Nat Geo Lions
Now one might ask himself what National Geographic lions are, so let me explain. In general lions sleep for an average of between 20 and 22 hours a day. But if you watch National Geographic it looks like all they do the whole day and night is hunt. This morning we almost had that!
Leonard and I had a group that really wanted to see some lions up close, so naturally when one of the other rangers found three lionesses we responded. The sighting was absolutely brilliant, they were right next to the road in an area where the grass was burnt away completely with nice green shoots starting to pop out. They came out and walk down the road, then one saw a warthog running across the road and set after it.
She eventually ended up chasing it across the road right in front of us, the second female chasing close behind. As is more common with lions than any other big predator, they missed. Then the one behind us started chasing a wildebeest, but she also missed. Then crazy enough another ranger found two more wildebeest further up the road stalking wildebeest. There was so much going on that no-one actually knew where to go! Eventually one of the wildebeest thought something out of place and gave an alarm call, which of course got all the wildebeests’ attention, enabling them to escape the stalking lionesses.
We spent a good hour and a half in the sighting, unfortunately without seeing a kill, but we still got a lot of excitement and a sighting that none of us will forget soon.
Ranger Neill
Monday, 22 August 2011
Friday, 5 August 2011
Leopard in the Pilanesberg Game reserve
When I started at Ivory Tree Game Lodge in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve there was still a Big Five experience I had not had (LEOPARD).
During my training and introduction to how the Ivory Tree Game Lodge ranger team operates and works as a well-oiled machine, one of the perks was to be able to go on safari with fellow rangers and learn the different ways each and every one conducts an unforgettable experience. During this time I had my first leopard and to make it even more exiting she had a very young cub with her, the sighting was short but wonderful and I will never forget my first elusive cat.
This is where it gets great, since then I have had a number of great sightings of leopard. My fellow Rangers recon I will run out of luck soon enough but I say the bush owes me a phew more, after all, I had not seen a leopard until the age of thirty two, crazy I know.
So here are some of the pictures of sightings. This one was taken on safari by some of my guest from Indonesia. They were super lucky on this day to see this cat after nine in the mornig.
On Mankwe first plain:
This was a great sighting and lasted for some time.
This is one of many sightings I had at a place called red cyanide:
This cub and his sibling as well as their mother have been seen here regularly as there den is nearby.
This brings me to this point, I started this story on the 20/07/2011.
About two months after the previous photo on the 20/07/2011 I have this wonderful sighting of the same cubs with guests from Dubai. So my luck on safari has still not run out!!
So here are the pics
If you look carefully you can see the second leopard behind the bottom of his rump area but only its back.
So yes for me safari's at Ivory Tree Game Lodge in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve has been great this far.
Ranger William.
When I started at Ivory Tree Game Lodge in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve there was still a Big Five experience I had not had (LEOPARD).
During my training and introduction to how the Ivory Tree Game Lodge ranger team operates and works as a well-oiled machine, one of the perks was to be able to go on safari with fellow rangers and learn the different ways each and every one conducts an unforgettable experience. During this time I had my first leopard and to make it even more exiting she had a very young cub with her, the sighting was short but wonderful and I will never forget my first elusive cat.
This is where it gets great, since then I have had a number of great sightings of leopard. My fellow Rangers recon I will run out of luck soon enough but I say the bush owes me a phew more, after all, I had not seen a leopard until the age of thirty two, crazy I know.
So here are some of the pictures of sightings. This one was taken on safari by some of my guest from Indonesia. They were super lucky on this day to see this cat after nine in the mornig.
On Mankwe first plain:
This was a great sighting and lasted for some time.
This is one of many sightings I had at a place called red cyanide:
This cub and his sibling as well as their mother have been seen here regularly as there den is nearby.
This brings me to this point, I started this story on the 20/07/2011.
About two months after the previous photo on the 20/07/2011 I have this wonderful sighting of the same cubs with guests from Dubai. So my luck on safari has still not run out!!
So here are the pics
If you look carefully you can see the second leopard behind the bottom of his rump area but only its back.
So yes for me safari's at Ivory Tree Game Lodge in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve has been great this far.
Ranger William.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Ranger’s surprise
Sometimes the rangers at Ivory Tree Game Lodge decides to head into the Pilanesberg National Park to go have some fun, most of the time though it is work related. And if for some reason they have to go to Sun City it is much preferred to rather do a personal little safari through the park instead of driving around the park.
Yesterday was one such day. The rangers had to go to Sun City for shooting practice and decided to drive through the Pilanesberg National Park. Not long into the park we saw some wildebeest, impala, giraffe, and all the usual plains game. What we did not know was this was about to turn into a dream safari.
About 5km from Ivory Tree Game Lodge we saw a vehicle parked off to the side of the road. Some of the guys joked and said it would be elephant, some said rhino, and I took a wild guess and said leopard. When we parked behind the vehicle we couldn’t really see anything, but when we moved a bit back, lo and behold, there she was, a beautiful leopard walking through the open plains.
Her body posture also suggested that she might be hunting, which at this stage we couldn’t understand as we couldn’t really see any animals around. Then one of the guys spotted a warthog under a tree. The leopard moved under a tree right next to the one the warthog was using.
We waited for quite a while after she disappeared into the shade, and then all of a sudden warthog came running out everywhere! It was absolute chaos for the warthog, they had managed to completely surround the leopard, giving her a big range to pick from. In retrospect this might actually be what saved them, as the leopard might have had difficulty deciding which one to chase.
In the end all the warthog managed to escape and the leopard decided to head for higher ground, hopefully to plan her next attempt. What caught us all off guard though was the time this all took place, about half past 10 in the morning. That is always something to remember, the animals don’t read the books we write about them.
Ranger Neill
Sometimes the rangers at Ivory Tree Game Lodge decides to head into the Pilanesberg National Park to go have some fun, most of the time though it is work related. And if for some reason they have to go to Sun City it is much preferred to rather do a personal little safari through the park instead of driving around the park.
Yesterday was one such day. The rangers had to go to Sun City for shooting practice and decided to drive through the Pilanesberg National Park. Not long into the park we saw some wildebeest, impala, giraffe, and all the usual plains game. What we did not know was this was about to turn into a dream safari.
About 5km from Ivory Tree Game Lodge we saw a vehicle parked off to the side of the road. Some of the guys joked and said it would be elephant, some said rhino, and I took a wild guess and said leopard. When we parked behind the vehicle we couldn’t really see anything, but when we moved a bit back, lo and behold, there she was, a beautiful leopard walking through the open plains.
Her body posture also suggested that she might be hunting, which at this stage we couldn’t understand as we couldn’t really see any animals around. Then one of the guys spotted a warthog under a tree. The leopard moved under a tree right next to the one the warthog was using.
We waited for quite a while after she disappeared into the shade, and then all of a sudden warthog came running out everywhere! It was absolute chaos for the warthog, they had managed to completely surround the leopard, giving her a big range to pick from. In retrospect this might actually be what saved them, as the leopard might have had difficulty deciding which one to chase.
In the end all the warthog managed to escape and the leopard decided to head for higher ground, hopefully to plan her next attempt. What caught us all off guard though was the time this all took place, about half past 10 in the morning. That is always something to remember, the animals don’t read the books we write about them.
Ranger Neill
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)