On Safari With Karen From 9 September 2014

9 September 2014

Today we started a whole new safari that would take us through about 35% of the KNP. Unfortunately the airline did not work as we were hoping they would and we arrived a bit later than planned at Numbi Gate. Nonetheless we had a great first drive as we saw a large herd of buffalo drinking at the dam just after we entered the park. After they all had their fill they continued out of sight and we set off towards Nkambeni Safari Camp, our first rest camp.

Down camp road we encountered two lone buffalo bulls, also know as daggaboys. They were quite relaxed and stopped grazing to have a look at us, which was picture perfect.

On the last stretched before Nkambeni a big bull elephant came out from the trees. He stopped to have some food close to the road and then decided it was better on the other side. He crossed the road straight in front of us!

Now, after a long travel, we have finally arrived at the lodge. They earned a nice rest before dinner. And our safari started great! We didn't see an impala yet, but I bet ya, that will happen on the upcoming days!

10 September 2014

We started today's safari with the intention of doing a morning drive and

have a rest during the heat of the day, and set out in the afternoon again.

However, as we were a bit slow on the mark, we changed plans along the way.

When we set off after breakfast we immediately stumbled on some buffalos

just outside Nkambeni Gates that had just woken up and started their

breakfast. And before we got to the tar a duiker had ran away from us.

On Numbi tar it was pretty busy today. First of all we saw two bull

elephants feeding not too far from the road. Then we discovered our first of

many impalas as well as some zebras and a large herd of buffalos. While

watching the buffalos on our left, a steenbok was watching us on our right.

And close by, a reedbuck was also around, but he didn't pay attention.

Then we had a herd of elephants feeding close to the road just on the Napi

turn off. While watching we saw more and more. Some were crossing, but two

others were already thinking it was too hot and lay down in the shade. A

youngster came to drink from its mother, while another elephant did the

early morning stretch dance as it stretched its legs to the back one by one

and then its back and trunk. It was like an elephant doing yoga! All this

kept us busy watching like a play for quite some time and we enjoyed it very

much!!

We finally turned down Napi and had a quick stop at Shithave Dam. We were

in awe for a little leopard tortoise, saw a sadlebilled stork, terrapins and

some birds like a great white egret, pied kingfisher and Egyptian geese.

Down Napi we had our fill of impalas for the rest of the tour, but we also

saw some kudus including a nice fully grown bull, Cape glossy starlings,

yellow-billed hornbills, warthogs, a small troop of baboons with a mother

carrying a tiny baby under her belly, a baby hyena that unfortunately has

learned to survive by begging of people, a klipspringer and wildebeest.

A funny incident was while seeing our first giraffe. She was quite far in

the background, but we were all happy as it was our first. After staying for

quite some time and taking pictures we moved off to discover a second one

had been standing right next to the road, only three meters ahead of us just

hiding behind a tree. Of course she deserved even more picture taking,

before she moved off  further into the bush.

We decided to have early lunch and drove to the Skukuza Golflcub,

seeing waterbucks, bushbucks and a nyala female hanging out with impalas

along the way.

We had lunch and a show as some of the hippos came out of the

dam and lie on the island while a darter hopped on and off a hippo to get

out of the water while hunting for fish. A pied kingfisher came by as well

as some impalas and warthogs on the other side.

After the break we made a stop at the Lake Panic Bird Hide, which was a magic place according to the guests! They saw a fish eagle, paradise flycatcher, pied kingfishers and grey herons and lots of other birds.

We had then gotten a tip from Robbie and Mark as well as a nice gentleman on

the street that a lion was lying close to the road not far from us. So we

decided to see if we could find him. Well, he wasn't that difficult to spot,

with his black man close to the road, panting in the heat. When we arrived

at the sighting however we were the third car there with a fourth in tow.

Give it 5 minutes of taking pictures and the sighting looked like a parking

lot of a popular shopping mall where the sale is on. We counted at least 40

cars in a deadlock just in front of us, never mind the ones behind us. After

a while all hell broke loose with people honking, shouting and even getting

out of cars. Mister lion though, not a care in the world. It was way too hot

to care! We thought the same and wanted to move but we were so parked in it

took us another 45 minutes looking at an unmoving lion (unless you count the

panting) before we were able to drive away.

We took a loop around alpha close to the river as to not to go through the

traffic jam again and were rewarded with a sighting of a marabou stork

flying low overhead, a brown snake eagle and buffalos resting in the heat.

It was indeed very hot right now and as we could think of nothing much but a

swimming pool, a cold shower or a cold drink we made our swift way back to

the lodge. In passing we saw most of the same animals as before lunch, but

this time we could include a white rhino (and of course stopped to admire

its beauty).

It was a very hot but great day!

11 September 2014

Today we were in for the long haul as we moved from Nkambeni to Letaba. So we started early, straight after breakfast.

We encountered a mother elephant and her young on camp road and a small group of daggaboys just when we had reached the tar. As we saw loads yesterday we made due with a quick stop only.

Down Napi we went where a nice sable bull was close to the road just before Shitlhave Dam. For a secretive animal this one was out in the open and almost posing so it was a great photo opportunity! We continued down the road spotting zebras, a slender mongoose crossing, wildebeest, warthogs, impalas, lilac breasted rollers, red crested korhaan and some nice kudu bulls.

