Bush Chaos, Close Calls & Campfire Legend!
Who’s on the Podcast:
Jon Morgan – General Lodge Manager , Guide, Storyteller & Bush Original!
A guide and natural storyteller, now General Manager of Royal Malewane Waterside, with years spent in Africa’s wild places, defined by close encounters, unexpected turns, and moments where everything seems to happen at once.
Recorded fireside beneath a fruiting Jackalberry at Raptor’s View, this episode of Sundowner Sessions belongs firmly to Jon Morgan, guide, storyteller, and shaped by years in the bush... What follows is a rapid-fire run of true tales that perfectly capture life on safari: unpredictable, intense, and occasionally saved by pure luck.
How the first story begins...
Jon opens with a once-in-a-lifetime sighting at MalaMala that starts quietly enough with a cheetah feeding on an impala. Then the bush does what it does best. A wild dog charges in and chases the cheetah off. A hyena muscles its way onto the carcass. Moments later, a huge male leopard arrives at speed, grabs what’s left, and hauls the impala into a marula tree.
Just as the scene feels complete, the radio crackles, the Sticks Pride is on the move.
Nine lions arrive as the sun dips into twilight, climbing, slipping, falling from branches, and eventually dislodging the carcass back to the ground in a full-blown scramble. In the space of a single afternoon drive, every major predator in the area converges on one impala.
“We had every single predator come to that sighting in the space of about two and a half hours.”
Dust, adrenaline, silence, and lessons learned... this episode is classic Sundowner Sessions: real bush stories, told honestly, by someone who’s lived them.
Until next time - keep your sundowners cold and your stories wild.
Interesting Facts from the Episode
- Multiple predator species can converge on a single kill as scent and sound ripple through the bush.
- Lion charges often stop short, but recognising warning signs and trusting your tracker is critical.
Listen now!
