Kruger safari

The cheetah crouched and peered through the thick bush ahead, it’s shoulders hunched, full of intent! The other two cheetah circled around to different entry points to the thicket in an attempt to corner their prey.

Suddenly they attacked with lightning speed, we listened and waited, our vision obscured by the dense foliage, until after a few minutes they emerged. Their hunt was unsuccessful!

It had already been an exhilarating morning, no sooner had we set off from the lodge than we came across a lion yawning as he got ready for the day, laying bare his impressive teeth. Shortly after that that we came across a leopard casually lying in the bush just a few metres from the dirt road. Finally, a leopard! This wasn’t my first safari but I had never seen a leopard in the wild before. Here he was in full view just a few metres from me. The cheetah hunt rounded the morning off nicely and as we returned to the lodge for lunch I thought there was no way this day could get any better!

So that was my expectation as we set off in the mid afternoon for our second game drive of the day. The afternoon was wonderful, all the species that you would expect to find were out in force, impala, zebra, giraffe, warthog, kudu and nyala were everywhere. We saw three rhino emerge from the bush in front of us and on more than one occasion yielded the right of way to the majestic elephant.

It was after our stop for sundowner drinks and nibbles that the evening really kicked off. With the sun setting rapidly we came across a pride of lions as we drove back to the lodge, the lionesses watching us intensely as we edged our way around the bush in front of us and then we saw them, three cubs lying in the thicket, peering out at us with youthful curiosity. The lionesses kept a close eye on us, making sure we didn’t get too close.

We didn’t linger too long as it was dark at this stage and needed to get back to the lodge. As we got closer to the lodge we came across the alpha male marking his territory and bellowing his warning for any other males to hear. The message was loud and clear!

We kept going thinking we were done for the evening when just around the corner from the lodge the jeep radio crackled in to life, the driver suddenly veered left away from the lodge but just for a couple of hundred yards until we saw another of the lodges vehicles in front of us and right there, barely visible in the darkness, a leopard was dragging her prey up to the highest branches of a tree. Then the leopard called out and received a reply from the ground right in front of us. Her cub was still feeding on a morsel left behind. The mother called again and reluctantly her cub followed. Always do what your mother tells you kids!

As they settled in for the evening we went on our way and finally made it back to the lodge for a late evening meal. Dinner can wait, this wasn’t your average day on safari!