We struck lucky with the Wild Dogs on the first drive, finding two that had just killed a young Warthog, we also saw them on our fourth outing, they were just lazing in the sun. The Wild Dog is unusual in that it has only four toes, not five on its paws. The afternoon drive gave us a distant view of Elephant, not our first as we had seen a big bull on the way in during the two hour drive from the entrance to the lodge. Jackals and Impala  showed often as we made our way up to the savanna area and we kept an eye out for big cats, a Kori Bustard and many Red crested Korhaan strutted around in the long grass as the sun got lower. We returned in darkness and saw a Cape Eagle Owl perched high on a dead tree against a stunning array of stars.

We saw many warthogs and their young, running off with tails held high, and then our first Giraffe, tall and majestic, crunching on thorny Acacia branches. Onward into the vast wilderness of Madikwe we arrived in a large plains area, John D our driver spotted distant White Rhino, two of them, a mother and well grown calf, we got close enough to see Yellow billed Oxpeckers busily picking ticks and flies of their armored bodies and could hear the far off roaring of Lions as we watched. I rattled through a lot of film and digital memory, another vehicle arrived and the drivers swapped information and we set off to hunt down the Lions. It is un-nerving getting as close to Lions  as we did, especially in an open jeep, Holly looked pretty scared but she was as busy taking photos as I was but we all jumped when one lifted his head and snarled, he had lost an eye and we had approached on his blind side.

 Heading back the excitement wasn't over, up on a ridge sat a Cheetah, watching a mixed herd of Zebra and Wildebeest all with young it was weighing up its next meal, and the odds of catching it, the herd seemed aware of the cats presence so the Cheetah retired to the shade.