passes close to us, showing off his long eyelashes as well as the reason for them: with all the vegetation they move through, their damp eyes attract lots of debris.

On a less rainy day, we were able to have another sighting of the Sparta cubs, and this time they were slightly more keen to stay out in the open! Here, one of them chews on a stick after having stolen it from her sister.

Playing in lion cubs often imitates hunting behaviour in adults. Here they both playfully employ the strangle tactic on each other.

Update on the hyena den site... they just keep growing! Our visit this week luckily had one of the mothers present, so the youngsters were out and about. This cub's mother, however, was not there, so he (or she) seemed to jealously pace around the other cubs who were suckling on their mother.

One of the more exciting sightings of the week was watching the Tutlwa female hunt and kill an impala lamb, and take it back to where we presume she had left her cubs. As with any 'kill' sighting, particularly during the daytime, when we get back to camp the question is always, did you get photos? Well, I did get a photo... but unfortunately this was it! Seeing a kill is rare enough as it is, but seeing a photographable one is even harder. Here, the impala lamb was lying in the tall grass before she pounced on it. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the sighting and not worry about taking photos!

Luckily the aftermath was photographable! Here she demonstrates her strength and determination as she drags the carcass in the direction of where we think her cubs were hidden.

She walked for a very long time, pausing occasionally to catch her breath. We were secretly hoping to watch her hoist it in a tree, but also knew her main goal was to get close to her cubs, who were in an area inaccessible with our vehicle. We can only hope she and her two youngsters enjoyed the meal safely!

The young male (left) and the young female (right). This photo was taken a few days ago and it was still clear that the cub was smaller than his sister; a result of the 5 weeks alone. Whilst the male was killed on the 26th December his sister is still alive

We had stopped to view a bird when our tracker, Lucky, calmly got off from his seat and moved to the back of the vehicle. His favorite joke is to tell guests that he has seen a snake and he is too scared to be sitting up front-at which time I know he has spotted a leopard and he is now waiting to see who will spot it next! Sure enough the Maxabene 3:2 Young Male was perched on a termite mound nearby, scanning the area for potential prey.

After moving termite mounds for a different view, he settled down to groom himself.

Not too far away another ranger and tracker team, Melvin and Milton, had been tracking a young male leopard-when they heard we had found the Maxabene 3:2 Young Male they assumed it had been his tracks they were following. On driving to meet us, however, they found the Maxabene 3:3 Young Male, his brother, about 200m away. He was stalking a Common Reedbuck (which in the Sabi Sand area is anything but common!) that was lying hidden in long grass. He stalked slowly for about forty minutes before the reedbuck sensed something was up and bolted-and just in time as well as they were no more than ten meters apart. Here he looks on as his potential meal heads for the horizon.

After missing the reedbuck, the 3:3 Young Male climbed the nearest termite mound to get a view of the surroundings, having been stalking in the long grass for some time. It was at this point that he was spotted by his brother, the 3:2 Young Male. If you look in the top left corner of the photo, you can just make out his blurred shape at the top of another termite mound in the distance

The 3:2 Young Male crouches as low as possible, ears flattened, as his brother, unaware of his presence at this stage, approaches.

And still, just meters apart, the 3:3 Young Male in the foreground has no idea his brother is watching.

Finally the 3:3 Young Male spots his brother and for a moment they both freeze, ears flattened and ready to pounce

Suddenly, the 3:2 Young Male, who has the advantage of higher ground, launches himself at his brother. In a move designed to protect the spine from any bites, as well as allow the free movement of paws for defense, the 3:3 Young Male flips on his back and claws his brother in the belly.

The actual clash was over in a split second, and the two brothers resorted to the more usual form of leopard confrontation-a large amount of close-quarter growling, scent marking and frothing at the mouth! They tend to try and avoid serious violent confrontation as, being solitary animals, any injury which impaired their ability to hunt could prove fatal.

After claiming the top of the mound from his brother, the 3:3 Young Male looks on as a hyaena, attracted by the sound of the fighting leopard, sniffs around to see if they had perhaps been fighting over a carcass. Whether claiming the top of the mound, whilst his brother lay in the long grass below, was a sign of victory or not, I am not sure. If so, it is interesting, as growing up it always seemed as if the 3:2 Young Male had been more dominant.

The hyaena gets a little close for comfort and is told in no uncertain terms to back off. The hyaena did eventually move off, but barely acknowledged the presence of the leopard, paying no attention to the growls and snarls directed at him.

After the dust had settled, the 3:3 Young Male, from his outpost on the mound, kept a wary eye on both his brother and the lurking hyaena. Neither of the leopard seemed to have been injured in any way and by the afternoon drive had gone their separate ways. A truly unique interaction between two brothers who are every day getting closer to trying to establish themselves as a dominant presence on Londolozi.

