Sightings WOW, photos not so... (Oct 2018)

[Mel]

Great pic of the lions at Mata Mata and also the cheetahs are very nice

I am happy to see that at least one of Hanri's cubs survived

I saw the "blind in one eye" lion a few times. Once with two females

Some of the springbok lambs must be sacrificed as food for the predators, if not there would be too many springboks and no cheetahs. Rule of the wild

The lions were at Kielie But I guess you got mixed up with my talking about changing our booking to Mata

That one eyed lion... he seems to even have three ladies around. At least we saw three females at KK that night.
One of them was the bulky one and two others. I assume, one of them was the same as the female in the morning.

[Mel]

Never seen a wild animal give birth, must be amazing to watch!

So many cheetahs!!

It is a bit gooey, actually. Not made for sensitive souls

Oh, but we only saw 5 cheetah. There are others who get to see 20 plus

But I suppose, I had to trade them against the leopards this time around.
Obviously, not as many as BC manages to find in Kruger. But with six individuals
we were treated extremely well.

[Mel]

Ahh...an Auchterlonie sundowner out of KK - or Kamqua out of Uri "all to ourselves" in the sublime evening sunset... I suspect now that we've exposed these evening jewels, they will soon be more populated...but I suspect by true Africa lovers such as we.

The secretary in the tree shot was perfect. As for the AWC at the KK waterhole - did you see her kittens in the gas tank space of unit # 1? Jacques showed them to us on our last night there, as he had just "discovered" them via a guest staying there - was that you, by chance?

We also saw the lion w/ the blind eye, but he was with a single lioness - more cubs on the way??

I am trying to ID the numerous cheetahs we saw, so your TT helps immensely - was the mom w/ 2 subadults Corinne?

Lastly, yes, there is such tension and human emotion when witnessing the joy of a newborn springbok take its first breath, drink, steps, and then the agony of losing its life in such a brief span of time.

Really enjoying "seeing" through your eyes - perhaps we'll meet one day for sundowners at Auchterlonie or Kamqua

Now I wonder… have you had any good sightings when going out to Kamqua? We only had one good sighting over the years at Auchterlonie,
or maybe we can call it two. The Auchterlonie Female 4 days apart, and the second time she brought her then cub Warona with her. But
Warona was already big and almost independent. Still, two leopards are a real gift.

The AWC had moved her kittens out the night or morning before we arrived. Jacques told us that they had been seen the night before. But when unit one was going into use, it was probably too much commotion for them. It's a lovely unit though and the brownie came walking in just left of the unit and right underneath our balcony.

Ja, the mum with the two cubs we had seen in the Uri area was Corinne.

If you have seen two males in the Rooiputs or in the Melkvlei area, compare them to those you saw the last time. Not in the guide yet
And you know where to find me if you need more help

Here's to the sundowner one day maybe

[Mel]

Four hours are a very long time to take photos… especially when it comes to my favourite cat Cars came and went and at times we were the only ones sitting with Corinne and her cubs. It was also the first time ever that I heard a cheetah purring. Or a wild bigger cat anyway. I tried to record it, but unfortunately the noise is barely audible

Every now and then Corinne would get a bit agitated by springboks on the other side of the road

But generally it was resting and snoring Mum makes for the best pillow in the world!

[Mel]

[Mel]

[Mel]

A penny for his thoughts

He just got up to sit down there and after a few minutes he returned to carrying on with his beauty sleep

[Mel]

Eventually, Corinne got up to retrieve the lamb carcass and started feeding on it.

One of the cubs was trying to feed along side of her, but Corinne was having none of it and chase him away, growling.

So the cub lay down again, pouting

And Corinne carried on eating, bones cracking and all.

Only when the other cub started from opposite of Corinne, she would allow it.

[Mel]

Such a beauty

While the three of them were feeding on the left side of the riverbed, a few springbok wandered in on the right side, trying to get to Urikaruus waterhole for a drink. Each party was highly aware of the other and although the springbok must have been scared to death, they squeezed past. Some time later they came back again the way they had walked in. Corinne was still feeding on that lamb, but watching the springbok with lots of interest. And then she showed us what made her such a successful mum… She cleverly lured the springbok in feeling safe by not attacking at once, but waiting until the last one before launching the chase. We actually hadn't counted on it at all since the springbok knew she was there and since there was quite some distance to cover. But maybe the fact that the ewe was pregnant made her slower than she usually would have been. The chase was over in less than a minute and while were were able to watch it, I couldn't get any pix of it because it happened right behind our car.

It had been only us and another car at this point. But with the kill lying in the riverbed and the cheetahs resting in the shade, the place started to fill up quickly and at some point reminded us of a congestion in Kruger. Well, of course there weren't THAT many cars, but 15 at the time is a major deal in the KTP Luckily, Corinne had chosen her location wisely, so there were only a few minor spats between the onlookers

For us the biggest deal was the car behind us who thought it fit to keep the diesel motor running for some aircon Seriously, people, if you can't handle the heat, go to a place where you don't have to

[Richprins]

WOW!!!!!


What luck, Mello, and amazing pics indeed!





Yes, the predators kill instinctively, IMO!

That first pic is really intriguing, with the face framed by the dead twigs!


What more can one say!