September was a special month for our rangers and for the animal lovers. Three of our most beloved animals were in the headlines. Here is our monthly update from the bush.

As our visitors want to always know how likely it is to find the animals on game drive (because there are no guarantees), as usual, first a look at the statistics. There were no variations to the relatively high values showing the discovery of the famous “Big 5”, which all our guests want to see. They can be admired in three safaris out of four, more precisely: elephant (92%), lion (74%), buffalo (74%), white rhino (68%). The stumbling block remains the leopard (9%), although we can report some wonderful sightings of the female leopard "Thala" that lives close to Rhulani.

September will remain memorable because three of our most beloved animals were in the focus. The beautiful lion-male "Scarface", which dominates the territory around the lodge together with his brother, lost his live in a battle with other lions. The good message is that his brother "Pretty Boy" survived, recovered from the injuries, lives now alone and can be seen again at full strength. 

Not so good news also from the cheetah female "Iketle", which is sponsored by Rhulani. She suddenly disappeared without a trace, and there are no signals from the radio-collar. We still hope that Iketle is alive and roams around in the reserve, and that just the battery in the collar has gone flat. We will report immediately should there be any news.

Another headline made the huge bull elephant "Bob", who has often somehow found a way to come to our lodge. Once he woke up our manager Gerda at 2am when he stood next to her door. We have now repaired the electrical wire around the lodge and hope that Bob visits us less and does not frighten our guests too much (although everybody loves him...).

Back to the bush: many guests appreciate the way how they get to see the animals. In September we saw many times predators while eating a prey: leopard with an impala on the tree, lion on a buffalo kill, and a cheetah that had just caught a small scrub hare.

From time to time also rare animals crossed our path, so both types of hyenas, which are there in Madikwe: spotted hyena (15%) and brown hyena (19%). Our ranger Alasdair loves the giraffe so much, and he was very pleased to find his favorite animal every second time he started the engine.