Ngaire, I do hope you finally get to see those elusive WILD DOGS this trip.

Thanks, all, for the great reports and pix. Wish I could be there, too.

LOVING all the detailed reporting and photos from jungles to streets. Thank you all so much!! I think you need to stay on ROAR3 a little longer, what ever will we do when this fabulous trip ends ??

we all arrived in King's Camp this afternoon. Patrick got off to a good start with his tracker, Albert, finding a prime time younger male elephant, many giraffe and one of Rockfig's granddaughters, a gorgeous leopard in a tree. Get this: she's 24 months old (not quite ready to leave her mother's care), has taken down an impala, has left it ON THE GROUND as multiple dozen of vultures have gathered. The vultures don't dare to move in as Rockfig III is one very strong young lady. Patrick says unless the lions decide to grab what's left of the impala, Rockfig III has at least a few more days' worth of food waiting for her.

Dinner was boma-style this evening. We met a few of the other King's Campers from So Cal. Weather has been glorious .. we hope to have a great few days while we are here.


Cheers, Anne

WOO HOO Anne!!! Keep having fun and keep posting -

Loving hearing from you Anne! We have lots of lct people in Africa now, tune in if you want to go but have never......

Another King's Camper checking in here. This morning's game drive was spectacular - a gorgeous pride of lions. We've all taken so many photos that it may take months to get through them. I'm hoping Grant will get that job done quickly for posting. I just want to say King's Camp is in excellent shape, even better than our 1st visit. Terrific to see the familiar faces of the staff. We arrived to a wonderful warm welcome.
We've all been behaving, at least for now :)
Off to some much needed down time.

FINALLY - I have seen WILD DOG! Been years coming. My first game drive at Leopard Hills we went to the den and were treated to about 20 minutes of the alpha female moving around outside the den and at one point raising on her hind legs when something she heard caused her concern. We found out later that a lion had been spotted in the direction she was checking out. This morning we went back and saw her again but she was not in sight for as long this time. The group here saw the pack of dogs hunting before I arrived and hopefully I will get to see that too.

WONDERFUL leopard sighting today. A female using all her feminine charms to get a huge male to give her some attention. He was obvioulsy unimpressed whenever she came over to present herself he just snarled and hissed. Fascinating to watch.

At Tintswalo and here at Leopard Hills it was the opposite. Male lions simply found the female lions had a headache!

To the Kings Camp Group
So glad you saw the kill with the vultures that to me is an incredible sighting and I have only seen that once with all the safaris I have done. It has remained one of my favorite sightings ever. My experience was both hyena and vultures at a giraffe. I was discussing that this morning as one of my favorite things to see and you posted that this had happened for you at Kings Camp.

Ken is looking at his pictures now and hopefully can get some posted. One picture will be of a fantastic experience we had on our last game drive at Tintswalo! A beautiful sunny day at a large watering area that was postcard perfect even with no action.

We were waiting for a herd of about 400 cape buffalo to come to drink. We had been amongst the herd the day before but to see them all racing to the water was amazing. They just kept coming and coming. It was a great scene with them gleeful in the water and all the little calfs as well. What made it extra special was that we knew that two male lions were very close but they did not try to attack.

Each day has given me us some wonderful highlights and that is what keeps bringing us back. It is never the same.

Well, this is the end of week one for Doug and me. It has been absolutely incredible. We love Leopard Hills. The rangers are just the best, the food too good and the sightings have been different from what we have experienced on Roars I and II and ever so good.

Our alarm clock the past two mornings has been the roar of lions right near or on the Leopard Hills property. There have been daily lion sightings and you can watch them for hours. They all seem quite well fed and content to loll about.

There have been two highlights of the trip here so far...the wild dogs and the leopards. I was a bit worried about the leopard sightings since there is a new alpha male in town and he killed both the alpha male and his offspring quite recently. However, the mother of the offspring has decided to move on with the new alpha male and follows him everywhere, flirting up a storm. The male seems to be having none of it and there have been some nasty words "roars" exchanged. There is also a new male leopard around who is a hunk. He is checking out the territory. He appears quite young and has been stalking about as well. We have had the luxury of watching them for extended periods of time and we all have fantastic photos.

Our group had a terrific wild dog sighting on day 1 following them around for about an hour watching them play and hunt. Yesterday, we visited the bitch who is guarding the den filled with her yet to be seen offspring. There was another female dog, beta bitch, who played around with alpha bitch's alpha male and found herself pregnant. Well, this is evidently a no-no in the wild dog world and, when alpha bitch delivered her own bitches, she killed the other litter of pups. I feel like I am living in the Peyton Place of the animal kingdom.

