Lockdown Day 139 - Wednesday 12 August

A slow start to the day and visits from the warthogs who let me get close up for a few pics.

Then we went in to Hoedspruit for lunch at Moholoholo Ya Mati and to do a bit of shopping.

On our return, news of a giraffe kill nearby had us all in the game drive vehicle heading to check it out. A male lion got up from his spot in the shade to come and eat just as we arrived. It's amazing to have such a sighting all to ourselves.The strange thing is that it doesn't look like the lions actually killed the giraffe themselves; there's no sign of neck wounds from the suffocation and no broken limbs. The theory that it was electrocuted on power lines seems unlikely because they are just too far away.

After his snack he began roaring to call the other lions in. We stayed till well after dark but no other lions showed up. As the crow flies it's only about 500m up river from the lodge, so we heard the roars and replies all evening.

We had a lekker braai but ended up eating a little too late concidering our plan was to return to the kill at daybreak. We'll probably regret the expresso, grappa and koeksuster dessert in the morning!