Cats and Dogs: the eternal story of life

[Tdgraves]

 

JP told a story about young bulls relocation that was done by one of the parks in South Africa. At the beginning they relocated only young bulls and soon they had a pretty bad situation as those young bulls were absolutely out of control. They were extremely aggressive, they were killing each other and even more they were killing rhinos. So park authorities brought a few old bulls to the area and everything stopped as old bulls explained young bulls how they should behave . This example shows that good education is important not only for people .

 

I don't know if it's the same incident, but I think I saw a documentary about this maybe five years ago. It was presented in a mysterious/sensational "why are these elephants killing rhinos" style.

 

Enjoying your updates.

 

 

This was in Pilansberg NP and it is evidence of how poaching or inappropriate culling can lead to problems. the teenagers needed guidance from the grown-ups (don't we all??)

[bettel]

Enjoying your updates.

Thank you!

 

 

This was in Pilansberg NP and it is evidence of how poaching or inappropriate culling can lead to problems. the teenagers needed guidance from the grown-ups (don't we all??)

 

Thank you for the name! I was going to find more information on the internet to read but I forgot exact details!

 

Day 4. Afternoon.

 

It was quite an adventurous safari drive. JP told that the river crossing had been opened and we could be first people to try it. The other river bank had been inaccessible for 6 months due to the water level. Sure enough I wanted to try it, I just asked JP if there were big crocs in the river (just in case if we had to swim)

 

We were joking the whole trip to the river as:

 

1) A ranger that gets stuck will wear a pink ribbon for the rest of his guest stay.

 

2) We were the only vehicle on the reserve, as all other vehicles would start their drive much later

 

3) The river crossing is protected by river banks so radio does not work well there

 

So potentially we had pretty good chances to spend some time enjoying the view .

 

As soon as we arrived we found that we were pretty lucky as couple guys were fishing nearby. So we prayed prepared and started to drive. We were moving well, moving well, mov… BANG! The vehicle fell deep with its front right wheel. Nice view! The picture from the middle of the river:

 

 

JP called on the radio, the radio preferred to stay silent. “Is it a long walk to the lodge?” – I was laughing out loud and checked the water. It was very warm. But I think JP did not like the idea of walking safari so he whistled for guys that were fishing. They appeared quickly, took a look at us, jumped to their vehicle and …. drove away very fast. Eh, what exactly just happened? “They went for a tractor” – JP explained. He was still hoping to avoid a pink ribbon as both guys that witnessed us were not from the lodge. But Murphy’s law always works: another Kirkman’s ranger had a day off and decided to spend some time outside so he arrived to the crossing point. Sure enough, he could not miss the fun. The tractor arrived just in a few minutes, and another couple minutes later we were returned back on the stone track so we continued crossing. The tractor waited for us to complete it

 

 

I almost asked guys not to go far as we would have to cross back at some point, but I decided not to be too pessimistic. The other side was VERY wild, even roads almost disappeared, but there were not too many animals there either:

 

 

 

So after we did a circle we crossed back. Unfortunately, there was no adventure this time. But as soon as we crossed we received a message from the camp manager who went to check the dogs’ den, that dogs left the den for hunting. So we went to catch them. Dogs went out of the block right in front of a rhino family:

 

 

Rhinos were curious about dogs but dogs did not want to get acquainted with rhinos (I can understand them). Unfortunately or fortunately the interaction happened too close to the car so I could not have everybody in one shot so I concentrated on dogs. My precious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only thing that I did not like was the fact that we had to leave dogs soon to let other guests to see them. But dogs were the only time when we had to do this, with all other animals we pretty much stayed as long as we wanted.

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[bettel]

Day 5.Morning.

 

This was one of the most memorable drives. Not that we saw a leopard killing an aardvark (or something similar) but it was a pretty emotional morning for sure. But let’s start from the beginning.

