DAY 57 (Satara 14 of 25) June 6

2 days ago Corrie and Nonnie saw a Cheetah late in the afternoon at Girivana waterhole. They sat there for nearly the whole afternoon. When the second last car left to get back to camp before the gates close at 17:30pm Corrie decided to wait a little longer. As they were about to leave the Cheetah got up from where it slept (nobody saw it sleeping in the long grass) it strolled towards the drinking trough. They took some photos while it drank, its tummy was very big from eating a buck. They just made the gate in time before it closed.
We decided that we were going early to Girivana this morning with the hope to see the Cheetah as we need to add a new name to our master mammal list. Had our coffee and rusks while watching the Impala and Elephants drink. At 9am had our breakfast in the car which consisted of cereals and Yogurt. Sadly no Cheetah in sight!
Got back to camp midday, got the laundry done, rested for a while. We decided to go out to Girivana again late afternoon. Sat there watching the crocodile lazing on side of the dam…Andrew fell asleep, snoring away while I watched the animals grazing near the dam. Elephants came to drink and as it was getting dark, a White Rhino also came to drink. As we got ready to leave a car passed us, when they suddenly made a quick u-turn facing the other side of the dam, they noticed the Leopard as it started to roll and stretch, that is when we discovered it was sleeping in the long grass 5 meters away from our car, everybody drove pass and did not notice it sleeping on the other side of the dam, they all looked left towards the dam watching the other animals drinking not thinking to look to the right into the long grass.

Andrew and the Leopard were snoring away just meters away from each other!

Got back to camp, discovered that there were 6 little tents next to us. A group of tourist arrived…they are from the UK and Australia. Nice youngsters. One of the girls was worried when she saw the Hyena patrolling the fence. Kept asking if they can get into camp.

This little Scops Owl sat above our rally tent on a branch looking for insects. All the young people next door came and took a photo of the owl.