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It’s not a frequent occurrence for rangers to have the afternoon off this time of year due to the relatively high occupancy rates during the winter months here. However, funny enough, when us rangers don’t have guests for that particular afternoon we tend to enjoy heading out into the bush and enjoying what it has to offer.
A few afternoons ago, after my guests had departed and so I decided to jump into a Land Rover, load my camera next to me and trundle out into a beautiful winters afternoon in the bush. Its not often we get to drive around this place completely alone and get to do exactly what we want when we want.
To begin, I decided to head down to one of my favourite parts of the reserve situated on the stunning Sand River:
After leaving the banks of the Sand River and driving south through a few large dead trees I spotted a group of very full White-backed Vultures, resting and ingesting a recent meal of theirs.
This particular vulture caught my attention as the other three birds (not caught in this photograph) were facing the other direction. Notice its full crop. Around the feeding site vultures are able to eat as quickly and as much as possible without having to digest any food on the ground around any potential danger. The will fill their crop (bag like feature below their neck) as much as possible and then fly away to safe spot to perch and go about ingesting their food without any rush or threat of any approaching danger.
A call then came through on the radio that a very large herd of buffalo had been found in the southern parts of the reserve. With he sun slowly starting to set I decided to head on down to the area to see if I could spend some time with these amazing animals before the day came to an end (plus ranger Kirst Joscelyne had just called in some lion tracks not too far from the herd, so who knows maybe I could get real lucky…)
The colours were incredible. Just sitting in complete silence listening, smelling and enjoying what nature had to offer is for me what Africa is all about. With the vehicle switched off for a good 30 minutes as hundreds of buffalo meandered past I managed to capture a few shots I was hoping for.
And finally to wrap things all up and end the afternoon in the most perfect way. We found the five Ntsevu Sub-adult Lions following the herd of buffalo. Unfortunately the below photograph is all I managed to capture regarding the lions as it was already quite dark, however it was a special way to end. The five of them lay waiting for the sun to drop completely below the horizon before they strategically planning their approach on the oblivious bovines. I sat with them as they hunted the herd for quite sometime.
Ranger Chris Taylor and tracker Geshom Mathabula sit patiently with their guests as one of the sub adult males keeps his eyes on a potential buffalo to approach.
Trying my best not to impact either of the parties, at around 19:00pm I decided to let them be and wished both the lions and buffalo all the luck they may have needed.
What an afternoon it was out alone on Londolozi. It’s an extreme privilege that I am very grateful for the opportunity to get to do what I did a few afternoons ago. To sit alone with the beautiful wildlife, listen and enjoy what it has to offer is something I’ll never be able to get bored of.
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Dan Hirschowitz
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