 

The wild dog den was finally opened and we decided to leave the lodge as soon as possible to have more time to spend with dogs. We met dogs on our way there but we could not spend any time with them as they disappeared in thick bush so we went to the den to check if they were going to pop up there. No luck, there was only an alpha female so we had to leave as the rule says that vehicles can stay at the den only if the whole pack is there. So we continued the drive:

 

 

We did not go too far when we received the message that dogs had hunted and now they were returning to the den. So we drove back as fast as we could. I think we all were extremely excited as even Eckson (our tracker) was saying “Faster!” to JP every time when the ranger slowed down little bit. We were hoping that as soon as dogs fed the alpha female, she would go to pups and maybe would call them out. But honestly our chances were pretty low as despite the fact that the camp manager and the wildlife manager had spent a lot of time at the den, they had not seen pups. Nobody had seen these pups at that moment. Actually, the camp manager told us that if we saw pups before him he would puncture all four our tires .

 

But I was using my normal tactic and asking bush to show me pups please, please, please!

 

When we arrived, dogs were still away, only the alpha female was waiting near the den:

 

 

Rules were

 

1) only one vehicle allowed at the sighting,

 

2) sighting is allowed only in the morning and only if dogs are there,

 

3) place for vehicles is pretty far from the actual den.

 

We had to use binoculars. Dogs returned a few minutes after our arrival, they fed the alpha female and she went towards the den. Maybe? Maybe now?! Pleeeease! I was so excited that my hands were trembling, it did not help to see a lot in a binocular . Suddenly with quite broken voice JP told “I can see a pup!!!”. I could not believe! With quite an effort I managed to control my hands and my binocular and I saw him (or her). The pup was just tiny, he could not even stay on his legs properly, and then the second appeared behind it. What a moment! After a minute or so they went back to the den. Unforgettable! I did not even try to make a picture as it was too far and as I just wanted to see it without any interruptions. I think for both JP and me it was so emotional moment because we saw the wild dog kill and it was unbelievable awesome to see the new generation. I had tears in my eyes. One of the best safari moments!

 

As soon as we left the den, JP called the camp manager and told him that we saw pups. I advised JP not to leave our vehicle unsupervised .

 

After dogs we went to spend some time with sub adult female leopard. It was close to 9 am and all other vehicles went back to the lodge so the leopard was only ours. And she gave us quite a show. She started with pretending that she was a squirrel, she was jumping from one branch to another, climbing up and down different trees, posing and having fun:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she decided to have some rest and lay down under the bush:

 

 

 

We used the opportunity to have some breakfast. It was very cool to sit 5 meters away from such a beautiful cat and enjoy a meal. Definitely one of the best breakfasts in my life. The leopard was polite enough to wait till we were done and only then she started to move again. Some rolling and stretching:

 

 

Check if humans were still there :

 

 

Then she actually hunted for us little bit (but in very thick bush and not successfully). What a great morning!

 

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[SafariChick]

This sounds like an absolutely remarkable safari you're having - wow! So much leopard action and seeing the pups - fantastic! Also love the rhino calves you saw, and very exciting day getting stuck in the water! Beautiful photos of the dogs in the water that same day.

Edited June 6, 2014 by SafariChick

[PT123]

@@bettel

 

Absolutely stunning leopard pictures. Your heart must be still racing from the lion/painted dog kill. I can imagine that it was brutal to see, but what a unique, authentic wildlife experience. Talk about getting your money's worth on a safari - this place delivered ands then some!

 

Just curious - did you see white and black rhinos or just white?

Edited June 6, 2014 by PT123

[Marks]

This TR continues to deliver, love the leopard photos. I'll bet that was a memorable breakfast indeed. I remember watching a leopard in the Sabi Sand right after drinking hot tea on an empty stomach...which for some reason makes me really nauseous. I was very glad to have a leopard distraction.

 

The tractor looks so incongruous in the water in that picture, very funny.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Marks

[Peter Connan]

Wow, what a safari! Well done, particularly surviving day 1.

[bettel]

This sounds like an absolutely remarkable safari you're having - wow! So much leopard action and seeing the pups - fantastic! Also love the rhino calves you saw, and very exciting day getting stuck in the water! Beautiful photos of the dogs in the water that same day.

 

It was a great safari! I even don't know how to choose the next safari destination, I can't see how it get become better

 

Just curious - did you see white and black rhinos or just white?

 

No, I saw only white rhinos (but a lot of them ) even at Phinda. We even did not see black rhinos tracks.

 

 

I remember watching a leopard in the Sabi Sand right after drinking hot tea on an empty stomach...which for some reason makes me really nauseous. I was very glad to have a leopard distraction.

