27 March 2014
It was the first day of a quickie safari, so after picking
up the guests we drove to the lodge to drop off our luggage. At camp road we
were straight on a game drive with a large herd of impalas in front of us and
they gave us a welcome show. One by one they jumped as high as they could past
our car, showing off their fitness. Impressed we left them to get some peace.
We saw some kudu further up the road as well.
After a quick lunch we went out on our afternoon game drive. The same impalas
were still on camp road but two waterbuck had replaced the kudus at the stream.
We drove onto Albassini spotting more impalas, and turned towards Mestel Dam.
The hippos in the water had slumbered closely together so they looked like an
island of large rocks in the water. By using binos they could be distinguished
as hippos, but they didn't move.
Back on Albassini we stared at a male waterbuck, and for a while he stared
back. He got bored first however, so he looked away and crossed the road
towards the females. We also saw two different small groups of zebra in the
distance, a leopard tortoise, a giant plated lizard and lots of birds. Then we
heard about lions on the radio and decided to speed up a little to see if we
could catch a glimpse.
We stopped for an elephant, that was grazing on the side of the road, and a
large water monitor, before we got to the announce site. They had announced
they were on the move, so we searched from the last seen spotted and in the
direction they supposedly went. We went up and down three times, but except for
a large herd of impalas, a fish eagle and hippos playing in the water at
Nyamundwa Dam, we didn't see much else.
We drove slowly back down Doispane and spotted a chameleon crossing the road,
pretending to be a leaf. Back on Albassini we saw a dwarf mongoose sprinting
across and vultures flying over in the airstream high above.
At Shabeni crossing we found a harem of zebras close to the road, with a couple
of youngsters. We then drove around Shabeni Loop seeing nothing but more
impalas. We headed back to the lodge as the wind picked up blowing the dark
grey clouds towards us. We arrived safe and dry at the lodge, but we might get
rain later...
28 March 2014
This morning we loaded up the car and after a quick
breakfast we left for our morning safari. We saw the impala on camp road and a
buffalo was walking on the tar road. A little further on we saw a massive herd
of buffalo in the high grass. One was the king of the herd and stood on a
termite mound to have a good overview.
We drove a loop around Shabeni Koppies, but found nothing but impalas, and some
nice birds like a hoopoe and a crested barbet. Once we got back on the tar road
we were stopped by a road block in the form of a male lion lying in the middle
of the street. We were quite surprised but the lion hardly took any notice of
us as he was busy licking his paws. When another car came to the sighting with
very squeaky brakes the lion had enough of the show, go up and walked linear
recta into the bush and disappeared. We were so lucky!
We continued our drive where we spotted kudus and 2 white rhinos grazing quite
close to the road. Continuing on we spotted another 2 white rhinos as well as
more impalas.
We then drove back towards Numbi as it was nearing the end of our tour. It was
pretty quiet until suddenly we spotted a leopard walking on the side of the
road. This young male was a bit skittish so when we rolled up closer he looked
around and then disappeared into the high grass next to the road. He
camouflaged so well we almost instantly lost sight. Short 'n' sweet it was
though!
But it wasn't over yet. Getting close to the Numbi tar road we saw another
leopard crossing the road up ahead! It was a sighting of 5 seconds but he as
well disappeared in the high grass. When we pulled up to where he had gone into
the grass, we saw glimpses of him walking away, but that was it. It was also
the last sighting of this tour, as the last couple of kilometres were pretty
quiet. We then headed back to Nelspruit to the transfer back to Jo'burg. It was
a quick quickie, but we were very lucky with the sightings!
29 March 2014
I picked up the new guests at the CityBug today and as we
were already pretty hungry, it was decided to have lunch there. After a nice
meal we drove to Nkambeni Lodge to quickly check in and then go straight on a
game drive.
On Camp road we spotted some impala far in the bush and then it was a quiet
road all the way to Mestel Dam. There we saw some hippos lazing in the water.
It was still too early for them to get up, so unfortunately we didn't see more
than some ears and nostrils. We also saw a fish eagle flying over and the
swallows were having a drink of water and a dip-bath.
