Chad Cocking | A Week In Pictures
A Week of A New Home in Photos
As I am sure you all know by now, Tanda Tula has a new home, Plains Camp, for the next year or so while Safari Camp undergoes an exciting rebirth!
Stunning views across the plains towards the striking Drakensberg mountains have been the vistas that have welcomed us back on our many trips between Safari Camp and the new Plains Camp as we have all been in overdrive moving camps. Excitingly, this week saw us welcome our first guests to our new home, and it has been a fantastic start for all of us!
Plains Camp shares the same concession as Safari Camp in the central Timbavati but is positioned towards the western side of the concession, so it will not only expose us to some new faces on the blog, but also allow us access to the same familiar ones that you have come to love over the years. Before packing up and moving camps, I was able to squeeze in a few more drives from Safari Camp with some friends (human ones that is!), and we got treated to a wonderful sighting of Xigodo male leopard as we were on our way to see Nyeleti and her cubs. We opted to stay with the more active male leopard as he wandered around before settling to drink at a small pool beneath the bridge in which we were parked! We also caught up with Nyeleti and her cubs the next day, so our decision was well vindicated!
Together with a sighting of the Mayambula lionesses, it was a fitting last drive (for now) from Safari Camp. Scotch was the first to head out from Plains Camp, and his guests got to enjoy abundant plains game, a breeding herd of buffalo, loads of elephants and a relaxed female leopard (one we were not familiar with) on their first drive in the west.
The next day they ticked off the Big 5 during a morning drive that saw them head to the east to try for the Mayambula Pride’s cubs (sadly they were hiding), but the adults were out and about as a buffalo lazed at a pan nearby, and Thumbela female leopard rested up a tree a few hundred metres away – not a bad start! I joined the fray that afternoon and didn’t have to travel far at all on my first drive; the plains delivered on the general game front with herds of impala, zebra and wildebeest, and we had a fantastic afternoon of birding – loads of vultures, eagles, white storks, rollers and even a secretary bird graced us with their presence. Some elephants and rhinos showed face before we got to spend time with five lionesses from the Giraffe Pride and their six growing cubs as they lay down to rest a couple of kilometres from Plains Camp!
The next morning, we enjoyed lots of hippos (including a newborn baby), some lovely elephant herds and lots of plains game, and even got a brief sighting of the young male leopard on Nkhari with a fresh impala kill. He had sadly come down from the tree and wasn’t too relaxed, but we are hoping that this evening he will put on a show….so best you check back next week for a full week’s worth of sightings updates from us here at our new camp.
Until next time, stay safe!
Cheers
Chad
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