Dik Dik

I know it is a common animal but try to observe a dik dik for more then 10 seconds... we actually enjoyed one for at least ten minutes. we also saw lions twice and also with cubs but the highlight today was the small antelope.
Special guests left today but I still have the rest of the crew of 6, in the afternoon I had to drive also Festo's guest because he is sick and needs to go to the hospital, Onno is coming tomorrow.
Actually in the morning we saw another interesting thing, there was a crowned lapwing incubating three very well camouflaged egss by the side of the road.
Nice debate session at dinner about instinct and learning.
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Leopard, Honey Badger, Bat Eared Fox, Cheetah, Lion, Black Back Jackal, Spotted Hyena

We drove the road down from camp, car full my super nice crew of 6 guests. It's col this morning and we greet the sun with joy as it appears between the doum palms. Sunrise is beautiful, perfect for pictures, so we stopped to take one and in that exact moment, one of the crew spotted something crossing the sand river, a big male leopard. Awsome spot, brief sighting but leopard is always special. We kept driving towards the main river and... my beloved one... the honey badger, another brief but intense sighting. After this, relaxed bat eared foxes.
Towards the confluence was cheetah time, a nice one run from an open area in front of the bush and disappeared into the bushes. A sleepy lioness was the following sighting at white rocks.
In the afternoon we got a black back jackal out of camp and again lions, a wonderful pride of 6 female one wounded young male and two funny cubs. This was a proper show, females walking cubs playing, they even tried to climb a small blue bush... super coool.
We spent one hour with them and eventually got a spotted hyena in the way back.
This park is insane.... and if you have super nice people in the car is even better
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60 ellies after breakfast

60 elephants the opposite shore of the ruaha river, just after breakfast. We wait them to move. It is an amazing scenery with all the acacias, the blue water, the sand and the pachiderms. It is a big group made probably of several breeding herds and they slowly head towards this side, towards us.
When they are in the middle I started moving towards where I thought they would climb up.
It was exactly the same place where we had muffins and coffee just few minutes before. AAnd here they come, slowly by steady, stopping in the middle to feed on some reeds. I am with a family of four and a couple of honeymooners, a crew of 6 people amongst the best I ever had, from where we are we can see the grey giants coming straight towards us, in ten minutes they already crossed the sand stretch. Eventually they rich a stream of water below us, some they drink, some cross and in the end all start crossing. When the first started climbing the bank I talked to her in order to make her aware of our presence. She deviated her direction of some meters and came up just in front of us, slowly followed by the other 59.... priceless.

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Puff Adder

We caught puff adder in camp last night, big one. It is stunning with a very pale color. I drove with Owen this morning and we released it close to the river. I filmed it and I took picture of this amazing creature, with the heat it started being a bit aggressive and eventually we placed it under a nice bush. Super...
Saw a couple of lions, picked up guests and headed back to camp.
In the afternoon nice pride of lions in Mwayenbe delighted my guests.... and me as usual.

Just before camp I had to stop the car because a big python was crossing the road. It was severely wounded probably by a big bird, either a vulture, a big eagle or a ground hornbill.

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Following her

Wonderful morning!
Yesterday I went with Owen at Mwagusi and we spent the night there, ealy morning we drove with Riaan out of camp, fully equpped with Owen's gear in my car. We soon found two male lions, the sun was not up yet and we started following them. they reached an open patch when a felmale with three cubs appeared from west. She approached one mail and as he got interested in her, she attacked him straight away. Just few second later they started roaringwith the sun rising behind them, was still cold and we could see clouds of vapor out of the lion's mouth at every roar. Maaaan that sound is so deeply routed inside our atavic memories.
After some minutes the female started walking, definitely in a hunting mood. We followed. After half an hour she decided to leave the cubs hidden and proceed alone. she turned growled to them an sent them scuttling in the bush.
She went on walking and looking around and we followed. She walked and walked and walked again, then she spotted impalas.... she crouched and waited. as the impala moved of she stalked them with a steady pace and then run as fast as she could, the chased lasted 50 mtrsand then the impalas were safe.
She went on again and stalked other impalas but eventually got too tured and went sleeping in the shade..... what a morning...

