SECOND GAME DRIVE

This time of the year the lodges take people out at 5.00 am to. 5.30 am. It gets light about 4.30am. Not in our lodge. This is the beauty of having a full lodge where we can set the program. We are meeting at about 6.30am and going out when we are ready after tea or coffee and a snack of fruit, cereal or yogurt.
Much more civilized.

Today's game drive started slow but then it turned into a great drive. Along with sighting of plains game, waterbuck and warthog we had not seen yet we saw the following key highlights.

A flock of ostrich. We seldom see ostrich and they were a little far off but close to the vehicle was a male in heat sporting his brightly pink colored legs and beak to prove it.

A herd of Red Wildebeests running across the road. With them were very small babies running like the wind so absolutely adorable to watch

A nest in the grass of the tiniest little birds. How that tracker spotted that nest was amazing he said he saw the mother in the grass. These little chicks were squawking away with their bright orange mouths wide open. They were so tiny.

We got the call the mother cheetah and four Cubs had been spotted so we were on a mission to get to this area. Of course we came across our gentle giant was blocking the road. Happily eating away but no way to get around him.

By the time we got to the area the other vehicles had left. The cheetahs had moved into a dense vegetated area on top of a hill. We proceeded up the hill and the views were absolutely spectacular . The river below, the mountains just stunning. We suggested stopping for coffee but the Mark said the cheetahs were too close. The ranger and tracker went in on foot and found the cheetahs.

They were really very close to our vehicle. We started down the hill and got a great angle very close to the cheetahs. This was a five star sighting. Mother and four cheetah cubs completely relaxed with our presence. Sitting up, moving around not just sleeping. The Cubs were precious. One cub had thorns with one of the thorns in its mouth that we hope will work its way out. This thorn may hinder eating. We stayed with the cheetahs until they moved into an even steeper area . The cheetah were so incredibly relaxed I am sure both the vehicles will see them again just a matter of spotting them. Tracks are harder to follow here than in the Sabi sands area

The other vehicle had arrived to see the cheetahs but they were no longer reachable. So we had a joint coffee break with chocolate muffins. We slowly made our way back but kept stopping to look at things. We saw a bat eared fox. Huge ears never seen that before he was reasonably close. There cliffs that looked like Cappadocia in Turkey the topography here is extremely varied terrain here.
We did not get back until about 10.00 am

The other vehicle had great sightings also. More lion and a rare sighting of a rhino trying to attract a female. The male rhino stomps and make noises and sprays. Such fun to watch. They said the female rhino was not the slightest bit interested. The female had a baby older than the one we saw on the first drive. We believe we saw the same female and baby rhino on the way home but unfortunately the male rhino must have given up and moved on

So game has been great. Looking forward to this afternoon. Ken is working on pictures right now just so many to go through.

TONIGHT WE GET A BRIEFING ON THE RHINO DARTING SCHEDULED FOR TOMORROW MORNING. WE ARE ALL EXCITED ABOUT THIS NEW ADVENTURE. THEY DART EVERY RHINO EACH YEAR TO RUN TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS AND WE WILL BE INVOLVED IN THIS TOMORROW. I GUESS IT IS AN EARLY START.