We started off the morning with a plan to not really have a plan, other than visiting hyenas. There’s a hyena den nearby the camp that we went to go check out. They’re just super cute. There was the matriarch and a juvenile but mostly grown male taking care of three hyena cubs. She was standing guard at the entrance to the den, an old termite mound, and the cubs were hanging out inside. They’d come out to check out what was going on outside and to have mom give them a bath. Mom didn’t much care about our presence but the cubs were a bit unsure about what was going on.
After our hyena time, we headed across the river to the north section of the Londolozi property. Crossing the river we came across a bunch of hippos cooling off in the river. The mist on the water and the low early morning light made it quite a beautiful scene.
We didn’t really know what we were looking for, other than a general idea that maybe we’d look for wild dog tracks. We didn’t get very far though before we heard on the radio that there was a leopard with a fairly mature cub spotted in a dry river bed near where we were. We headed straight for it at as fast as we could and found the leopard had left her cub behind and was just starting on a walk about of her territory to check things out and to make sure the scent markers were all still there. There were some nyalas near her path, but I guess she didn’t feel like dealing with them so she just walked on by and let them freak out about her being there. She did walk after them to make sure they knew who was boss or something, but she definitely wasn’t going to try to hunt them.
After a brief lie down, she heard some impala males through a couple of trees and decided those would be good for hunting. So for the second time, we got to see a leopard stalking their prey. She sat and watched them for a while, and while repositioning she came right by the truck, I thought she might jump over it for a second, but she went around. Unfortunately, she got spotted by the impala and they ran off before she could make an attempt. After that we made our way back to camp for breakfast. 
We’d planned on doing a bush walk after that, but Barry decided to postpone for tomorrow immediately after the morning drive so that it wouldn’t be as hot out. Yesterday’s covid test came back in about 24 hours, not too bad turn around (negative, of course.) So we won’t be stuck here.
The afternoon started off with a whistle. Just after leaving camp, one of our tires blew out. Of course this happened just as one of the owners of Londolozi was driving by so that must have been fun for Barry. He and Tsepo got the tire changed out pretty quickly and we were on our way.
As a joke from an offhand comment in the morning, Jack made safari bingo cards for everyone, where the first person to spot the animal on the card gets to fill it in. Everyone had a great time looking out for stuff to fill in. We didn’t see much beyond the usual though, so no one got bingo on that drive at least. Near the end of the drive, Barry and Tsepo switched places for fun and Tsepo pretended to drive Barry into a tree.
As we were heading for the traditional sundowner, we turned the corner to find a bar and charcuterie table setup on a rock by the river. The camp manager Jenna and head chef Chane were there waiting for us and had set it up as a sort of farewell since this was our last night there. We made cocktails for everyone and had a great time talking food with the head chef. We got Jenna making some cocktails too. It was a great time for all I think, and Jack managed to find a cocktail that Tsepo and Millie liked. For Tsepo and Millie, it was there first cocktails ever.
After wrapping up our lovely sundowner, we headed back for camp. We spotted a ton of nocturnal critters on the relatively short drive. We’d jokingly asked if Tsepo could find a chameleon, it’s actually possible at night since they turn white, and he managed to find one in a couple of minutes. We also spotted a couple of bushy tailed mongoose and a Genet, neither of which we’d ever seen before.
Gennet
Back at camp in the boma we had dinner with our Land Rover companions and Barry. We, again, had a blast chatting with them. After three visits, we finally managed to see the local Shangaan folks dancing and singing after dinner. On previous visits we kept missing it because we went to bed too early (imagine that.) It was really impressive, they were truly fantastic. We continued on with our lovely conversation (and wine) and Jenna and Chane joined us for more great conversation. Chane made us all a round of Springbokkie shots, which is Creme de Menthe and Amarula, which luckily isn’t too strong. Such wonderful companionship.
5/13/21