Sunday is the second 'find all' day. On our way out of the base a black mamba slithered across our path. Perhaps in South Africa this is an omen like a black cat crossing your path because we were unable to find anything all morning. Instead I will tell you more about our lions:
When we viewed the pride a couple of evenings ago we found Marmite with his mother, among other lionesses. The Dominant male, Blade, was absent and it is common for the leader of the pride to wander his territory. Some of the expedition members say they heard a lion roar in the night and it is thought that Blade is now communicating to the pride with the aim to meet up again.This however will cause problems as Marmite is reaching sexual maturity and may pose a threat to Blade's dominance, even though Blade is his father. It is expected that Blade will soon evict Marmite from the pride and Marmite will need to find himself his own pride elsewhere. Alternatively, Marmite may fight Blade for control of the pride here in Venetia.
At lunchtime we rested at a different research accommodation and had lunch before continuing with the 'find all' in the afternoon. It seemed to be going the same way as the morning until about 5pm when we spotted Skankank and his brother, the two cheetahs in a coalition. We watched them rest, walk away and then rest again. They were the most beautiful cats and quite wary of us. Cheetahs have their enemies, often being hounded from their food by hyenas or being shot by farmers when on their land.
Here are some pictures of the cheetahs:
Finally the cheetahs walked away through the grass:
This partiucular shot shows one of the cheetahs scent-marking a tree:
When they had left we visited the tree. It smells a bit fishy if you were wondering!
On our way back we were joined in our vehicle by a mantis which I can only describe as monstrous:
In the evening we set up a game called Assassin. You randomly pick a victim, a murder weapon and a location in which you have to 'kill' them. The aim is to trick your victim in to the location where you then touch them with the murder weapon. I have to 'kill' Ashley in the gym area with a dinner plate. For information the gym is just an outdoor area with bricks and tyres where you can lift these unorthodox weights.
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