The way of the bush

 As a guide, it is basically your job to make peoples hopes and dreams come true. When international clients stay at a game lodge they have some high expectations of both what animals they would like to see and of their great and knowledgeable guide that will lead them on this adventure into the African wilderness.

So over the past few days mother nature has had different plans and drives have been a bit quiet, with us having only a handful of good sightings, namely a couple of elephants, some giraffe and zebra and last night i managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat and spot a snake in a tree in complete darkness surprising not only the guests but myself too. This however wasn't enough to distract us from the fact that we needed to see some cats...

A large giraffe bull crosses an open area at a waterhole.

The snake last night, a male boomslang

The big cats are iconic in Africa and a must on all the guests wishlists and I have to admit I was feeling the pressure. This morning was the guests last drive with us and after 2 days of desperate searching I was hoping that the new day would bring change. The beginning of drive started out the same way my previous days had ended with nothing being seen, no tracks or signs to point us in a direction. Then a call came through on the radio that a camp manager had seen 2 lions at their lodge waterhole in the southern section of our reserve. It was a long drive but for lions it was so worth it. However as luck would have it, on arrival at the water...no lions and rocky terrain made it impossible to see where they went. I could not believe it and was really out of ideas on how to save my guest's experience. Its at times like this that you wish you could flick a switch and animals would appear. Thinking the best action would be a coffee stop and hope that things improved we stopped at a scenic dam to warm up and hope for the best. 

Then it happened, the radio crackled and the voice on the other end uttered the words "male leopard". We quickly packed up our coffee and piled on the car and rushed off to go claim our prize. As we got going I rounded a corner and headed into a drainage crossing, only to find 2 buffalo bulls standing in the dry river bed looking at us. SCORE!!! a new species for our guests!! We stayed with them for a bit before they disappeared into a dense thicket and we continued or drive to the leopard.

The 2 buffalo bulls, they chose a nice setting I must say.

Due to our buffalo sighting we were at the back of the line to see the leopard, but the tortoise wins the race at the end of the day and by the time we got there we were alone with the leopard and could spend some good quality time with this elusive beauty for as long as we wanted.

The leopard was Chavaluthu, probably the biggest star of Balule at the moment. He is extremely relaxed with the game drive vehicles and we watched as he put on a huge show for us. He was waiting outside a warthog burrow, he could obviously hear the pigs in their hole and it was just a case of waiting for them to leave and he would make his move. What he didn't count on was them not leaving, instead they stayed under and Chavaluthu stalked around the termite mound inspecting then waiting at each possible exit hole. It gave us great photo opportunities as he lay in just about any pose that you could imagine from a leopard. 

Always alert he reacted to any little sound even when leaves blew in the wind.

Ready to pounce at any moment, the concentration and patience displayed by the leopard was remarkable.

Chavaluthu looking more and more impressive each time i see him.

Laying in wait at the entrance to the warthog burrow.

So Chavaluthu saved the day and the guests left overjoyed with this morning's memories. It goes to show that you never really know what is going to happen out there and things can change in an instant. That is the way of the bush. This afternoon I had a new set of guests, first time safari goers and we managed to see the leopard again, no blood, sweat and tears, some people just have all the luck. Lets hope it continues for a while.

Chavaluthu this afternoon, still on the look out for a meal.

We left him as he dosed off on top of another termite mound.

Photography and written by: Greg McCall-Peat

Joining the fight against rhino poaching

A couple of days ago, I was given the opportunity to join in on a rhino horn infusion on 6 of our rhinos from our reserve in an attempt to curb the rampant rhino poaching that is currently going on. Basically what the procedure entails is an ectoparasticide is infused into the horn of the rhino using patented and specialized equipment, this making it useless for both ornamental and medicinal purposes. The horns are also treated with a red dye that can be picked up in security scans should the horn "travel". The whole procedure has absolutely no negative impact on the rhino itself and is 100% safe for them.

Darting rhinos using a helicopter.

Waiting for the dart to take effect.

One of the most awesome parts of the day was being able to get up close to these prehistoric looking giants.

Drilling into the horn in order to infuse the poison.

The actual infusion in progress. (the red is not blood but the red dye)

Birds eye view of the action.

A close up of the horn infusion .

In between darting of rhinos we managed to have a few nice sightings, making it even more special.

Lions resting right down the road from where one of the rhino was darted.

Elephants on the way to the darting in the morning.

The day ended on an extreme high, when whilst we were busy on our last rhino another rhino came charging in to interrupt proceedings, there was absolute chaos as people scattered in all different directions. Some of us were braver than others and managed to chase off the bull but he hadn't finished with us and returned a short while later eventually one of the vehicles managed to drive him off and he left us to finish up. The adrenaline rush was quite welcoming after a long hot day.
The whole day was truly an experience that will stay with me forever. Its sad that it has come to us having to do this but we are proud to say that we are playing our part in protecting our rhinos.

Photography and written by: Greg McCall-Peat

Not a bad way to start the day

So after a long spell of not being out on game drives, I made my return a couple of days ago and have already been spoiled with some fantastic sightings, lions in particular. But this morning was special, we all got one of the best reasons to get up early and brave the cold of a winter morning game drive. Lions first thing in the morning! While cruising down our lodge entrance road we came across some lion tracks, it rained last night and these tracks were from after the rain and judging by the scuff marks in the wet road the lions had just been there. No sooner had I explained to the guests that we must be close, 2 sub adult lionesses burst out of the bush and onto the road ahead of us. I found it a bit odd that these two youngsters were on their own but then hearing zebra alarm calling to our east I thought the others were hunting zebra that side which then explained why these two would be alone. We stuck with the young lionesses as they stalked one another before they lay down in a dry waterhole for a snooze and to listen to the zebra calls. With elated guests we left the lions in the same spot and decided to head on and see what else our morning had in store for us.

Sub adult lioness listening to alarm calling zebra.

The 2 sub-adults this morning

But as I was leaving the sighting I noticed more lions moving about in the bushes in front of us, as we got closer I saw three adult lionesses and some of the cubs, they were eating a zebra they must have killed during the night. The whole pride had been there the entire time we had been sitting with the other lions without us even realizing it. All eight cubs were there, full bellied and looking amazing. It seems a zebra doesn't go a long way with all the hungry mouths so i think these lionesses have got their work cut out for them raising this bunch as there was pretty much just scraps left from the kill. We stayed with the lions until one by one they all got up and moved a little distance from the kill and settled down to sleep off their bulging stomachs.

Lion cubs everywhere...the sight we were greeted with when we found the kill

A very full, very tired little cub

A break between meals for 2 of the cubs

After a celebratory coffee stop, we came across a nice big herd of elephants which turned out to be a very fitting way to end a fantastic morning drive. We watched the herd as they fed around us before they slowly moved off and we headed back to camp for a well deserved breakfast.

Spending time with the elephants

Our view of the elephants

Photography and written by: Greg McCall-Peat