What a month! Even our hardened rangers, who hardly can be surprised, had some "once in a lifetime" experiences last October, especially with very active predators. Welcome to our monthly update from the bush.
Be it wild dogs, cheetahs, lions or even a leopard, we watched all those big cats when they were hunting and successfully attacked prey. Thanks to our attentive field guides, we and our guests often had a pole position to watch the spectacle. We even had our GoPro camera close at hand, so we could shoot some amazing videos to capture those unique moments.
In addition, shortly before nightfall, we discovered with an above-average frequency lions lying in the grass, who roared loudly to mark their territory or to communicate with other lions, so that our vehicle was almost trembling.
We also were reminded how mighty nature is, especially at the time of transition from spring to summer. Quite close to our lodge we had threatening bushfires, which could be brought under control thanks to excellent cooperation within the Madikwe Reserve, without any harm or damage to anybody or anything.
If you want to have a look at some sequences of the videos, where Rhulani's staff acted as "reporters", click on the following titles:
- A wild dog kill between the conference room and reception
- Bushfire: The alarm system worked perfectly
- Highlight of the year: A Leopard kill next to our vehicle
No question that all our guests will remember this unique month in special memory. For the sake of completeness, let's take a look at the probabilities of seeing a particular animal on a 3 to 3.5 hour game drive: elephant 93%, white rhino 74%, lion 72%, buffalo 60%, wild dog 28%, cheetah 22%, leopard 12%. We also achieved record values with other, frequently seen animals, such as giraffe (82%) or black-backed jackal (69%).
This was definitely an extraordinary start to the summer season for all of us, and we look forward to many more unique experiences in the African bush.
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