The month of April is over. For Rhulani, this means the end of the high season, the end of the hot summer months, and for our guests this means that the prices are becoming more attractive. The African bush of Madikwe with its wonderful wildlife has actually 'high season' all the time, which is confirmed by the high quality of wildlife observations. A review of the figures from April.

After an incredible storm and significant damages in Madikwe in March (see our previous report here), in April we had just “normal weather”. Autumn has now started. Temperatures are now going down, still with warm and sunny days, cool nights and no precipitation. This is actually an ideal climate for a safari experience! The safari operation of Rhulani ran just “normal”, and with many beautiful sightings, while the repair work at various points of the reserve were still in progress.

A quick look at the wildlife statistics: The chances to see the “Big 5” on a game drive was holding steady compared to the previous month. Even in a short stay with us, you will never miss the elephant (98% chance per game drive), lion (64%) and the white rhino (72%). Somewhat more difficult in April was to find buffalo (32%) and leopard (12%), which remains the biggest challenge for our experienced rangers.

Interestingly, the sightings of cheetahs slightly increased (17% per game drive), mainly because of the release of a further coalition of two males, which are not afraid of vehicles.

Besides the quantity of animals our safaris primarily convince by their quality. Rhulani's ranger Riaan reports the following highlights:

• spotted hyena den with 3 pups
• two male lions on a buffalo kill
• cheetahs on a kill, lions stole the kill
• big journey of 25 giraffes
• cute little lion cubs
• lions mating
• cheetah on a zebra kill

If you also want to review our urgent intervention to save the trunk of a baby elephant, read the article here.