Author: Focus Online Dev

Hi all,

Yesterday, was one of those busy days, and we started with a stunning sunrise, as the air was still cool from the previous afternoon’s rain.

We continued in the fresh smells that were emanating from the wet earth, and saw an amazing amount of general game, but there are still no signs of the impala and wildebeest calves, and I am sure with the rain we have had, they will fall any minute now !! WE CANT WAIT ANYMORE !! We then followed the Jamala pride around for a while, and they entertained us, as they too were enjoying the fresh air, with the cubs bouncing around and play fighting with each other. until they got tired and settled in for a snooze for the day.

Then the afternoon brought some serious thunderstorms, and we were delayed by the epic show for about 30 mins, but once we got out, the sun was shining and the massive thunderstorm cell was moving north, and everything was super fresh once more.

The rest of the afternoon was rather quiet, but we ended with a fabulous sunset, and more storms building in the south.

This morning was awesome,as we went in search of the 2 Naledi males, and we managed to find them feeling very lazy at one of the pans close by, and they did not look as if they were going anywhere, so we left them in peace, and went off to look for other things.

Well, we were then surprised by 3 hyenas which were finishing off the remains of an impala, and this was great , as one of the sub-adults came right up to the vehicle and rested in our shade, much to the guests enjoyment, as the bones cracked in the backround.

 

 

but after watching them for a while it was clear that they had robbed another predator of its prize, so I scratched around for some tracks, and confirmed my suspicions by pointing out the wild dog tracks to my guests on the road. After a short tracking session, we located on them, and followed them around for a few minutes before they too went in search of some shade to rest for the day. and as if that was not all, we bumped into the four cheetah on our way home also relaxing under the shade of a big tree.

So this afternoon we are going to try our best to find the pinnacle of all the safari’s…. the magical and elusive leopard….. watch this space !!

 

 

Good Day all,

So, yesterday we had an awesome drive, but this morning might have even eclipsed this one, as we start with an amazing sunrise to get the eyes working properly after a strong cup of coffee at the lodge.

 

Then we went off in search of the Jamala pride, and after a quick tracking session, we located them all in a very playful mood with the cubs chasing each other around, and even climbing up trees, thinking they are leopards.

 

 

Then  we bumped into some old “Dagga Boys” also known as buffalo bulls, and they gave us the “taxman” stare for a while before continuing on their feeding frenzy.

The 4 cheetah boys were next, and we enjoyed their majestic ways, as they had a drink at some very orange coloured water.

After this we were searching for a rhino, but we did not find any old rhino… it was a big black rhino male, and he entertained us for 30 mins, as he came closer to inspect the intruders in his turf.

 

Till tomorrow….

Hi Guys,

We have had a cracker last 2 days here at Tuningi Safari Lodge, and the sightings are pumping !!

We will start off with the pride from the north west of the park, just resting off their massively full bellies, as they had killed 2 wildebeest. The youngsters were all lying around the big male, and the sunset which followed was epic !!

We then had some amazing and jaw dropping sightings of Tsala our resident leopardess, as she had finished off an impala a few days ago, but we also had a splendid sighting of her yesterday afternoon, as she was relaxing in a marula tree with a new zebra kill !! All this was going on while the 2 Naledi male lions were roaring and finishing off their own kill in the background.

We have also had some very cute sightings of new born elephants, and they seem to be enjoying the new summer vegetation growth coming through strongly now after the rain we had a couple days ago.

Then our 4 cheetah boys are impressing everyone with their grace, and we enjoyed their presence yesterday morning, when they were located with full bellies, cleaning themselves up before padding down for the day to sleep it off !!

So, hopefully the weekend will bring us more amazing sights .

Regards,

Gavin

 

 

 

 

 

Hi All,

Tsala, our resident leopardess, has provided us with a great sighting, as she managed to hoist an impala she killed into a tree. She has become extremely relaxed over the last 4 years, thanks to some relentless respect from all the guides in the area, and the fruits of our works are paying off, and she is allowing us into her secretive world.

