Afternoon - Jeep Safari

Time for an amazing afternoon Jeep Safari with the guide of Kenosi and Edward. We had a good laugh about Kenosi his name - aka "Can not see", so the energy levels were perfect to start the tour.

We took off by jeep all together with 10 in total (including the guides), and boy I couldn't believe how strong this car was. This jeep was the absolute definition of a 4-wheel driving jeep, driving through bushes, climbing up river banks and crunching down big bushes when we needed to come extra close.

The afternoon started perfect with already close view on the elephants just 200meters outside the camp. We were able to come so close with the jeep, it was unbelievable! Kenosi explained the animals fear the jeep less than moving horses with humans, because the jeep is one static piece. Kenosi turned off the engine so we could take beautiful pictures but mainly enjoy the moment. We saw both the young elephants, but also mums with their tiny babies. It was absolutely adorable!

Next it was time to search for trails of the cats. It wasn't that easy to spot Lions, Leopards of Cheetahs just like that in this 23k ha area of Mashatu Game Park. Luckily Kenosi was very experienced and had good contact with the other guides by Walkie Talkie. After a one-hour drive, we had a masterpiece moment by encountering sleeping lions. We saw 2 females and one male peacefully sleeping in the grass. Lions are night animals, so during the day they sleep (Sources say they even sleep up to 22h per day). The jeep was able to come at a distance of just 3 meters of them and they even continued sleeping. Kenosi told us the lions are familiar with the jeeps, but as soon as someone would step out of the car, we might be endangered. We took amazing pictures to proof this amazing moment, because even for our own minds it was unreal. So special.

Next, Kenosi got a call from one of the other guide spotting cheetahs. Kenosi drove us to the place and indeed we noticed a mum cheetah with 4 cubs. It very rare to see a mum raise so many babies at her own, especially since this area doesn't have a lot of nutrition these winter months. Cheetahs are day animals in contrary to lions, so they do chase during the day for prey. Kenosi told us most kills are made by cheetahs, because of their agility and speed: they can run up to 120km/h. Sometimes other predators enjoy the kill, such as lions or hyena packs scaring away the cheetahs. 2 days ago, we noticed a left-over kill from cheetahs that Jackals were enjoying, so cheetahs are very important in this area.

Moving on, Kenosi got news about a spotted Leopards. Quickly we drove to the river banks and there we experienced one the most beautiful moments of the trip: a mum leopard with 2 cubs. Again, we could come really closely to get glimpse of the family. The 2 baby cubs where learning how to climb trees and the mum was observing them. It truly felt like being in a National Geographic Channel episode about wildlife front row. We all got really quiet and truly enjoyed the moment. It was so perfect. We feel so blessed !Читать далее