Photographs courtesy of Merle, Donald and Justin Smith from Australia
who were guests of ours at MalaMala Main Camp 26-30 April 2006

Safari Notes and photos by Merle, Donald and Justin Smith

We recently returned to Australia from our fifth fantastic visit to Mala Mala. Our son, Justin, flew from Hong Kong to join us and our friends the Halls and Beechers also accompanied us. Many thanks must be extended to our Ranger, Sheldon and tracker, Calvin for giving us such spectacular game viewing with countless thrills. On our first evening safari as we turned a corner close to main camp there was a pride of lions in the middle of the track. Much to our excitement we followed them as they were hunting.  There was a loud thud when an impala, through fright, jumped into the side of our vehicle.  We don’t know who got the biggest fright, the impala or us!  Fortunately it was not injured and escaped the predators.Watching a magnificent leopard high in a tree with his impala kill was very exciting and there were heart stopping moments when a hyena chased another leopard with her cub up a tree, before stealing their vervet monkey kill. Altogether we saw eight different leopard sightings.  Seeing young male giraffes fighting was an incredible sight especially as their necks were bent like rubber when they whacked and pushed each other hard.  On another safari there were four beautiful young cheetahs chasing each other, and we also saw six hyenas and a huge number of vultures devouring an elephant carcass. Further along the track there were three rhinos and one actually nudged our vehicle.  Apart from the exhilarating game viewing there were other memorable experiences. While attempting to cross the river our vehicle became wedged on a boulder and on three separate occasions punctured tyres where changed.  When tracking yet another leopard the land rover became bogged in the river bed.  Calvin used his machete to hack branches off trees and these were placed under the vehicle to help dislodge it but to no avail.  However, after much digging by Sheldon, Ranger Andrew and tracker Philemon came to the rescue and towed us out of the bog. Frustrating and embarrassing for some, hilarious and entertaining for others!  The magnificent sunsets, animal sights and sounds at Mala Mala shall remain with us until our next visit.