As usual, the game at Royal Malawane was fantastic and every game drive had what I call a "special moment" that blew us away. We watched a female leopard with her 8 month old cub feeding on a steenbok and a coalition of two male lion meeting up in the dark of the night and calling 3 meters away from us to advertise their presence to others that might be within their territory. We spotted a beautiful herd of impala focusing in one direction. This caught our attention and after tracking for 40 minutes we found four lionesses feeding on a giraffe calf that had been taken down in the early hours of the morning. We also had wonderful black and white rhinoceros sightings, many herds of wildebeest, giraffe, zebra and kudu, nyala, bushbuck, duiker and plenty of bird species. But there was one special moment that really stood out; for me it was the highlight of the trip and set the pace for the next 7 days. My guests had flown into Johannesburg from London, we then took a 1 hour flight to Royal Malewane, immediately jumped into the game drive vehicle and within two hours we were parked at a large water hole.

The sun was low in the sky and the light was just beautiful as we watched a herd of +/-400 buffalo slowly feeding as they made their way down to the water hole for an afternoon drink. They were spread out over a large area and taking their time to come down to the waters edge to quench their thirst before moving off to find a suitable place to bed down for the night. We must have been there for nearly 20 minutes when across the way we notices a grey shape appear from the thick bush that dominates the area, then another elephant which was a little larger then the last and finally a tiny calf. Before we new it a breeding herd of 19 elephant had moved into a little clearing and down to the waters edge only about 15 - 20 meters from where we were sitting….absolutely mesmerized with this special moment.  There were adult females with many different age groups. They all spread out along the waters edge in front of us and started to drink. It is hard enough to get this close to elephant while they are drinking, but what was truly special was they were facing us, they relaxed and content with our presence. For the next 25 minutes we watched them as they slowly spread out, some carried on drinking while others started to feed on vegetation close by. There were even a few of the young and sub-adults that were playing and sparing with each other. A giant of a bull elephant made an entrance and we estimated him to be in his early fifties. He was a magnificent bull with large tusks. Slowly the herd moved off and finally the old bull followed. What an unforgettable start to a safari!

We ended our safari with a stay at Zuka House in the Phinda Game Reserve. We spent one day on the pristine beach at Soldwana Bay. This area is truly beautiful, with its high sand dune forests rolling down to the beach and also one of the last areas where the turtles are able to lay their eggs without being disturbed. The rest of the time was spent on the game reserve where we had wonderful sightings of cheetah and lion and on our last morning we had a great sighting of a female Black Rhinoceros and her calf taking an early morning nap in the middle of a grass plain. Eventually they woke up and slowly moved into the scrub acacia where they started feeding and finally melted into the bush and disappeared out of sight.

Till next time…..
Richard