It's great how a Fish Eye Lens shows how much fun it is to cross the Causeway, one of the passageways to the beautiful northern parts of Londolozi.

A new perspective is captured. Here the Lens is used to effectively show the openness and freedom allowed through driving in an open vehicle with no roof on Safari

The view from the Sycamore Fig overlooking the Sand River

A walk in the wild

The Fish Eye Lens is best used to show space! It works well to put something of a known size to show perspective. The people walking in this picture work perfectly for this job.

Ximpalapala Koppie - an icon of Londolozi.

A creative way to portray a Hibiscus.

The Maxabene 3:2 Young Male. You can see from this picture that his left eye still has a slight abnormality, but it does not seem to be affecting him too much. Here he was stalking monitor lizards around Shingalana Pan. He is quite often seen within the same vicinity as his father, the Camp Pan Male, although this is most likely because this young male is not yet territorial and Camp Pan's territory provides a 'safe' zone from other dominant males, rather than either leopard seeking out the other.

There are loads of wildebeest calves this year! The young wildebeest is a different colour to the adults for the first couple of months of their lives, presumably to help conceal the youngsters while they are lying in the grass.

At first glance, this newborn calf is enjoying the morning sun happily with its mother, herdmates and some cattle egrets. However, the 'mother' behind it is too young to have produced offspring. After some time watching the little one follow its friend, we figured out that the herd had been split the night before by a pride of lions, and that this calf was, at least for now, abandoned. Luckily for him, those lions had not killed that night, and hopefully the mother found him later.

A Long-tailed Paradise-whydah displays atop a torchwood branch. Like the Pin-tailed whydah featured last week, the male of this species grows a beautiful tail for the breeding season.

A warthog piglet races, tail raised, to catch up to its mother. It will have to be careful as it grows up, as many of the Londolozi leopards seem to have a taste for baby warthogs...

The Tsalala older male cub takes a break from the females to catch some sun. In this sighting, he was with his mother, her sister (the new Tailless Female) and two (younger) cubs. The older Tailless Female was presumably somewhere with his 3 female siblings. They were separated for a few days, with no sign of the others... but we weren't terribly concerned, as after watching the older Tailless raise so many cubs both of her own and of her offspring, we knew she would be taking good care of them. Indeed they were all found together a few days later, fat and happy on a wildbeest kill.

Two buffalo bulls wallow and ruminate in the afternoon heat.

I think this crocodile might become one of the familiar faces of Londolozi... or at least the Week in Pictures! Last summer, it was usually in the Sand River at one of our crossings, in the same spot, mouth open in the rapids, seemingly waiting for a fish to pop in. This summer, he's back, and gives us up close and personal views of a deadly predator which is normally quite shy and elusive.

The Tutlwa Female watches a warthog run into its burrow. Tutlwa made a few appearances this week, and in this sighting we found her because of her rather dramatic entrance into another sighting. We were watching impala, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe and warthog all in large numbers on a open plain, and all of the sudden they started alarming and ran past our vehicle on all sides. Tutlwa then ran by, hot on the tail of a warthog who managed to escape. Afterwards we followed her while she continued to hunt. There have been a few sightings of her two cubs, but unfortunately they are still quite shy.

A group of Red-footed kestrels settle in for the night on a dead knobthorn. These birds are often found in large flocks at this time of year: beautiful to see so many raptors all at once!

A Rhino bull wallows on a muggy morning.

Another one of our interesting sightings of the week was of some female nyala fighting, head butting and chasing each other quite aggressively. Usually female antelope (most species) do not fight with one another, and this was a first to see even for Freddy! All we could guess was that, because this was a particularly large group of female nyala, there was increased competition and perhaps they were trying to branch off into smaller groups. Thoughts?

We haven't seen the Secretarybirds in a while, but at least one seems to have returned recently.

While watching the large herd of buffalo, one cow came quite close, and I tried to get a shot of her eye. What I didn't realize at the time was that you can actually see the reflection of our Land Rover in it. We are approaching what is generally the peak time for buffalo calving, so we are looking forward to it!

Two young hippos play fight at Taylor's Dam. Hippos mainly rest during the day, but as the evening falls they start to become more active, particularly youngsters like these. Regardless of their age, you can see the menacing tusks.

The Leopard orchids are in flower at the moment, and bring a bit of life back into many of the tree skeletons around Londolozi.

A Majingalane Male sits in the spotlight. This was taken in very low light and, although not a good photo, preceded an incredible sighting. Two of the Majingalane Males got up and pursued the two Tsalala females with their six cubs, seemingly with friendly intentions as after all, they are the fathers of the cubs and do spend a lot of time with them. However, the Tsalala females were not in the mood for the visit and ran at the males, erupting into a huge fight that lasted for about twenty intense and loud minutes until the females finally ran off with the cubs. Luckily noone was injured, but it was a very strange event that left most of us wondering why the females had reacted so aggressively.

