Cats and Dogs: the eternal story of life

[Atravelynn]

"It was VERY windy and cheetahs were quite nervous. The mother was constantly getting up and checking surroundings"

When they can't get a clear scent I think they start worrying. Nice family shots, along with the running warthog.

 

Such suspense with the lion cubs. But out they came. How adorable. So is the baby rhino. So is the zebra foal. Tremendous leopard wrestling.

 

Phinda had everything happening, even some cobra drama.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Atravelynn

[Atravelynn]

 

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

 

Looking back a few pages I see there is even more cheetah activity--big ones, baby ones, all sorts. No wonder your guide said it was some of the best cheetah activity he had seen.

 

I had to laugh at your apology because I too felt I had to justify all the cheetah pics from Phinda and admitted outrageous and excessive cheetah posting.

[Kitsafari]

@@bettel I think I would have jumped onto someone's shoulders when the cobra slipped under the car! you are so brave to stamp the car!

 

that lioness is big! and i love the pix of her and the sister facing opposite directions side by side.

 

and those cheetah pix too. glad you had a good summer break!

[Atravelynn]

Somehow I had missed the lion and wild dog encounter. Your images are very clear and distinct as to what happened. I'd be tipping a few at sundowners too. Wow!

 

This trip had a multitude of truly sensational sightings.

[Hads]

^{Hi Bettel,}

 

^{Great safari report, unfortuantely I can not open your photo's.}

^{Do you have a link I can log into?}

 

^CHEERS

[Atravelynn]

I used to be able to see the photos. But like Hads, not now.

[bettel]

It is a stupid Facebook, that changed addresses for photos . I will have to go back and to re-link them but it might take some time.

 

Here are links for albums.

 

Kirkman's Kamp:

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.711641285568422.1073741845.100001676715551&type=1&l=4436066db0

 

Phinda:

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.722090464523504.1073741847.100001676715551&type=1&l=97d8dd390b

Edited January 22, 2015 by bettel

[Game Warden]

@@bettel All the more reason to open a Safaritalk album/s and upload your pics there

[bettel]

Although, all links for previous days are broken by Facebook, I will try at least to complete the report.

 

Day 11. PM.

 

Again, when Devon asked me what I wanted to see, I replied that I wanted the cheetah family. All those days I was actually thinking what is harder for a guide: to have a first time safari tourist that wants to see Big 5 plus hippo, plus zebra, plus crocs, etc or to have somebody crazy who wants not only specific animal (e.g. lions or cheetahs) but specific individuals.

 

That day our cheetah family was kind and allowed us to find them quickly. So we spent the whole evening :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it started to get dark Devon suggested to try to find a leopard as it would be an absolute record for Phinda: 5 leopards for 5 days. He decided to go along the fence to get to the leopard place faster… if you want to make God lough, tell him about your plans lol. We were totally blocked by a huge elephant bull. He was not aggressive he was just walking on the road and did not have any intention to go away. So we had to back up for quite a few meters . I actually enjoyed the whole experience a lot. This guy definitely knew who was the boss

 

[bettel]

Day12. AM.

(I am warning there will be a lot of photos from this drive)

There are people who always don't have enough. Some people don't have enough money or enough love, I don't have enough of big cats . There is no such thing as too much cats. So when Devon asked his normal question "What do you want to see today?", I answered that I wanted my cheetah family and Devon even did not jump out of the car lol.

As soon as Nsika went to track them on foot and we started to drive around the block I noticed them on the road and screamed "Here they are!". When Devon stopped to stutter and gained back the ability to hear (I am joking ) he radioed to Nsika to come back so that we can follow the family.

This time the family was not too cooperative, cheetahs were constantly walking through the thick bush (with thorns THIS BIG) so the most part of the drive i spent on the car floor between seats . But from time to time they did some stops:

But it did not last long, at some point they just disappeared in the bush and we could not find them

So we went to check lions and to have breakfast with them. Lions did not mind us chewing, they were sleeping:

After the breakfast we came across an elephant bull (Devon told that this was one of the bulls that we were tracking on foot)

The elephant enjoyed some spa

to be continued

[bettel]

After some sand bathing the bull continued with water shower:

And to make things even more exciting he was soon joined by a breeding herd:

[bettel]

Day12. AM (the last part for this drive).

We were watching elephants when Nsika told "Here is a vine snake that caught a frog". For the next few minutes Devon and I were trying to understand where the snake was. And then for a few minute Devon and Nsika were trying to explain me where the snake was lol. At some point I managed to see it (although I almost lost the hope):

After watching it through binoculars, Devon suggested to get closer. We actually crawled into the bush:

and Devon was suggesting to get even closer (I believe I should not have insisted to look for that cheetah family every drive, Devon probably decided to get rid of me lol). I was not brave enough so Devon took my camera and made a few pictures for me.

After this we went to have a shooting lesson. The day before Devon noticed that I am watching his rifle with some passion in my eyes so he asked me if I wanted to shoot. I wanted! So he talked to the camp management and they allowed me to do it.