 

Hopefully she meets the monster of a male that lives in her territory, and has another cub or two, and hopefully she raises them successfully this time around. We are not sure what happened to her last cub (Feb 18 2013) seen below.

 

We will be keeping a very close eye on her in the future, and we will bring you more news shortly about her movements.

Regards,

Gavin.

Hi Guys,

This morning started off with an amazing sunrise, and some cooler temperatures, as the storm clouds are building, hopefully to bring us some good rain very soon. There was not too much on the m ove this morning for some reason, and we struggled to find any tracks of any animals, but out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a pied crow acting strangely. He was flying in circles, and then dipped to the ground and sat there for some time before taking to the air again in full voice. Now sometimes these crows will give away the tell tale signs of a predator on a kill somewhere, but it was not until 2 hyenas also came out of the same direction that my suspicions were confirmed, and we went offroad to investigate.

Well, the ” bush vine” did not lie, and we soon located the Jamala and Mica lionesses and their 9 cubs feeding of the remains of a zebra. Always nice to be surprised at how efficient the bush can be !!

This is why children spend their pocket money on TUNINGI  !!

Children are kept very busy here at the lodge doing all kinds of different activities such as T-shirt painting, clay modelling, puzzle building, memory games, kiddies drives, colouring books, building lego, sculpture designing etc.

So get your children to come and experience the awesomeness of the bushveld.

Not something you see together often.  We followed a Black Rhino this morning from a safe distance when all of a sudden he turned and charged.  Lucky for me he was more interested in the Ostrich than my vehicle.

The ostrich wasn’t too fazed and the Rhino took off.

Today it was all about the Felines.

This morning I decided to start off by looking for the four male Cheetahs as they evaded us for the past few days.  After not to long we got them not far from the lodge.  Always very rewarding if a possibility turns into a reality.

Not long after we left the Cheetahs the Jamala pride was called in and it was around the corner from us.  The two adult females joined up with their six cub in the usual social manner.  While dodging all the holes around us we followed them to the base of the hill where they disappeared.

While luck was on our side I decided to go and look for the Wild Dogs, but I soon realized they were long gone.  The only tracks around were quite old.

But then, on the way back to the lodge for breakfast our favorite Leopardess was found.  Being miles away I just hoped for the best but as we came close she was still on the move in the open.  We followed her for some time until she jumped into a shady tree for a snooze.

It was a riot!!!

 

We found the Jamala Pride this morning not long after they killed a Warthog.  But the Naledi Male was just as close.  As the pig is too small for all to be enjoyed, he took the kill away from the rest and enjoyed every last bit of it, alone.  The females and youngsters now have to wait for the scraps or find something new to eat.

Hi Guys,

The new young male leopard that has been pleasuring us with his presence is making it a regular thing, and he is becoming really relaxed around the vehicles. This is awesome news for us, and we hope he is going to stick around for a while !!

Other than this, we spent a large part of the morning looking for the wild dogs, but they seemed to evade us after tracking them for some 15 km this morning. Sightings of oryx, red hartebeest, tons of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, impala and kudus among the elephants and rhinos, meant that we had a pretty successful morning !!

Until tomorrow,

Regards,

Gavin

Hi Guys,

Just thought I would share something different, although we did have a splendid afternoon spending some time with our 4 cheetah brothers, as they almost took down a full grown oryx, and some lazy lions among the hoards of general game in between.

This image was taken at the waterhole at Vleisfontein, which is the park administration buildings which also used to be the old mission building in the early 1900’s.

Bring on a new week, with lots of new guests, so book now if you too want to be apart of the “TUNINGI MAGIC “!!

The young male leopard that was stalking Cornelius the day before yesterday, seems to be staying in the area, as we located him again yesterday afternoon.

He is incredibly relaxed, and we are not sure of where he comes from, or who his mother is, as I don’t have any photographic evidence of him in our game drive areas. So, this is great news for us, and we will certainly be following him around in his day to day activities, and hopefully he joins up with his mother so that we can put to rest our inquisitiveness .