The rest of Albassini was very quiet too. We saw tracks of buffalo and zebra,
but the makers had long since disappeared. We turned onto Shabeni road, which
was the same amount of quiet.
But luckily today was all about the ending. Turning onto Shabeni loop we soon
spotted a herd of impala close to the road. While watching these impalas we saw
the trees behind them move, because the vervet monkeys were chasing each other.
Happy that we finally got some animal activity we continued on the loop
spotting two buffalo on the rock. Then we were told by a member of the public
there were lions on the other side, so we drove slowly forward and looked
backwards as he had told us. And we were in luck. We spotted the silhoutte of a
male lion and then stopped where we could see it nicely. It had spotted us too
as it looked straight into the camera for some nice photos. After watching us
for a while he decided it was naptime and did what lions do best: lie down
flat. As there is not much left to see of a lion that is lying flat on the
rocks, we scouted around for the second one as they had told us there were two,
but none of us was successful in spotting him. Probably lying just as flat...
The one we saw though wasn't comfortable enough and had gotten up. After a big
yawn he walked slowly to a different spot, and lay down there. Some other cars
had arrived in the meantime, so he watched those for a bit and then passed out
sideways. Now he was completely out of sight.
We in the meantime were distracted by some newcomers on the scene. We had heard
baboons alarm calling, but now they were walking in the middle of the road
towards us. The female in front was in heat and she walked right passed our
vehicle, one of the males closely following behind. We also spotted two other
big males sitting in a Silver Clusterleaf.
Now it was time to go to make it back to the lodge in time for gate closing. On
Numbi tar however we got a buffalo bull walking in the middle of the road,
slowing us down. He wasn't really keen on the car passing next to him, speeding
up his pace every time we tried. In the end giving up we resigned to the slow
pace and made it back to camp with only a couple of minutes to spare! A quiet
start but a great ending of our first drive!
30 March 2014
Last night was a night full of sounds of frogs, toads, barn
owls and even a leopard calling out his territory claims. So this morning we
left after a hearty breakfast, and after hearing that the waiters were
surprised by a leopard visit on camp road last night. Hoping he would still be
around we scouted around, but saw nothing but impalas.
Continuing on with our drive we however came across two sets of rhinos. One
mother and calf, one male white rhino. Especially the male was close to the
road. This morning turned out to be a morning full of rhinos as we travelled
down we spotting 4 more sightings of white rhinos, the biggest group a crash of
4 rhinos.
Down at Shitlhave Dam we spotted some white-faced ducks and waterbucks. On
Napi, we also spotted two giraffes far in the distance and two bateleurs flying
overhead. As the rest of Napi was pretty quiet we compared some of the animals
dung, like elephant and buffalo.
After a break at Pretoriuskop, we drove around Circle road being lucky in
encountering a giraffe on the road. When we got closer he did walk a bit into
the bush, but he was too curious to move out of sight all together, so we got
some lovely photos. Another giraffe close by was unfortunately dead, as the
smell told us very strongly. However nothing seems to had eaten it (yet).
A last round around Shabeni koppies concluded our morning drive. This time a
little less lucky as we spotted klipspringer and impalas, but no predators this
time. On the way back to Numbi we noticed some wildebeest in the far background,
a kudu deep in the bush and baboons that were running in the road.
At Numbi we picked up some more guests and returned to Nkambeni first for a
check-in and some lunch. After a relaxing hour or 2 we went out again on the
afternoon game drive. Of course the impalas were still on camp road as our
first sighting with new guests.Continuing with the drive we saw a white rhino
walking to the nearby Dam and have a nice mudwallow.
On Numbi tar we spotted our first elephant of this tour. This young bull was
feeding himself and quite wary of other cars passing. After a couple of
headshakes he decided to withdraw further into the bush. A little further on we
saw a very nice kudu bull next to the road. He was nice and relaxed and posed
for photos from all sides. We spotted two females and a baby kudu just a bit
onwards as well.
When it was time to make a return to Numbi gate for the sundowner drive, we saw
a tree full of vervet monkeys. These little guys gave us a show of jumping from
tree to tree, with one of the adults continuously jumping in trees too thin for
his weight and then the tree would bend all the way to the ground. We watched
him jump and then bend forward all the way down, like a diver from the high
beam into the water, quite a funny sight.