 

There is something so special about animals that you forget about any inconvenience, sickness, bad mood. Anything .

 

Day 5. Afternoon.

 

Velvet monkeys were staying near the lodge all the time, so even between game drives there were enough animals around:

 

 

This was again a cat afternoon (I think there was only one afternoon drive without cats but we had dogs ). We started with driving along the river and looking for elephants. No elephants, but we found impalas and waterbucks:

 

 

And then we found a leopard tortoise:

 

 

JP suggested to go and check an island. When we came to the crossing point we found that it was very sandy and pretty deep so JP actually asked Eckson if it was a good idea to drive through or not. Eckson was not too enthusiastic but we moved him inside the car and tried. Anyway we already earned a pink ribbon. I don’t think they give two . We crossed without any issue (I almost wrote “unfortunately”).

 

It was pretty crowded on the island:

 

 

 

Not far from buffalos Eckson noticed a lion track so we went to check. It was one of the fastest tracking… as lions were maybe hundred meters away. It was Charleston pride (the one that killed the dog).

 

 

Male lions were sleeping (as usually) but the lioness was watching something on another bank. At some point she got up and went close to the water. We were hoping that she would decide to cross:

 

 

But she thought little bit and returned to boys:

 

 

We spent with them half an hour when we heard a very close leopard call so we decided to check. Just a couple hundred meters away from the crossing there was Xovonekela:

 

 

Unfortunately this time he decided not to spend any time with us and moved into very thick grass/bushes right towards lions. It scared me to death. Lions were sleeping quietly under bushes and I was not sure that Xovo would be able to notice them in time. I asked JP and he told, that everything would be fine, that Xovo was a very experienced leopard and he would climb a tree (I swear it would have calmed me down, but I remembered very well that there were no trees near lions). JP even joked that if Xovo was killed by lions, they would not allow me to be back to Kirkman’s Kamp. But we went back to lions to check how things were there. I was praying bush not to show me lions/leopard interaction. I liked Xovo a lot, I think if lions tried to fight Xovo, I would throw my camera at them . Fortunately, Xovo stayed inside bushes and never came out:

 

 

 

 

Soon there was a radio announcement about another leopard. This time it was Rollercoaster female leopard. So we decided to went there. She was lying under the bush and had no intention to move at all. She was waiting for the night to go hunting.

 

 

 

We spent some time with her and returned to lions. When it got dark, lions got up and started to move. But instead of moving across the river as everybody expected, they moved deeper into the reserve right towards dog’s den. So we were joking that if they decided to turn closer to the den we would block them with vehicles, if it did not work, we would drive them over. But we did not have to make any hard decision , lions moved into opposite direction so we just spent some time with them before they settled under the bush to have some rest. Poor cats walked maybe a kilometer: sure they had to rest little bit, especially boys .

 

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[Marks]

Wow, I can imagine your stress as Xovo approached the lions, as you knew what they were capable of!

[bettel]

@@Marks, yes, I was almost panicking that Xovo might get into troubles. I am so glad he did not.

 

 

 

Day 6. Morning.

 

Are you already ready to ban me for the number of cat pictures? Especially leopards? Just wait little bit as there going to be a lot of cheetah pictures soon .

 

In the morning we went to check a hyena den again, but no luck. We were checking it a few times (in the morning, in the evening) but we were never successful in terms of hyena pups. But it was a beautiful morning. The HUGE full moon was setting in one part of the sky:

 

 

The sun was rising in another:

 

 

By that day we had seen 5 out of 7 Kirkman’s leopards so we decided to concentrate on two that were still missing. They were Kwela Kwela and her 6 month old cub. Fresh tracks of both were found in the morning, however, neither tracking in the car nor tracking on foot gave any positive results.

 

We decided to give up and try something else when I heard a kudu alarm call. JP immediately drove there. Kudus seemed to be confused. All of them were alarming but all of them were looking in different directions. JP told that the first Kwela Kwela’s den was nearby so he suggested to drive closer and check. We could not see anything at the beginning but then suddenly JP told “Here she is!”

