The usual early morning start, after a quick cup of coffee, had us out on our game drive as the sun was rising, providing a lovely background for a shot of a Pale Chanting Goshawk in a dead tree.
My pursuit of the perfect Lilac Breasted Roller shot (as mentioned in a few of my older blog posts) continued.
You cannot move far in Madikwe without seeing elephants. Sadly, elephant conservation in Madikwe is a victim of its own success, with the number of elephants now exceeding the carrying capacity of the reserve, resulting in significant destruction of vegetation. While debates about the management of this problem are ongoing, the size of the problem just seems to be increasing.
There was much activity at a nearby water hole.
About 90 minutes into our game drive, Sam received a radio message that the Wild Dogs had been seen in the far eastern part of the reserve, where they had caught an impala. Obviously we wanted to go there despite the distance and time involved. After another long drive to the east, we arrived close to the sighting, where we had to wait a while for our turn, since only 3 vehicles at a time are allowed at a sighting. But it was absolutely worth the wait. A pack of 14 Painted Wolves, including six pups of about 5 months old, with full tummies and in a playful mood, greeted us.
Liana got some lovely video
All too soon we had to move along and allow others their turn at the sighting. Driving along on our way back to the lodge and aware that we were going to be quite late for brunch, we just had to make a brief stop when we saw a group of four lions chewing on the remains of a wildebeest right next to the road.
After an action packed and exciting morning, the afternoon game drive was a somewhat more uneventful affair, but I did continue my pursuit of the perfect Lilac Breasted Roller shot
Etienne's Camera 