Samantha’s Sabi Sand | A Photo Blog

Our senior travel consultant, Samantha Myburgh recently returned from an “educational trip”, seeking out new and exciting lodges in Southern Africa. Together with a few of our other travel experts, Sam spent 9 nights at 4 lodges, including Exeter River Lodge, Arathusa, Londolozi Varty Camp and Royal Chundu in Zambia. 

And since Sam rarely travels without her Canon 1000D, she captured some more great shots.

Take a look at some of the pictures she took at Arathusa…

“This is appreciatively not my best photograph ever, but it captures the great interaction that we enjoyed between these two females. Those who have been on safari before will understand and relate to the fact that seeing lions in the wild usually means they are sleeping and generally doing very little so this display of playful affection was great to witness.”

“Lots of nuzzling and love shown between the two sisters.”

“This shot was taken in a momentous round of click click clicking, just to get this full frontal shot… Tonsils and all!”

“After a slight “dry spell” in terms of elephant sightings over the course of the last three drives, we came across an awesome herd of ellies and this one “child” in particular was very intrigued by our arrival on the scene. He stuck his trunk towards us for ages taking in all the smells we were giving off, shaking his head and mock-charging to prove his growing braveness – so cute!”

“The same two lionesses who had only moments before been loving and playing with each other both suddenly and simultaneously perked up, ears alert. They stood up and proceeded to walk along the road before us with a mission. They had evidently smelt or heard something of interest and we were hot on their heels as they entered a herd of impala. They attempted a possible chase, but were very lackluster with their effort, clearly a result of already satiated tummies and proceeded to collapse in a heap and do what they do so well… sleep!”

“This male leopard was seen on three different occasions within my short stay at Arathusa. On this initial occasion he was relaxing under a tree that was home to his most recent kill, an impala. A very beautiful boy and as we found out a little later, one with an insatiable appetite.”

“This was my most amazing sighting ever, which is impressive since I have had the immense privilege of enjoying an innumerable amount of safaris. We stumbled across a male leopard who was carrying a baby steenbok with its mouth as a mother dog would carry her puppies. The baby steenbok was still alive and bleating sadly throughout the whole sighting. The leopard had obviously worked hard to catch his “snack” and took a little lie down under the shade of a bush next to the road where we were perched, entranced by what was enfolding before us. The buck, understandably dazed, would attempt to stand up, move around, stage an escape, but the leopard would have none of it and even throughout all the panting from his side, it would take just one swift swipe of his huge paw to sit the baby right down while he continued to regain his breath.”

“After 10 minutes of  an excruciating wait for what we knew was inevitable, the leopard grabbed the buck again with his strong jaws and moved down to a ravine nearby to which we proceeded to follow the “action” of course.  The leopard devoured the entire animal within 15 minutes. This sighting was the most heart-wrenching I (and my fellow safari-goers) have ever experienced and was one where even though the understanding of nature is inherent, it was so incredibly moving to have witnessed…”

Read our Q & A with Samantha in our blog!

To experience Africa’s big cats and other wild animals and landscapes for yourself, contact one of our expert travel planners, who will provide you with more information.