We find the Safari Guide of the Year competition to be one of the most special weeks of the year, and it has just kicked off at Kariega Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape.

This year we wanted to involve you, our community, as much as possible, but without the actual stresses that the competing guides are under.

To start off, here is a test that the guides faced this early this morning:

With tracking being one of the focus points of the Guide of the Year Competition today, we thought we’d give you an idea of what the experts were facing. One of the tests this morning was to identify which animal made this hole. What do you think it is?

A lot of people underestimate the importance of birding in the bush. Some experts say that understanding birds helps them find most of their sightings.
What we know for sure is that birding is a massive part of the Safari Guide of the Year competition.

So we’re quizzing on this throughout the week, too. Today, the question was:

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The tiniest baby hyenas were seen relaxing with their mom near a den site on the H1-1 this morning.

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The community on our app all loved this moment of the cheetah being photographed as something caught its attention on the H1-4 this morning.

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Cheetahs were the star of the show this week. This one was seen on the S119, and is tied as the most liked sighting with this midweek update.

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These lions sleeping on top of a rock were a pleasant surprise from above on Monday. There were seen on Nkakane Link.

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A leopard mom with her cub stole the show in Pilanesberg this week. The pair were seen yesterday on Motlobo Drive.

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This was a beautiful sighting of two elephants grazing at a dam near one of the park’s main roads.