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Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2019 8:37 pm
by Dindingwe
So many predators ! nice sightings !
Beautiful park, just in front of Mapungubwe, that is also beautiful !

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:12 pm
by pedro maia
Another morning, another game drive, after wandering around for a while we saw some general game on the way until an impala passed by us running and vanished in bush, after a while, we started to listen to the baboons barking, we followed the sound to a dry river bed where, after a while, we found this beautiful cheetah on the prowl:

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We followed the cheetah for quite a while, hoping for her to find prey and go for a hunt, but she eventually went down to a small valley where it was impossible to keep her track and we had to give up, go looking for other animals and try to find her later.

After a while we met this little guy who decided that we were not welcome and didn´t refrain himself to show his discontent:

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And again a leopard in a tree (the same that the night before was feeding on the impala):

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To finish our prolific morning game drive, on our way to camp we passed by a breeding herd of ellies, with the little ones suckling, also quite a treat.

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During the drive, our guide received a radio message, then turned to us and asked if we were staying at room number 8, which we confirmed, then he told us that the radio message was from the camp, informing that a leopard had killed an impala close to our room´s deck!!!

As soon as we arrived to our room we went to check things, and there it was, the impala carcass (the leopard was gone, nobody had seen it):

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9JSGObzXsc

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:34 pm
by Alf
So close to your deck :shock:

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:42 pm
by Lisbeth
What a pretty cheetah in beautiful light \O

A pity that you missed the leopard outside your room ;-)

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:49 pm
by Pumbaa
Thanks for more amazing shots, Pedro maia,

especially love the ellies, the leopard and the cheetahs O/\ O/\ O/\

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:05 pm
by Mel
Oh, wow, something from a very unusual place - at least for a forum where tales from Kruger and maybe a bit of Addo and Kgalagadi prevail lol
Definitely great sightings there, and it's not only the cats. It's also the proximity to all the other animals, too :-0

What is the food set up like at Mashatu? Joined meals with all other guests? Or possibly dinner being also served to the room?

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 7:57 am
by Richprins
Great pics and sightings, Pedro! Ja, it is different being able to drive around in the bush tracking your prey, hey? :-0

Nice big trees - sort of like Pafuri! ^Q^

And a kill on your stoep! O\/

Love the cheetah! [O]

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:01 am
by Flutterby
Wow, the great sightings continue!! ^Q^ Imagine if you'd seen the leopard kill from your verandah?!! :shock:

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 2:48 pm
by pedro maia
Next time I´ll skip the game drive and stay all morning in the deck, waiting for something to happen lol lol .

Thanks for all the kind comments guys :-) .

Re: Awesome Mashatu

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 2:54 pm
by pedro maia
Mel wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:05 pm What is the food set up like at Mashatu? Joined meals with all other guests? Or possibly dinner being also served to the room?
In both camps (tented camp and main camp) we had our meals with the other guests from our vehicule and our ranger, but I guess that if you want a private dinner they will do it, in the room I don´t know.

They have a limit of 6 guests per vehicule and in the tented camp it was only us and 2 other guests, in the main camp it was great because we were only 6 guest in the camp and we only had one game drive with all the 6, and another game drive me and my wife were the only guests, so it was like a private game drive (that happens because there are other activities in Mashatu, but more on that later).