A family of Egyptian Geese decide to divert their route to avoid the 'business end' of a sunbathing crocodile.

The Southern Pride Males made an appearance on Londolozi this week. Here they lazily enjoy the afternoon sun, following an exciting evening of buffalo hunting. We had watched them make several attempts to separate a few individuals from the herd of over two hundred, only to be chased away each time.

Three White-backed vultures, crops full, settle in for the evening.

The young Tsalala females (the four that are no longer with the tailless lioness) also paid us a visit this week, and we had the opportunity to watch them hunt. When I took this photo, they first saw something that interested them ahead, so we switched the light off. We waited and listened to their soft movements in the dark as they stalked. Unfortunately they did not catch whatever it was they had seen.

The week finished off with a visit from the Wild dog pack! The nine dogs swept in and killed an impala lamb in the typically fast-paced, chaotic style.

Afterwards, they had a drink and a rest at a nearby pan. They were playing at the edge of the water, trying to cool off, but all the while clearly worried about crocodiles. Each time there was a ripple in the water they leapt away quickly!

Female Nyala jumping through the Sand River - James Hobson

Fully grown adult male Nyala with his dark rich chocolate brown coat

Here you can see how even a young male has the darkening of an adult male. His horns are small suggesting he is young but even at this age he resembles his father in appearance - Adam Bannister

The unusual adult male Nyala with female colouration - Adam Bannister

The Dudley 5:5 Male has shifted his territory further east as Camp Pan has regained his foothold. Here he has his tail raised in typical leopard fashion as nearby impala alarm at him.

The Marthly Male is continuing to spend extended periods of time south of the Sand River. The big tear out of his right ear, along with his characteristic "mane"make him instantly recognisable.

As the late morning heat starts to build, the Maxabene Female takes refuge in the canopy of a marula tree.

Maxabene 3:2 Young Male has a good scratch whilst resting on a patch of long summer grass

As the available shade shifts, so does the Maxabene 3:2 Young Male!

Probably the wrong time of year to be staking out a waterhole, as with the summer rains water is widespread and prey animals aren't attracted to the major watering points in the same numbers as they are in winter-something the Maxabene 3:2 Young Male will learn in time as he sits out a fruitless day at the edge of Tortoise Pan

The Tutlwa Female made a few customarily brief appearances this week-here she uses a fallen marula tree for a better view

Vomba Female rests in a marula tree-the tell-tail signs of blood on her right paw are evidence of a recently consumed impala lamb

The unfortunately harsh reality that befalls a number of impala lambs at this time of year

Three of the four Majingilane Males just prior to crossing the Sand River - Adam Bannister

The reward of each days hard work was getting to eat boerewors rolls out in the bush

Refreshing the skills and techniques required for CPR in the First Aid program

Armed with machetes, cutting overhanging branches off the roads - boys will be boys

Rifle training for the Trackers

Solly Mhlongo ready to start his rapid firing task

Ranger Jess Boon showed the boys how its done

Jerry Hambana takes aim with Byron looking on. If Jerry ever misses a shot he has 3 knives on his belt to finish off the job.

Vivid colours and outfits graced the touch rugby field. A shot of the two teams before battle. Please take special notice our Head Ranger, Chris Goodman who is lying in the front!

Day 1: Our first braai of 'Boerewors Week' was had in the beautiful Tugwaan Drainage

A hard day spent at the rifle range

Day 2: Team shot in the Maxabeni riverbed

Yet another superb way to end the day. A Boerewors Braai on the top of Ximpalapala Koppie

The reward after the last afternoon of cutting branches...ice cold beers

Jeremy Thompson at Londolozi's Pioneer Camp with Ranger, James, and Butler, Phanuel

Leopard dragging kill whilst Londolozi guests look on - James Hobson

Leopard drinking at a pan - James Hobson

Little Hyena pocking their heads out of the den - James Hobson

Elmon Mhlongo

Our week started with a fantastic sighting of the Vomba Female. We watched her as she stalked impala through alternating bursts of rain and sunshine. Patience is truly her game and we spent quite a while watching a bush which was concealing her as she waited for the impala to approach. We thought we had lost her when a large male baboon suddenly ran through and chased her into the Sand River.

Just when we were about to give up searching for her, we came across an hours-old impala lamb, and were admiring how cute it was when all of the sudden, the Vomba Female reappeared and grabbed it! Luckily she killed it very quickly and, although its life was short, ended without much struggle. We then watched her carry it to a nearby thicket.