Devon was setting up the target (three holes in the middle were done by him during a ranger testing)

My precious:

I added a few holes (well I am not that good , I missed the whole target a few times):

Man, this rifle is heavy!

Video lesson

Edited February 17, 2015 by bettel

[Marks]

The first snake picture is fascinating. Hard to see where the snake ends and the frog begins!

Lovely cheetah & eles, and the target shooting looks fun as well - although:

 

 

Devon was setting up the target (three holes in the middle were done by him during a ranger testing)

 

You could have told us you got the bullseye and we would have been none the wiser

Edited February 18, 2015 by Marks

[Peter Connan]

Fascinating snake photos, love the eyes!

 

Next time you shoot a big rifle like that, try not to lean forward so much, it will be less brutal.

[bettel]

You could have told us you got the bullseye and we would have been none the wiser

I was actually thinking about it, but then I decided that if Devon ever sees this report, he will be able to blackmail me

 

 

Next time you shoot a big rifle like that, try not to lean forward so much, it will be less brutal.

 

I was trying not to lean forward so much, but then I was almost falling back . I did not expect it to be so heavy

 

 

Day 12. PM.

I used my afternoon time before the drive to make some pictures of resident duikers. They were not quite cooperative but I managed to get couple shots

Our first sighting on the drive was juvenile bateleur eagle:

Due to wind it had a nice hairstyle (or it is better to say featherstyle)

We did not manage to find our cheetah family so we spent the whole drive with lions:

And then cubs found the piece of net (or something similar) and they gave us an awesome show chasing each other

Not all adults were happy with the game

But some actually decided to join

Cubs did not appreciate their older sister participation

It was getting dark and I was feeling sad as it was my last evening

When it got fully dark lions went hunting. They chose a single male gnu as a target but the younger lioness was not patient enough and started to chase too early so the hunt was unsuccessful.

[Peter Connan]

I hope they didn't swallow that piece of shade net!

[bettel]

No, they did not. They even did not try to chew it, just used it as toy.

[TonyQ]

@@bettel

Beautiful pictures of the cheetah family - and the lions playing, and of course the elephants in the water. Very enjoyable!

[pault]

Shame about the loss of links - sucks! Actually I can see all of the old pictures now though. Did you replace them?

 

I just noticed the link thing happened to me too... although in my case I have the wrong pictures under some captions, so I like discuss a baboon and have a picture of a lion!!! I think that is worse.... and worser still since my links come from a site that I pay for. It never happened before but if it does again I will be taking Game Warden's advice (unless I find Game Warden is behind it of course ).

 

Of recent posts..... great time with the cheetahs! And with the snake.

Edited February 25, 2015 by pault

[bettel]

@@TonyQ, thank you!

 

@@pault, It is very frustrating when suddenly something does not work . Game Warden gave me access to edit my old posts so I fixed all links.

 

 

Day 13. Last safari drive .

 

I packed everything in the evening so that we can maximize the game drive time. It is funny, it was the 13th day but I still did not have enough of it .

 

 

The nature decided that there had been too many cats so far so we had not seen any, actually, we did not see any predators.

 

At some point we came across tracks that belonged to a lioness with 4 small cubs (they had not been introduced to a pride yet) and Devon offered to try to find them. I agreed and he and another guide together with both trackers went to track lions on foot.

 

Despite small cubs, lioness was moving a lot as based on tracks she had recently met elephants and they had charged her and cubs and thus she was trying to move cubs as far away as possible. After half an hour guides returned to cars and trackers continued to follow the track.

 

 

Soon we received the call from Nsika that they found the lioness. We picked him up and he tried to direct us through the bush. But unfortunately the bush was way too thick so we gave up pretty soon.

 

 

When it was time to go to the airstrip Devon chose the longest route so that I could see some parts of Phinda that I had not seen before:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To sum everything up: it was a great trip. I saw a lot. I wanted to see predators and I saw them: 14 cheetahs, 10 leopards, a few lion prides, dogs and hyenas. I witnessed quite a few different behaviors: lions mating, lions/cheetahs/leopards hunting, cats playing, two kills and much more. I realized that my favorite safari is to spend a lot of time at the same camp and to learn more about individuals rather than to see as many animals as possible. I think in this case I am getting much more emotionally involved. I like to know animals’ history and I really enjoy reading what is happening with these animals after I left.

 

I am planning to get back to Kirkman's Kamp again (I actually have the trip booked). However, I have some concerns as my guide left the lodge and I don’t know who will be my guide now. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

P.S. I would go to Phinda again in a heartbeat; I will just not have enough time for this in June

[Marks]

Seeing all your wished-for sightings tallied up like that, this will be a hard trip to beat. I'll be looking forward to the next TR all the same, though!

[michael-ibk]

Glad you fixed all the links, it has been a stellar trip report, and it really would have been a shame to leave it "broken". Looking forward to the next one!

[Peter Connan]

@@bettel, thanks for a great TR!

[TonyQ]

@@bettel

Thank you for the final section - a great report!

[CDL111]

Thanks for a great report and, I also, am looking forward to the next one.