Madwike Game Reserve - Part 2

I seem to be having technical trouble so I apologize if you receive this post twice. 

Saturday was a full day for us at Madwike. That meant we were able to experience two game drives. Game tends to lay low during the middle part of the day, so the first drive was early in the morning and the second was late afternoon/evening.

We met Gavin and the others at 6:00 a.m. for the morning drive. It was still dark and cold when we got into the truck and headed out. Mr. Deep and I sat in the back row this time. Gavin excitedly shared that we were going to seek out a pack of wild dogs. The pack had been sighted earlier in the morning. He was not only hoping to show us wild dogs, he was hoping we'd get to see a wild dog kill.

The search for wild dogs proved challenging. Gavin was a dog with a bone (ha ha) and he really tried to find them for us. A few times he got out of truck and walked around looking for tracks and signs. He'd then see something, feel confident he knew where they were, jump in the truck and speed off to search.

Gavin in search of wild dogs

Meanwhile, Mr. Deep and I were sitting in the back row in the "bounce zone." All of the wild dog searching took us through the brush and speeding down bumpy roads. By the time we stopped for our coffee break we were feeling pretty nauseous. We tried having coffee but that only made it worse.

We continued the morning searching for wild dogs. We didn't see them but we did see this character.

Upon return to the lodge at 9:30 everyone else went to have breakfast. Mr. Deep and 
I went back to our cabin to lie down and try to get the world to stop spinning. 

We recovered in time to have lunch at 2:00 and then we went down to the water hole to take a look before we had to leave for the afternoon drive.

impalas at the water hole

Interesting how a giraffe drinks

Gavin was still keen on finding the wild dogs when we headed out for our afternoon drive. Mr. Deep and I were smart enough to sit in the middle row this time. Much better! Finally, after a few hours Gavin had to admit defeat. In his words, "wild dogs 1, guide 0." 
We did end up having some great animal sightings on Saturday afternoon.

First, we saw a leopard, which is very rare. There is a saying we learned when you go on safari, "you may not have seen a leopard, but a leopard has seen you." They are lurking in trees! 

Can you spot the leopard in the tree? 

Gavin and another guide on foot trying to track the leopard after he bolted from the tree. I wouldn't be walking around looking for a leopard but these guys are professionals.

That afternoon we also saw white rhinos and another stunning sunset. 

My last post about our trip to Madikwe will be published soon! Enjoy the photos below.