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lions, lions, lions

Owen and me went out early morning, Sophie, my car set for him, all his gears nicely tide, ready to roll.
After getting to the river drive we soon spotted tracks on the road, we followed them, we lost them, we went back and far far away we noticed a giraffe staring at something, ten lions were slowly walking down towards the water from a couple of km away. All what we could see was painted gold by the early morning light and so were the lions. I placed the car in the direction of their walk and we waited them to come. They came and went on so we drove the road closer to the river and intercepted them again. This a pride that does not belong entirely to this area, they come stay few hours and disappear again, they are a sort of semi nomadic pride, they are all lean and muscular, they are long distance walkers.
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We left them on the river and we went on the upper road towards r23, other tracks on the road... we followed them again and this time we went to the end, lions feeding on a buffalo killed in the night, two males are there, the light still amazing, the usual growling is on even if some of them are already fed. We leave also this pride and we go east, other tracks and other lions, 6 lioness walk on the road in our same direction, they moved soon towards the river and so we did anticipating them on the middle road, they arrived and they went on so we anticipatedthem again on the river road, again they arrived and went sleeping on the bank, again we left towards the beginning of the first forest.

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On the other side of the river there is a lioness, the rest of her pride is barely visible on our side. She goes alone, she wants impalas, she stalks, she moves swiftly into a drainage line and she waits, and we wait, an impala is coming, closer and closer again and there she is, a yellow lightening out of the ditch, she is fast but the impala even more, for a matter of inches it goes off, leaving a panting lioness behind.
Later in the afternoon we got the two males of this morning buff, they are now in the river bed, one crosses the water and almost waked over a small croc, the went on the sand and layed down closing for us a stunning lion's day.

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Waiting a leopard

Naiti found a male leopard on a sausage tree close to the road, I went with Owen, the leopard was hungry and we hoped for a hunt. We waited, put in the same spot for six hours while other cars came and went. we waited till the sun went down and only then the leopard climbed the tree down, landed badly injuring slightly one leg and walked away limping in the bush.
Leopard was close, impalas were close, we waited again but nothing happened.

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Hidden Places

Went with Owen to look for a place where he arrived following a lioness. It is special place with huge boulders, very tall and vertical. It is magic, has a wild atmosphere and an holy one, like a natural cathedral. You feel small while your soul comes bigger then you are. It is Owen's rocks

Buffs

Lot of planning with Carlo, every time he comes we put lot of ideas together and have fun.
The rest of the day went off with a mall herd of buffaloes at sunset and a female lion at the bridge drinking water.
Buffaloes are nice, like Spike, a friend of mine, used to say they look at you as you owe them money.

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Owner in

We spotted lions this morning, bushbuck pride, females, males and cubs. We called Owen and he came because a buffalo herd was approaching.
Buffaloes are close and even if lions are a bit fed they keep moving towards them. Eventually the herd moved in the woods and the lions left them.

Beautiful birds feeding on termites at the kopjes of old airstrip, superb starlings and Von der Deckens Hornbills were feasting in the sun.

Went back in the same lion's spot with Carlo, the owner in the afternoon... lions in the same spot but the other side of the river another herd of at least 1000 buffaloes is coming to drink.... lions move in the river bed closing the gap with the buffs.... they sit in th tall grass while the path finders of the herd come closer... we hold our breath.... but buffaloes change their mind, go back and nothing happens.

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Owen

Owen came to camp, his car has some problems. He is a well known film maker and cameraman and he is working since last year on a documentary about lions and buffaloes in the Ruaha and most important he is great fun.
This morning we went to look for two leopards probably mating around black rocks, we looked everywhere but even if we could hear the vervet monkeys alarm call we could not see the leopards anywhere. Shame!
Only carnivore we saw was hyenas eating the legs of the giraffe killed by lions few days ago.
In the afternoon we went out again fro a little stroll and go a young elephant bull pretending he was big and strong as a mature male.
Good one-

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I love this female

She is a little leopard and she is very beautiful. She is different from any other leopard I know. She loves being watched. We found her not far from black rocks with the help of Ayoub from Mdonya.
She walked up in front of he car and walked ten meters far, as we started the car to follow instead of running away she sat down and waited us to approach, she let us close completely undisturbed and after ten minutes she moved. She kept walking for 20 and more mtrs then we started the car and moved 20 mtrs in front of her. She slowly arrived close to us and sat again in front of the car.
We played like that for an hour and eventually went back home.
I love her.

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