Additional reports from Madikwe. It is amazing how so much happens and if you do not write immediately you forget. I had to look at the pictures to relive the game drives.

Afternoon game drive - A fun and delightful drive - no cats or big things but a terrific and fun drive with the animals behavior.

We started off with another large group of about 18 giraffes including a very small baby that was playful and running and kicking his hind legs. This was a great giraffe sighting we stayed with the for a LONG time we did not want to leave.

We also had some great warthog and stopped at some impala for quite a while. This is the rutting season and the male impala are so funny. Chasing the women around and snorting and fighting with each other. Standing impalas get boring but impalas doing their antics are great fun. We stayed here for a while watching the show.

We saw zebra eating dirt to get the minerals in the soil. You would swear it was a watering hole. Again a very young zebra imitating the adults behavior it was great to watch.

Then the simple ground squirrels put on a great show for us. Right at the vehicle running around, digging and playing.

NEXT MORNING GAME DRIVE - CHEETAH DAY

We had the great news that the cheetahs had returned to this part of the reserve. These four males are stunning and so big. We took our time waiting to let the "rush" of vehicles tHat wanted to see them subside and they were to resting not moving. They had a kill during the night. This way we could spend longer at the sighting. So we just drive around waiting our turn. This reserve has fewer antelope but far more zebras and giraffe and in bigger groups.THese animals are more fun to watch than the antelope. Plus they have a lot of rhinos, both white and black. We only saw,white rhinos.

After some yummy muffins and hot morning drinks we went to the cheetahs. They were laying in the shade. Our patience paid off as they were starting to stir and stretched and moved around a little. They are so much more alert at rest than lions as the chertahs are the weakest cats and very vulnerable. At all times at least one cheetah was looking around. This sighting did not match zebra two experience but still great to see them.

AFTERNOON GAME DRIVE
We decided to go check out some other lodges and miss the game drive. I always like to keep checking to increase my knowledge. We found one very good possibility but it only has five rooms so a bit small. However a stunning lodge with a fantastic watering hole, would love to use this lodge. We saw necking giraffes, and three giraffes drinking at the waterhole at the same time. Giraffes are great drinking they have to spread their legs and bend down to drink.

So many lodges have tons of steps and rooms located so far from the lodge it is so inconvenient. Or great lodge and average rooms, or great rooms and not a great lodge. Also the rooms are not the same, two great suites and the rest of the rooms are small so not good for a group Others have not enough rooms or too many rooms. It is a challenge to find suitable lodges to use for a group where I can take the whole place and change the schedules to suit the group. I did see a great but expensive property great for a family.

After our site inspections we met up with our group for the final part of their game drive. Only about 30 minutes left. The group had been to a brown hyena den and saw a young brown hyena pup. This vehicle on a prior drive saw a BRAND NEW rhino baby and the ranger reported the birth to the park managment. That would have been great to see.

On the way back we saw a female leopard in the road, at the same spot were two rutting male impalas. Would we see a kill? We stopped the car and waited. The leopard crossed the road in a stalking stance. Impalas were still rutting. It was pretty exciting. However again not to be. We could not see the leopard and it was pretty dark and we did not want to try and follow and interfere with the chance of a meal for the leopard and rutting impala stopped. They probably saw the leopard and ran. If there had been a kill there would have been noise.

LAST MORNING
We all decided not to go out as we could only have an hour drive as we had to catch the plane to JNB. Plus we needed A morning to sleep in and pack as we were facing the flight home that night. When we got to the airport the plane was there from the night before but no pilots. So we went to a nearby waterhole. We saw a hippo then coming back to the airport we had a great rutting impala show (I love to watch this behavior) and a large herd of zebra racing across the road. Probably about forty of them running fast. Question was WHY? Unfortunately. No time to find out but possibly a predator.

So now Zebra is over. Ken and I had the pleasure of 54 game drives. We were not sure if this would be too much with the three groups back to back. We could have easily stayed longer. The little later start and early nights really make it so less tiring. It has been fantastic and all three groups had wonderful sightings. I would do back to backs again for sure.