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Some of Nhongo Safaris Fleet of Open Safari Vehicles

The photo shows some of our fleet of Open Safari Vehicles used while on safari in the Kruger National and Hwange National Parks. These ve...

Thursday 18 December 2014

On safari With Curtis from 10 December 2014

10 December 2014

This morning we immediately bumped into two bull elephants crossing the road and then we saw impala and kudu until we got to shithave dam. Here we found giraffe, zebra and buffalo all close to one another and at the dam itself the hippo, a crocodile sunning itself and Waterbuck.

We carried on and had a great rhino sighting. Four rhinos right next to the road and out in the open. It was such a lovely sighting we spent more than thirty minutes with them as they ignored all the cars and just grazed.

Further along we spotted two hyena lay down flat on some rocks only occasionally looking up as the cars drove by. We had more impala, giraffe, zebra as well as warthog and a steenbok up to Transport dam which was buzzing with birdlife but no large mammals with the exception of the hippo family.

We then made our way up to matekenyane view point where you can get some lovely scenic photos on a nice sunny day and it was up here where I got a tip off about some wild dogs. As soon as everyone had got enough photos we went straight to the tip off and we were in luck as the dogs hadn't moved. We counted seven in total however there could have been more hidden as they were not in a very energetic mood this morning. Apart from a couple who got up and moved around the rest stayed put.

When we left the dogs it was getting late in the morning so we headed for some breakfast

After out pit stop we headed back to our restcamp along the way finding nice giraffe and zebra sightings, impala, kudu, buffalo and rhino. We also had a great sighting of elephant as well, initially we just saw four together but as we hung about watching these four more and more appeared from the bushes and crossed the road in front and behind us. We then watched as a group of seven walked to the shade of a big tree turned around, so heads faced out, and started sleeping. We watched for about forty minutes as we saw more elephants appear before we left them and went into camp for lunch.

This afternoon we went out for a short drive around, immediately finding another herd of elephants as well as seeing more impala, kudu, waterbuck, steenbok, buffalo and rhino. We also found a very nice dark chanting goshawk sat on a termite mound getting an early dinner of termites.

11 December 2014

Unfortunately we had come to the last day of this particular tour but we still had time for one last drive. We started out very early, in fact so early we found the helmeted guinea fowl only just waking up from their roosts with a few flying down to the ground.

Once on Napi we found plenty of impala herds and kudu along with a lone waterbuck. As we progressed we found plenty more general game until we got to flat rocks where we found the hyenas. Much more active this early in the morning as three adults were all out and about walking out in the road. We also saw a youngster run across the road before disappearing into its den.

More general game and then probably the sighting of the day. Three rhino, mum and calf as well as an adult male. We sat and watched and it soon became apparent that this was no friendly trio. The male had amorous intentions towards the female but she had other ideas. Plenty of snorting and still her message had failed. After about fifteen minutes she had had enough. If softly tactics were not to work then she made it pretty clear what she wanted as she chased the male away. She then moved off with her calf in tow.

Later on we came to the end of a leopard sighting, I say the end as that is exactly all we saw of it. Just one of the guests saw the fleeting glance of the leopard as it moved into the undergrowth.

Suddenly it was that time everyone dreads, time to leave the park and head back to Nelspruit. Sandra and Gillian it had been great having you on safari, safe travels back to Ireland and hopefully we see you back on safari one day.


More coming soon!

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