| Species | Group Size | Group Structure | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo | 120 | Breeding Herd | 100m |
| Lion | 5 | Cubs | 70m |
For this walk I was a participant guide, and the walk lasted 3 and half hours.
As we were driving we spotted a herd of Buffalo. We moved off to get a better position to approach and try and get the wind in our favour. As we departed the vehicle the herd picked up on us. We quickly dropped down behind a dam wall in order to attempt to calm them but as we moved back onto the dam wall the wind turned. This alerted the buffalo and they moved off. From our vantage point we noticed that there was a Hippo and a few Crocodiles nearby, fortunately unphased by our presence. We also had a great view over the dam which was full of birds, also undisturbed by our presence.
Later on the walk, we got word of a group of five Lions cubs walking through a spruit. We attempted to predict their movement and positioned ourselves in cover to watch them pass… After 30 minutes they still hadn’t passed so we made a decision to leave the cover and enter the spruit and walk in their direction. We spotted them, they had laid down as the day was getting warmer. We were only able to spot two and they got startled and ran. Soon we picked up on the trail of a male Lion and attempted to follow. We had been tracking the Lion for a little over and hour but it was getting later and becoming too warm so we decided to stop. The trail we were following indicated that the Lion wasn’t travelling in a particularly constant direction or pattern, which made him hard to follow.