5:00 in the morning comes early in the bush. It seems that my head had just hit the pillow when the alarm rang. Time to get up, brush our teeth, grab our gear and head out. We met on the deck at the camp for a quick cup of coffee and a biscuit. No one wanted to drink too much since we would be out in the Land Rovers for 3 to 4 hours driving on bumpy trails. And you never know what might be behind the bush you choose!
It was a beautiful morning although the sun was not yet up. We had been driving for about 20 minutes when Richard stopped the Land Rover and shut it off. On the trail, about 30 yards in front of us was a pride of lions consisting of 4 adult females and 9 cubs! And they were headed directly for us. The sound of shutters clicking was like the sound of machine gun fire as we all started taking pictures. The little ones were just so damned cute. They veered off the path as they got near to us and headed down to the river. Richard repositioned the land rover and we got some fantastic shots of the lions drinking from a water hole. They then moved to the dry river bed for a morning of playing, grooming, nursing and sleeping. We spent about an hour and 15 minutes observing and photographing these guys.
We stopped in one area and Richard was describing leadwood trees to us. Leadwood is very dense, termite resistant and doesn’t float on water. The tree itself may live for 1000 years. However, as Richard was explaining all of this Like held up his hand. He had heard a bird give an alert call and then he said he heard a leopard in the distance. While the rest of us piled into the land rover and headed off in one direction, Like grabbed a hand-held radio and took off on foot. Within minutes Richard got a call from Like that he had spotted the leopard (no pun intended). Richard turned the land rover around, left the trail and started crashing through the underbrush, following Like’s radioed directions.
Talk about great tracking. Using his hearing and tracking abilities Like had guided us directly to our first leopard. It was a beautiful female. However, she was restless and didn’t stay in one place for very long. We tracked her for a while and they lost her in the brush. However, we located her again a short while later by the river bed. Watching this magnificent animal was a thrill and we spent almost 2 hours with her.
As would be the pattern, we had lunch back at camp every day at about 1:30. No sandwiches here. Every day was as elaborately prepared lunch. We were usually accompanied by a number of vervet monkeys that were always looking for an opportune moment to swoop in and make off with some goodies.
Having seen a leopard in the morning we went looking for a cheetah on our afternoon drive. We took off at about 3:45 and after driving around for about 30 minutes we located our prey. It did not require expert tracking, though. This cheetah looked like it had just finished eating a cape buffalo by itself. I don’t think that this animal had any intention of moving in the next 18 hours. So much for getting to see a cheetah stalk and bring down an antelope.
Day 2 animals:
Lions, impala, leopards, vervet monkeys, cheetah, Warburg’s eagle, little bee eater, chacma baboon.
Written and photographed by Londolozi guests Mark and Cathy Pemberton
To view their blog Click here.
Great memories. Thanks for sharing your awesome pictures!
Wow Cathy & Mark, these pictures are stunning & write up makes you feel as if we are there too! I love all the blogs that I get from Londolozi – thanks to you all for the professionalism always!
Marvelous photographs!!!!!!!! Absolutely beautiful!!!!!!!!!
Thank-you!!
Thanks for sharing !!!! Marvelous photographs!!!!!!!!
Thank you for sharing these amazing pictures. Great story . Fantastic post.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful adventures in paradise! Great photos too!