The heavens have opened finally and we have had some spectacular storms. We recorded 105mm of rain this month, so there are smiles all around. Temperatures have been normalised somewhat and now average between 41°C (day) and 24°C (night) and 37°C (day) and 19°C (night).

The elephant tracks have encroached up to the airstrip area from the south and the road through the Moremi from south gate is churned up with all the elephant activity there. A new airstrip is being constructed 5 km south from the current one and so the :heavy traffic” along the road will make things a little more exciting as the elephant herds 'play' with the mounds of earth that have been dumped on the road!!

Our lion pride has been in and out of the area bit with growing frequency of long absences. The three males seem to have vacated altogether now and are reputed to be in the Kwara area. In the meantime, three new younger males have arrived here and so we watch with interest to observe what will happen with them. The pride of eleven is still around and seems to be covering the whole game-drive zone and the leopard cub and mother have appeared for a short spell. The mother is shy and makes off quickly when approached unlike her cub that has not a care in the world and lies around like a lazy lion and ignores the vehicles that approach! Our cheetah have moved further afield and the wild dogs have since come and gone, but fortunately the hippo, hyena, genet, bushbuck monkeys and baboons have all been amusing us with their antics (associated with the flush of ripe marulas!), including an elephant bull who visited camp one night only to try and clean up the fruits lying on the ground…fortunately, this didn’t cause too much of a disturbance to those slumbering in the nearby tents!

The Pel's fishing owls have appeared again and been seen sporadically while the Giant eagle owls are more abundant to date. A welcome appearance is the Scops owls who have been calling in the evenings and late afternoons. The woodland kingfishers have almost become silent and our only sight of them is the occasional flash of blue darting through the trees. They will be departing our forests soon as the rain around us pulls them back from whence they came. Son of croc has been busy and has caught a number of the big fish at the dining room and then lies on the bank sunbathing with his enormously swollen belly ready to pop.

April may show a change and give a new perspective to this picture, so watch this space.