When she seemed to feel secure enough, she laid down under a jackalberry tree and fed on her prize. She finished the entire carcass within a few hours and was seen hunting again by the afternoon. Her hunger furthered our suspicions that she might be carrying cubs!

A crocodile lies outside Ronnie's Dam, showing its deadly teeth. They open their mouths to aid in thermoregulation, as they release heat through the mouth.

The older Tailless Female of the Tsalala Pride takes a drink at Xidulu Pan. We had spent the previous evening following the pride in the hopes they would hunt and make a kill, as they were looking very hungry. They did not kill while we were with them, so when we found this female with a bulging belly the next morning at the pan, we were hopeful they had had some success!

The Tailless Female walks across the clearing, eventually leading us to the rest of the pride. The storm clouds in the sky remained from the previous evening, which most likely helped them hunt successfully. The less light from stars or the moon, the more of an upper hand they have over their prey who mostly have diurnal vision.

The hungry cub gets a meal! When the Tailless Female led us to the rest of the pride, most were belly-up, full from their wildebeest kill. The cub that had been missing for all those weeks, however, was still trying to feed, despite being very full.

In her full state, the 'new' tailless female was lying belly-up with her injured foot in the air. This is the first proper glimpse we've had of her mangled foot, and it is amazing that she is able to walk on it without a limp!

We were fortunate this week to be joined by some guests who have a huge appreciation for birds. We therefore spent a lot of time around the river and other water sources waiting to see what would come out for us. After a bit of patience, we were able to get a great view of this Diederik's cuckoo. They parasitize some of the weaver species, which is why we hear them quite often around the water at this time of year.

Update on the hyena den site: when we visited them this week, we thought they were sleeping deep in the burrow, and almost left without seeing them. They soon appeared from a nearby thicket, having been exploring the surrounding area. They are getting brave now, and leaving the safety of the burrow without the mothers nearby!

Another interesting sighting was of these two Knob-billed ducks fighting. They started by circling one another with their heads down, sizing one another up. The two males were competing for a female who watched nearby.

They then engaged in all-out battle, flapping and kicking one another until the victor chased the apparent loser away from the pond.

On our way to view the Tsalala lions, we had a sighting that proved to be of more entertainment to the guests than the sleeping lions provided... a pair of leopard tortoises mating! The male is usually smaller, and more determined, than the female, which made for an amusing scene of romance.

The Camp Pan Male has a drink from a puddle after a night of heavy rains. We followed him all morning, mainly marking territory and half-heartedly attempting to hunt impala. He was chased by two hyenas at one point, as well as an elephant bull who wasn't too happy to see him.

Always seeming to be a willing subject for the camera, the Camp Pan Male's intense stare is a classic!

A Cinnamon-breasted bunting looks for seeds on the ground.

A Pin-tailed wydah looks for its mate nearby. These stunning birds in their breeding plumage are beautiful, but carrying that heavy tail around can be tiring!

One of the Majingalane Males listens intently to the distress call of a wildebeest nearby. Three of the four brothers were together, sleeping on a hot morning, when the cries broke the silence.

It turns out the sounds came from an extremely sad situation. A wildebeest had been trying to give birth all morning, a process that usually lasts minutes in wildebeest, but clearly the calf was stuck and both would eventually die. Here, one of the Majingalane Males, the one with the scar on his nose, runs towards the incapacitated wildebeest.

Luckily for the wildebeest, the lion strangled her immediately, putting her out of her misery quickly. Seeing the wildebeest struggling was probably the hardest thing I've ever watched in the bush, a harsh reality of nature. Watching the lion kill her was more of a relief than gruesome.

Once the prey was dead, the second Majingalane came to feed on the wildebeest with his brother. Then the third Majingalane Male approached cautiously. This was interesting to watch because with a quiet growl from the two feeding, the third seemed to know his place and stayed away from the kill. Physically he is the same size as them, but clearly they have a pre-established dominance amongst them which is most likely challenged often in situations like this, or in mating with females.

The third male relaxed in the shade as the first two fed on the carcass.

We were slightly surprised to see they left the fetus for last. They seemed much happier to feed on the female wildebeest, and cast the fetus aside. Finally one of the males carried it away and fed on it in the shade.

The Londolozi Leopards

The Londolozi Hyenas

The Londolozi Leopards...a well oiled unit of players

Goalkeeper and Head Ranger Chris Goodman had a great game in goals...even if he was using boxing gloves!

If only Byron were a little faster...

...and Boyd Varty slots it home from about 3 meters out...skyrocketed into the back of the net. We won't mention that his eyes were closed and he nearly missed the ball.