There have been lovely giraffe and elephant sightings and we had a close encounter with a bull male elephant who decided to get up close and personal and stare us down.

We have seem lots of birds (the banana birds have been everywhere and loads of fun), impalas, Nyalas, baboons, kudo, mongoose, rhinos and hippos and some odd animals here and there whose names I forget.

The weather has been variable. Mornings are very cold and the days warm up to about 75-80. The past few days have been quite sunny, but today is overcast.

Last, but not least, we had a wonderful presentation and lecture on snakes this morning after breakfast. The lecturer brought a green mamba, a cobra, a puff adder, a python and something else pretty dangerous, a green tree snake of some kind, that is the most venomous snake in the world. He did all sorts of demonstrations with the snakes to show how docile and sweet they were. His most interesting tale included the fact that a black mamba roams free into his house and lives on the open support beams over his living room. He comes home each evening and hangs out while they watch TV, then goes to sleep for the night and then goes out for the day and returns each evening.

We've had one bush breakfast and our boma dinner is tonight. More tomorrow or whenever I have a chance to post. Off to lunch!

Thanks Andi and Ngaire for your great reports. I'm so glad that your sightings have been so exciting. I love hearing all about it!

Andi says it best! We have had the mosh amazing sightings
Almost have to pinch yourself to believe it is real. Sitting in the library and the wireless is good today. Just HAVE to skip lunch, breakfast was good and dinner will be here before I know it. The rangers here are amazing. David has managed to take a few photos, as some recall we have given him the title of "picture boy" on previous adventures. Everyone has some great pictures. I will have to get a little help from Karen possibly to get a few here. I'll work on some people shots.

Andi says it best! We have had the mosh amazing sightings
Almost have to pinch yourself to believe it is real. Sitting in the library and the wireless is good today. Just HAVE to skip lunch, breakfast was good and dinner will be here before I know it. The rangers here are amazing. David has managed to take a few photos, as some recall we have given him the title of "picture boy" on previous adventures. Everyone has some great pictures. I will have to get a little help from Karen possibly to get a few here. I'll work on some people shots.

Thank you for all the wonderful reports. Can picture what is happening with ANdi's great description. Ready for more pictures please.

Thanks for the reports! My anticipation is about to kill me!
--------------
Helen

Kings Camp arrival and game drive photos






Beautiful 2 year old leopardess


Pride of 9 cubs, three lionesses, and two male lions. There are two different litters of cubs - the younger cubs are only a few months old

lovely

Wow Grant, those are great shots.

Anne and Michele, did they take the bug spray on the way in.

Wonderful photos, Grant!

Great lion photos. Keep them coming.

--------------

Eugene

Great photos. Look like the same super plane we had last year. Did you have a woman pilot??

Bug spray towelettes made it in our luggage. good thing - this must be national fly week. many more than I remember on past trips - and the bug repellent is getting them out of my immediate vicinity.

We did not have a woman pilot, but we did have a computer engineer/photographer as our trainee co-pilot. Christo did a fine job of getting us to the camp, including dropping off a few passengers for the Singita property near Limpopo. Two landings for us!

Our morning started off with two young giraffes, their mothers and a male who was checking for signs of 'reproductive potential' amongst the ladies. The little ones couldn't have been more than 3 weeks old. The older one tried to get the younger one on the move, so kicked him in the back legs. They bounced around for a little while, and the bull giraffe fortunately left both of them alone.

The Timbavati brothers (2 of the 3) have grown remarkably since we were last here in Sept 2008. One was more interactive with the lionesses and the cubs. Watching the cubs swarm him when he came near was quite a sight. There was massive squabbling over which of the littlest ones would get a chance to nurse. They think 8 of the 9 cubs are male. The smallest is the female - and she didn't fight for space to nurse until a few of her brothers were in a food coma. Absolutely Christmastime for experiencing nature. By this afternoon, the entire pride had moved on and none of the rangers or trackers knew where they were.

We headed back for breakfast, naps, showers, lunch and general relaxation. Dinner features leg of lamb this evening, along with chicken and side dishes. Warren came up to greet us and asked if Ngaire was still coming over here. That explained the leg of lamb on the menu. Gary, of course, ordered one of each from the dessert choices on the menu. King's Camp had sighted the wild dogs on Monday but they took off along their merry way.

So .. the scout vulture was still in his tree, meaning Tumbela (a/k/a Rockfig III) was still enjoying her kill. No lions .. so what's a range rover to do? We pulled along part of a cape buffalo herd. They were quite edgy and had the bad manners to keep their rear ends in the good afternoon light. Their little dogies were well sprinkled through the crowd. This lead to talk of their resemblance to Texas Longhorns and the inevitable 'git on home, lil doggie' mindset in the herd.

