Tuesday morning game drive

After a nice restful sleep we awoke to find it had rained last night ("It never rains in August"). The cloud cover made the morning air brisk rather than cold and we got off to a great start by seeing a lilac breasted roller, my favorite bird. Then we came across this kudu with an impressive set of horns. We saw several large raptors including a marshal eagle, a giant eagle owl and batelour eagles. We saw small pretty birds like a crested barbet, scarlet chested sunbird, little bee eater and a yellow throated long claw. We saw more antelope like the bushbuck and waterbuck. Then over the radio came the location of a large breeding herd of cape buffalo. We drove by them, saw close up the males that follow the herd and turned around. We thought we were through but not Liam. Again he drove cross country, this time into the very middle of a hundred or so females and babies  interspersed with sexually immature males. The dominant male does not let other adult males into the herd. We had a great time just hanging out and moving forward with the herd as they worked their way through the bush. Another call on the radio and we were on the move again. Soon we reached an open area where we saw a female cheetah and her two two-year old children, a male and female. We watched as they relaxed but were on constant alert for either prey or threats. Liam was positively giddy at our luck finding them. He said that there are only about 300 left in all of Krueger and we were seeing three of them together!

Lilac Breasted Roller

Male Kudu

Cape Buffalo

Cheetah mom with her children

Something headed our way

It was time to return to the lodge for breakfast. On the way back we saw a Unicorn! (Actually an impala that had lost one of its horns; unlike deer that shed their antlers each year, the antelope's horns are permanent and once lost remain lost.)