Chaos in the Hyena's goalmouth

Goal celebrations for the Hyenas

The two younger cubs delighted to be back together again - Talley Smith

This picture of the missing cub shows how his physical condition has deteriorated - Talley Smith

The injured ' New Tailless Female' mother and her cubs ( the one at the front is the little girl and the one at the back is the boy who has been alone for nearly five weeks ) Note the healing stump at the base of the lionesses' tail. - Talley Smith

The younger and older Tsalala Cubs walk in single file - Talley Smith

Upon returning to Londolozi this week having heard about the discovery of the new Sparta cubs, we couldn't wait to see them. On our first game drive, despite the rain, we found the two youngsters with their mother and another Sparta lioness sleeping, but quickly woke up to suckle, then play.

The first offspring of the Majingalane Coalition of male lions and the Sparta Pride, these two youngsters are already extremely relaxed with the vehicles and, when in the mood, put on an adorable show!

As with many baby animals, the feet are priceless... as well as a playful set of eyes looking out from behind mom's protection.

Other babies around this week, though a little more common than the lion cubs... impala! They are absolutely everywhere and, being just as agile and fast as their parents, are fantastic to watch as they acrobatically run and play amongst the nursery group on their spindly legs.

The Woodlands kingfishers are back! These very vocal birds can be heard calling throughout the day, and display their bright blue colours beautifully by spreading their wings when in the presence of others.

The Camp Pan male peers out at some impala from his hideaway under a fallen bushwillow tree. He had already killed a baby wildebeest and stashed it under there while he rested. It is not uncommon for successful leopards to create 'larders' at this time of the year with so many baby antelope around, whereby they have more than one carcass hoisted or hidden at the same time, often in different locations. The summertime brings thick cover making it more difficult to get a 'clear' photo in situations like this, but it is also easier to portray how well these animals blend in to their environment.

More cover also creates a challenge to capture a more interesting shot. Here he had lazily turned away from the potential prey nearby to resume resting under the bushwillow.

We returned to the sighting of Camp Pan later that afternoon to find him feeding on the wildebeest carcass, having dragged it out from under the tree. Two mornings later, we found him elsewhere, very full and showing signs of having killed and eaten a baby impala. Clearly Camp Pan is enjoying the lambing season!

A very interesting sighting of one of the 'Little Five', the leopard tortoise. When we first spotted the white shell, we thought it was an old skeleton of an animal that had died. Upon closer investigation we realized it was still alive and very healthy, despite having lost most of its scutes. Freddy thinks this most likely occurred during the fires we had a few months ago.

The Maxabene 3:3 Young Male comes down from a termite mound. Taking advantage of the elevation, he scanned the plains for prey as he stalked though Open Areas. Now that we know he is in this unlikely area, we have been viewing this male more often.

The Maxabene 3:3 Young Male peers at impala on the plains from his perch in a false marula.

A Sparta lioness gazes at some kudu in the distance. Most easily identified by her pale colour in comparison to the rest of the pride, she has other distinguishing features such as the scar above her eye as well as a large notch in her tongue and a lack of hair on the 'tuft' of her tail. She has been helping to take care of the two cubs, but they are not her own. She and the mother of the cubs seem to be watching the cubs independently of the other 3 lionesses in the pride, for the time being at least.

One of the new Sparta cubs curiously gazes at us from behind a bushwillow tree. Both cubs are female.

And of course what would the week be without several visits to the hyena den site! They are getting much bigger now, and even more curious. The mothers were never present during our visits this week but the cubs still came out to see what was going on.

The den site, a reconverted termite mound, provides excellent protection and cover for the youngsters in the clan. They are extremely well behaved and do not stray far from the entrance when the mothers are not present.

One of the four runs towards us in a playful move to get to its sibling.

This week the Ottawa male lions made an appearance amidst a Serengeti-like scene. This beautiful young male and his brother were found because some nearby giraffe were staring at them. There were also many zebra, wildebeest, 3 elephants, 200+ buffalo and a rhino in the scene around them. The terrain was too open for them to consider any hunting in the daytime, however.

The Vomba Female walks towards us after having been spotted by the impala she was hunting. Amidst the alarm calls, she walked along the road and then disappeared in a thicket near the river. We still think she might be close to having cubs, and are patiently awaiting their arrival!

A herd of buffalo drinks and wallows during a muggy morning.

My favourite sighitng this week by far was of the Tsalala Pride. Here the cubs drink from Fluffies Pan. The photos I took after this will be posted on Monday, when a full update on this pride will be given by Adam. Be sure to check it out!

An impala lamb springs over a fallen log

Elegance in full flight

Little guys like this make christmas in the bush a very special occasion

A new born Wildebeest calf experimenting with the joys of movement

It's truly amazing how something only a few days old can run so quickly

Turning this way and that...

