You saw many leopards and have some great pictures! Great cheetah shots also.

Elephants. I love the elephants. I saw elephants digging for water my first trip to Mashatu (2003) and I don't believe I've seen that anywhere else.

Bat-eared fox, you had a great sighting of that (and photo!) and the cute little jackal cubs.

I can't believe the monkey and lizard! I'm glad that didn't happen to anyone in our group.

Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for the trip report!

Carla, I can't believe I forgot about the "tracks" we were trying to ID. Ashley's shoes - ha!

GreenDrake-

The Wild Dogs came back on their own as the rains have not come back yet. We got the call on the morning of the 26th-but they were not seen again after Craig's video of the afternoon kill. I went back out on Friday on horseback in the same area, but did not find any dogs or tracks. Let's hope they stay on the Botswana side and avoid the farms and any trouble.

Thanks for the info on the lens you used. That is the same one I have, and am quite happy with the end results.

Carla-I hope to do a quick trip report, also will keep it short as your's was so good.

Enjoyed your photos Fred. I recognized the bushbuck at camp and also the young male lion. And you had a sighting with 2 leopards in a tree, nice!

Shellcat, I am assuming you meant Zimbabwe (not Zanzibar) I read it and knew what you meant. Otherwise, those doggies were flying!!! :)

Fred, that hill you mentioned with the 360 degree view of the elephant parade was an amazing moment. BTW, Ashley is Cindy's (Sundowner)daughter and so is Katie. I know it must be confusing...all these girls on the same trip (plus KayeN at Mala Mala)and our photos are so similar too.

A bull elle at the WH during dinner...awesome! Love it.

I was just reading on a different forum that the vervets got into a visitors tent at Mashatu and ate their Lomotil. So if it was the same vervet, that would have counteracted the diarrhea problem. Now it just needed to steal some Rogaine for the hair problem. :))

Greendrake, I bet those pills sure got a good washing! :)

Carla - How smart are these monkeys!! They open childproof bottles, know to protect themselves from malaria, and know the side effects of malarone and take meds to counter act those. I imagine they already have stashed Rogaine. Future travelers better hide their return airline tickets as I would imagine these guys might want to escape the hot rainy season and take an extended vacation in some place like S. California.

GreenDrake,

All the pictures I made at Mashatu last month are at the following address :

http://www.africaddict.com/site/inde...&Itemid=30

Some of those pictures will, I'm sure, be very familiar to you.
And yes, Fish was in many occasions the first to discover the cats. He is one of the best guides I ever had during all my trips in Africa and there are quiet a few.

Cheers

Mike

Great photo show, with your first cheetah sighting kicking things off.

The digging baby elephant was an odd site. You had a bonanza of canine encounters. Those baby jackals were so cute. I thought you had copied and pasted to get the pair of sleeping lions. Nice night-time shot of the leopard. Great collection.

Lynn - thanks! I think I caught those two lions practicing their out of water synchronized swimming routine for the next olympics.

Mike - I really enjoyed viewing all of your photos. So many crisp, sharp images!! Some of the many that stood out:

- The close up of the male lion with his distinctive mohawk hairdoo

- Lioness with her new cubs. Some nice rich colors

- Wild cats!!- I saw them twice but never was able to get a clear shot. These are great

- Masked weavers

- Young female leopard with her mom. You have one particular nice clean sharp image with them together in the trees. Watching these two during the week was a special treat.

- Lots of amusing shots of baby elephants. What a show they put on for you.

-Cheetah with her fresh impala kill. I wonder if this is the same cheetah I saw right before I left. It was Wednesday morning October, 29th when we spotted her. My last game drive before taking off to JNB that afternoon. Richard told me that a vehicle from main camp had observed her taking down a impala right after we saw her fail to take down a duiker.

Really beautiful pictures GreenDrake. I especially loved the Cheetah pics -- fabulous! I'm also partial to Leopards and you had some absolutely great shots of them. Beautiful... You will see a similar Mohawk hairdo on a young male Lion when I get around to posting my report and pics from Kafue. How you managed to restrain yourself to just 44 pics is beyond me -- but they are all wonderfull. I will probably post more than 200 but the are not of such fine quality -- I just have a hard time controlling my enthusiasm!

Yes, it is the same cheetah. I also saw the first attempt on the steenbok or was it a duiker?
Then we decided to follow her, she crossed the dry river bed and on the other side, she got that female impala. The vehicle of main camp was once more Fish's vehicle. It was also my last game drive before leaving to Joburg.
thank you very much for your comments.

Mike

Rickmck - I look forward to your report and photos. I really liked your itinerary. I almost booked that Wildneress Kafue trip and may visit Kafue next year. Mwaleshi camp in the North Luangwa is one of my favorites and I hope Ernst is doing well up there.

Mike - I think I sat right behind you on the Polokwane to JNB flight. Were you in the 1st or 2nd row wearing a green vest?

I was indeed sitting on the first seat in the one seat row on the flight Polokwane/Joburg.

Mike

The monkey story is too funny!! The pictures are fantastic and I am so excited - I leave for Mashatu in 18 days!!! I think I will request Fish as my guide! Thanks for the info!

CarlaM - I just realized I never answered your below questions:

"Was this the only camp you visited? Did you fly or do ground transfers? Curious on the details how you got there and back."

Yes I only visited Mashatu for this trip. I flew from JNB to Polokwane and then I arranged ground transport from Polokwane to Mashatu. Cheaper than flying all the way and probably more expensive than renting a car.