Thabo the friendly cheetah.

This is one of those times I think how lucky us South Africans are and how we take the small things for granted and just focus on the negative things happening. #OnlyinAfrica smile! be happy! 

Yet another week has passed at Hopewell Exclusive Game Reserve and an interesting day yesterday as I was driving and came across thabo.  stopped and got out and started stroking him and giving him some loving. next thing I know he hops into the cruiser and acts as if he is "mufassa" on pride rock! was lovely to see him on top and just using it as his look out point! he is so friendly and loves to walk around and be interactive with people.

Great Hunt and feeding!!

Saturday morning was a lovely late start here on the farm as if you are on duty, which I was, you need to be up by 8AM. Went on the roads to check the water and the fence to make sure all was working well and found an elephant had snapped a 6m Acacia tree at the base of the truck!! It is astonishing how much power they have. the two guys I had with me wanted to go back and get the chain saws and machetes but I had rope in the back of the bakkie so I said I’ll show you something new guys. I tied the tree to the tow bar and dragged it a few meters off the road and sorted, let nature take its course with the tree. Once that was done and I had explained to them about the micro ecosystems that can form from that we headed to finish the rounds.

All was good and we got back to the work shop and then got told to go hunt. Don’t get me wrong I was not the slightest bit phased as long as it’s done properly and ethically then im good to go. We headed back out to find a male water buck that had a decent amount of meat on him. Finally after an hour of driving we tracked the herd down and saw that there was a decent male with them. As soon as the door opened they ran off into the thick bush and one would say the hunt was over. Water buck will run into dense bush and then stop as they camouflage really well, hence them stopping. I took a good walk around to the other side of the thick bush where I found the clearing and waited for a decent shot. Eventually I saw the male about 80m away and was standing at a strange angle so shot placement would have been difficult.

This was the water buck that got shot over the weekend for food, all part of game farm management

#selfie with a cheetah, not many of those selfies going around.

Thankfully I moved a few steps over and my jersey got caught on a thorn tree alerting him making him look directly at me, shot on target and trigger pulled. The male dropped and was dead as I arrived up to him which makes me happier knowing there was not a lot of suffering.Loading the buck onto the bakkie was another story which took about half an hour and eventually led to success.

as soon as i dropped the leg off for him he was on it!!!

 The reason for this hunt was 1. For my servils, the two boys Monty and Mitch who are doing a lot better now. I went for a walk in their boma today to clean the water and make sure the fence was still alright and the one came pretty close which is great progress!! 2. The male cheetah Thabo, friendlier then most domestic cats and loves a good stroking! I gave him a leg today just to make sure he is doing well and he enjoyed that immensely.

this was after his meal, just giving me a bit of loving.

So my weekend and Monday has been a fun exciting one and looking forward to more interesting things going on here.

Mother Nature

The past two days I have been going through the reserve getting a general view and understanding of how nature works. I came across a baby zebra which, from my assumptions looks like it died from a tick born disease. I knew that the cheetah female, Bukeka, and her cubs where close by so I loaded the zebra and went to find the cheetah. Upon arrival they could smell that something was dead and they slowly started making their way towards the vehicle. I dropped it off and then they came when they felt I was at a safe enough distance. It is truly amazing to see how Mother Nature works and to see the circle of life right in front of my face.

Bukeka and her cubs in the back ground