But never too far from the protection of mom

Short Tail Male Leopard

Short Tail Male Leopard

Short Tail Male Leopard

Vomba Female Leopard

Maxabene Young Male

Vomba Young Female

Camp Pan Male Leopard

Dudley Riverbank Young Male

The two Sparta Pride Lion Cubs play around in the green summer grass - Adam Bannister

A mother's tail is the ultimate play toy - Adam Bannister

Camp Pan Male Leopard

Giraffes silhouetted by the fading afternoon sun

Leopard descending tree

Wild Dogs stretching after a successful afternoon hunt

Lions in the midst of a feeding frenzy

Leopard with kill

Photograph of Jerry's late grandmother at her house in Mozambique

A family gathering to celebrate the life and the passing of his grandmother

Photograph taken on the day that Life Sibuyi's brother 'graduated' to become a traditional healer

Portrait of Life Sibuyi (back row, right) and his brother (back row, centre) during the celebrations

The Brand New Varty Camp Deck

Kruger to Canyons

An early Christmas, courtesy of the Good Work Foundation, at the Madlala Digital Learning Center

Santa Claus at Madlala

The Marthly Male with his warthog - Mike Miller

A juvenile Black Stork rests at Nanga Pan, on Marthly. Now that summer is upon us, we're seeing a much wider variety of the storks especially.

I was quite excited to get another shot of a Malachite kingfisher recently. These little birds can take you by surprise: usually they are seen close to water; naturally, as they are aquatic feeders. On two occasions recently however they appeared in random locations during our game drives, including at the active hyena den which is nowhere near water!

One of the migrants to recently return... the Violet-backed, or Plum-coloured, starling. It is difficult to give justice to the brilliant iridescent plumage of the male of this species, particularly as they prefer being in thick cover, and you have to be very patient with them to come out once you've spotted them. Here, one did perch in the sun momentarily, and you can see a bit of the deep purple colour... but watch this space as I am determined to get a nice photograph of this stunning bird!

A Pied wagtail sits atop some elephant dung in the Sand River at Taylor's Crossing. Wagtails will give any hesitant birder confidence in bird identification, their exaggerated tail movement is impossible to miss!

A Southern pale chanting goshawk looks for prey, its feathers being ruffled by the wind. Even though this is not a rare bird, it is not common to see one in our area, so we were quite happy to come across this one on Marthly. It was searching for lizards in one of the rocky outcrops.

A Yellow-billed stork searches for food at Taylor's Dam: fish, frogs, or crabs perhaps. They walk through the water stirring up prey and 'blindly' grasping with their bills until they catch something. This method seems to work very well especially in shallow waters like this. He caught a small fish shortly afterwards!

Some Helmeted guineafowl peck at the ground in the afternoon sunlight.

The Red-chested cuckoo is a migrant, one of the first to return to Southern Africa in the summer. Usually another 'heard but not seen' bird

This juvenile fish eagle has been frequently seen close to camp, most likely the offspring of the pair that gives guests wonderful shows during breakfast and lunch on the deck.

One of my favourite birds is the Black-collared barbet, a bird heard far more often than seen out in the open like this. They are usually in pairs and have an incredible 'duet' call which is always so flawless that you won't believe it's two birds synchronizing unless you actually see them doing it.

A Reed cormorant tries to dry off by perching on a high branch above the Sand River.

A while back I posted a photo of a large brood of Egyptian geese: 9 chicks in total. They are getting much bigger as you can see, although unfortunately their numbers seem to have decreased.

These beautiful little birds - Blue waxbills - are often seen around camp but rarely sit still to pose for a photo.

A chick of one of the Crowned plover pairs who claim territory in the open areas around our airstrip. For the following few days, we drove by the nest area to see it again, but could only see the parents. We assumed the chick had lived only a short life, as we had also seen a snake nearby, and know that lots of other predators would be out for this little one. However, about a week later we saw the chick again - a testament to how well concealed they can be when they want to! Also, when looking for it, we may have fallen into the trap of following the parents - a 'distraction' mechanism they use to lure potential predators away from the chicks.

An unlikely pair? Not really, believe it or not! This brave little Fork-tailed drongo is taking advantage of the elephant inadvertently flushing insects from the vegetation while he feeds. You will often see these birds amongst groups of herbivores, especially larger ones like elephant and rhino... either that or pecking at the heads of large birds of prey that they don't want in 'their' area! There is no shortage of confidence in the Fork-tailed drongo!

I know they're not birds, but I wanted to include a pic of another one of the 'smaller things' around the bush lately. The dung beetles have been out in swarms and make for very exciting sightings! Generally you will see a dung ball being rolled by the male, with the female clinging to the side, like above... but being able to secure a dung ball and a female was no easy feat. The hot spots for dung beetles are usually 'middens' (frequently used dung piles) of territorial mammals such as rhino, where there are sometimes hundreds of beetles fighting to create a ball. This male was constantly fighting off others try to 'steal' his ball, and had to push it at high speed through rough terrain to try and get away from the chaos of the midden. He will eventually bury the ball, and the female will most likely lay her eggs inside so that when they hatch out, they can feed on the dung ensconcing them.

