Wow! That Djuma drive sounds spellbinding. Excellent reporting, Eugene. Keep it up! One thing for sure: that impala was the unfortunate center of attention.

We were sad Brandon, our BRA, was reassigned to new guests as of the afternoon drive. His enthusiasm and knowledge made for entertaining, action-packed game drives. He rolled past us, 8 happy new campers in tow. Today he was tackling skeet shooting for their mid-day activity. Trevor did a remarkable job of ticking off many new species of birds. There was a male leopard sighting - different animal from the morning drive - so we were able to sneak in for his stroll in the open clearing. Once again, quite the photo opportunity for the four of us. Amazing sunset last night, coupled with warm weather and a male warthog who was sure "not now" meant 'pretty soon'. He was quite literally trotting directly behind her, singing a little vibrating kind of song. Maybe this is a bush based marital aid? Could be. They interspersed the mating dance with grass munching breaks. Trevor hasn't seen warthog mating, so it was fun to watch him take it all in. The male didn't score while we were there, so hopefully Trevor sees him in the next day or so.

The lodge graciously offered to serve our dinners privately so we could enjoy our rooms one last night. We had, though, already arranged for the wine cellar cheese and wine tasting cocktail hour with Derrick, our butler, so opted to eat in the main lodge. At 7:30, we were escorted to the wine cellar, comfortable for a maximum of four guests and Derrick. A lovely fruit and cheese plate lay amidst our wine glasses. Derrick asked us which red we'd like to try first. "Pinotage" was the unanimous choice. "Ah ... the LEOPARD!" replies Derrick. Leopard? Say more, Derrick.

Derrick expounded on wine characteristics training. Lion Sands staff goes to a vintner near Cedarburg (Cape Town area) for training. The vintner has matched various wine characteristics with African birds and animals. It was a most appreciated and rare glimpse into 'bush logic' and it worked for us. So .. we sampled 'leopard', 'rhino' and 'elephant' before choosing elephant for dinner. Once seated, Malcolm bounded out, enthusiastic as ever, and matched courses with the 'elephant' in the room. The grilled beef filet and the bushbuck ragout were great choices. We met Rob, the other owner, and enjoyed a chat between courses. But .. one can laugh too long and oversleep one's wake up call. Time to retire for the night.

For the first time in 18 game drives, we could barely rouse ourselves long enough to answer our wake-up call. We slogged our way through a cup of coffee, got dressed and headed out again.

We got to add a couple of hikes off road this morning, walking down the path to see the hippo baby again. Once off the vehicle, we learned our tracker Juice would be changing a vehicle tire that suffered a 'quick puncture' in the local parlance. Mamma had hidden baby, so we were happy to reboard once the tire was changed. Mary Ellen, momentarily appointed our quality assurance manager, quickly asked Trevor if this tire was an improvement, given it was less than full of its required air pressure. Trevor assured us it would be fine, and he was of course correct.

Back to birding, where we saw a gorgeous orange breasted bush shrike, saw a pair of fork-tailed drongo give a tree snake an absolute tongue thrashing as it ate one of the eggs from their nest, as Bateleur eagles soared overhead. We were secretly rooting for the snake to get his payback in the form of the eagles choosing him for lunch. No such luck while we were there. I got a great video of a rasping cisticola, annoyed we were so close to his territory. I'll see if my Ralphie or Sandy can learn his call. Then again, do I want to listen to that for the next several years if they master it? Probably not.

We headed back to the hippos and prepared for our coffee hour. We hiked down to river's edge, seeing a pied Kingfisher pair, blacksmith plovers (lapwings for the other birder in the audience) and then it was time for more action. A male hippo came out of the water, marking 'his' terrority in full sight of the resident territorial male. That produced tons of grunts and unfriendly commentary. A few hippo yawns, carefully timed when we were looking away, were there to be enjoyed. On the way home, Jim and Gary told Juice he could relax in the truck while they tracked us home.

We are now awaiting transport to our commuter flight to Johannesburg in the library, enjoying a glass of 'fish eagle' for me and Earl Grey tea for Mary Ellen. Jim and Gary are sipping their dry lemon sodas.

This has been another wonderful trip, filled with lots of memories and great time in the African bush. Hope you all have enjoyed being along for the ride. We've enjoyed having you!

Pleasure, Malachite RM