Any week starting off with a sighting of wild dogs is guaranteed to be a good week... and we were not left disappointed... Welcome to the next edition of “A week in the Bush”.

Morning safari started off a bit cooler but with this temperature brought some luck as a pack of wild dogs got active running all over the road before veering off onto the thick bush no doubt to get a quick meal before the heat sets in.

After some tracking one morning, we never managed to locate Maxabeni and assumed he was sleeping in the thick bush away from the heat. We tried again in the afternoon and found some fresh tracks of movement which we followed and found a sleepy leopard in the long grass. We waited with him for a while before he got up to mark some territory, vocalize and head for a drink of water.

A leopard had been busy the night before as we could see tracks going up and down on the road which made it hard to track his movements so we teamed up and followed one set and the other the opposite set, eventually we found the White Dam male creeping in the long grass, he would stop for a short while and then carry on again.

With our rainy season at an end, we witnessed a spectacular lightning display over Sabi Sabi which brought with it some unexpected rain! The following morning, an elephant was seen enjoying the moist greenery around Earth Lodge after the rains.

Spotted eagle-owl - a stunning bird of the night.

A beautiful animal to see as they hide close to dense areas and riverbeds.

A large male elephant took full advantage of the mud accumulated in this seasonal pan.

Two Little Bee-eaters warm up in the sun on a cool autumn morning.

“When we drink, we drink together” – a herd of buffalo head to the water for a drink.

A pair of rarely seen and more so rarely photographed, Southern Ground Hornbills walking through the open plains looking for a meal which include anything from snakes and mice down to small insects.

A lazy weekend for this hyena.

This hippo spent his day in a shallow wallow and as the sun set a little and temperatures cooled, he made his way out.

A majestic kudu bull stands out in the tall grass.

Stripes standing side by side.

A stunning bird often heard and only seen in flight – a Brown-headed Parrot.

Is there a better way to end the weekend?

A warthog keeps a keen eye on us as we made our way past at dawn.

A Blue Wildebeest stares at us momentarily before carrying on with its grazing in some long grass.

Stargazing and photography are hard, but once you learn about the stars you can put it into words and better yet... into pictures.

The lions most certainly stole the “show” this week...

This young nomadic male from the Sand River Pride has been seen in the far south of our reserve after a recent split from the two Southern Pride females he was previously with.

Our rangers headed out one morning and were witness to something quite amazing – two male lion coalitions chasing one another. One coalition comprising of the two Birmingham males who are considerably bigger, older and more dominant; chasing the four young, less experienced, and smaller males of the N’waswishaka male coalition... Tyron summed up the sighting in his blog, “A whole lot of roar”.

All has been calm since and the two coalitions, to our knowledge, have not been in proximity to one another again.

A few days later, we decided to track lions again and after no luck, we decided to head back to the lodge when those magnificent calls ran straight through the savanna and headed straight to the area to find 3 lazy male lions. They called, advertising their presence. The sound echoed all around us - it was incredible! It must have taken it all out of them as they then just lay sleeping. We headed back to the area the following morning, only to find them crossing the road and then lay a couple of yards into the bush.

Until next time...