The game viewing this week has been superb once again, but was dominated by sightings of many of the young animals on our concession at the moment.

All of the lion cubs are doing well, and the viewing of the youngest lion cubs has been really exceptional. The mother has kept them in and around the Madjimbiri drainage line, where there are plenty of hiding places in which to conceal the cubs while she goes off hunting. When she does return, she often lies out in the open on the bank, or in the sand to let the cubs suckle.

The female and the two older cubs are moving around quite a bit now and it is good to see these two young males getting bigger by the day! They are now just under a year old and starting to develop a little fluff around their heads!

As mentioned before, we have a few very relaxed rhino calves on the property and it is very entertaining when these youngsters become playful... This one took advantage of the mother lying down for a rest and tried to use her as a jungle gym!

A young elephant calf nearing two years old was attempting to copy its mother in removing bark from a round-leaved teak branch. It is a fairly intricate manoeuvre and, as the calves take approximately two years to gain full control of their trunks, it was something that the calf had not yet mastered! It is definitely going to take more practice before it becomes as accomplished as the adults!

The wild dog pups are still doing well, although there are now only four left. They are moving huge distances at the moment and we were fortunate to have them on our property for a few days before moving east again.

During their stay here, we witnessed the efficiency of the pack in hunting, as they chased and killed an impala near Mackenzie Camp.

The leopard viewing has been very good as well, as we have come to expect these days! Metsi’s more relaxed cub was seen on a few occasions this week, once attempting to stalk some nyala in the Mabrak drainage line and once with a very unusual kill – a porcupine! Due to the large quills on these animals, they are quite difficult to kill and, even if the kill is successful, it proves quite tricky to eat!

Xinzele has been dominating the area around the river and was found lazing in a large jackalberry tree on a warm morning.

A few days later he was found together with Tlangisa, who seems to be settling in the mid-western sector of our concession. He had obviously stolen the remains of an old kill from her and was finishing off the scraps, but she did not seem to mind. She had presumably had most of the kill, and as she is starting to reach sexual maturity, seemed much more interested in Xinzele! He, however, took no interest in her and was unimpressed as she flirted with him for the next two days!

The Xikavi female has not been seen too often, but it seems she is expanding her territory further west. She was found a couple of times this week further west along the Sand River and on one occasion unsuccessfully attempted to stalk some nyala.

Kashane was once again found walking through the section which was burnt a few weeks ago. This is recovering well, with many animals returning to feed on the new shoots coming through, and perhaps this is the reason for the forays through the burn.

We are still awaiting our first proper rains, so as the bush dries out more, many of our sightings are concentrated at or near waterholes as the animals come down to drink. The vegetation near the waterholes and river is also turning green earlier than the rest of the vegetation, providing an extra attraction for many herbivores.

The larger trees with deep tap roots and access to the water table are pushing out new leaves, which in turn attract many browsers. This seems to have increased our giraffe population a little, giving us good and regular sightings of these magnificent creatures.

The rains should be coming soon and we wait in anticipation for the rapid transformation in nature as the growing season erupts! We hope you are here to experience it with us!