Arathusa Safari Lodge blog

Rangers Diary: 23-29 January

Arathusa — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:51:52 +0000

Clear night sky by Phillip Wessels

Monday

The predicted rain didn’t show up, which meant the week got off to a better start than initially expected. Hopefully this will give the bush a little more time to dry out, so that everything can return to normal. This morning we had a very brief sighting of Shadow, but as is so often the case [...]

Rangers Diary: 15-21 January

Arathusa — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:52:01 +0000

Rhino bull drinking by Phillip Wessels

Sunday

This morning we saw a large rhino bull, and then another group of three, consisting of a male and a cow with her young calf. The mother was not very happy about the male being in such close proximity to her little one though, and grunted and charged at him a couple of times. [...]

Rangers Diary: 8-14 January

Arathusa — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:16:16 +0000

Wild dogs feeding by Susan Simoneau (guest)

Sunday

What a start to the week! We kicked off the morning drive with the pack of nine Wild dogs. This fantastic sighting was quickly followed by an equally amazing one of impala running, stotting, and jumping to incredible heights in order to avoid becoming [...]

Rangers Diary: 1-7 January

Arathusa — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:51:46 +0000

Bateleur or Short-tailed eagle by Susan Simoneau (guest)

Sunday

Happy New Year everyone, we wish you all a great year! Let’s hope the animal sightings are as good this year as they were in 2011.

Things got off to a quick start this morning when we found tracks of a lioness going past the front of the lodge. [...]

Rangers Diary: 25-31 December

Arathusa — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:17:52 +0000

African sunset by Ryan Johnston

Note: Although we have used this photo before, it seemed a fitting image to head up our last post for the year!

Sunday

First off this morning we happened upon two elephant bulls feeding on the eastern side of our airstrip. We spent some time watching as they tucked into the dew-laden grass, before moving west across our airstrip. A [...]

December Sightings

Arathusa — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:15:08 +0000

Kahuma male lion by Ryan Johnston

Leopard was seen on 27 days Lion was seen on 26 days Elephant was seen on 25 days Buffalo was seen on 26 days Rhino was seen on 30 days Cheetah was seen on 4 days Wild dog was seen on 6 days

Rangers Diary: 18-24 December

Arathusa — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:14:11 +0000

Big elephant cow by Susan Simoneau (guest)

Sunday

Although this morning was fairly quiet, we did manage to find the two Kahuma lionesses and their two cubs feeding on a giraffe. The afternoon drive was considerably more rewarding however. We saw a male rhino and an elephant bull, and we also ran into an impressive herd of about 200 buffalo. We went back to the [...]

Rangers Diary: 5-11 December

Arathusa — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:54:59 +0000

Jason Bagg (ranger) and Chris Khoza (tracker) with cheetah by Phillip Wessels

Monday

The week got off to a fairly quiet start, with us finding only three buffalo bulls to begin with. We persevered though, and our efforts paid off when we eventually came across Mvula resting next to the road. After a while he got up and wandered around in a thick [...]

Rangers Diary: 27 November – 3 December

Arathusa — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:48:43 +0000

Armand “Mabonzo” Minnaar (ranger) & Roy Mkansi (tracker) with Wild dogs by Phillip Wessels

Sunday

This morning we found Thandi wandering around scent marking. She then turned her attention to a nearby duiker, and we watched as she patiently stalked her way closer to the unsuspecting buck. Unfortunately a band of Dwarf [...]

November Sightings

Arathusa — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:49:15 +0000

Female leopard 'Ntima' by Phillip Wessels

Leopard was seen on 29 days Lion was seen on 16 days Elephant was seen on 26 days Buffalo was seen on 28 days Rhino was seen on 30 days Cheetah was seen on 6 days Wild dog was seen on 1 day