As our last guests for April flew out, we waved goodbye and welcomed in May.
May turned out to be the month of the Leopards for us at Pafuri Camp, as a big male and female came into the riverine forests around the camp and onto the Luvuvhu river flood plains. Hunting and stalking amongst the acacia’s, jackal Berry trees and Nyala berry trees attempting to avoid the Hyena’s was not an easy task for the big Tom Leopard and Leopardess. We witnessed the loss of kills to the Hyenas.
Although the two Leopards were seen in close proximity of each other, over a few days, there was no evidence that the male and female were mating, unfortunately.
The beginning of the month also saw some training and evaluations taking place as the trails season starts to get some momentum. A big well done and congratulations goes out to Ezaya for becoming a Back up trails guide and to Callum for becoming a lead trails guide, well done to Wiseman who passed his trails exam.
With Zane, Calvin and Ezaya having passed their Range officers certifications the trails guides were using some quiet time to head on down to the shooting range to get some shooting practise in.
With an unexpected and much welcomed 30mm of rain during May the grasses and pans were given a new lease on life and this encouraged the herds of Buffalo, Impalas and Zebra to enjoy the luscious and high grazing value grasses of the flood plains.
We had some great birding as the change in the season has brought back the racket tail roller and we found an owl nest at one of the popular sundowner spots.
As the end of the month was approaching and the moon was waxing so it was time for the full moon trail to take place. With the clear winter skies and a very big full moon everyone had a great experience, with bird sightings such as the Pel’s fishing owl in day time, racket tail roller and Black Eagles near their own nesting sites.
On the final morning of walking and sleeping out in the African bush we were visited by a lone female Elephant who came for a drink of water close to our camp site. She obviously thought we were of no harm to her and her family because at the trails camp the following day we had a surprise visit of a herd of over sixty elephants.
Feature image : Dana Allen
1st image: Olivia Dummer
2nd image: Zane Du Plooy
3rd image: Zane Du Plooy
4th image: Zane Du Plooy
