A great sighting of this old Buffalo bull:

        A bull Elephant came to pay us a visit at Ekuthuleni Lodge.
We decided to follow him in the vehicle and found him enjoying a plunge in a nearby puddle.

     On the early morning game drive we found fresh Lion tracks on the road. As we followed them further we bumped into one of the northern males. He sprays his scent on bushes to ensure potential enemies know to stay out of his territory while he goes in  search for his lionesses.

   First we spotted a very unlucky Impala in the tree. Immediately you can sense the  excitement on our vehicle as everybody scans the area looking for a patch of rosettes in the bushes.

And there she is, with a full tummy and eyes closed, resting contently on the rock just behind her kill.

Satisfied as we were with this amazing sighting, we got a bonus on top. As we are having our siesta at the lodge, we notice some odd behavior by the Warthog at the Ekuthuleni Lodge watering hole. Out of nowhere two Leopards jump out of the  grass and engage in a tumble with the Warthog. This time the Warthog got lucky. The  Leopards started moving off so we jumped into the vehicle as fast as we could and  followed them on the Ekuthuleni access road. They walked all the way to Tshwene Lodge  where they settled down for the rest of the day.

Bird viewing is still outstanding and definitely one of the better bird viewing destinations in the delta.

Animal movement is also increasing, and the wild dogs are still very active in the area. The pups at the side stripe jackal den are now grown up and will find their own new home ground soon.

Sightings for the week so far, have been a pride of 4 lion, elephants, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, honey badger, caracal, ostriches, impala, warthog as well as general game.

The lion sightings have been phenomenal this week with three different prides being seen in four days!! With elephant and buffalo being seen on nearly every drive . With a day to spare between guests, we did some bush-clearing on the roads because of the huge amount of rain we’ve had!

To end off the week, a couple arrived with monster camera lenses in tow and they were not to be disappointed! The elephant herds returned with vengeance with huge herds all over the concession. Their special request was cats and we found the Zimbo pride in action, going after a herd of zebra. 30 minutes later we found the 2 airstrip male in the flood plain at Big Boabab on Middleroad. On the same drive we found a male leopard at the bridge; he however was not very relaxed and moved off into the under growth. To end off a fantastic week, we spotted a Pel’s fishing Owl at the pumphouse lookout. With photos for proof we headed back to camp very very VERY satisfied. To add to the great memories, the concession is in magnificent condition after good rains and we can look forward to a healthy dry season

Guides Report 11/03/2012

The rather eventful week!!!

Regards, Joey

See newsletter attached ValueSafarisNewsletterv224feb12RACK

Not to mention the joy of the San Bushmen! When the sand is nice and moist, digging of roots is so much easier. They even found the elusive poison grub to do some hunting this morning. Lots of food for the San at the moment.

Everything is in bloom which makes food plentiful and easy to find. There are jewel beetles, bull frogs, large grass worms and much more to eat this time of the year!

The big brothers were back by Harvey’s pan and they were still looking very thirsty though they were empty bellied and we never stopped loving them even more by our guests who took pictures restlessly. At the airstrip, the wild dogs, were resting in thick bushes, not the whole pack was visible but the sighting was still a great bonus of another predator species in Savuti. 

Birds at the Marsh was a great spectacular. The Pelicans are still around so as many other birds of prey, storks and other species of the aquatic community. 
That same afternoon as we were driving torwards camp just after leopard rock, we came across the super cat. We named him Chiller. He likes relaxing than anything else. This time he was on a hunt.

The black-backed jackals were also alongside him wishing Chiller the best of luck so they could perhaps get a little something from his kill.

The approximately 30 000 strong herd was desperate to move after a long dry season that started in May, the females heavily pregnant and reluctant to give birth to their foals before making the long trek.  The migration with their nurseries will move around the saltpans following the localised rain storms in the open grasslands where it is safer from the predators.

The summer rain attracts increasing numbers of bull elephants from the northern Chobe and Okavango areas into the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park where they forage on the nutritious grasses surrounding the saltpans.  This means we get to see large concentrations of bull elephants swimming in the river in front of camp, over fifty counted at one time right in front of our new floating viewing hide at camp!

I don’t want to publicise to the wrong people but the small family of white rhino has just become a big family!  The first rhino calf was born a few weeks ago in the national park and is doing very well.  Armed anti-poaching guards commissioned by the president are helping keep it that way.

Our Bushman walking experience has been a great success so far this year.  We plan to formally promote this activity for our guests in 2012.  The small family groups are from Xai Xai on the Botswana/Namibia border and spend up to three months at Meno A Kwena where we accommodate and provide them with sustainable income opportunities.  This includes taking guests on bush walks, playing games, tracking and arts and crafts production.  I must emphasise the impact these people have on our safari experiences, their involvement and input is a fascinating and entertaining compliment to viewing and understanding wildlife and their habitats.

The marsh has been full of life and more is yet to come. On one of the drives under a cool cloudy morning just after the rain had gently drizzled, zebras were spotted giving birth. The impalas are also all over with their young. Predators were also in the area but the zebras were so much on the western side of the marsh which meant that the canines had to to cross the marsh to reach the stripped fellows. It was such a spectacular and a total of about four zebras giving birth were witnessed by the guests  and  their field guide couldn’t believe their eyes.

The afternoon was very quite with general game on the eastern side of the Savuti marsh.The wild dogs we saw the previous day had gone. As we continued to the southern side of the marsh, by luck we came across the the Savuti boys.

The big cats were relaxed and looking very healthy.

Up in the east the skies were filled up with a very good colourful flight of the yellow-billed Pelicans. There bird calls everywhere and all the guests were feeling that there was surely something more than the birds somewhere.  A few minutes later we  came across the red-billed fracolin orchestra which was very hard to ignore. Their alarm calls were very much deafening. There was something life threatening to the birds and we still didn’t know what it was, and there around a sharp curve of a fever berry bush was an infantry of the common wild hunting dogs. It was the best sighting of the day, first pack of wild dogs in a very long time.

On our way back to camp we were driving across the marsh when this giraffe was walking infront of the dry spot where we were enjoying the amarula and listening to the lion’s roar that was coming from far beyond the horizon. Everyone was feeling the heart-beat of Africa under the soles of their boots.

Before getting into camp along the Savuti channel we came across the super cat. We admired her spots and she was a good size male leopard that had just finished her impala lamp kill and was resting watching the sun going down slowly, as if to say, this is one of the greatest days indeed.

Towards the end of the month there were various sightings around Savuti. The pack of wild dogs was seen at Harvey’s  pan and Qwari hills. Leopard sighting at Rock paintings and the two male lions were seen very close to camp, less than one hundred metres.

Anthony has been involved in many aspects of tourism in Southern Africa during the past 18 years – tour guiding, owning and managing a luxury guesthouse, tour operating, camp management in Botswana, product management, sales and marketing. Some 4 years ago Footsteps in Africa was created and under Anthony’s leadership oversaw its continued growth whilst remaining dedicated to its mission statement.  These experiences set the perfect foundation for Value Safaris.

He is married to Elize, who is also involved in tourism. They are parents to their twins, Isla and Aiden, and younger daughter, Charli. The Cavill-Taylor family lives in Hoedspruit, South Africa.