Phinda Forest Lodge has two female cheetah in it’s area, with 2 cubs each. One pair of cubs are about 5 months old, and the other about 3 months old. We go looking for them on this morning’s game drive, and are successful in finding the 5 month old cubs. Mother and cubs look quite skinny, and obviously haven’t fed for a few days. The mother has them on the move, and amongst some general cub play, one decides to climb a small tree and has to think hard about how to get down again. We spend some time with them hoping that the mother cheetah will embark on a hunt to feed her scrawny looking cubs, but she seem intent on teaching them that food can be hard to come by.
Phinda Forest Lodge also has its own resident troupe of vervet monkeys. This is what happens when you don’t clear the lunch tables quickly – the monkeys jump down from the roof and surrounding trees, and help themselves to anything left on the tables. A mouthful of sugar, a drink of milk, hold the coffee is the order of the day at Phinda!
The afternoon’s game drive is a bit of a write-off – a continued unsuccessful search for the leopard.