Next thing we knew, we were headed to the airstrip. Lots of birds were chattering and impala were exceptionally jumpy. Down at the far end, we saw two range rovers. Hmmmm ... what does this mean?

Yep .. a dog day afternoon. There were 5 of the little beauties in all of their party colored coats with bright white blazes on their tails. The only clear shot I got of the one wild dog was while s/he was engaged in the elimination function, and it was in very low light conditions. This is a job for Photoshop. They move so quickly it is tough to get a clear photo of them.

Aha! Leopard hills must have helicoptered those doggies over here .. but where was Ngaire?

Umm .. nice thought, but it was not to be. The pack of 7 showed back up over lunchtime. We knew Ngaire and the group were singing 'Joy to the World' over at leopard hills, so off we crashed after the dogs. We tracked them for a little while, then they played games with us by running on either side of an old, steep riverbed.

We're back and preparing for dinner on this most wonderful of days and for this Three Dog Night.

Cheers, Anne

Bug spray towelettes made it in our luggage. good thing - this must be national fly week. many more than I remember on past trips - and the bug repellent is getting them out of my immediate vicinity.

We did not have a woman pilot, but we did have a computer engineer/award winning photographer as our trainee co-pilot. :D Christo did a fine job of getting us to the camp, including dropping off a few passengers for the Singita property near Limpopo. Two landings for us!

Our morning started off with two young giraffes, their mothers and a male who was checking for signs of 'reproductive potential' amongst the ladies. The little ones couldn't have been more than 3 weeks old. The older one tried to get the younger one on the move, so kicked him in the back legs. They bounced around for a little while, and the bull giraffe fortunately left both of them alone.

The Timbavati brothers (2 of the 3) have grown remarkably since we were last here in Sept 2008. One was more interactive with the lionesses and the cubs. Watching the cubs swarm him when he came near was quite a sight. There was massive squabbling over which of the littlest ones would get a chance to nurse. They think 8 of the 9 cubs are male. The smallest is the female - and she didn't fight for space to nurse until a few of her brothers were in a food coma. Absolutely Christmastime for experiencing nature. By this afternoon, the entire pride had moved on and none of the rangers or trackers knew where they were.

We headed back for breakfast, naps, showers, lunch and general relaxation. Dinner features leg of lamb this evening, along with chicken and side dishes. Warren came up to greet us and asked if Ngaire was still coming over here. That explained the leg of lamb on the menu. Gary, of course, ordered one of each from the dessert choices on the menu. King's Camp had sighted the wild dogs on Monday but they took off along their merry way.

So .. the scout vulture was still in his tree, meaning Tumbela (a/k/a Rockfig III) was still enjoying her kill. No lions .. so what's a range rover to do? We pulled along part of a cape buffalo herd. They were quite edgy and had the bad manners to keep their rear ends in the good afternoon light. Their little dogies were well sprinkled through the crowd. This lead to talk of their resemblance to Texas Longhorns and the inevitable 'git on home, lil doggie' mindset in the herd.

Next thing we knew, we were headed to the airstrip. Lots of birds were chattering and impala were exceptionally jumpy. Down at the far end, we saw two range rovers. Hmmmm ... what does this mean?

Yep .. a dog day afternoon. There were 5 of the little beauties in all of their party colored coats with bright white blazes on their tails. The only clear shot I got of the one wild dog was while s/he was engaged in the elimination function, and it was in very low light conditions. This is a job for Photoshop. They move so quickly it is tough to get a clear photo of them.

Aha! Leopard hills must have helicoptered those doggies over here .. but where was Ngaire?

Umm .. nice thought, but it was not to be. The pack of 7 showed back up over lunchtime. We knew Ngaire and the group were singing 'Joy to the World' over at leopard hills, so off we crashed after the dogs. We tracked them for a little while, then they played games with us by running on either side of an old, steep riverbed.

We're back and preparing for dinner on this most wonderful of days and for this Three Dog Night.

Cheers, Anne

Loving your reports, Anne. You have a way of entertaining us with your tales, or tales about tails. :) Keep having fun!

LOVE your excellent reporting Anne and all of Grant's fabulous pictures. It really is the next best thing (if that is at all possible) to being in Africa ourselves !! Thanks for taking us along.

Anne as usual great reports.

Three Dog Night--love it

Wild Dog Heaven.

