It’s reasonably bright and sunny for this morning’s game drive from Exeter River Lodge, which turns out to be all about hippos, the Manjingilane lions & leopards. Driving along the banks of the Sand River in the Sabi-Sands Reserve, we surprise a hippo going down to the river for a swim. For a moment it looks like he thinks charging the vehicle is a good idea, but he abruptly turns and wades into the river.
This morning is also my first encounter with the Ottawa lion cubs. Fathered by one of the males of the Manjingilane coalition of 5 brothers or cousins, the 3 cubs are about 6 months old. All three cubs are suffering from demodectic mange, which they will grow out of, but their coats at the moment do look scruffy.
Two of the lion cubs are trying to suckle from the lioness, who isn’t remotely interested in the idea and rebuffs their attempts with a smack on the head from a powerful rear paw.
Not to be deterred, one briefly latches on, resulting in this angelic pose.
The Xikavi female leopard was spotted this morning – she has a tiny cub hidden away somewhere, but this morning she is resting on a fallen log alongside the river. She had two cubs but one has died in the last couple of weeks.
We catch up with her resting on the bank shortly after.
By the afternoon game drive, the sky has clouded over, with rain appearing to be likely. We are fortunate though to find the Manjingilane brothers lounging around. Chris the tracker does an outstanding job of finding 3 out of the 4 surviving lions of the coalition, so we end up seeing all four in the afternoon.
Just as the sun starts to go down, we need an emergency tyre change….never mind, the vultures and crocs are watching and waiting…all in a day’s game drive
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[…] It’s hard to tell whether this is the mother lioness or an aunt, but aunt #2 is missing in action, presumed to be off mating with one of the Manjingilane brothers from Tuesday’s blog entry. […]