Friday, 8 July 2011

Surprise in the Pilanesberg



Surprise in the Pilanesberg
Ivory Tree Game Lodge is situated in the Northern sector of the Pilanesberg Game Reserve, so sometimes it is a bit of a long drive for us to go all the way to the western sector of the park. But sometimes it just pays off.
My guests and I decided one day that we were going to take the long road, Moloto. Just as we passed one of the dams a vehicle came from the front and told us about lions with cubs not too far up the road. Excitement flowed over us in a flash, lions were one thing, cubs a different story all together. We started driving with our eyes almost popping out of their sockets, but we just kept going without seeing anything.
Fortunately the only problem was the guy in the other vehicle simply underestimated the distance to the lions. We almost started doubting if they were actually there, when we saw a vehicle parked a bit up the road. Sure enough there they were, three lionesses and cubs all over the place.
And just as a bonus they were only lying about ten meters away eating a Red Hartebeest that they caught. This was absolutely amazing, the cubs were stalking each other in the long grass, playing as if they don’t have a care in the world, with their moms only glancing in their direction in between their feeding frenzy.
After a while they decided to move their kill to a patch of shade further away, unfortunately for us this meant we couldn’t really see them anymore and the cubs took their antics to the other side of the bush. At least we also had our fill, and the long ride paid off.
Ranger Neill

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