The Nyeleti Female puts the end to a very short Impala lamb's life back in December 2010 - Adam Bannister

Nyeleti Young Female has always had the most magnificent eyes (May 2010) - Adam Bannister

Nyeleti Young Female: possibly the prettiest leopard at Londolozi - Adam Bannister

The Original Tailless Female would have ben instrumental in killing this Buffalo cow - Adam Bannister

The 'New' Tailless Tsalala lioness walks past Taylor's Dam just after sunset, while the hippos watch. She seems to be coping with her hyena-inflicted injury quite well, as she is keeping up with the pride, although slightly thinner than the others. We hope she will continue on the road to recovery.

It's not just the guests who jump into the water to cool off at Lonolozi... these three young elephant bulls had fun swimming in Ronnie's Dam on a particularly hot day! In this area, it is not very common to see elephants actually swimming like this. When completely submerged (like the one in the foreground), they use their trunks as a snorkel, which is very entertaining to watch!

They continued playing for a good twenty minutes in the water, the larger of the three clearly showing his dominance!

The Maxabene Female struts through the newly green shrubs. In a recent blog post about 'Motherhood in the Bush', Kate Imrie talked about the connections we feel with individual animals, and for me, Maxabene is the one! The smallest of the female leopards at Londolozi, as a young cub she was separated from her mother in a run-in with hyenas, and the rangers at the time thought she'd never survive. But this tough leopard somehow managed to fend for herself and is still going strong thirteen years later.

She stalked a herd of impala for a while, displaying her patience as she waited next to our vehicle for about fifteen minutes watching their movements. Unfortunately, some wildebeest behind her saw her and sounded an alarm, alerting the impala to her presence. Irritatedly she started rasping when she realized she'd been spotted, and walked straight by the herd of impala with her tail in the air.

It is difficult to see in the photo because of the long grass, but her belly was swollen and she was definitely lactating. This means she is either very pregnant, or has small cubs at a densite in an unknown location. Very exciting news!

A dragonfly catches the afternoon light by the Sand River.

The Scar-nosed Majingalane Male looks up at some vultures circling in the sky, a possible cue that their is meat to be had underneath. Fearless hunters, these males are more than capable of making their own kills, and do so often. However, they are not shy of trying to score a 'free' meal from the other predators in the area, or scavenging. The Coalition was present on Londolozi for most of this week, often seen with the Sparta Pride, and heard roaring throughout the nights.

The Maxabene 3:3 Young Male was also seen a few times this week. He has been occupying an area on Londolozi with a very open landscape: not your typical leopard territory. Perhaps, however, he is clever to adapt to this instead of fighting with the many other males for a more customary habitat.

A young elephant bull smells us curiously after having a mud bath.

A second elephant bull passes by after playing in the mud. They use their tusks sometimes to dig at the sides of the mud wallows, loosening the mud to roll against the banks. With all the focus on rhino poaching in Southern Africa, we tend to forget that elephants are also targets of poachers, for their ivory tusks. Unfortunately over the past year there has been a huge surge in elephant poaching, particularly in East and Central Africa. Although their numbers are more stable than rhinos, we should still be greatly concerned about this recent increase in the black market demand for ivory.

One of the Majingalane Males uncomfortably lies on a fully belly after feeding on a nearby buffalo carcass. It was difficult to tell what exactly had happened, but through looking at the tracks Freddy guessed that the female buffalo had been killed by other lions (most likely the four Tsalala lionesses) who had then either been chased off by a clan of hyenas, or gone for some water while a clan came in and ate most of the carcass. It seems the big male was able to chase the hyenas off, however.

The Camp Pan Male sits panting atop a termite mound. He was very full from a recent feeding, and also very hot on this muggy morning.

Nicknamed 'Chinese lanterns', the sicklebush flowers came out this week. Although this thorny bush looks like an Acacia, it is of a different family and of less nutritional interest, is seems, to many of the browsers we see at Londolozi.

Out here in the bush, we learn something new every day. This was the start of an interesting interaction between a hyena and the Nyeleti 4:3 Young Male Leopard. We first spotted a drag mark of a carcass on the road, which lead to this hyena munching on what we thought was the only remainder: some small bones. Nearby, the Nyeleti Young Male lay, slightly full, panting in the shade, staring at the hyena. Clearly, he had had his kill stolen by this hyena.

As the hyena moved off, the Nyeleti youngster came towards us, interested to see where the hyena was going. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to interaction between different species and you can never really predict what is going to happen, particularly when predators come across one another like this. The leopard seemed less interested in having an aggressive encounter with the hyena than simple curiosity.