 

“Who? Where?” – I asked, as I still could see nothing. “There is Kwela Kwela’s cub on the rock behind bushes” – JP told and pointed the correct direction. After a few minutes I was able to see not even a cat just a glimpse of rosetted skin. We tried to be as quiet as possible and the cub soon got relaxed and started to play around. But the bush was very sick so no good pictures, my best results are below:

 

 

 

After spending some time with a kitten we went to look for elephants. But we soon found out that they went deep into bushes. Thick bush was a very popular place that morning . So we decided to have a breakfast. We got baskets out of the car and unpacked everything. And guess what? A few minutes later we heard branches got cracked from one side, and then more from another side, and then suddenly we realized that elephants are moving straight at us. So we threw everything back to car and jumped there ourselves to find out that it was a pretty big elephant herd (around 50 animals). We continued to have breakfast in the car. I liked it as much as I liked the breakfast with the leopard the day before.

 

There was a very exciting moment (at least for me) when huge ( I mean really huge) elephant bull walked just a few meters (I think not more than 4-5) away from the car. And while walking he turned his head towards us to check what we were up to. “Don’t move!” – told JP, I even stopped blinking. I don’t know what Eckson was thinking sitting outside of the car. If I had been him, I would have needed a Pampers .

 

Elephants were moving towards the river:

 

 

 

 

 

 

But they did not cross, they just stopped in the shade not far from water so we watched them for an hour or so and went back to lodge.

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[bettel]

Day 6. Afternoon.

 

I did not see only cats during this trip . As a proof I am posting a martial eagle (I hope it is the correct name, I am a very bad birder) photo that I did on the afternoon drive:

 

 

And then we went to lions as we had received a call little bit earlier that lions had made a giraffe kill.

 

It was Charleston pride. I could not believe that three of them could kill a huge male giraffe but they learnt the technique. They chased giraffe into water and waited for it to be trapped.

 

 

Lions were lying nearby and were watching vultures. They had no intention to share:

 

 

 

 

When couple of vultures got little bit closer to the kill than lions were ready to tolerate, one of male lions chased them away:

 

 

And then he decided to kill two birds with one stone and to have a snack:

 

 

 

A predator and a prey:

 

 

 

 

After eating he went back to the bank but with such a full belly it was pretty hard to climb:

 

 

After we spent time with lions we decided to give the last try to find Kwela Kwela. It was the only Kirkman’s leopard staying illusive. We just started to make our way to the area when Brendan (camp manager) gave us a call and told that he found her and we’d better to hurry up and she was moving. Kwela kwela was beautiful (I know I am saying this about every leopard. But they are all beautiful :) )

 

 

I could not decide what picture I like most so I am posting all three. Sorry

 

 

 

And one more

 

 

Kwela Kwela was hunting so at some point she just turned into very thick bushes and we had to leave her. So we went back to lions.

 

Lions were very alerted. A huge crocodile chased them away from the kill, bit the big piece and swam away. Lions were watching it attentively to make sure that he was not coming back:

 

 

And even after they returned back to the meal they were constantly checking that the croc was not back:

 

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[Marks]

Very cool to see the same kill both in daylight and at night. I imagine it had a wholly different character at night, as far at "atmosphere."

[PCNW]

Very exciting report that you have going Bettel. Thanks for sharing.

[FlyTraveler]

Fabulous trip report @@bettel! Awesome sightings and great photography! I am really enjoying this and I should confess that I am a bit envious - I never seem to be at the right place at the right time :) Thanks for sharing and looking forward for more!

[bettel]

Very cool to see the same kill both in daylight and at night. I imagine it had a wholly different character at night, as far at "atmosphere."

Yes, it was! Although I like day light better , it is easier for photography

 

 

Very exciting report that you have going Bettel. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks for reading

 

 

Fabulous trip report @@bettel! Awesome sightings and great photography! I am really enjoying this and I should confess that I am a bit envious - I never seem to be at the right place at the right time :) Thanks for sharing and looking forward for more!

 

Thank you. I think I was very lucky on this safari. I had couple quiet game drives but mostly we saw a lot of great things (at least I consider them great). I don't know what to do with my next safari now, as my bar is pretty high

 

 

 

Day 7. Morning.

We left the lodge at 5:45 and drove straight to the dog’s den. We spent there almost whole drive. Dogs were at the den and did not have any intention to go hunting. Couple of them were on our side of the den, some were behind the hill. It was the first time in my safari history (which is not long at all ) that I saw sleeping dogs. All my previous sightings of dogs were when dogs were on a hunt.

