We recently had a group from KPMG in Holland join us for two days and in those two days a number of potential employees get to enjoy a few magical days in the African bush while also trying to impress their potential employers. The selection program chooses only a handful of the people that come through on the trip to stay on to be employed. The first drive started off well when we found a group of male buffalo wallowing in a big wallow. The temperature was hitting 46°C and the buffalo had taken to mud for some relief from the relentless African heat. The mud was caked over the old boys acting as a sunscreen, helping them with parasites and making sure they didn’t over heat. Whilst watching them a big bull elephant also joined us and there was plenty of evidence that he too had been indulging in a mud bath of his own.

As we carried on we found more elephant and rhino before we stopped for a rehydration stop, better known as a sundowner. The whole group got together on an open area and discussed all that they had seen and trading war stories with one another. Some of the vehicles had already been to see a big male leopard that was found and that left me under pressure to get them to see the beautiful cat. Fortunately I knew about this and had planned the safari in such a way that we would view him at night when he would be more active and we would get to spend a bit more time with him.

When we got into the sighting the vehicles had all gone lights off as he was hunting some impala. We switch the lights off so as not to alert the impala of his presence and also not to blind the impala. The full moon lit up the bush and the chances of him getting close enough for an attack were slim but we watched under the moonlight as he stalked closer and closer. When he got to about 20 metres away he was spotted and the impala made a dash for safety before he could even think about charging in. We followed him for another 30 minutes before heading back to bush lodge for some dinner.

The next morning we got off to a cracking start by finding the Kruger Males very close to Selati camp and followed them as they moved through the bush marking territory as they went along. We had some difficulty keeping up with them as they moved through thick bush that was cris crossed by drainage lines but we eventually caught up with them and they lay down in the shade of a bush on a nice open area giving us a good view of these magnificent males.