Just before Transport Dam we came around the corner and just in front of us 6 lions came walking down the road. They were all spread out in the road so no one could pass hence they were followed by quite some cars. We stopped and let them come to us. It was 4 females and 2 young males which walked by in their own time and just next to us they took a path into the bush. Six yellow great cats almost instantly disappeared in the high grass that was the same colour yellow. We were lucky to be there just at the right time!

The same luck we had just past the S114 turn off where a lone wild dog appeared out of the bush. He looked confused and was searching. We think he lost his pack and was trying to find them. So he didn't hang around and within a few minutes he had completely disappeared from view again. We continued our drive straight past Skukuza down to Low level bridge crossing the Sabie river. Here we got a nice hamerkop, greenbacked heron and a fisheagle and when crossing Sand river the hippos popped up their heads. Down Marula tar we went where we had some great nyala sightings of both males and females, some nice bushbucks and giraffe. A large herd of elephants was showering themselves just there where the bridge gave us a brilliant view. We enjoyed it while it lasted as after their water shower one by one they threw sand on their heads and then moved off into the bush.

At one of the waterholes along the way a herd of buffalos had made an unusual friend. A white rhino was blending in in the middle so well, we had to look twice to make sure it really was a rhino. Hopefully poachers won't recognize him now! We also saw a journey of giraffes of 7 giraffes, plenty of waterbuck, lots of bateleurs flying over and a couple of steenbok.

Meanwhile Mark had a great leopard sighting close to Jones-se Dam (read his update for details). We tried to make our way their swiftly but nonetheless the moment had past. We saw the drag marks of the impala, but not a glimpse of the leopard which dragged it. We continued to Jones-se Dam for good measure anyway now we had turned in. At Jones-se Dam we saw loads of waterbucks, a spoonbill that kept on hiding its head between its feathers whenever we tried to take a picture and blacksmith lapwings.

Making our way to Tshokwane for a little break, Mark had another surprise for us as he found cheetahs just past Tshokwane. We crossed our legs and legged it to the sighting. This time we were in luck and then some! When we arrived at the sighting we saw two cheetahs lying in the sun. They didn't look as if anything was going to happen, but then suddenly something got their attention. They crawled on their bellies and had a look of full attention on something. Then suddenly two impalas came walking up from the riverbed. The smarter impala of the two noticed one of the cheetahs. Unfortunately he registered only the one furthest away from him. They stared and stared and suddenly the cheetah closest to them went for it. Wow, what a speed!! The impalas bolted, his brother followed suit in the chase and suddenly a third cheetah popped out of the bushes further back. This last one being a bit lazy gave up the chase as a bad job after three meters, while its two brothers hang in there. Then slowly but surely they came walking back to the shade empty pawed. They plopped down in their previous spots as if nothing happened. Our cue to turn around and finally empty those bladders at Tshokwane.

10 minutes later we were back on the road. The cheetahs hadn't moved but more than their heads we couldn't see. Being spoiled with a chase just minutes before we didn't stick around much. We followed the tar road all the way to Satara. We had some nice sightings of hippos at Mazithi Dam as well as some sadlebilled storks, woolly necked storks, warthog and waterbucks. And then once again Mark gave us a brilliant sighting as he had found another leopard. At Kumana Dam we saw a couple of cars bundled up, including Mark, as he announced a leopard was just lying at the base of the tree. And so it was. She was panting in the heat and with a nice full belly. She was all relaxed, just briefly sat up when a couple of waterbuck came running to close, but nothing else disturbed her. Until she found an empty bit in her stomach so it was time to eat a bit more impala. Well, whatdoyaknow, that impala was hanging in the tree ready for her on the other side of the road. So she crossed in plane view, won a staring contest with a duiker when she was well across and jumped up the tree. The next 30min we watch in awe how she climbs up and down the tree to get the best position to gnaw the meat of the bones. We see her pull and tug, hear bones crack and hide tear. What an experience!! Until she is full once again and climbs down the tree. Back on the ground she moves off in the opposite direction of where we want to go, so we decided to leave her alone now and continue our journey. Nobody had paid much attention to the animals at the dam, as we had seen them all before.

After a nice lunch break at Satara we finish our long drive with the last 75km of the 225km to Letaba. Elephants, zebras and wildebeest are waiting for us at the gate when exiting Satara. We saw a group of whitebacked vultures hanging out. A herd of elephants spread out over the leftover water of the Ntomeni, or possible multiple herds, were showering and drinking. On the opposite side we saw our first ostrich! We were starting to get hot now, so most animals were pointed out while driving by: zebras, giraffes, kudus, wildebeest, elephants, a complete set of hornbills (grey, yellow-billed, red-billed and ground), a large troop of baboons, red crested korhaan, steenboks, dwarf mongooses, and a kori bustard... What? Oh wait, he is new, back-up! And then we saw another while driving by. And not to forget we did stop at the olifants bridge to enjoy the breathtaking view.

Hot and sweaty we arrived at our destination: Letaba. Here two female bushbucks and a little baby seem to roam around our house. And we have heard the bushbabies cry, fierynecked nightjars and epauletic bats. While enjoying the starry skies we finished today with a feeling tired but great after such an amazing day!!

More coming soon!!