 

 

 

The sun was rising

 

 

 

 

We did not see pups that day, although the alpha female was going to the den quite a few times she did not call pups out. Maybe because there were a lot of leopard calls and lion roars around (the funny thing is despite such active audio, nobody found either lions or leopards)

 

Even Charleston pride disappeared from the kill. It was quite a mystery why. If it was because other lions (or hyenas) chased them away then where intruders were? It was pretty disappointing especially for one guide who did not bring his guests to the kill the night before promising them lions in morning light. I guess guests were not happy.

 

It was my last drive in Kirkman and I was feeling very sad. I had an awesome time here and I could not imagine how Phinda could be potentially even on a par (forget about “better”). I had a great guide, a very professional tracker, a lot of outstanding sightings, so I was morally prepared that the best part of my vacation was done. But I was worrying about it only till I met my pilot… I think he was 16 years old. Well, maybe 17. (Pilot, if, by any chance, you are reading it, just consider this to be a compliment ). So my thoughts moved to survival mode (“Am I going to survive? Does he know how to flight? Maybe I should help him and read the manual for him?”)

 

But we took off nicely and 15 minutes later I forgot about my potential help to the pilot and I fell asleep (“Call me if you need me!”). I was met by Nsika (my new tracker) and later that day I met Devon (my new guide) who impressed me immediately with his enthusiasm and passion to wildlife. And there was a huge bonus, he was qualified for dangerous game walking safaris (level two walks) so he promised that we can do some elephant, rhino and buffalo tracking on foot.

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[bettel]

Day 7. Afternoon.

 

At 2:30 we went on safari drive. We decided that we would concentrate on cheetahs as lions would be still sleeping and leopards in Phinda were shy during the day. There was no sense to spend hours tracking a leopard in Phinda as I had a lot of nice leopard sightings in Kirkman.

 

Devon told that in the morning they had seen a cheetah female with three sub adult cubs so we went to check if they were still there. They were not . So we drove around the block checking tracks, and then we checked main roads, and then Nsika walked the block – no cheetahs. Devon suggested to take a look at a single male cheetah that was already found but as soon as we started driving there the cheetah family was found by another ranger. It looked like there were scared by Nsika on foot and ran away.

 

One of the cubs:

 

 

 

Whole family:

 

 

Cheetahs looked pretty hungry so we were hoping to see a hunt. They were walking around and from time to time the female cheetah was trotting into thickets to check if there were antelopes there.

 

 

Cubs did not understand the importance of the process and they were running around and playing:

 

 

The mother cheetah was waiting for her playing cubs:

 

 

Stopped to rest:

 

 

But mother cheetah was still scanning surroundings:

 

 

 

 

A cub:

 

 

Family portraits:

 

 

 

After the rest, cheetahs continued to move and suddenly the mother cheetah just disappeared and then appeared again following an impala. There were maybe only couple meters between them. Devon told that the impala was done. But nothing is guaranteed in the wild. As a desperate act the impala turned into a wildebeest herd and wildebeests did not like the cheetah so they chased her away. There was not dinner for the cheetah family. Maybe tomorrow. Cubs got lost during the hunt so mother started to call them. It was my first time to hear this sound. It is definitely now one of my favorite. I could not even imagine that big cat can sound like a bird

The cheetah on a walk:

 

 

On our way back we came across a leopard:

 

 

He was not relaxed as Kirkman’s leopards so we switched off the engine fully but left the red light on. After some time we had to leave to let others see the cat and here was a surprise The car did not start, we exhausted our battery. Not a bad way to get stuck! At least nobody could ask us to leave . After everybody enjoyed the leopard, one of the cars parked “nose to nose” to our car and started to push us.

 

What an adventure! At the end the engine started and we did not have to spend a night in the bush, although it would have been a great experience.

 

We had another surprise, this time it was planned. The camp staff organised the dinner in the bush around the fire. It was amazing. What a great start at Phinda!

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[SafariChick]

Great start at Phinda! Which of the lodges were you staying at there?

[bettel]

I was staying at Forest lodge. I like it a lot!

