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Lioness Two #251814 06/22/19 08:39 AM
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New thread for Lioness Two. Will all be arriving at Lion Sands tomorrow. Six from Johannesburg and ten from Cape Town.
Then let the fun begin.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251817 06/23/19 11:22 AM
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We are at Lion Sands now and waiting for the people from Cape Town to arrive. Saw the resident male Nyala on arrival. Monkeys stole something off the bar while we were waiting for our rooms to be ready.


Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251818 06/23/19 02:55 PM
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Let the party begin ! I love seeing those clever, pesky monkeys !


Marcie

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251819 06/24/19 07:06 PM
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Lion Sands has delivered the first time guests are thrilled. They have all seen the big five already,

Elephants came right up to the vehicle and there was a very young baby. Great sighting.

Lions from the Southern Pride. These were the same lions we saw on Lioness one that had the buffalo kill in the water. The two sub adult males following the Southern Pride are now fully accepted and part of the pride. So that is good they needed more adult lions to stay stronger.

Saw the mating display of the yellow billed hornbills, never seen that before. Rhino and baby. Hippos out of the water, lots of giraffes some saw necking giraffes. Cape Buffalo but a poor sighting.

Leopard this afternoon was great. Old very large male leopard who has been kicked out of his territory, There was a bull in musth causing lots of havoc on the road going to the leopard sighting. So we had to go a long way round to get there. The leopard became mobile so we had a good sighting.

Then a vehicle arrived at the leopard sighting and they knew the elephant was about to reach the cheetah sighting. Not wanting that encounter we decided to leave. The new vehicle (our group) stayed and the elephant walked straight to the car. The videos were great. The driver moved his vehicle out of the way and the elephant just passed by. No problems but some hearts pumping I am sure.

Tonight we had a Bush dinner that was great.

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Yellow Hornbill mating display

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African Fish Eagle

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Burchell's Coucal.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251820 06/25/19 10:14 AM
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Nice drives this morning. Between the vehicles was a black rhino, leopard, elephants, white rhino and calf, and a good sighting of Cape Buffalo.

The white rhino with calf was the same ones we saw on the last group. Male rhino following the mother and calf with female sounding “back off”. When she does the male freezes. This time the baby did a little charge to the male to back off. Also the mother laid down and the calf started nursing.

Buffalo we hoped to see them go to the river. They were on their way but so slowly and breakfast was calling. But for the new people it was up close and personal they loved it. One buffalo seem to be the “flavor of the day” most of the oxpeckers were on his back.

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While I was posting this an Inyala was standing on our porch I took these pictures from the room.

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Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251821 06/25/19 11:39 AM
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Young adult Bateleur Eagle.
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Water Buck family.
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Vervet Monkey.
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Young bulls practicing their skills.
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Lion Sands from across the Sabi River.
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Dave, Joan, Ngaire, Mike & Janelle at a sundowner.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251822 06/25/19 04:50 PM
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Great photos and great stories. Wow, that elephant sure brought back a very vivid memory!


Kathy
Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251825 06/25/19 07:57 PM
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Wonderful drive this afternoon. Highlights were a hyena den with six week old pups. A leopard in a tree with an inyala kill. One of our vehicles saw the leopard take the kill up the tree. A rhino walked right under the leopard in the tree. Leopard watched the rhino intently. Dead impala in the waterhole with a crocodile eating the carcass. Pictures will follow later.

So everyone is going on the morning drive tomorrow ending at breakfast on the deck over the river and then straight to Mala Mala.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251826 06/26/19 11:06 AM
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Final drive Lion Sands.

Started with two sets of necking giraffes. Quite young males just practicing b

Then we found a young hyena with a meaty bone. Three much larger hyenas were trying to get it away from the young hyena but not forcefully. Lots of noise from them as the little one squealed as they came close. Strange they did not take they could have done that easily. The logical explanation was the young hyena was of a higher rank. Fascinating to watch.

Black rhino. These are so hard to see so many times we have raced to a black rhino and if lucky we see a shadow in the bushes. This sighting was so different.
He showed himself and we followed him for about 15 minutes. Another car arrived and that spooked him and he ran off. Fantastic sighting.

The leopard in the tree was still there and posing nicely and a hyena was patiently waiting for drops of meat under the tree.

Elephants crossing in front of us on the way to the river.

