Djuma today - check out today's webcam. http://www.djuma.com/blog/index.php?special=Webcam

If there's any way to get this morning's game drive, it should be worth watching from about 6:35 to 7:15 am

Thrills and kills

Vuyatela offers early morning tea and rusks (bars as we call 'em in the great Midwest) prior to the 6:30 am morning game drives. We then enjoy a brunch from 9:30 to 10:30. It's free time until supertea at 2:30 with a 3:30 evening game drive depature. We have modified our schedule for a 6 am depature and a 4 pm departure, as it is hotter and more humid.

We settled in our room as the elephants and hippos put on a great show. Gary took on the job of official mid-day photographer. Our Texon explained hippos stay in the water as they get easily sunburned during the day. Our hippos must be the jet lagged variety:





We arrived at supertea for smoked duck rolls, jelly roll, tea, salad and .. OMG! our favorite worldwide food, fried spiced onion rings. The batter was tempura-style - just the way we like 'em. Lots of impala, waterbuck and kudo were in the grass not more than 25 meters away. A South African came over and introduced herself. It was a lively conversation about various ways to enjoy wildlife on safari.

4 pm and we were off with Texon. We stopped to admire a gorgeous bull elephant, and then circled back to where the lions had been in the morning. The juju is still working - we had three lionesses, a year old male cub and six of the cutest 2 month old lion cubs. They were safely stowed in taller grass. Pictures were tougher but the setting was priceless. Each of the younger lionesses had 3 cubs apiece. We stayed there for a considerable period of time, then headed out for sundowners.

Cocktails were served at the central bar overlooking the Djuma webcam watering hole. Texon joined us for dinner. He came by way of Londolozi and Lion Sands to Vuyatela. The good news is his family lives only about 20 minutes outside the gates to the Sabi Sands reserve. He's a delightful guide. We were all very tired for some reason and bolted to bed by 9 pm.

In keeping with the local African lingo, we've renamed our resting room 'the shabeen'. The staff member knocked on our door at 5:30 am. All I heard was Gary calling out "We're awake. Thank you". Ugh .. time to get dressed. Time to stalk for coffee. This was sweet .. the staff turns on the hot water kettle, so two scoops in the french press and you are in business. We promptly arrived at 6 am to start our safari. Texon confidently swung outside of the gate, where the baboons had been making a considerable fuss.

On our left, the fence was halfway knocked down. On our right, the carcass of the wildebeest who was slammed into said fence lay in the shade of a tree, about 50% intact. Our lionesses were there with their cubs. On the hilltop, the young wildebeest stood at attention, whisking its tail as it looked for its mother. To the left of us about 200 meters away, eight hyenas were circling and taking up positions to encroach on the tasty remains of the wildebeest's mother. It was 6:35 am and the next actor moved in: the webcam truck. If you see this part of the footage, we were were no more than 20 feet in front of the ranger's truck.

The lionesses did not like the hyena movement, so the lead one charged a hyena who got too close. The oldest lioness was posted as lookout at the kill site; while the remaining lioness and the hapless one year old male were supposed to keep the tiny cubs safe. The tiny cubs, though, hadn't memorized the script. They were hell bent to keep up with momma/auntie at all costs, if we she was traveling at high speed straight towards the hyenas. Yikes! Momma charged again and carefully marked the line beyond which those pesky hyenas were going to be guaranteed a fight. Momma then trotted back towards the kill, all six cubs in tow. The two minders circled behind the cubs, securing their general safety. We watched for quite some time as the cubs alternated between affection with the older lions and joining in snacks at the kill site. One of the oldest tiny cubs was exerting maximum effort to gulp down some meat. The cuteness index soared skyward.

It was off for the 'morning elephants crossing just in front of a huge cape buffalo herd' sighting. Many of the buffaloes were resting, as small calves stuck close to their moms. Some of the bulls had a beef with others in the herd. Horns were locked, a cloud of dust and a swarm of flies rising up from the beating hooves. A space opened in the roadway so we proceeded, where one tiny calf was crumpled under its mother about 10 meters off the road. It must have been either critically injured by a flying hoof during the bull fights or suffered a life ending complication from birth. The herd cleared a space for the calf, whose only remaining movement was an occasional twitch or an irregular breath. Sad as it was to watch it dying, the hyenas have a choice between taking on the lionesses for the rest of the wildebeest or having the whole calf to themselves.

We got the call; Lots the spotter jumped into the Toyota and Texon yelled: Hang on! We are going FAST!! We grabbed the roll bars and headed off in a cloud of dust. Texon said the lionesses had come back and killed the baby wildebeest. Geez .. those were some kind of hungry lions. We sped around until we were stopped dead in our tracks by a group having coffee. Lots of local dialect was exchanged as the other car was moved a few feet so we could squeak by. We rounded a corner quite close to the lion kills area and .. huh? .. that's a leopard. Texon just grinned and said "it was the OTHER lion in these parts!" Another Texon tall tale? Yep .. and we fell for it :D

The leopard walked over to the termite mound .. where its twin was huddled on the other side. Yay! twin leopard cubs about 6 months old. The cuteness factor intensified (if that is even possible at this point) and we got some decent digital memories. There was a light sound and both cubs took off. Momma must be nearby. We found her about 10 minutes later, plotting strategy in a grass thicket. Impala were feeding close by. We tried to warn 'em .. but it was time for us to start back towards camp.

We pass on the morning coffee stop and circled the pond where the presiding hippo harrumphed at us for disturbing his solitary territory. As we headed back in, the radio crackled with more news. The leopardess had successfully snagged an impala and the cubs were on their way. We will bat clean up on that sighting this afternoon.

At brunch, we enjoyed a continental breakfast followed by eggs or porridge. We had the perfect view of the main pond, where one hippo was actively swimming around. He'd swish his tail so hard it looked like he had an outboard motor. Two others were battling over either turf or reproductive opportunity. The first hippo was either sleepy or suffering from indigestion. He had no fewer than 4 huge yawns during the course of our brunch. He was in profile to us, as his head tipped far, far back. Talk about a "Y" rising up out of the water!

It is now our 'resting period'. Gary is once again glued to the deck, tracking the fighting hippos. We just heard some elephant trumpets, so I hope we will get the ellies back at the watering and mud bath hole.

That concludes this morning's segment of 'Djuma Today'.

Pleasure, No. 7 Ranking Member