[SafariChick]

ah. when we were there we stayed at the Mountain Lodge but I really was torn between that and Forest. I thought maybe our kids would be noisy and seemed like Mountain was a bit more family-oriented so we ended up choosing Mountain but we drove over to Forest and loved it, so pretty and peaceful. I may be jumping ahead but did you see the dwarf forest antelope around there? (not sure what they are called)

[Marks]

Lovely cheetah photos. I also love the chirping sound they make.

I'm looking at some pictures of Phinda Forest Lodge on the Africa Travel Resource site (usually has lots of photos of accommodations at any given camp), it looks great.

[bettel]

I may be jumping ahead but did you see the dwarf forest antelope around there? (not sure what they are called)

 

Do you mean suni? We saw them on the first drive but I was not able to take any pictures because they stayed in thickets and they were quite skittish.

 

 

 

 

I'm looking at some pictures of Phinda Forest Lodge on the Africa Travel Resource site (usually has lots of photos of accommodations at any given camp), it looks great.

 

It is a great lodge. The idea of glass walls is awesome. You can open eyes and immediately see the forest.

 

 

Day 8. Morning.

 

Well, I apologize in advance for the number of cheetah pictures, but I warned you in advance .

 

We started the morning with checking the cheetah family. We had left them hungry the day before so we were hoping for some action in the morning. We were right… to some extent. Cheetah cubs were hunting each other:

 

 

 

Mother cheetah was patiently waiting for them:

 

 

 

When the sun rose, cheetahs settled on the top of a termite mound to warm up. Devon told that cheetahs always did this before going on a hunt to avoid injures of cold muscles:

 

 

 

 

They also used the time to groom themselves

 

 

… as well as others

 

 

And to combine passive warming up with active:

 

 

From time to time the mother cheetah stood up to check what was going around but cubs were considering that the shortest way to the goal was the most efficient:

 

 

 

Sometimes the mother cheetah was clearly thinking that three cubs were too many:

 

 

Actually, extremely too many!

 

 

But fortunately, overall cubs were spending time wrestling each other:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another great finding for me was that cheetahs purred. It sounded very cool. Man, this time it was almost audio safari.

 

We spent with the family couple hours, a few times the cheetah mother started to follow antelopes but because of playful cubs’ behavior antelopes knew well in advance that cheetahs were coming. So at the end the family settled for the day in the shade.

 

 

So we went to look for tracks to start walking. But we came across two sub adult cheetahs instead: brother and sister. They stayed with us little bit:

 

 

 

But then suddenly they started to almost crawl away. I was thinking that they were hunting, but Devon told that it was not a hunting pose, that cheetahs were scared of something. So he and Nsika were trying to understand what scared them. We could not see anything at the beginning, but then Nsika noticed another cheetah very far away (I actually don’t know how he did it, as I could barely see the cheetah even with binoculars). We went there to check and those were a cheetah male coalition (two brothers). They were too full to follow cheetah sub adults.

 

And then we received a call that a cheetah with small four cubs was found so we could not miss the opportunity and went there. The cheetah was in very tall grass so it was almost impossible to see her or cubs so we left them alone. But at the end, we saw 13 cheetahs that morning . What a great result!

 

After we left cats we went to track two elephant bulls.

 

AndBeyond has a different vision on walks comparing to a lot of other places. While one walking strategy is to let an animal see you and then to start to approach slowly watching for an animal level of comfort. AndBeyond believes that animals should not know that people are there, so that they (animals, not people ) are not stressed. That is why AndBeyond does not walk cats as it is almost impossible to notice cats before they notice you.

 

Nsika was walking first looking for tracks and other signs of elephants. Devon was walking behind him. And I was the last. I was really impressed by Nsika’s tracking skills: in pretty thick bush with not the most fresh tracks he was able to follow animals: he was showing us footprints, leaves on the ground from feeding, roots that elephants were eating and many other signs that elephants were there.

 

I was little bit nervous as I had never done walks in such thickets especially taking into account that you can’t climb a tree to hide from elephants.

