Leopard's View Game Lodge

This group of female impalas were enjoying a quiet few minutes at the waterhole. The male impalas are being anything but quiet at the moment! The rut is in full swing with the male impalas racing around, grunting and snorting chasing male and female impalas all day and all night. Sleep is difficult!

Our favourite small mammal, dwarf mongooses were around the lodge a few days ago, their chirruping calls alerting us to their presence. A couple in the group came to the small waterhole where they were finding insects to eat on the top of the water.

The camera trap download was full of excellent sightings from the last week. This lioness with her three cubs early one morning was one of the highlights. There was also a leopard in the night, hyenas, porcupine, lots of elephants and surprisingly a hippo. We have been hearing them in the evening and during the night so were delighted to see the evidence on the camera.

An early morning visit this morning from this hyena to the small waterhole. He was with another, and they later appeared at the large waterhole along with a lioness who spend several hours there during the heat of the day under a shady bush. A busy day here at Leopard's View.

The early morning mist was just lifting this morning, when this large breeding herd of elephants crossed over the valley beneath the lodge. They had been feeding quietly around the lodge all night, remaining hidden in the trees until this morning. It is some time since we have seen a breeding herd, so it was an extra special sighting.

Part of one of the lion prides relaxing at a waterhole near to the lodge. Later on the chorus of roaring was magnificent to hear. A real treat.

The impala herds coming for their daily visit to our birdpool are still calm but it won't be long until the rut. Then rams' testosterone levels start shooting up and they begin to fight to hold territory and mating rights over female herds.

There are pops of colour everywhere in the bush once you start to look. We love this time of year when the Purple Pod Terminalia are hung with (you've guessed it) purple pods in their hundreds.

Many of you will know our bushbaby family, who are still going strong. This year they've been alternating sleeping sites between the top of the viewing tower and the roof of the bar. Always a treat to watch them bounce at around sundown.

The beautiful yellow-fronted canary - here brightening up the bush year-round.

These beautiful female kudu are regular visitors to the small waterhole.

We've been having some steamy days again in the last week or so and these warthogs have got the right idea - cooling off in the small waterhole.

Dowloading the camera trap is always exciting. What will we see? Sometimes it is hundreds of pictures of impalas or sometimes hundreds of pictures of the grass waving on a windy day. But, sometimes, there is a real stunning picture which comes up on the screen and we get a real thrill. This was the case with the last download. Right at the end of the series there was not just one super picture of a leopard, but four pictures of what must have been a mating pair. Very exciting indeed and perhaps we'll catch them again on camera.

Our iconic summer visitor, the Woodland Kingfisher. This individual, turned up on our stoep one afternoon. Perhaps he had flown into a window because he sat very still for a couple of minutes whilst I took this picture. He then flew off non the worse. Their highly distinguishable call is our alarm that summer is here.

The good rains we have had so far this year has brought on a wonderful variety of flowers, butterflies and tremendous grasses, in some places resembling a meadow. Lovely to see after the years of poor rain.

A wonderful bush sunset!

A wonderful lion sighting 2 evenings ago in the dry river bed on the property. It was a very hot evening and this lion family, with very full stomachs were resting in the late afternoon heat.

An interesting little drama played out yesterday afternoon in the branches of the large k**b-thorn tree outside our house. In a previous post we wrote about the weaver birds building a nest in the tree. That nest quite rapidly became 5 nests, and one at least has chicks. Yesterday afternoon I saw three barred owls sitting in the tree, with the adult weaver birds very concerned about their presence. We don't know if barred owls would hunt a weaver but at least one owl stayed all afternoon. This morning all seems fine - the chicks are noisily chirruping and the parents regularly bringing all kinds of insects.

Over the past few days there has been intense activity in the large k**b thorn tree in our garden. Southern Masked Weavers have been nest building and it has been a period of frenetic activity. The first nest was not completed but in the last two days another nest has been constructed and looks today to be finished. There seems to have been two male birds, each perhaps vying for the females attention and they have been buzzing around the tree in a veritable dog fight. The nest building has been amazing to watch and now a female bird has been inside and checked it out. We hope she likes what she sees and decides to lay her eggs there. We wait to see if the nest survives or whether the whole story will begin again.

Wonderful rain this week in our part of the reserve. The bush is burgeoning with life, flowers, grasses and of course the impala lambs are everywhere. Lovely to see.

Who needs Oxford Street when you can have a Christmas light show courtesy of Mother Nature? Incredible lightening during a Boxing Day storm.

A wonderful Christmas Eve treat yesterday evening. A great sighting of lion cubs close to the lodge.
This message comes with Christmas Greeting from all here at Leopard's View. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and Peaceful 2019. Neil and Ann

Good rains over the past week have produced their usual magic effect on the bush. The hint of green has turned to a carpet with new grasses springing up everywhere. The heavy rain last weekend was sufficient to make the dry rivers flow, if only for a short while, but it's always an event here at the lodge and in the reserve. And, we enjoyed some cooler temperatures for a few days after a couple of weeks of searing heat.

Wanted For Breaking and Entering! Caught on our camera trap is the elephant known locally as 'One Tusk' (for obvious reasons), Mr T and other not so complementary names. He has been leading us all a merry dance over the past couple of weeks, breaking through the fences and snacking on the plants in the gardens. This morning we were pulling a tree back upright that he had begun to push over a couple of nights ago. Luckily, the Land Rover, in low ratio did the job. He is incredibly stealthy for such a large creature - he had been sauntering around our gardens for some time before the crack of a broken root on the tree alerted us to his presence. He is proving to be extremely persistent.

A few highlights of the camera trap download from the last week. We had been listening, with our guests, to a lion calling all evening, as it moved up the valley. Luckily, it came by the waterhole, where it drunk and then walked off. Very exciting.

One of three elephants that came to drink at the waterhole by the house. Thankfully, we were not sitting in those chairs when they came visiting!