July Blog by Marc Grové

So with my first month of being a Madikwe guide almost under the belt, I have had some amazing sightings and would love to share some of my sightings and experiences with you all!

I had a family from Johannesburg on my vehicle for four nights. I really enjoyed their company as well as all of their enthusiasm; we had a lot of fun while we were out in the beautiful landscapes of Madikwe. From lion to cheetah and even a leopard, we almost saw it all. Unfortunately we just missed the Wild Dogs, but each day we definitely kept our eyes and ears open for any sign of them.

One of their special interests was cheetah, so on their first morning game drive I heard an update of cheetah in the eastern side of the reserve, I mentioned as it was only them on the vehicle we would be able to leave early on game drive to try and see a special animal. With excitement running through everybody’s veins we set off to the east at around 14;30, I wanted to get there slightly earlier so that we could spend some time with the animals, the surprise remained for most of the one hour drive to the east. The road that the cheetahs were on was one that I had never heard of before, so out was the map to find the road. With ease we managed to get into the area that they were in. I bumped into one of the other rangers, his guests said to mine enjoy the cheetah. Only some of them heard the other guest say what we were about to see. The father of the family had his birthday on this specific day and I was so ecstatic that I was able to show him the cheetah. This male coalition just managed to take down a female impala; this meant that there was no chance of them moving too much. We got our snaps and then moved on.

All the excitement of being in the bush is amazing, although we as rangers get tired it’s always a treat for us to get out in the bush, feeling one with nature and you get that warm feeling that everything will be okay. We had out sunset on the wall of Tlou Dam and what a beautiful sunset it was.

We had Rovos Rail check into the lodge, full lodge but everybody worked together like a well-oiled machine. We had a lot of fun as we had some very cool guests on the vehicles. We had a beautiful sundowner stop and chatted about the sightings we had. We had seen cheetah that afternoon and the excitement levels were running high.

I found my first cheetah in Madikwe by myself on the Madikwe plains, the junction of two of the road on the plains. We spent about an hour with the cheetah and all the patience paid off and we ended up having an amazing sighting with the cheetah walking in between my and Dylan’s cruisers. All the students were ecstatic and that on our full day drive.

From lions hunting to leopard on the inselbergs there is so much that Madikwe has to offer, always something new to see in the beautiful reserve, I invite you to come and visit us here at our play ground that is Madikwe, thank you for taking time to read this blog and I hope that someday we may meet in person and explore this wild life haven together.

Marc Grové

Ranger at Tau Game Lodge