The Week in Pictures : Abstract Scenes in the Bushveld

The bushveld provides ample opportunity to get creative with your lens, and there’s never a moment not worth photographing. There are times when you’re confronted with endless open landscapes begging to be captured, and other times you’ll get up close and personal with lions on a kill. This week, we’ve decided to select our more abstract images showcasing life in the bushveld, while simultaneously updating you about the general goings-on from the week.

The cheetah that were relocated to Roam Private Game Reserve in the Great Karoo continue to make progress in their new environment. This is fantastic news, and certainly carves the path for further cheetah to be introduced into this area of the Karoo. The team at Roam is looking at creating a variety of conservation safari itineraries, where guests have the opportunity to contribute to conservation while still enjoying a luxury safari. In terms of images, this week we’ve delivered a couple of bold and mysterious sunset images fresh from the Karoo. We can’t help but love a Karoo sunset!

Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp emerged the victors in terms of lion kill sightings. The team came across a seldom seen pride feasting on a fresh giraffe kill. The skittish lions were at the kill site, guarding their precious prey for 3 days. Not once did the pride let up and give the scavengers license to chow down. Lions normally saunter off from the kill once they’ve gorged themselves. Not this pride! For 3 days guests and guides enjoyed sightings of lions, vultures, and hyenas in close proximity to the kill.

Another highlight was the arrival of a lone elephant to the grounds of nThambo Tree Camp!

Umkumbe Safari Lodge’s slew of leopard sightings was interrupted by a sighting of a pack of denning wild dogs on the hunt. The wild dog predator sighting was a welcome break from the influx of leopard sightings! The recent leopard sighting of Ndzanzeni the young male with his mother, and the ever graceful Natumi, provided the bulk of the leopard sightings at Umkumbe this week.

Game drives at Walkers Bush Villa are always exciting. Em and Rogan headed to the Timbavati to join Walkers on their daily drives and walked away with a fantastic portfolio of images and videos. They came across a hyena den and witnessed a number of cubs bumbling and falling about outside of their safe-zone. A few incredible images of hyenas in the sunset emerged, and the setting alone provide further opportunity to get creative with images.

Ezulwini Game Lodges should win an award for their recent lion cub sightings. The Kudyela lionesses were spotted with their litter of cubs, and the Ezulwini team managed to get a perfect visual of the cubs. There are 11 youngsters in total, sired by the Machaton males. Across the board, this was possibly the sighting of the week!

Chacma Bush Camp also enjoyed a lion sighting of an unknown pride of lions. The youngsters within the pride appeared to be quite scraggly and battling somewhat. After a lengthy discussion with lion experts, it was established that female in the pride is the oldest female from the River Pride. Chacma continues to enjoy abundant elephant and buffalo sightings.

Roam Private Game Reserve