Yesterday we found three wild dogs on the hunt. Amazing off road adventure following these guys I was in absolute heaven. The dogs also ran into a herd of Cape Buffalo - of course way too big a target for three dogs but the guys were having a blast with their cameras with wild dog and buffalo in the same picture. The odds of seeing a kill is greater with wild dogs than any other predator. They have a higher success rate than the cats. So I have two more days for the ultimate sighting - a wild dog kill. I may join whichever vehicle is on the wild dog hunt when the new group arrives. So glad to see that the Kings Camp group also had a wild dog adventure!

Today was the same female leopard but this time the male was nowhere to be seen. I guess she gave up and left the man alone. We also were totally surrounded by an elephant herd today with lots of little ones and some pretty big elephants walked close on each side of our vehicle. We all kept VERY still.

I have not seen any small lion cubs since Roar 111 began just at my earlier stay at Chitwa Chitwa. Just not been in the right vehicle although I know everyone here at Leopards Hills did see them on the first or second day. When I left Tintswalo they had seen the the males and the lioness with a headache but no little cubs. There is a pride there I hope they found them.

Those pictures from Grant of the lion pride were fantastic. Kudos to Grant he always posts great pictures. Hope we find the pride again here at Leopard Hills in the next few days. The coalitions of lions are playing havoc with the prides. Saw two of the Mapogo coalition here at Leopard Hills and the Manyetli coalition is strong at Tintswalo right now. Kings may be the best place for pride activity at this particular moment.

We had a great boma last night. The group wanted game meat and they delivered. The elan meat I have always liked best and last night it was really fantastic. It tasted like a prime piece of sirlon. Great flavor, juicy and cooked perfect for me at medium rare. They also did a stir fry with lots of ingredients and everyone loved that too. The smoke was not a problem, it was not cold and everyone had a really great time.

I was doing all I could to come over to Kings Camp and surprise the others but it appears it is not to be. There is a big meeting in Durban called Indaba and many of the small private planes and helicopters are not available right now. It is a not far as the crow flys but it is a long drive as you cannot drive straight through the reserves. I guess Kings Camp told the group I was coming so it would not have been a surprise after all but still would have been super to "pop in". I tried!

I just waved goodbye to the group leaving Leopard Hills today and heading to Tintswalo. The next group should be arriving in about an hours time. Looking forward to seeing them all again.

Kings Camp game drive photos. We sighted the lion pride again this morning - one of the adult females and the two adult males were not there this time. The cubs are very playful and lots of fun to watch.

Claws, paws and awwwwwws

commentary to follow .. we hope you enjoy a peek at the pride's lion cub training schedule for this morning



The cuteness factor is incredible on this trip!

Cheers, Anne

MORE PHOTOS FROM TINTSWALO:

About 350 Cape Buffalo come down for a drink, they need to drink 3 times a day.

PHOTOS FROM LEOPARD HILLS:


In the next three photos the female leopard was in the mood for love, but the male had a headache. She circled around him as he growled.






Same female leopard walking next the Land Rover. David, Cindy, Andy, Doug, Ken, Sheila, Gary (Our Ranger), Susan


Breakfast is served at Leopard Hills. Cindy, David, Susan, Sheila, Ken, Andy, Doug.


The alpha female of the wild dog pack at Leopard Hills.

How incredible awesome fantastic the above photos are! I logged on to post my "one" for kitty lovers. Oh how I love these others! I Can't wait to catch up with that herd at Leopard Hills, Ken

We'll be sad to leave King's Camp tomorrow. This place feels like home to us.

Absolutely AWESOME photos, gang!

What a great way to start the day! Loving all reports and pixs! :app: :app: :app:

Great pictures, giraffes are so cool!

These are some of the best safari pictures I've ever seen! You're getting wonderful sightings...hooray!

Whoa, I always enjoy the photos of Africa and all God's animals but there are some photos here that trump all others.

Cheers! Ray

We have had quite the busy day at King's Camp. Following last night's dinner's swan theme
,

we were up and at 'em promptly at 5:30 am for another glorious day.

We had our coffee and spent time with our not-so-wild dog, Jake, a middle-aged chocolate labrador. He really behaves well when he thinks someone is willing to share bread products. His performance was rewarded as he scored half of a breakfast muffin. On to the range rover, where Patrick was ominously dressed in a hat, jacket, fleece vest and neck gaitor. It was going to be cold.

We visited first with a giant eagle owl. It quickly went on the wing, where it disturbed every medium bird in sight. They all put out the distress call. Starlings and warblers arrived en masse, restricting the eagle owl to the lowest branches of the tree. We carried on, and found out our lion pride was back in the area. We made our way over to find the mothers and two sets of cubs in low grass near a tree. The grandmother and the two males were no where to be found. We enjoyed another incredibly cute cub=based activity session. All of the smallest cubs tackled the tree at some point or another. One crashed into milk-induced sleep stupor a in the highest "V" of the tree, and the other took on all comers who tried to take a higher vantage point. Given that 8 brothers are going to have to either cooperate or take each other on, it was a study in behavioral training.

