Aside from cooler weather and having seen the most awesome sunset at the time of year I chose to visit Africa, one of the main reasons I went when I did was on the cameras last year at the same time, I saw tons of babies! I learned that many of the animals have no specific breeding time, but that plenty had babies around now. The great thing about young ones aside from the obvious that they are insanely cute, is that they casuse even the guides/rangers to become excited. I was very fortunate at Sabi Sabi!! We begin tracking a leopard, a short ways into our tracking, we hear on the radio that someone has found the leopard. A short distance away we find her,ambling down the road unconcerned about us at all. She has grown up with vehicles and pays them little mind. 2 other vehicles follow along closely as well. Our driver/ranger Jabulani, is fantastic!!, and mentions he had seen cub tracks a few days earlier. He is convinced that the mother is going to get them to bring them to a kill. Eventually all of the cars break off the siting to head someplace else. We leave the road momentarily to give the mama privacy to get the cubs. We return shortly to the same general area to see the mother leopard and 2 cubs!! They are very small, no bigger then house cats, only 2 months old!! Even our tracker and driver are pumping their fists in the air with excitement, as we learn we are the first guests and only ones who have seen these cubs this year!! They were so cute!!! So small, they would wander along even between and underneath their mother's legs, causing her to stumble over them. They would hop off the trail into tall grass, never far from mama. The mom would carry on down the road looking back often giving one of those Mom looks, we all know meant OK Junior get over here!!No more dodling! Needless to say we were in heaven watching this. Back at camp Odie monitoring a radio, could hear it was my landi that made the find, she was jealous LOL. Seeing how excited the tracker and driver were made me appreciate what a special siting this was! The next day another Sabi Sabi treat!! We find a rhino family. Mama and baby. The little one is only 7 months old. It looks considerably smaller then its mama and so cute. It is very curious about us and ventures quite close to the vehicle. We are careful never to appear threatening and NEVER come between the baby and its ever watchful mother. After many beautiful looks at the pair we leave them to grazing, glad to have seen them, and happier to leave them undisturbed. Another park and different babies. One of the first things I see at Kruger on my first full day is a hyena right at the side of the road. There is a mother, and a young hyena suckling. They sit right still, the moter sometimes shading ,purposely it seemed the baby from our view. The young hyena had started to get some spots on its otherwise black coat so we knew it wasnt very very young still. It was a wonderful siting none the less and my guide Andrew was enjoying it as much as I was. We moved on, Andrew's thing was seeing the animal very well, and moving on before we disturbed it, leaving it to do as it would, and also so others could see it. Kruger and Djuma also gave me a look at breeding herds of elephant. On arrival at Kruger I decided I would take a night drive. Shortly into it we saw an elephant cross the road in front of us, then another and another. Someone in back of me counted 14 in all, several babies among them. I was thrilled as this was my first breeding herd! Not my last. At Djuma we almost literally ran into the breeding herd a few times. One time during the day the entire herd of about 20 crossed the road right in front of us. There were some very small ellies some as young as 2 months. We were warned of a testie female in this herd, though on this occasion she merely starred us down, as a very small elephant crossed the road just before her. It was a real treat to see. Another nite they gave us quite a start!! We came upon them in the dark, they were moving quite quickely through the bush. One trumpeted, that we could clearly see no worries we had heard them do that before. Then an ellie just off the road trumpets, it is behind a clump of bush only a few feet away, but in the darkness we cant see it, prompting all to wonder if it was going to crash through said brush and into the side of our landi!! It got our attention thats for sure. One guest Bruce did a quick slide across his seat! Another thrill was seeing a breeding herd of buffalo. I lost track of how many times we saw it at Djuma, but the first time is one I shall never forget. Billie drove us right into the middle of the herd. Buffalo of all shapes and sizes about 40-50 of them, part of a herd of 300, came within inches of our vehicle. At one point prompting a warning that if it got any closer not to move. We watched as males mock fought with each other, babies suckled roughly and the herd ate and kept moving at quite a fast pace. For a first time, this was very exciting. We were there really only moments but time seemed to stand still, as we watched and listned and ooooed and ahhhhhhhed over the calfs. Hmmm the best till last? One of my first nite drives at Djuma brought one of my best sitings. We drove along a dam wall, and found lions! We notice a big male and judging by his mane quite old. With him we see 3 females all keeping watch over 6 lion cubs. They are a few months old, very inquisative. They venture closer to the jeep to check out the weird animal that is our jeep. The 3 lionesses dont let them stray to far, and keep an ever watchful eye on the youngsters. Of course our jeep full of people is gaga over this find, and eventually we leave them our nite complete, with an awesome story to tell. Frank's Place Main or Kruger's Riches(diary excerpts)
