where leopards lurk
We often find leopards in trees here in Thornybush and it is a wonderful thing to see. However, we tend to overlook what has been standing much longer than the leopard – the very tree the leopard is lying in!…
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Category: The Big 5
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New kids on the…
Lions are a key ingredient in every guest’s experience in Africa and, especially with our international guests, lions remain the most sought-after animal for most of them. Seeing lions is a privilege that we as rangers have day in and…Read More »
Buffalo at Leopard Dam
Last week whilst on an afternoon drive, we got word of a large herd of buffalo at Leopard Dam lying in the water. As is the case whenever this occurs, we immediately responded and made our way there. The opportunity…Read More »
The Elegance and Grace…
In March 2017 the fences were officially dropped between Thornybush Private Nature Reserve and the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, creating one enormous park running all the way to the Kruger National Park. Before the fences were dropped, there was a…Read More »
The bird and the…
Disaster at the Southern White-Crowned Shrike nest site… This week we witnessed how cruel and unforgiving the bush can be. Interactions between animals big and small take place every day with sometimes fatal consequences. Upon our return to the nest…Read More »
The Mighty Mapoza
Having first been spotted in Thornybush in 2018, and now dominating the central and northern sections of the reserve along with his two counterparts known as the Xikukutsu males, the Mapoza male has fast become one of my all-time favourite…Read More »
New young leopard in…
Over the last few weeks we have had a frequent visitor moving through the camp in the form of a young male leopard. It has been said that this up till now unnamed Leopard is believed to be “bred in…Read More »
Giraffe Kill
Lions need to hunt to survive and the majority of their hunts target smaller prey such as Impala, Kudu and even buffalo. We were extremely lucky to find this male lion with a giraffe kill. Tackling an animal as large…Read More »
Skukutsu males & Mphosa
The death of the male lion we called Trilogy left a power vacuum in the area round KwaMbili. With enough prey around, the lionesses of the northern pride stayed in their territory but with no male lion scent-marking this territory,…Read More »
Big tusker
We were extremely lucky this week – seeing elephants is always a great experience but one of this size is absolutely extraordinary! It was a fairly quiet morning game drive and as we were driving along we found fresh elephant…Read More »
