Sunday, October 20, 2013

The green explosion!!

A couple of weeks ago this little chap appeared on our stone gate post outside the mess.                 Bright white against the black rocks, thermo-regulation was clearly outweighing camouflage               on this hot as Hades Selous afternoon.

Foam nest frogs are famous for the half rugby ball sized nests they whip up around their eggs and leave suspended from an overhanging anchor point above a water source. It’s a fantastic way of keeping the spawn out of harm’s way until they’ve developed into the tadpole, at which point they drop down out of the nest and hit the water swimming.

Even more amazing are the occasions when the nests appear above a dry pond, seemingly doomed due to a little premature excitement. Then it starts raining and all of a sudden these kids are growing up in prime real-estate – the adults have actually predicted the coming weather change.

We should have guessed this guy was up to something – low and behold within twenty four hours it started raining…….really raining!!


A few days later and it’s as if we can hear this place growing.

The African Dog Roses are heavy with flowers.
There is budding new growth almost everywhere we look.

The impala ewes have delivered in fine form and the garden is teeming with little ones.
Even the impala lily outside our office has flowered again.
These guys are clearly happy about it!!!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Romance at sundown……..with cavorting cats!

It was the eighth of October. I know this as it was Jana’s birthday and although our current residence is remote enough to save me and the credit card from a shopping trip, dinner out, ludicrously expensive wine followed by months of poverty - we can still celebrate.

With the guests departing on boats and walks, I took the opportunity, located the cider (not the expensive wine, I know, but still a favorite), commandeered a Land Rover and whisked her off into the bush.

Lake Makubi lies hidden by woodland and palm thicket north east of Sand Rivers, it’s the perfect place to switch off the engine and just wait and see – we got lucky (as did this male Lion).

In that 40 minute window of golden evening light this honeymoon pair appeared, ignoring us and everything else they continued with the schedule – about once every twenty minutes for up to three days (it’s enough to make your eyes water!).

Their presence set the impalas off barking and snorting in the background, clearly not convinced that the predator’s were completely “otherwise engaged”. To be fair to the antelope fraternity it is surely better to air on the side of caution with the big cats, none the less the lions didn’t even glance in their direction.

You probably won’t believe me but this time last year we took another birthday drive, same time, same date about 200 km north east of here……….the exact same thing happened! I recall the brand of cider was different but the effect on the lions was much the same!











Saturday, October 12, 2013

Magic Light

Yesterday afternoon a mix of sun and rain cast a golden light over the Rufiji River in front of the lodge only to turn into the most incredible spectacle of colour and light at sunset. We have seen many stunning sunsets here in the Selous - but this one topped them all... and left us speechless.








Thursday, October 10, 2013

Pups

The pack of seven Wild Dogs that we we’re photographing at the beginning of this season did something of a disappearing act in July.
We had sighted them last in the miombo woodland north west of camp which is exactly where they resurfaced yesterday after three months in hiding and to our great delight they are now a pack of ten!
The adults were as relaxed as ever – enjoying some sparse shade on a hot selous morning when these three pups appeared from behind the group, trotted past the vehicle and down into the cooler valley beneath us.
The guides are out searching for them again this afternoon but, the way these creatures move, who knows where they will pop up next? We will certainly be posting up the pictures when they do.







Friday, October 4, 2013

Little Ones...

There’s three new heart breakers on the scene guys, it doesn’t need any further explanation to have you all oooohhhhhing and aaahhhhing at your computers.
These wonderful pictures were taken less than a kilometer away from our lodge at a sundowner spot called Lizzie’s hill and I’m delighted to say they were sighted again this morning!







Thank you to Rob Earley for sharing these great photos with us.