After we left our lions, we went for a much-needed coffee and biology break. Patrick correctly deduced none of us were about to go out for a bush walk after breakfast. Instead, he built it into our coffee break. We found an antique clay pot used to harvest termites for food from the late 19th century; a horned baboon spider den (a/k/a tarantula) and two or three burrowing scorpion hide outs. All this, and hot chocolates for the majority of our team. Evidently there's a ready market for trafficking horned baboon spiders and various scorpions both at home and abroad. Following our breakfast, we did more bird sightings and headed back to camp. Breakfast was a quick affair and naps followed for all involved.

we reconvened at lunchtime, as about 10 elephants passed through the watering hole at camp. Two of them were happy to drink and bathe themselves; the rest passed along in the background. A mother bushbuck and her fawn used this for cover, grazing along the electric fence. Meanwhile, an African fish eagle was calling from a dead tree top on the opposite side of the river. It was a magical afternoon.

We geared up for our afternoon drive, meeting newcomers Rory and Karen from South Africa as we waited to hop onto our rovers. Patrick introduced our new mascot, Swan E, a lively 10 year old horned baboon spider, to our ride. She was comfortably ensconced in a glass jar with air holes. Off we went to on our exploration. We found a second breeding herd of cape buffaloes. They were skittish, but not as much as the ones from the prior day. We carried on, looking for either our lions or the wild dogs. Alas, it was fruitless. We stopped for our coffee as the setting sun burned itself into the horizon.

We were clearing out when we heard those low lion growls. Aha! Lions on the move. Jump in the rover and get ready to find what's going on. We headed up to the northern border. Low and behold, thanks to the spotlight we found the two males. They are very comfortable with each other, and were alternating their security search for male lions who were trying to cut into their territory with the ever-present opportunities for a low-risk meal. The two Timbavati brothers were eyeing a third, sizeable breeding herd of cape buffalo. The only thing bigger than the herd of buffalo was the contingent of flies that accompany their every move.

Patrick gives us the required safety briefing. he's never needed the gun. Cape Buffalo should stampede AWAY from the vehicle. We are in a tight spot. If by chance the buffalo get confused and run for the rover .. HANG ON AND DO NOT FALL OUT OF THE VEHICLE. One implied outcome is do not gag, ingest, inhale or otherwise internalize the swarm of flies when the buffalo herd flees from the lions.

All righty then .. and the sweep of the spotlight shows the two brothers going in for the kill. One jumped the buffalo while the other went in underneath to knock its legs out from under it. Those cape buffalo had no idea what had happened. Douse the lights .. lots of snorting, hooves under foot and .. inquiring minds want to know! did they get the kill or not?

Sad but true, the under and over strategy failed. The brothers headed off into nearby grass, where they greeted each other and rested. One of the dugger boys (an elderly cape buffalo) headed up within striking distance, while the herd headed into the open plains less than a kilometer from the Timbavati sort-of hungry boys.

Wow! did that get the adreline running or what. The herd was once again oblivious to the lion threat, settling itself into the grass for a sleep (?!). Did they think the dugger boy would take one for the team?

Meanwhile, the queen (meaning the ruthless one) of the hyenas was out with her henchdog. They had picked up on the attempted strike, and figured 12 hungry hyenas would have some benefit from a possible lion/buffalo encounter. All they care is one or the other party becomes tomorrow's meal.

It was clear we were the last vehicle on exploration, so we headed back to camp. tomorrow we hope to find out who (if anyone) wound up as dinner. We were greeted with a lovely farewell room decoration and dinner under the stars. We gathered at the bar, where we were invited to be part of the German TV documentary programing. Just think .. we didn't have to sing, and we may very well be German Idol 2011. What was that Andy Warhol said about 15 seconds of fame?

5:30 will be here soon, and we'll be winging our way to Vuyatela around 11:30 tomorrow. We both really liked King's Camp the first time we were here, and we like it even better this time. It's less formal and enjoys a premier location for animal sightings in the Timbavati in our humble opinions. It will be tough to leave our renewed acquaintances in King's Camp. We are looking forward to our next adventure with our fellow adventurers Michele, Don, Grant and Dena.

Wow! Great reports and photos, thanks to all for taking the time.
---------------
Helen

again, another person who makes great pictures with words. keep them flowing. thanks