Still grey, overcast, and quite chilly in the open safari vehicle this morning from Exeter River Lodge. The Othawa lion pride are found in the Sand River bed, using a group of large rocks to gather some heat from to stay worm. The little lion cubs with their dermodectic mange always look cold when the sun is hiding.
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.
We get word later in the drive that the Xihavi female leopard has been found with her 3 month old cub, so we go to take a look. The visibility isn’t great, but we can seen that the leopard has made a kill, and her tiny cub is busy jumping and rolling on it, and having a good game of stalking and jumping with mum.
At the start of the afternoon’s game drive, word is out that the Othawa pride are literally at the fence gates of the lodge. They’re actually directly behind my suite, through a bunch of thorn bushes, lying on the access road at the side of the lodge.
Only one cub is visible, and the third lioness is still missing. The cub is given a bath by one of the lionesses, and judging by its expression, its not keen on the idea.
Spotted hyenas appear in the strangest places. One has been trying to break into the kitchen at the lodge for a free meal, and this one is found just ambling along beside a dirt road we were travelling along. It seems convinced that something is coming along the road behind us, and intently watches for a while before heading off into the scrub.
The only other thing we encounter before calling it a day is a huge herd of buffalo, some of which seem to think it’s school portrait day….
