Wildlife at its best

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Geo: -24.9895, 31.5857

y two leopards as we leave skukuza

lions with cdubs on road

then 9 adults with four cub spread out on hillside and then one female and another start to hunt, first try an impala and then there is a buffalo in bushes near cars lined up watching, and then he starts to head down to where lions were and then....................

further down see a male and female thinking about mating then off to eat on a carcass........
pull it further in bushes

evening drive quiet but did see some strange zebra smiling behavior and then a kori bustard

Packed ourselves up and were still at the gate before it opened! Were heading to Satara but decided to do the gravel road by the river before heading up to Satara. Right before we got to the road, there was a leopard coming down the road right in before the gravel road. He turned in and headed down to the river where we lost sight of him.

Continued on the road toward Lower Sabie and there was another leopard sitting on the side of the road. He quickly moved into the thick scrub and was lost to view. But this is pretty amazing start to a morning, two leopards by 6:25 in the morning!

Then head toward the road to Satara and stop at the dam right off the road. As we were heading to the dam, saw some wildebeest running madly like something was in pursuit. Turned in to the dam area and the baboons started alerting like they had seen something. Never did see what they were alerting on but sure sounded like they were seeing a leopard.

Then see car pulled over with binocs on something. These are the visual clues you look for when you see car pulled over, camera or binocs out the window, which window and then position yourself with the best view possible. Finally found what they were looking at. Two adult lions, male and female, with two cubs. Looked like they had just finished eating. One of the adults was one their back stretched out. Friendly game driver was helping confirm our sighting because he could see from a higher position. Sleeping lions are not real big entertainment so we continued on our way.

Stop at Tshokwane picnic area for a short break and get some things for breakfast. Were continuing on our way when a guy flagged us down and told us there were lions on the hillside ahead. So, off we went. Found them and got a good viewing spot. They were spread out along the hillside, seven adults and four cubs.

Were observing them, and then one of the females gets up and starts creeping down the hillside. We can see there is an impala across the gully down from where she has started her hunt. Creeping, creeping down the hillside, some of the other females have lifted their heads and seem to be watching to see what will happen next.

Then she charges to where the impala is but is much too slow to catch. Sits down and begins looking around and the other lions seem to be watching what is going on. BUT WAIT! We see movement to our left and there is an old buffalo in the small trees to our left. The lioness seems to sense the buffalo but the buffalo is moving down toward the gully. Does seem to sense there is danger nearby because stopping and raising head and looking around.

Now we begin to assess our situation. We are about 15-20 feet from the buffalo and there are cars lines up behind us and beside us; basically we are blocked in! The buffalo has now moved out into the open and.................the lion comes up the draw and the buffalo wheels and manages to cut through an opening in the cars and the poor lioness sits down and looks fairly disgusted by the lack of assistance from her female partners. They move through the line of cars and are looking on the other side of the road for the buffalo. The cubs evidently have been given a signal to head down to the other lions who had gathered in gully in the shade.

Continued on down the road toward Satara. Saw three old buffalo running in the grass on the side of the road. They must have gotten the word from the buffalo that had just encountered the lion!

This encounter was one of those rare moments that make Kruger National Park so special. We are very thankful on this trip to have some of those experiences that make you think you are watching a documentary on wildlife!

Continued on and there was a pair of lions on the side of the road. They moved into an area where they had some sort of kill and we got to watch them briefly. There was a black backed jackal that tried to get part of their kill but was having no luck! The lions then decided to move the kill further back into the scrub where we could no longer see it.

Get to Satara and get things set up and do a short evening drive. The most unusual thing we saw was a group of zebra walking along and making a noise but also had their teeth barred and looked very unusual. Robert thinks this may have something to do with mating ritual. Also got to see a kori bustard before heading back to the camp.

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