NEVER A DULL MOMENT

On the 19th March 2012 afternoon game drive with two guests we saw a fish eagle up on a tree along the Savute channel, fishing. The same tree also was the perch for a giant eagle owl which was joined by a fork tailed drongo, whom in turn flushed both the fish eagle and giant eagle owl out of the tree after what can be described as a very serious fight between the 3 birds.

The next morning we tracked a leopard after we picked up his tracks in camp from the night before. We were about to change planes when at the last minute we heard alarm calls from monkeys. We drove towards the commotion and discovered a female leopard relaxing in the tree, taking no notice of the frantic screams of the troop of vervet monkeys around her. We were lucky enough to find the same leopard that afternoon, hunting impala but with no luck; however it was an unforgettable experience watching the animal hunting, even if she was not successful in her efforts.

The morning drive turned out to be very quiet for about an hour into the drive but we were lucky enough to find a small breeding herd of elephants at a waterhole. To add to the excitement across on the other side of the watering hole were two leopards, male and female drinking! To our astonishment they started mating and all eyes were on the mating animals which was an amazing experience and made for their best trip out of 3 times in Africa as they have never seen mating leopards before.

Posted: Savute Under Canvas by Carl Visser, Date: 19 March 2012