Reputedly Africa’s fastest eagle, the African Hawk Eagle is a formidable predator. They form monogamous pairs and specialise in hunting game birds like guineafowl and francolins. It was the alarm calls of a guineafowl flock that drew our attention to the area, and we spied this pair on the lookout from high in a dead Knobthorn. f8, 1/640, ISO 320

Like the African Hawk Eagles, Bateleur eagles will also form monogamous pairs, and a number of prominent nest sites throughout Londolozi are well known to the rangers and trackers. This pair has made the Nanga area in the north of the property their home for a number of years now. f5.6, 1/1250, ISO 320

Considered by many to be the most dangerous of the Big 5, the buffalo is not an animal to tangle with. The malevolent stare of this one lying in the Maxabene riverbed left us in no doubt that he was not happy at being disturbed. f2.8, 1/400, ISO 1600

The only photograph I could get of the Sparta Pride/Majingilane/Buffalo herd drama. The light was low, the bush was thick, the dust was billowing and we stood a good chance of being hit by the herd as they rushed in to chase off the lions. Photos of such sightings can really do very little to convey the chaos and excitement involved, because they cannot capture the noise, smells or emotions that were pulsing through you. f2.8, 1/200, ISO 1250

The duckweed covering Madies Dam probably helped considerably in covering this crocodile’s approach to the drinking wildebeest herd. No-one saw the actual take-down of the young wildebeest, but the odd thing was that the croc when we got there was actually trying to take the body OUT of the water… f3.2, 1/2000, ISO 160

A few of the pack of 9 wild dogs, in an attempt to avoid a similar fate to the wildebeest from the previous photo, hesitate before drinking from the algae- and duckweed-covered Vomba Dam. Not finding a clear patch from which they could drink and see the approach of a croc, they moved on to find water elsewhere. f5.6, 1/640, ISO 800

An elephant bull pauses to drink from the Sand River as he makes his way across. f5, 1/1250, ISO 800

A zebra foal nurses from it’s mother. Zebras have a roughly 12 month gestation but no fixed mating season, so zebra foals are seen all year round on Londolozi. f5, 1/640, ISO 32O

The female cub of the Tamboti female leopard totters along a fallen Leadwood branch in the morning light. f5, 1/800, ISO 1000

Two contrasting uses of a waterhole. A hippopotamus uses it as a refuge while a Hamerkop perching on the hippo’s backside uses it as a food source. f4, 1/1000, ISO 160

A gritty, grainy shot of the Marthly male, his torn right ear evident, portrays him as the fighter he is. Having taken over the territory of the notorious Camp Pan male by force, he is a leopard to be reckoned with. This isn’t a particularly good photo, but it came at the end of the longest track-and-find I have been involved in. Taking up both morning and evening game-drives, we tracked this male over a good many kilometers, across the Sand River and on an enormous loop as he patrolled his territory, eventually finding him just after sunset near Ximpalapala Koppie. f2.8, 1/160, ISO 6400

Saliva flies as two wild dogs exchange greetings on a firebreak on Southern Londolozi. f2.8, 1/640, ISO 1250

We keep wondering when the Vomba female is going to get sick of hunting for her male cub. Whenever we find them moving off a kill, it is the young male who seems far fuller, and the old female must surely be getting tired of him taking the lions share of the meat. At almost a year-and-a-half now, it might be sooner rather than later that he becomes fully independent. f4.5, 1/250, ISO 1000

Wildebeest on the march on Tu-Tones Crest. Although not even remotely approaching the wildebeest density of the Serengeti and Maasai Mara ecosystems in East Africa, Londolozi still has it’s fair share. f2.8, 1/125, ISO 1600

Sunrise over Circuit North as some Burchell’s Zebra pause to listen to the distant alarm bark of a kudu. f8, 1/200, ISO 320