Tusker: 18 March, 2009
March 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We saw an African Fish Eagle eating a small mammal, 2 different elephant herds, black backed jackal, impala, giraffe and 3 rhinos. As we sat down for lunch, 3 elephant bulls joined us! On afternoon game drive, not far from camp, we saw 2 rhinos that ran away as soon as they saw us. But luckily, 10 minutes after spotting the 2 bulls, we saw 3 rhinos– a cow, calf and bull — that stood still for a little while. Then we had a sighting of about 400 buffalo next to the river, getting up after their afternoon lay-down. Later in the drive, we saw an elephant bull scratching his side on a big tree close to a mud wallow and greeting a passing elephant herd. Then he went back to scratching. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Tom Binfield, Back-up Guide]
Tusker: 17 March, 2009
March 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We walked into a breeding herd of elephant and one bull was feeding 30 meters from us. We continued our walked when we saw another big herd of elephant headed to the river. We stood on a little hill and watched them walking, when I heard one of my guest say “lion”! There was a lioness walking in the opposite direction of the elephant. We had elephants feeding around the camp the whole afternoon. On our afternoon drive we saw an elephant bull taking a mud bath and then scratching on a nearby tree, he was very relaxed! We also had sightings of zebra, impala, blue wildebeest and waterbuck. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Tom Binfield, Back-up Guide]
Tusker: 16 March, 2009
March 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment
On our way to camp we saw lots of giraffe, impala and zebra. For the afternoon drive we saw more giraffe, 4 elephant bulls feeding in the riverbed, 2 rhino on airstrip, 4 hippos in the dam, a giant eagle owl, some African Fish Eagles and an African wildcat. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Tom Binfield, Back-up Guide]
Tusker: 6 March, 2009
March 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We had sightings of waterbuck with their young and 2 buffalo bulls lying in the mud wallow not far from camp. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Isaack Nkuna, Backup guide]
Tusker: 5 March, 2009
March 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We walked from camp hearing elephant trumpeting and seeing elephants running on a hill in front of us. A bit later we saw the whole elephant herd walking to the river – they were approx. 35m from us. We also saw vervet monkey jumping in the trees. Later that afternoon we had a bull elephant that came close to the vehicle while feeding. The guests were very excited! We also saw a hippo walking next to the dam, but as soon as he heard us he went back into the dam, another hippo started feeding in the riverbed. We had sightings of four Rhino on their way to the same dam, a young blue wildebeest chasing a black back jackal, waterbuck, impala, zebra and giraffe. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Isaack Nkuna, Backup guide]
Tusker to Madach: 4 March, 2009
March 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We went past where we’d seen the lionesses the previous night and found that a male had joined them. One of the guest was so exited that he stood up and the male became quite alert. Because of this, we we left them. On our way to Madach, our camp in the Timbavati, we saw 3 ground hornbills, kudus (a very nice male with magnificent horns), a herd of elephant and giraffe. At Madach we met Quintin, who is in charge of the Ground Hornbill Research Program, at a ground hornbill nest. One of his students was holding the bird so he could take blood and measure his legs, feathers and bill. It was a really great learning opportunity and very interesting. After spending some time with Quintin, we continued back to Tusker Camp, Klaserie, where we saw more elephants – a cheeky bull who came close to the vehicle — giraffes, hippo in the dam and impala. During the evening drive, we had sightings of a hippo out of the river and very close to camp, the same 2 lionesses from the morning activity, another hippo, and a genet. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Isaack Nkuna, Backup guide
Tusker: 3 March, 2009
March 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We saw a bull rhino that was very relaxed and only 20 m away from us. Later that evening we saw another rhino bull not so relaxed. He made his way into thick bush. We also had sightings of buffalo feeding in the riverbed, duiker, steenbokkie, genet and lots of waterbuck and impala. At 1h00 we woke everyone because the lions were roaring very close, we found a females walking up to another one lying in the grass. The both were ‘flat cats’ by the time we left them. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Isaack Nkuna, Backup guide]
Tusker: 2 March, 2009
March 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We followed some fresh rhino track in the vehicle and when they went off the road we all jumped off and went to track them. After 15 minutes, We found them feeding about 30 m from us. We also saw giraffe, blue wildebeest, zebra, impala, chameleon, black backed Jackals and 2 juvenile fish eagles. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Isaack Nkuna, Backup guide]
Tusker: 1 March, 2009
March 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment
It was a rainy morning and at the end of our drive it was pouring down. We managed to have sightings of a Hippo in the dam, zebra, blue wildebeest and impala feeding, despite the rain. We also saw Giraffe and an elephant bull put on a display on for us. Later that afternoon we saw lots of impalas, zebras, blue wildebeest, giraffe and waterbuck. [Jo Schoen, Trails Guide and Phil Bennett, Backup guide]