In the new year, Rhulani's Rangers continue to report via meticulous statistics, what we see with our guests on the daily game drives. The Big 5, a major attraction for many guests, were seen with a very high likelihood. Here is the update from the bush of January 2018.

The first month of the year almost brought us a surprising new leader in our animal sightings statistics. As we know, the elephant has been ranked number one since the beginning of our monthly reports, which means, it is the most viewed mammal of the "Big 5". In January, the elephant reached again a high score (75% chances to find one on a game drive), but this time he was almost overtaken by the lion, which we find more often in the bush, with a 73% chance per drive.

Our Rangers say that we have currently a very good sense of where the lions might be roaming around in their territory, whereas right now, during the rainy season, the elephants are not necessarily in the places we know, and therefore harder to find.

Lions are extremely interesting to watch. One day, we were next to them when they roared, or when they were playing. On another day, a lion chased after a buffalo, or we found a lion pride eating on a kill.

Thanks to higher scores, the distance to buffalo (64%) and white rhino (60%) has also narrowed, so it can sometimes happen that a guest can experience the "perfect safari": all Big 5 on a single game drive. The hard nut to crack remains the shy leopard, which we discover about once in ten game drives.

If we look through the list of what else we saw in January, we find some rather unique occurrences. It confirms that the bush has always something new to offer even for experienced visitors. With a smile we had to help our experienced ranger Sean, who got stuck with his vehicle in a hole.

Our snake lovers were enjoying seeing a rock python or the dangerous boomslang. Our guests with a keen eye for smaller things have spoted a cameleon, a leopard turtoise, or beautiful, rare birds like African crake or golden oriole.