Now at Mala Mala always feels like coming home. All settled in our room and lunch shortly and our first game drive at Mala Mala.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251827 06/26/19 11:11 AM
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Our last drive at Lion Sands, the highlight was the leopard from yesterday was down from the tree, lounging in the grass at the foot of the tree. About 6’ away was a hyena also just snoozing and waiting for the leopard to go back up and drop a few tidbits from his kill. Really interesting to watch the 2 of them just ignoring the others presence so close by.

Also had a black rhino come right up to our vehicle and kick some dirt at us.

We have arrived at. Mala Mala, my personal favorite and I am ensconced on my back deck with a glass of Pinotage waiting for some elephants to walk on by.

Barring that I will go to lunch. 😄

Life is indeed good!
————————
Helen

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251828 06/26/19 11:54 AM
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Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251829 06/26/19 02:05 PM
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Great photos...LOVE those animals !


Marcie

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251830 06/26/19 06:09 PM
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Wonderful sightings and great pictures! I can see why so many keep going back! Enjoy!


Sue
Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251831 06/26/19 07:14 PM
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First drive Mala Mala was amazing

First five minutes we found a female lion that has cubs (about six weeks old so still in hiding) hope she brings them out while we are here. Then within a few more minutes we had a Leopard up close and we followed him for quite a while. Then we followed elephants that ended up drinking at the river. Then saw a big bull elephant in musth blocking the road. Changed course and found another lioness. That is lot of excitement for one game drive.

But that was topped with a cheetah mother and a year old cub. The cheetahs were on a termite mound. Cub left the mound and stalked and ran for an impala the cheetah cub missed. One of our vehicles saw the action as they where luckily parked in the right spot. The cub came back then the two cheetahs went mobile. The mother jumped on a log and I think saw some zebra. Then both cheetahs headed for the herd of zebra. The zebra stallion started sounding the alarm. Of course cheetah cannot take down zebra unless a small baby so we knew nothing was going to happen, but it was fun to watch. Last two sightings a giant eagle out that was calling and turning his head up, down and in circles, really neat. To finish off with a large male lion on its back. It was getting dark and unfortunately he did not get up. Jam packed game drive.

I was too entranced in the day to take even one picture. Ken has a ton but going to take him a while to go through them and post some. I know must have some great ones.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251833 06/26/19 07:26 PM
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What an exciting game drive Ngaire !! Can hardly wait to see Ken's photos.


Marcie

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251835 06/27/19 11:09 AM
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Verreaux's eagle-owl.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251836 06/27/19 11:10 AM
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Ken is working on them now. In contrast to yesterday afternoon this morning was absolutely quiet. None of the vehicles saw anything much. Wild dog tracks were found but no dogs.

Did not see much but enjoyed finding a nest for the saddle billed stork with two chicks. Plus impala going to the river in groups running fast to the water, drinking quickly and running back to the herd. Must have been 200 impala. We also saw the klip springers on the rocks.

This afternoon we looked for dog tracks and saw very little. One bull elephant and another Gowie male that is hurt and in bad shape. However it was Janelles birthday and that vehicle saw the big five in the afternoon drive. Perfect for the birthday girl to have the best drive.

Tomorrow we go to Cheetah Plains to check that lodge out and will spend the night and experience two game drives. Hope it is worth it I hate leaving Mala Mala for the night and two game drives.


Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251837 06/27/19 12:00 PM
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Saddle billed stork with two chicks.
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Lilac breasted roller.
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Long tailed shrike.
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Burchells starling.
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African fish eagle.
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Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251842 06/29/19 07:12 PM
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Cheetah Plains is a wonderful new lodge. Had great game and varied topography and a huge traversing area. Will probably use it in the future. More expensive than our other lodges. We saw mating warthogs, first time I have seen that.

Game drive at Mala Mala today was great. Everyone had a excellent game drive. For us it was seeing a female leopard walking and calling for her cub. Then the cub responded and came running toward the mother. Lots of loving and playing between them. Then the female started walking with a very obvious sense of purpose. We believed she had a kill and was taking her cub to the kill to eat. We followed for a long time and finally left to allow another vehicle in the sighting. After we left we got the call she did have a kill. It was on the ground in a ditch. We hope she will put it up a tree and we will go check tomorrow.

Others saw the big five. All saw leopard and tracked and found a lion. Happy campers tonight. One more game drive left at Mala Mala and then off to Makanyi. Hope that pride of lions with the cubs is still around.

