Finally, the rains have come

The rains have finally come after an extremely hot El Nino that has ravished the entire country over the past months and the bush has already started to transform. All the rain has made game-viewing a bit of a challenge but the challenge of finding the animals makes it so much more rewarding when one finally finds them after spending a good few hours looking for them. We had just such a drive the other day, spending the whole morning looking for a leopard, and when we found him he was right by the dam out in the open, the best leopard sighting one can hope for. The sighting got even better because not only was there a leopard at the dam but just around the corner was a Black Rhino and at the far end of the dam were buffalo – so all our efforts had more than paid off. As Rangers we cannot get enough of watching “our” younger animals grow up and observing their behaviour as they develop. Sometimes we go a good few days without seeing the young male leopard and, when we find them again, we are struck by how even his characteristics may have changed, as well as how his territory has expanded!