Then the hyena waded into the nearby pond, submerging her head. This was quite strange for an animal that doesn't normally swim or inhabit aquatic areas.

Even the leopard seemed to think this was strange behaviour, watching the hyena from across the pond.

Every now and then, the hyena would pick her head up and look around, perhaps watching out for the leopard and other predators. It was clear she was looking for something beneath the surface of the water. Finally she found her prize: the remains of an impala which she pulled out of the pond and dragged into the bushes. Another quick look at the tracks confirmed that upon stealing the kill from the leopard, she had dragged it to the water to stash it while eating small pieces, presumably thinking it unlikely for the leopard or other predators to 'swim' in search of a meal. Freddy says he has seen this behaviour once before in hyena.

Apparently accepting that the hyena's trick had worked, the Nyeleti Young Male then walked past the pond and lay down in the shade to groom before taking a nap. It would be interesting to know if he also learned something from watching this?

A Steppe eagle sits and watches for prey below. This eagle looks very similar to a Tawny eagle, but the diagnostic difference being the very large gape: as you can see here the corner of the mouth is in line with the back of the eye, whereas in the Tawny it only extends to be in line with the pupil. We are very happy to have these migrants back at Londolozi!

The week finished off with a fantastic sighting at the hyena den site. The den site had almost been declared inactive, since there has been no sign of the animals in the past 2 weeks. However we thought we'd take a chance and check it out, which paid off! They are getting bigger, developing the faint spots in their coats and also displaying significantly more confidence, coming straight up to the vehicle. There seems to be two sets of two siblings each that are roughly the same age. Hyenas are known for being fiercely competitive with their siblings, but the snarl here was just in play.

I'm really looking forward to watching the progression in their lives as they grow. They do need to continue to be careful, but luckily they seem to have a watchful mother. The densite is in an area commonly used by several different leopards in their territorial patrols. Indeed, shortly after this photo was taken, all the cubs rushed into the burrow as the mother leapt up, looking in the direction of impala alarming. It was the Vomba Young Female leopard, who was luckily more interested in marking her territory than targeting the young hyenas.

A view from the airstrip over Stweiss Koppie

The Dark Maned Majingilane Male Lion

The Dark Maned Majingilane Male Lion

Princess Alice at Sunset

Princess Alice at Sunset

The Red Flowers of Summer

Vomba Female - Always Beautiful

Innocent and Curious - One of the Tsalala Cubs

An unknown leopard climbs a tree with a full stomach

Shortly after he reached this branch, he yawned and fell asleep

Sunrise on the Sand River

The Sycamore Fig on the Sand River

A Dusty Elephant Bull Approaches

Early morning game drive and out on the tracks of a female leopard

Sunrise in the North

Early Morning Game Drive

A Rhino Calf stands alone sniffing the morning air

A photo from some months back of the Camp Pan Male. Sometimes converting a photo to black and white can mean that your subject no longer stands out from the background. Having a shallow depth of field, which creates an out of focus background, can help this

The Dudley Riverbank 3:3 Young Male when he was still a curious cub, stalks his mom. Converting a photo to black and white can help make the fact that the leopard was on the road less noticeable, which could otherwise detract from it somewhat.

The Vomba Young Female surveys an area from a marula tree. With a bright white background created by a cloudy sky, and very little colour in the photo other than the leopard's coat, black and white works well and creates nice contrasts.

The Maxabene Female looks on from a marula tree-we are still holding out that she will produce a new litter of cubs soon.

The Maxabene Female playfully disciplines one of the Maxabene Young Males-this was taken soon before the two brothers dispersed.

The Nyaleti 4:3 Young Male uses a termite mound for elevation to scan for potential prey.

Ok, it's not a leopard, but Camp Pan Male is walking about 30m past these impala who are standing to attention, alarming incessantly.

The Maxabene 3:3 Young Male stalks a warthog as it contemplates emerging from it's burrow. We waited for over two hours for it to emerge but, possibly because of our presence, it would not. On returning in the afternoon, he was found with a fresh warthog kill hoisted in a nearby tree.

The Short Tail Male is spotted by a vigilant impala and raises his tail high in the air-a typical response by a leopard who has been seen and alarmed at by potential prey

Again a photo that if not converted to black and white, wouldn't have had nearly the same impact. The Vomba Female takes a stroll down one of the roads on Marthly, north of the Sand River

This is the last picture I ever took of the famous 3:4 Female, looking out over the Sand River at one of her favorite spots, the Dudley Riverbank Lookout. Simon Mathebula, who was one of the first people to see her as a cub, looks on. This is one of those photos where the conversion to black and white really helps to add a feeling of nostalgia to what technically speaking is not a very good photo.