Summer has arrived in the Manyeleti!

Just one look around the Manyeleti at the moment and you begin to understand why this time of year in the Greater Kruger is known as the "emerald season". This is the time of the "big green" when life-bringing rains turn the African wilderness into a verdant sea of grasses, shrubs and trees that's filled with life in all its myriad shapes and forms.

Summer really is the season of plenty and we've been lucky enough to have had some good rain thus far, with the promise of more to come as the season progesses. Our storms are legendary, with spectacular lightning shows and phenomenal deluges that fill our dams and waterholes and make the long, hard dry season just a distant memory. 

With so much water everywhere, food is plentiful for the animals of the Manyeleti, the majority of which have babies at heel. The baby boom coincides with the start of the rains when the impala ewes drop their lambs. They manage to all give birth within a couple of weeks of each other, swelling the ranks of their creches with each passing day. 

Wildebeest and other antelope species also give birth at this time of year, as do zebra, with lots of new foals on display. You'll also see lots of warthog piglets and tiny dwarf mongoose babies if you're lucky!

With all of this increase in the number of prey species, of course the predators are going to benefit! So we always expect great big cat sightings at this time of year, along with painted wolves and hyenas. While it's sometimes more difficult to spot game with the bush being so lush and dense, we always have incredible interactions with lion and leopard in the area around Pungwe and kills are the order of the day at the moment.

The other wonderful thing about the emerald season is the phenomenal birding it provides. The Manyeleti is filled with summer migrants and the air is filled with the calls of the woodland kingfisher, Levaillant's and Jacobin cuckoos and the distinctive chirps and songs of the beautiful African paradise flycatcher. There are bee-eaters in abundance, so watch out for their colourful plumage and deft aerial displays!

There really is no better time to be in the bush, so we hope to see you very soon!