 

After an hour and a half Devon was able to hear elephants that were breaking branches. Yeah! We found them! So we moved silently (Nsika and Devon) and not so silently (me) towards them. At the end we were maybe 20 meters away and there was a thick bush wall between us. We could not see them but we could hear them clearly. So we were standing and listening when suddenly Devon started to signal that we had to back up quickly. My heart sank as well as my lungs, liver, stomach and other organs. We were standing there and trying to understand what direction elephants were moving. Soon Devon started to move forward again. A few minutes later he started to call me closer to him. I turned back to check if maybe he was calling somebody else (as I was totally fine standing where I was ) but Nsika waved me to move forward. It was awesome to be near wild animals, hear them, feel them, smell them not from the car but being in their world. After 5 or 6 hours (my subjective time) we left elephants alone and went back to car.

 

Such a great morning!

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[bettel]

Posted the same post two times

Edited June 16, 2014 by bettel

[Marks]

But at the end, we saw 13 cheetahs that morning . What a great result!

 

Fantastic! I have heard that Phinda was known for cheetahs, but that is a great number for a whole trip, let alone one day or even one morning. Great photos.

[bettel]

 

Fantastic! I have heard that Phinda was known for cheetahs, but that is a great number for a whole trip, let alone one day or even one morning. Great photos.

 

It actually was not the most fantastic cheetah sighting . See below

 

 

 

 

Day 8. Afternoon.

 

Devon even did not change his face expression and continued to smile when I asked to find the same cheetah family again although I was prepared that he would kick me out of the car

We were lucky this time. Nsika said ‘Here they are” almost immediately after we drove to the block where we left them. But we absolutely did not expect Nsika to say “And here is another cheetah” couple moments later. Another cheetah was a few hundreds meters away from the family but was approaching it slowly. The cheetah mother and three cubs were not happy at all. They were trying to escape:

 

 

This was a male! I asked Devon “A male would not try to harm cubs, would he?”. I was under impression the cheetahs were much “better” than other cats. “He might try to do this easily! I saw male cheetahs killing cubs!” Devon told. Oh, no, no, no! This is definitely not the type of sighting I want to see. I would have asked Devon to drive the male cheetah over, but I don’t think he would have accepted . The male was getting ready to attack:

 

 

He had quite evil face (or maybe it is my imagination!):

 

 

And then he started to run fast and when he approached the family, he jumped 2 meters high (I swear I am not adding even a centimeter) and landed in the middle of the group. Family dispersed and then gathered again. The male was walking around them like a shark and he was growling (I mean GROWLING):

 

 

From time to time he made attempts to attack one of cubs, but more to check than to actually harm. But it was scary. The family was showing submissive behavior. They were trying to be as motionless as possible and they were chirping all the time. But mother was showing him her teeth every time when he was trying to attack a cub:

 

 

After quite a few minutes of moral pressure the male left temporary and went to smell the termite mound where the family was resting before, but he was continuing to watch cheetahs to make sure that they were not trying to run away:

 

 

The family is waiting:

 

 

And then he attacked again:

 

 

 

 

He managed to slap a cub, but the mother slapped him back. At this point Devon told that this male would not try to do anything serious as the mother was very protective and cubs were big enough so that the male would not risk to get injures.

 

So after the male repeated the whole process couple more times (leave, wait, come back, slap a cub, move away) he marked a tree and left the scene. The family waited little bit, checked his mark and went in opposite direction.

 

Poor cheetahs: they were hungry for a few days and now such a stress, I was really wishing them to have a successful hunt. And they had it! They went across a herd of waterbucks with a small calf (a few days old) so the mother cheetah immediately went after it. Unlike some cheetah hunts that I saw on TV, they both did not disappear somewhere behind the horizon, they made a circle and came right to our car. The mother waterbuck tried to chase the cheetah away but while she was doing it, one of cheetah cubs caught the calf. So when his mom came back she allowed him to continue and just watched. Man, it was not a fast kill! And poor waterbuck was bleating so sadly and so loudly!

 

 

 

 

The family was waiting:

 

 

 

Lucky dinner time:

 

 

On our way back to the lodge we saw a leopard again but I did not make any pictures as it was dark.

 

Edited February 23, 2015 by bettel

[graceland]

I cannot believe you saw all this!!!!!

 

My heart was racing when I thought the male would kill the cubs.

Amazing opportunity for you on this adventure at Phinda!

 

And a bit scary when the male showed up.

 

Very sad for the waterbuck, but happy for the cheetahs.

 

I LOVE your photos. Thanks for the great story along with them!