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Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251843 06/30/19 07:33 AM
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LION HEAVEN!!!!!!

Started off within five minutes we got the word a male and female lions had been sighted walking together. On the way to join that sighting we found another male lion. These two are the Gowie brothers. The second male was following the pair that were together. We were following these lions for a long time. The male was making advances and she was ignoring him. Now and then growling at him. The second male never approached the couple just kept them in sight. Then another female lion appeared. She is the mother of the new cub about weeks old. Another vehicle followed her she went to the cubs. So we also got to see the cubs they were so cute. Fantastic morning.
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Mike, Reggie, Bruce, Nic, Amy & Bruce.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251844 06/30/19 07:17 PM
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First afternoon at Makanyi was excellent. Seven rhinos together and one mother and baby had injuries. So there must have a fight between rhinos based on the injuries. The tip of her horn was damaged. The injured rhino was aggressive towards the other rhinos. Really interesting to watch. We stayed quite a long time watching the rhinos.

Another rhino was drinking at the dam. I took a “comfort stop” with hippos on one side and a rhino in sight just across a small part of the lake. Felt like Jane of Jungle! Overall we saw 10 rhino today.

One fun event was a small monitor lizard trying to find lapwing birds eggs. The birds were going crazy.

Three really massive kudus biggest I have ever seen and very calm. On the way home we saw a gennet he was calm and stalking probably a mouse.

We saw a young bull elephant and to top off the day the other two cars tracked and found the Birmingham lion pride. The Birmingham pride includes the cubs that were on our Lioness pin and they are now 1 year older. So nice to see them again.

The Avoka pride with the young cubs are on an adjoining property where we can drive if the owner of the property is not in residence. However the owner is in residence so we cannot drive there. However, he is due to leave soon so hopefully we can see them once he leaves.

Amos the chef provided a great meal tonight we are all stuffed. I also changed the seating and found a formula that works really well where no one is cramped. Two chairs at each end and two on each side for a table of eight. Cannot believe I did not do this before. So much better.

Pictures will follow.

It is a new day tomorrow looking forward to it.
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Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251845 07/01/19 08:50 AM
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Next day. Lions prints from the night before right at the lodge. Followed the tracks but the lions moved off to Kruger. At least I got to see my lion cubs from last year all grown up.

Saw about seven giraffe one that had lost her tail. Great coffee stop at the main dam with the hippos, elephant and crocodile. Two very relaxed rhinos came to the water. There was zero breeze and I got a great shot with a perfect mirror image of the full rhino. Not supposed to post pictures of rhinos. I googled that and found out that you need to turn off the GPS imprint on your phone. I had not done that so I cannot post my picture. We also saw an old buffalo. There were elephants but we were running out of time so we headed back to the lodge.


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Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251846 07/01/19 07:09 PM
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Fantastic afternoon. Today everyone saw the big five today. Rhino, elephant, Cape buffalo, lion and leopard.

For our vehicle it started with a great elephant encounter. Mother came right up to the vehicle with her baby. Almost trunk on the vehicle. Shook her head and backed off. Ken was so close he could only take a picture of her eye. The little elephant copied mom with a good shake of her head. Tiny baby was nursing all very close. I have a video but cannot post that from here.

Picture someone in our vehicle took of the elephant that came so close to our vehicle n
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Then we found the Avoca lion pride. Sad news one of the four tiny cubs was missing so only three left now. So nice to see them again they had full bellies but fully consumed what they had killed and were at a dam near the airstrip. One little cub separated herself from the other cubs and slept the whole time, picture below.

On the way home they found the leopard that they had been tracking. A female with two cubs. One vehicle saw all three together. There is a male and female cub. The young male cub is very calm and we were told it is like he wants to be seen. We only saw the female cub but she was on a termite mound and posing beautifully.

On the way home we saw a giant eagle owl and a snake eagle. They are stunning birds. We saw a juvenile earlier on the trip but this was an adult.

High spirits on everyone’s part and Kim, the guest host did a special South African shot of peppermint and amarula to celebrate.

Been a great stay. Good sightings, perfect weather and Amos wonderful cooking. Tomorrow is our last day now it is almost over we feel sad to be leaving South Africa.
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Snake Eagle.
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Giant Eagle owl.
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Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251848 07/02/19 02:04 AM
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Thank you for sharing all the wonderful reports and photos!

