Sunday 12th September - Madikwe Safari Lodge

Up at a quarter past five for a very chilly six o’clock morning Game Drive.  “First contact” was a lone Scrub Hare close to the new airstrip that is being built.  Luckily for him he was far enough away from our next encounter ...... a pack of African Wild Dog !!  We were thrilled to see these 17 fine specimens which included the remaining 5 pups from a litter of 10.  At first it looked as if they were gearing up to a kill but instead they bounded down the track in front of us, playing and interacting with the pups. An absolute joy to behold.

WILD DOG

The rest of the drive brought a plethora of sightings.  Stopping at various waterholes we saw White-breasted Cormorant, a Water Monitor, Grey Heron and Blacksmith Lapwing whilst a lone Elephant browsed in the scrub.  At Lay Pan South African Shelduck preened whilst Wildebeeste, Burchell’s Zebra and Impala drank nervously.

BURCHELL'S ZEBRA

Returning to the Lodge we saw Tawny Eagle, delicate Violet-eared Waxbill, Grey-backed Cameroptera (Bleating Warbler) and a tiny Black-chested Prinia.  A hearty breakfast of cold meats, hot tea and spicy sausages with fried eggs left us ready for a short sleep to re-charge our batteries ready for the afternoon drive.

GREY BACKED CAMEROPTERA

The afternoon drive brought us Lesser Striped Swallow and the beautiful Crimson-breasted Shrike.  Marc told us that he had been fortunate enough to see and photograph a rare Yellow-breasted “morph” of this charming bird.  In the late afternoon sun we disturbed a Spitting Mozambique Cobra which scurried across the track and flared its hood in anger and defiance.  A pleasant time was spent observing a large (30+) troop of Baboon socialising before sunset - infants climbing sparse shrubs only to fall and try again with no embarrassment in failure. A Purple Roller sat on a tree stump oblivious to our intrusion.

LESSER STRIPED SWALLOWS

We were alerted to the discovery of Wildebeeste that had been killed by the two male Lions who head the pride of 18.  As the sun set, they slept not ten feet from us, bellies full and too tired to move (not even to urinate).  After dark we returned to watch them feed; an awesome display of bone-crunching, sinew-tearing strength.

TIRED BOY

Our homeward trip via a large watering hole gave us night-time glimpses of Elephant, White Rhino, Black-backed Jackal, Bats and Water Thick-knee, all to the accompaniment of Raucous Toad.

Dinner of Masala Lamb, Couscous and Tamarind but still no sign of Leopard.