There were many sounds throughout the night with Lions and Hyenas the most prevalent, the Hyenas making a range of strange and sinister sounds. When morning broke we set off down the S100, S41 roads that the previous day had many sightings of Lion and Leopard, today nothing! We returned via the N’wanetsi road and saw a male Waterbuck with an awesome set of horns, a lone Zebra and two elephant sightings.
On returning to Satara camp we witnessed a Southern Tree Agama warming itself up on the tree outside our rondavel, it posed for a while allowing some close-up shots to be bagged.
The afternoon drive took us north along the H1-4 tar road where we spotted several Kori Bustards, some close enough to fire a few frames at. A Herd of Zebra were also seen browsing the course grasses, we returned along the dirt roads to camp, a male Kudu being the only mammal of note.
A short evening drive west along the Orpen-Satara road promised much in the terms of big cats but delivered nothing. A real highlight, however, was a Black Backed Jackal scurrying around the scorched earth stopping often to sniff for trails. The light was dropping rapidly and ISO3200 was needed to capture any reasonable images.
After dark, an hour or so was spent looking for the resident Owl at Satara camp, but to no avail. Instead I went to the Water hole by the camp fence and spotted a Hyena in the distance, too far away for a photo.
Steve Proctor 