Timing - things change so much with timing.

For all those that were at Madikwe on ROAR ll with the first rains about a week ago came GREEN. All those black burn spots are now a bright emerald green it is to pretty here it is like a different place. No dust at all. Downside with the green season there are more bugs.

We have lucked out so far and it has not been that hot. Not cold either although for a very short time this morning I used the blanket. WAKE UP AT 4.30 AM. Out at 5.00 am. YIKES! It can just get so hot after around 9.00 am at this time of year they are going out earlier and coming in earlier.

Donna and Alan said they could not go off road at Lions Sands due to the heavy rains and so they were completely limited to the roads. Meanwhile they have been able to go off road in Madikwe Hills and have loved that. Timing you just never know how it is all going to come together.

I hope where Marcie, Tom, Frank and Carla are the off roading is still available. Although it is all Sabi Sands, Lion Sands and Savanna are quite a distance from each other.

We have had two game drives with some of the highlights being a 2 day old giraffe, some good lion sightings and two male lion brothers roaring to each other to locate one another. Donna, Alan,Cindy and David were right next to one of the roaring male lions. Franz one of the rangers here did something I had never seen. We were a little distance from a jackal. He made a call and the jackal stopped, and immediately responded to the call. The jackal came right over to our vehicle. Then the jackal called back in reponse to Franz's call right at the land rover. Watching a calling jackal is so neat. The jackal walked around the vehicle, gave up and trotted back into the bush. It was fantastic I have never seen a ranger do that before. The spotted hyena den we drove past but they were not out.

As an update to the Roar ll group. The rangers said the little spotted hyena that the mother would not feed is still doing well but shunned by the rest of the family and often is sitting outside by itself.

The two wild dogs were released from the enclosure. They did not get any additional wild dogs as they hoped they might. The other wild dog group just had 5 new pups and are now 16 strong. We just hope the big pack of wild dogs does not find the other two wild dogs or they will be killed.

The Brown Hyena den was visited by Donna, Alan, David and Cindy's landrover and they saw the brown hyena pup it came out for a viewing.

I am anxiously awaiting news of the group getting off the Navigator coming from Richards Bay. I like being with people as they travel so I can be sure all goes well. They have some complicated logistics in getting from Richards Bay to Madikwe and wont arrive until around 4.30 to 5.00 pm.