If you are used to the dryness of Madikwe and the characteristic pictures of yellow-brown savannahs with arid trees then you were astonished at the change in November. The first rain brought us a real transformation of nature. The animals appreciate this, and our safaris gave impressions in quite unfamiliar colors.
The rainy days came intensively. "We got 160ml," says Rhulan's Head Ranger Sean, which is a good start for the onset of the rainy season.
It feels like another park. On places where elephants usually wander over dry earth looking for food they suddenly took a soothing, refreshing bath right before our eyes, splashed around, and you could feel their joy.
Or the leopard, where only green grass was seen all around, so it seemed that the photo was made in a garden, and certainly not in Madikwe.
Action and excitement was guaranteed. A highlight was the meeting of two "Big 5" cats, with the slightly stronger lion snatching prey from the leopard in a short fight.
In general, we recorded a very high activity of the Big 5 in the month of November. On our game drives of 3-3.5 hours duration, the chance to meet these popular mammals was as follows: elephant 88%, lion 72%, buffalo 63%, white Rhino 60%, black rhino 15%, leopard 8%.
If you believe that during the rainy season the sky is always cloudy, then you are wrong. It only rains occasionally, so we still enjoyed a lot of unforgettable sundwoners in the bush, with unique sunsets.
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