If it wasn’t for the plains zebra, this scene in the drought-affected Pilanesberg could easily have been mistaken for the dry Southern Kalahari desert, complete with springbok.

Our end-of-year 2015 holidays were absolutely packed to the brim. Apart from our ten-day visit to the Kruger National Park (read more about our time at Lower Sabie, Olifants and Shingwedzi in December), we also made day trips to five other reserves, and will be sharing photos from those (except Suikerbosrand, which we introduced in a post all of its own) daily through the month of February, in a series we call “a month of monochrome memories”.

South Africa is suffering from one of the worst droughts the country has ever recorded, and the Pilanesberg National Park has not escaped its ravages. This was the view over the bone-dry Ruighoek Dam at the time of our visit at the end of December 2015.

Our end-of-year 2015 holidays were absolutely packed to the brim. Apart from our ten-day visit to the Kruger National Park (read more about our time at Lower Sabie, Olifants and Shingwedzi in December), we also made day trips to five other reserves, and will be sharing photos from those (except Suikerbosrand, which we introduced in a post all of its own) daily through the month of February, in a series we call “a month of monochrome memories”.

Face to face with Africa’s most dangerous snake; the black mamba, and an agitated one at that!

Our end-of-year 2015 holidays were absolutely packed to the brim. Apart from our ten-day visit to the Kruger National Park (read more about our time at Lower Sabie, Olifants and Shingwedzi in December), we also made day trips to five other reserves, and will be sharing photos from those (except Suikerbosrand, which we introduced in a post all of its own) daily through the month of February, in a series we call “a month of monochrome memories”.

Shortly after arriving at Pilanesberg National Park for a day visit on the 29th of December, we encountered the Park’s only adult female cheetah, named Rain (with the tracking collar), and her three large cubs, feeding on a zebra foal they killed overnight.

Rain was introduced to the Park in April 2014, and she gave birth to 4 cubs in January 2015. Three of the cubs survived the year and are almost fully grown now. A coalition of two adult males are the only other cheetahs occurring in the 550km² Park, making the sighting a rare and special treat.

Our end-of-year 2015 holidays were absolutely packed to the brim. Apart from our ten-day visit to the Kruger National Park (read more about our time at Lower Sabie, Olifants and Shingwedzi in December), we also made day trips to five other reserves, and will be sharing photos from those (except Suikerbosrand, which we introduced in a post all of its own) daily through the month of February, in a series we call “a month of monochrome memories”.