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251849 07/02/19 09:42 AM
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Makanyi morning drive - only one drive left now. What a morning it was. Makanyi has really delivered not a quiet game drive yet. This morning AGAIN THE BIG FIVE plus a super leopard sighting, honey badger, and giant eagle owl very close.

Off we race to the Avoca pride but things started to happen!

THE MALE LEOPARD CUB - highlight of the day.
Yesterday Alfred told us about the male leopard cub and his behavior. The cub likes the vehicles. If you drive by he comes out of the bush to show himself. Always posing and coming close to the vehicles. No reason to drive to him he just comes to you. Sounded very far fetched to me but that is exactly what happened.

The male cub was on a rock when we first saw him. Our vehicle and a land owner’s vehicle were there. He got up and walked to the land owners vehicle, circled the vehicle and looked he was reading Toyota on the back. Then he came to our vehicle inspected our vehicle and sat down close to the side of our vehicle. Then he started stalking and disappeared into a river bed. Alfred said he is stalking something but don’t worry he will come back.

Sure enough the leopard came back very quickly and sat down about 6 feet from our vehicle. The land owner started to leave and the leopard jumped up like saying “don’t leave” and ran to the landowners vehicle. We radioed the land owner that the leopard was behind him, so he stopped his vehicle. Then the leopard stopped and sat in the road between the two vehicles. Felt like his actions meant “ i have you both in sight no one leaves”. Never seen anything like this ever. But the lions were waiting so we did leave.

Then we ran into a very large herd of buffalo. They were on the road and on both sides. There were two rhinos with the buffalo. Next up the honey badger. Pretty good sighting as far as honey badgers go, Ken probably got a good picture.

The Avoca pride had left the watering hole so we tracked them and found them again. They were in a very difficult spot so “off road” we went. As we got close we heard a growl made us all jump. It was the big male lion we nearly ran over him. So we stopped within a few feet of him. He gave us a glare and then settled down quite comfortable with our close proximity.

We viewed the pride for sometime and it was getting close to breakfast. So we left and said elephants please. Of course we found the elephants they were on a mission it appeared to a watering hole moving quite fast. So we went ahead to the water waiting for them but they never came. There was some construction going on so we think that deterred them from their mission.

Back home to fresh baked light scones. Sad to think only one more game drive left.

Been a marvelous safari for both groups.
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Honey Badger.

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251850 07/02/19 02:37 PM
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That's amazing about the Leopard Cub coming to he vehicle ! I've never seen that happen. Your So Africa trip has been amazing ! Thanks for all the stories and great photos. Safe travels home.


Marcie

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251851 07/02/19 07:38 PM
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Last drive for Lioness 2 did not disappoint.

We started off for buffalo as one on our vehicle missed seeing a rhino to complete another day of the big five. There were two rhinos with the buffalo. But webgot side tracked by elephants at a water hole. Tiny baby having trouble with his trunk and wobbly on the ground. Then we saw a Marshall eagle and ground hornbills and a crocodile sunning himself. Then we decided to give up the search for the rhino and go back to the Avoca lions.

When we arrived four of the lionesses were leaving and went right by our vehicle it looked like they were going hunting. The little ones were running around and playing. The mother got up and called the cubs. They all went running to mom, jumping and loving on her. So adorable! The mother started walking away up a rock bank with the cubs following. Then the big male walked right by our vehicle and followed the mother and cubs.

Just as we lost sight of the male the mother and her cubs returned to the rock bank came down and stopped right in front of our vehicle in the perfect spot for our viewing. The cubs started nursing, others were playing it was an incredible sighting.

Then we got the word WILD DOGS. We were a long way from that area and decided to stay with the lions. The other two vehicles raced to that location but missed the dogs. Leopard was also seen by the other vehicles.

The consensus was the best game of the trip was at Makanyi. Mala Mala usually has the best game but we did have several days where we saw very little. The final morning was amazing though at Mala Mala.

Been a great safari Ken will post some final pictures. We leave tomorrow.
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Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251853 07/04/19 03:40 AM
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I am thinking the young leopard has been around game drive vehicles his whole life and learned that they are not a threat. He has decided he wants to interact. Cats are very smart. My cats have all learned how to communicate with me, and that is what he is trying to do with the vehicles (and persons inside).

Re: Lioness Two [Re: Ngaire] #251854 07/04/19 07:14 AM
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