9 October 2020
A New Beginning
Hello everyone and welcome back to another blog!
Last week in my “Tranquillity on the Estuary” blog, I wrote about the rains that we were waiting for in anticipation.
Well, let me tell you, boy did it rain! Due to the severe flood warnings for the weekend we had to close the Lodge and all our Day Activities for the duration of the weekend as our rivers flooded too high to cross. We received over 85 millimetres of rain over the course of the weekend!
After the rivers had subsided enough to cross through with the Land Rovers, I grabbed my camera and took a drive through the reserve to see the beauty of the reserve after the rains.
This is one of the best times to go out and do a game drive as the rains wash away all the dust that settle on the trees, shrubs, and grass throughout the reserve.
Animals love to eat the clean, moist vegetation which is why after the rains you have a high chance of seeing more animals than usual out on the open plains or close to the roads feeding.
I was most certainly not disappointed on my drive as within the first ten minutes of driving into the reserve, I already had a beautiful sighting of two male Impala enjoying some fresh green grass and not long after a large herd of Zebra and Blue Wildebeest walked past the vehicle also enjoying the fresh green grass. It’s amazing how quickly the grass turns bright green just days after good rain.
Blue Wildebeest 
Herd of Zebra 
A stunning view of our Lodge in the background!
Doing some 4×4 driving winding through our indigenous forest and driving through a few river crossings, I was incredibly excited to have my first sighting of a tiny Little Sparrowhawk! I have never seen a bird of prey that is so small – about 20 centimetres long, head to tail.
I then continued my drive and drove up onto some more open plains where I was excited to see large herds of Blesbok, Impala and Waterbuck! A flock of Ostrich were feeding amongst the Blesbok and as I drove down the hill, I had a stunning sighting of some White Rhino lazing around in an open vlei.
Blesbok & Ostrich 
Young Blesbok 
Female Impala 
Male Ostrich 
Waterbuck & Blesbok 
You can’t see me! 
White Rhino Lazing around
Of course, even though I never had any guests with me, I couldn’t resist going into the Lion Reserve to try and find the Lions. I drove around for about fifteen minutes until coming across them lazing around as per usual. I still wish I could sleep up to twenty hours a day as they do.
One of the Lionesses was grooming another member of the pride, I love watching this as they look so content whilst doing it. Lions are social cats and grooming one another strengthens their social bond.
A couple minutes after leaving the Lion reserve I had a magnificent sighting of two male Giraffe sparring! Male Giraffe will fight for breeding rights with females.
Not far off from the two male Giraffe was a female laying down and was busy ruminating. This is an extremely rare sighting as Giraffe don’t lay down very often because of them being so vulnerable to predation when they do.
I must have spent about half an hour watching the males spar with one another. Sightings like this are not ones you will see every day out on game drive. You need to be in the right place at the right time – which is exactly what makes a game drive so exciting – you never know what you might see!
With so much more water out on the reserve now after the rains, most of the animals have moved out of the riverbeds where they have been so difficult to find in the last few weeks.
This is the perfect time to come out with your family and book for a game drive!
Thank you all for reading another one of my blogs, be sure to leave a comment below and if you have any special requests for a future blog you are more than welcome to ask.
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Stay safe everyone.
Warm regards,
Ranger Tammy
Excellent Tams and very informative.
Fascinating animal and a real challenge to a veterinarian to anaesthetise. Collapse of the valves stops supply of blood to the brain and death. Once down the animal has to be given the reversal drug in few minutes to prevent the cardio respiratory collapse. Enjoy the lovely rain regards
Excellent and informative
You must have had a spectacular view of all those animals after the rain…I will have to find someone to take me there when in East London. Enjoyed reading your post.
Great pics Tammy.
Will be there soon.
Regards
Gabriel
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