My African Adventure: Day 4, Part 2

For lunch, we had egg salad sandwiches, which were actually quite lovely. It was only around 12 when we ate, so after helping to clean up, I spent some time working on IDing my lions. I went through all my pictures and my notes for a good long while. I wasn’t able to put my data in the camp computer, because the others were doing their data, but I did get a lot more familiar with the prides here, which is great. We left around 3 for our buffalo monitoring drive. That means, I am officially 4 of 5 for my BIG FIVE checklist (elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo) and just waiting on that blasted leopard! On the way to the buffalo, we crossed the Tembe female lions again. They were in the same spot we left them in 4 hours earlier! We spent a good long while watching them, as I was trying to get good pictures to update our ID kits for the lions. They were both sleeping on the ground, and then at one point, Nandi got up and moved toward Nkosikasi and laid down right next to her. The two lioness then began to lick each other and rub their heads and necks on each other in the sweetest show of affection. I died inside. Eventually, we had to move on. We got to the buffalo, which are kept in their own enclosed reserve, because the herd is not strong enough to be self-sustaining under the predation that would occur in the full reserve. Once the herd grows large/strong enough, they will be introduced back to the reserve. We found the heard, counted the ones we could see, and did some behavioral observations. On the way home, we collected firewood and then did some hyena hunting, but with no success. We also did some leopard hunting, but the silly things are like apparitions. We saw a really awesome chameleon in a bush, which I, of course, unofficially named Pascal. After returning home, We had a little time for data entry and whatnot before dinner, which was a delicious chicken potjie. Since the oven is still out, Andrew slow roasted it over the fire for us, and it was splendid. We sat around the fire for a bit, but I left to go clean up the kitchen and then head to bed. I’m super excited because we get to sleep in tomorrow! We have until 7:30 instead of 6! Wooohh!

The Tembe females showing love