Lots of cool animal pictures during this three-night trip. I’m going to break this down by day and separate the morning and afternoon game drives, so I’ll show the pictures roughly chronologically, rather than grouping them by species. Therefore, the same species may pop show on multiple posts. It’s just how they leapt in front of my camera. Sometimes literally.

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The first day was rather chilly and breezy. Last week in the Masai Mara it was chilly in the morning but rapidly warmed up. I never wore more than one layer of clothing. Today, minimum of two layers, often three. Our Land Cruiser was supplied with blankets and everyone used them. Some also used hot-water bottles. It reminded me that 1) Kenya in on the equator, whereas Shamwari is near 33-degrees south, and 2) Late April here is about the same as late November in the northern hemisphere. I’m glad I brought a sweatshirt and windbreaker jacket.

Early we drove into a clearing within the bushes and found many types of antelope. Their coats seem more brown than the ones I saw in Kenya. Our guide said they have a response to cold that raises their fur, making it look darker. It’s kind of like human goosebumps. First up are impala. The females are usually all escorted by a single male. The non-dominant males form a separate “bachelor” herd.

Close-by were waterbuck, which I consider as hairy deer. They have my favorite antler. PS: all the white twigs you see on the bushes are thorns. We drove carefully.

This was the first time I’ve seen blesbok. Here is a nimble youngster(I’ll have better pictures of adults in later days). It’s called “bles” from the Dutch (and Afrikaans) word for “blaze”, like on the forehead of a horse.

Another newcomer – the Egyptian goose. I like the colors.

We started to hear a jackal yip-yip-yipping. Our guide said that the yipping combined with the cluster of different antelope likely meant that some carnivores were near the complaining jackal. We drove that direction and rapidly found the black-backed jackal.

Sure enough, we found a family of lions eating. We never could identify the kill, but it probably was a large antelope. The road was on the other side of a small hill, so we didn’t have an unobstructed view.

There were two cubs waiting nearby.

After a few minutes the male lifted his head and then dragged what was left of the carcass to the side. I guess you can do that when you have a mane and roar for a living.

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We finished the morning drive by visiting the Shamwari Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (WRC). This is a recovery site where injured animals are tended to and released back to the wild, when possible. For example, just within the front gate we met a matron nyala and a youth. Our guide explained the older is a long-term resident in the WRC and is comforting the newcomer.

There was a similar situation with some white rhinoceros.

There were several cells occupied by meerkat. Seems the alpha female can get very bossy and chase away other females.

There is a very large cage for cape vultures. Seems they get hurt by flying into power lines or windmills. There were easily two dozen birds who cannot return to the wild due to their injuries.

Finally, a cape bushbuck just wandered past us.

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It was a chilly, busy morning. We returned to the Manor around 9:30 for breakfast and then rest until going out again around 3:30pm.