8 December 2014
The start of a
new tour and after meeting my two new guests in Nelspruit we headed down along
the 40 to Numbi gate, after sorting out permits it wasn't long before we
found our first animal, a nice bull elephant all on his own just about ten meters
from the road. We followed him for a while before he got bored with us and
moved out of sight. Next up was impala, just a single lady with no sight of her
herd but I reassured my guests that it wouldn't be the last one we saw. Down at
mestal dam the hippo's were getting fairly vocal and active all in preparation
for a nights grazing. We also had a group of waterbuck around the waters edge.
We then found a bateleur which had just landed in a tree. Turning on to Shabeni
link we found a nice family of dwarf mongoose scurrying around by the side of
the road and then just a little further down zebra and impala, then as we
looked around we noticed a lone warthog and three wildebeest also at the
sighting. Plenty more zebra and impala followed. As we headed into Pk, our rest
camp for this tour, we spotted a common duiker who quickly ran off and a herd
of kudu as well.
A lively start to
this tour so far!!!
9 December 2014
So today we
started off nice and early straight down the Napi, to begin it was quiet
although we did see buffalo and elephant, all the sightings were either from a
distance or obscured by trees and grass.
As we moved on
we did find a large bull elephant further up the road which was walking towards
us. It didn't take too long for us to notice the strong odour of an elephant in
musth and as he got closer we could see the constant dribbling of urine on his
back legs. We stood our ground as he moved closer, first as he moved to the
front of the vehicle and then he moved round to the side, ears right out making
himself as big as possible.
As he edged
closer I decided he was close enough and let him know that that was enough and
he should back down which he did. We watched him as he tried to exert his
dominance for about ten minutes before he moved a bit further away and we could
drive off safely. Only for him to take this as a sign of weakness and we saw
him chasing after us for a few meters before he had decided enough was enough.
We had
sightings of zebra and Warthog before we got to Transport dam which was quiet
with the resident hippos being the only mammals. But if you can't find mammals
look at the birds and there is plenty at the waters edge. African fish eagle,
African jacanas, blacksmith lapwings, egyptian geese and white faced ducks just
to name a few.
We drove into
skukuza for a spot of breakfast and a little bit of souvenir shopping before
heading down to lower sabie, the river was also quiet today for the first
section although we found plenty of impala down here. We also saw plenty of
hippos, a few buffalo, Bushbuck as well as vervet Monkeys and baboons.
Just as we were approaching our lunch stop we came to a gathering of cars. This
usually indicates something and it did this time. Two lionesses and a lion sat
just a couple of meters from the road in the shade of the trees. We also saw a
second male cross the road behind but he disappeared quickly. After a while the
other three also moved off into the bush.
Luck was with
us now as just a couple of kilometers further down the road we found a leopard
up in a tree. Our timing was perfect as just minutes later he jumped down and
vanished.
We moved on
spotting more hippos and buffaloes before finding loads of crocodiles at sunset
dam as well as impala and a mud bathing warthog.
After lunch I
decided to go a different route home so we crossed the sabie river. As we did
we found more crocs, big and small and very small, Marsh terrapins, a Bushbuck
and a large hippo out of the water. Looking at the scars on him he had been in
quite a violent fight.
We took a drive
down salitje which although quiet gave us a few very nice sighting including a
nice herd of zebra along with young foals, a solitary giraffe right next to the
car, a family herd of elephants, a couple of bateleur and also southern ground
hornbills.
Back on the tar
along the river we had two very nice sightings, the first our second leopard of
the day, we noticed him as he popped out of the tree line and he crossed in
front of the car before moving out of sight on the other side only to reappear
briefly giving us a second look at him.
The second nice
sighting was a family of elephants with a very small calf, probably less than a
year old. They were happy to keep eating by the side of the road for ten
minutes allowing for lots of photos.
We turned back
onto Napi and found giraffe and impala, we also found leopard tortoise and a
chameleon making his way over the road. He certainly took his time but he was
also considerably quicker than the giant land snails we found later. We also
found a couple of hyenas close to their den taking an afternoon siesta before
we got back to Pk.
More coming
soon!!
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