Grietjie Private Reserve

[Penga Ndlovu]

Great pics bud.
Keep them coming.

Am I also allowed to post here as I am also living in this fantastic place?

[Richprins]

Can't see why not?

[Mel]

Let the pix roll in, Penga

[Penga Ndlovu]

Ok.
Let's give it a whirl then.

Living on GPNR now for just over 5 years and having seen the fences between the various reserves around us coming down about 3.5 years ago gave us a huge influx of the big cats.
Lions have come in by large numbers and I have even heard some staff refer to Grietjie as Indawo yeengonyama. The place of lions.

We have been very fortunate with seeing many of those big cats as they seem to use our plot and both plots on either side of us as a corridor to enter the reserve.
There is hardly a day night going by that we not at least hear them roaring somewhere around us.
We have grown so accustomed to them that we can even identify a lot of them by just hearing their roar.

Living amongst these great big kitty cats has been a pleasure.
sometimes they are even so close that we can actually touch them if we wanted.

But anyway.
Here are a few pictures:

A beautiful female in the afternoon light

An absolutely stunning young male in the morning sun

A grumpy old bastard

Just coming to say hello at our front gate

[Richprins]

Penga!

Lucky fish, and great shots!

[Mel]

Cool that the fences came down and that you can enjoy the company of the lions now.
The young male is a beau indeed.

But the female is also pretty

[Penga Ndlovu]

Who says Jackals do not hunt?

One morning I was sitting under the lapa having my morning coffee and my smoke and I heard something behind me.
I got up and looked towards the sound and there I saw 5 Jackals who had just taken down an Impala.
The first time for me.

And while driving over Grietjie one has plenty of time to observe the animals in their natural behavior.
Even though the animals in Kruger are use to people driving around their behavior seems a bit different than on our reserve.
I think it has to do that we all live together on that small piece of paradise.

But just sometimes a morning tuns into gold.
On Monday morning I always have to pick up the staff at the entrance gate.
This was a beautiful sunny morning and it promised to be a very hot November day.
As I drove out of our gate I have to turn left and after about 25 meters I had to slam the brakes as there was a massive roadblock on our entrance road.
A family of 8 lions decided to sunbath for a bit there.
1 big male, 5 females and 2 cubs.

Needless to say I was at the Grietjie gate way too late

[Lisbeth]

Not bad for a roadblock

[Pumbaa]

Thanks so much, Penga Nlovu,

really amazing lion shots as well as jackals Brilliant

[Richprins]

A jackal kill!

Penga!