The past 6 weeks’ work cycle have been incredible! From leopard and cubs, lion and cubs, 3 cheetahs successfully hunt in front of us, wild dogs just to name a few.

It all started with word of the Southern Pride female successfully killing a rather large kudu bull in a drainage line. The evening before my first drive of my cycle, the Southern Pride lioness had made the kill and had left to fetch her cubs to feed with her as they are only a couple of months old so still too young the assist her with the hunts. Upon her return to the kill site another female lion, one of the Styx females had moved in and started feeding on her kill, as any opportunistic hunter would, but the Southern Pride female is an incredible lioness and managed to fight off the Styx female and reclaim her prize.

After hearing that, I had a feeling that she would try and eat as quickly as she could and move off without attracting any more unwanted attention to her and her still very vulnerable cubs and she would not be there when my guests arrive and head out on their first safari with me. Despite this, I still decided to head towards the area and there they were, all three lions feeding on the remains of the kudu bull, the golden sun light making the scene perfect.

There is no better way to start a cycle.

Little did I know, that was just the beginning...

A few days later, three cheetahs were seen on the reserve. My guests, earlier that day, asked if there was a chance of seeing cheetah and I said (holding my thumbs for good luck) “You know, I think we may just have luck on our side” and luck was definitely on our side. The three were found scanning the area on top of a termite mound looking for any opportunity to hunt. Having two young boys, fast growing young boys, the mother has a lot of hard work to do trying to keep the boys’ bellies full, as I’m sure a few of you know that’s not an easy thing to do, young boys are forever hungry, so any chance she gets she will take and hopefully is successful. Well this morning she was.

While standing in top of the termite mound, she spotted a young kudu feeding in the thickets, and in the blink of an eye, she was off with the boys slowly following her a few metres behind so not to get in the way and within a few seconds she was off at full speed straight into the thicket. Keeping up with her was nearly impossible and all we saw was feet in the air and dust everywhere. As we finally caught up with her, she had successfully caught the kudu and the boys were sprinting to her with excitement like no other.

A sighting never to be forgotten!

These last 6 weeks have been incredibly exciting with sightings that we all will keep in our hearts forever.

There is one animal that will always be special to me and that’s the African Wild Dog.

These last few weeks we have had the privilege to have a number of sightings with three different packs moving through Sabi Sabi.

No matter what the dogs are doing, they could be fast asleep in the shade of a Tamboti thicket or causing mayhem in an open area, its always an amazing feeling when we see these animals, knowing that they are incredibly endangered and the chances of seeing them are always very small which makes every sighting memorable.

The one thing that always fascinates me when viewing these animals are their incredible senses. With their characteristic large ears and sharp eyesight, they are always keeping an eye out for any unsuspecting prey.

A scene will always remain in my memory, my last drive for the cycle, almost as if it was all scripted and the dogs had read their lines and knew what to do and when to do it.

The pack got up and started gently running through the long grass towards a small dry riverbed, as they crossed the river, all in single file, out of nowhere the pack splits up and starts running with everything they got straight towards a herd of impala. These impala did not know what was going on, all of a sudden they had dogs running towards them from all directions - dogs on their left, dogs on their right, dogs everywhere. With nothing else to do, the herd scattered, and chaos accrued with dogs and impalas running everywhere. We did not know where to look, wherever we looked there was something else happening on the other side of the vehicle, dust flying everywhere, impalas jumping, dogs chasing and to top it all off, a beautiful sunset behind the chaos.

Just as quickly as it started, so it ended. Through the madness of the hunt, the pack successfully hunted an impala and all fed before finding a safe place to rest for the evening as if nothing had even happened.

There is no better way to end a day.

They say time flies when you are having fun - out here our 6 week cycles feel like one day, with the amazing guests and incredible sightings at Sabi Sabi, time really does fly and if you close your eyes you may miss it.