At least when in rains in the Selous there are still plenty of things to keep you occupied, as this troop of Yellow Baboons show, all you need is a puddle and a sense of fun. We look forward to having you come and visit us here at Sand Rivers during the wonderful green season.

 

It has been an exciting last few days here at Sand Rivers, large storms have been passing though during the nights and mornings, this rest bite from the heat increases the chances of seeing the predators moving during the day.

One of the most exciting times you can have on a game drive is watching the Wild Dogs hunting, they are one of the most efficient predators on the planet, the young Impalas don't stand a chance against this formidable opponent. They dispatch and eat their prey with brutal efficiency, due the fear of having their kill stolen by Lions or Hyenas. High speed and organized hunts can only lead to one conclusion for their main source of food the Impala. 

 

Lucky for the this Hippo he can avoid getting burnt by his special sweat that protects him from the sun. Leucism effects many different types of animals, but it probably effects predators the most, as they will never be able to sneak up on anything!

Spotting some vultures circling in the distance, we jumped on the opportunity to find what they had seen. The vultures were heading towards the Miombo up near our airstrip, after fiifteen minutes we reached the them. Our resident pride had mangaded to bring down a female Eland ( the largest antelope). The kill was a few hours old, the two males had already had their fill and it was the turn of one of the females. It gave a chance to get some up close photos of the scene.

Interestingly in the second photo you can clearly see the hairs (papillae) on the Lionesses tongue, these hairs are used for grooming and eating,  and possibly to help the lions drink. It has been said that a lion can lick the skin off a human.

 Every once in a while an extremely exciting and unusual sighting comes about. On one of our morning boat trips up to Stieglers Gorge, our guests Mark and Amanda spotted a rather strange animal that looks like a pine cone. It was in fact a Ground Pangolin the Holy Grail of animal sightings, these creatures are as hard to find as water is in the Atacama Dessert.

They walk on two legs using their tail to balance and wander round in search of termites or ants, which they dig for. The Pangolin is covered in extremely hard scales, when it feels threatened in curls up into a ball to protect its vulnerable belly. What made this sighting even more unusual and special was that the Pangolin was swimming!!!!!!!
 

When the Pangolin finally reached the shore of the Rufiji river it walked up through the rocks and into the leaf litter, eventually putting its head into the ground and rolling into a ball. Many thanks to Mark O'Sullivan who kindly let us use his fantastic photos for our Blog.