For a few days the weather was quite uninviting – it had been raining almost non-stop. Nevertheless, my guests and I still went out on game drive, determined to find some animals.
The first two drives with my guests were extremely quiet so when it got to the third drive, I figured it should be time for at least one good sighting. So we all got ready for the rain and put our ponchos on. Little did we know what lay in store for us.
My tracker, Alfie, and I decided to try and find the elephants – they are not really bothered by the wet weather. Unfortunately, we were struggling to find fresh tracks of the elephants due to the rain. Therefore, luckily we were more than one vehicle in the area. After searching for about half an hour, in the pouring rain, we found them. a big herd in the road. Luckily for us they were in a thick area so we were covered by the massive trees.
After viewing the elephants and watching the babies playing and bullying each other, the rain finally started to die down. So my guests and I decided to continue with our drive but slowly make our way back to the lodge. On our way back, we came across three rhinos next to the road. At first they were just eating and minding their own business.
However, the young bull decided this was his day to try and mate with one of the females. Nevertheless, the female did not want anything from him and therefore started fighting him off. As they were fighting, they moved into the road, pushing and shoving each other in all directions. The other female just carried on eating, but when the young bull came near, she also stood her ground.
Unfortunately for this young male, this was not his lucky day. No females were interested in him just yet. But it is typical of young male rhinos to start showing interest in females. Fighting with them will also help to build up his strength as well as his experience.
This was such an amazing sighting to see right in front of the vehicle. And to finish it off, we came across a male and female lion on a wildebeest kill. Even though they were sleeping, as lions do for most of the day, it was an eventful and memorable day.
Kim – Kapama River Lodge
29/09/2012
