Evening Game drive, on 6/13/23.

The Brown Hyena is the rarest Hyena. Found in very few places in South Africa they are around in Madikwe where we are right now. We went by a Hyena den and had a great sighting. Two babies hyena were present. One quite a bit bigger. The smaller one stayed with us for a little while and then retreated into theen. The larger hyena walked around a lot before disappearing in thick brush. The other vehicles saw the mother as she returned to the den.

Saw lots of animals on the way to a wonderful sundowner where there was a fire “that did not smoke” a lookout where you could have a great view, all kinds of liquor it was like a huge bar and lot of things to eat. The chairs were arranged in a semi-circle and I did a little event for those that were having birthdays this month.

Morning Game drive on 6/14/23 morning

We started off looking for the wild dogs. They are here but we cannot track then down. Word is the alpha female gave birth to puppies yesterday. I asked about lions and two males had been found. The drive was fantastic. Red roads, while roads and black roads. A volcanic hill that was all red rocks. Beautiful scenery in this area of the reserve. It took us a while to find them and on the way we went over a dirt soccer field. That was a surprise. We found the two males not in their prime yet ,about 3 years old. Still big and good-sized mains. The lions are Kalahari lions in Madikwe. All very large. Basically sleeping but head up at times.

Then on leaving elephants were making a racket and we saw they were upset by a black rhino. These black rhinos are very hard to see, usually in the thickets where you just get a glimpse of them. An aggressive rhino not like the gentle white rhino. He was in a clearing, very close to us just off the road. Then he moved away from the elephants and stopped behind us in the road and posed. Then he trotted to the other side of the road and started slowly moving towards us. Stopped probably about 30 feet away. Lots of cameras clicking away. Then turned and went into the thicket. Best black rhino sighting probably never see one that close again.

Then we went to the largest watering hole in the reserve. It was so special. About 30 zebras excited to get to the water, little ones included. Some waded into the water to drink. Two Cape Buffalo, wildebeest, impalas a hive to activity. Loved this sighting and I am sure elephant would have shown up if we had waited but we were already late for breakfast.

Amazingly the other vehicles also saw different black rhino. So hard to see it was just a black rhino morning.