That gorgeous bird IS the malachite kingfisher, Kim. S/he succeeded in swallowing a crab for a delightful meal.

Ngaire had a kill at her breakfast table. A bee was after a spider .. a grim outcome seemed certain. Instead, the spider was delicately dropping silk all over the bee. By the time the bee realized it had to give the spider the slip, it was hopelessly entangled and made a nice meal for the spider. Lesson for the day? The smarter survives.

Fresh chocolate muffins were on offer and disappeared in no time. Time to take our seats for another episode of the greatest show on earth. We were reeling from 8 male lions and their sister curled up in a pile, followed by CHEETAH! Giraffe,zebras and wildebeest took their place on center stage.

After breakfast, Gail, Barb and I took the walking safari. The weather here is very temperate. We hit close to 90 degrees today, making the safari both interesting and sweaty. This called for a trip to plunge pool for a flash cool. It was freezing cold, but after we acclimated, we were ready to brave the lunch menu. Gail pointed out, as we were leaving, it sounded like the mating leopards were getting procreation underway directly below our balcony. Veggie curry was great. Time for afternoon rides. Range rover has discontinued the defender model, workhorse of the safari camps. Ford stepped up with a new model. The transmission and ride is certainly more comfortable. Announcement was wild dogs may be headed our way. We rolled out about 100 meters, then reversed course. Yep, those mating leopards were procreating very close to camp. Gail's tracking skills are getting better each ride. Afterwards, it was baby lion cubs all the way. Just before we returned to camp, a genet cat was spotted in a tree. We missed the sighting as the cat fled from the spotlight. I've only seen it once before in Botswana.

Our rangers and trackers are really good. I mentioned the near miss on the genet cat to Ranger Stewart. He replied a genet cat regularly waits outside the kitchen at Leopard Hills. Next thing i know, the genet cat has arrived. I jumped up to get a good look. This is just crazy good for sightings.

Cheers, Anne