We saw a lizzard buzzard fly away, a nice brown hooded kingfisher close by,
lilac breasted rollers and an African hoopoe before we got to Numbi gate where
all 6 guests went on a sundowner drive. How this drive went, I'll tell you
tomorrow.
31 March 2014
Last night's sundowner drive was a success. They had missed
the sunset, but only because they were too busy looking at a leopard! The
leopard was on top of the rocks and slowly climbed down to greet them quite
close to the car. On the drive they have also seen klipspringers, buffalos, and
a white rhino close to the car. There were the eyes of a lion but as it was
dark and it was far away, they weren't able to see it nicely.
After a thunderstorm during the night we set out this morning with a bit of a
drizzle, but it soon stopped. We drove around Shabeni Loop to see if any of
last nights animals were still around. There were two buffalos on the rocks and
we saw kudus and baboons from far. We drove down Napi and came across our first
zebras of this tour. This harem was hiding in the bush so we couldn't see them
nicely, but lucky us we came across three more small groups of zebras, one of
which was close to the road.
We also saw an elephant cow with youngster feeding, and a buffalo far away.
Then we came across a leopard tortoise on the road. When we stopped him he got
scared and pulled back into his shell. Then we decided that the best way is to
hide, quickly, and then he disappeared underneath our car. We waited for it to
appear on the other side but after 10min of nothing we had to investigate. We
found her hiding under the front wheel tyre, apparently the best place to hide.
As it wasn't planning on going anywhere, but we were, we moved it to safety
under a bushy plant on the side of the road and continued our way.
Close to Transport Dam we saw a hyena in the middle of the road, sniffing
around. It wasn't that bothered by us, as it kept on sniffing the air and the
ground, so we could take some lovely pictures. When we turned around to meet
our transfer, we encountered a big elephant bull in the bush.
At Shitlhave Dam we saw two nice male waterbucks and a female with a playful
youngster. A crocodile was lying on the little bit of sand.
On the way back to the gate we saw our first impalas of the day and a little
steenbok just before Numbi. There we had to say goodbye to Venice and Wylie,
who had joined me from the beginning of this tour, and Patrick and Becky, who
had only spend one night with us. I hope all four of you gad a great time! All
were wanting more, so maybe we'll see you back one day!
In the afternoon I set out with the remaining 2 guests, Alex and Chris, on,
what turned out to be a very quiet afternoon drive. Right after we exited the
camp, a troop of baboons crossed the road in front of us, but then we drove a
long stretch of seeing no other animals than birds and a leopard tortoise.
Nearing the end of our drive we drove around one more time, and all the animals
were hiding here: impala, more baboons, a young leopard, white rhino,
klipspringer and a group of 7 buffalo. We then drove down to where we found the
dead giraffe yesterday to see if anything was eating it. We found it with lots
of white-backed vultures around it and there was a hooded vulture too. Luckily
we also spotted 4 giraffe crossing the road, one of them a youngster that
seemed to trip over its long legs when galloping to keep up with Mum.
1 April 2014
This morning was our last drive, and it was going to be a
quest for lions for Alex and Chris. For old times sake we decided to make a
loop around Shabeni and then we noticed to cars all jammed together. We drove
towards them when we suddenly heard a lion roar half-heartedly. Instead of
joining the traffic jam, where there was no visual of the lion, we hung back in
case he decided to move towards the rock. In the meantime we could see a kudu
paying attention to the thick bush where the roars came from. After a game of
patience we heard the lion roar properly a couple of times so close it gave us Goosebumps
and it made the car vibrate. Then suddenly the roars started moving in the
direction away from the traffic jam, so we took a chance by driving onto the
Shabeni loop. We missed it crossing the road, but then spotted it walking in
the long grass. We followed the sound of the roar and had occasionally a visual
until he was out of sight and silent.
After waiting a while we decided to continue our journey around Shabeni and
also found 3 buffalos on the rocks, klipspringers, 3 tree squirrels and a big
flock of green pigeons.
We then drove Napi all the way to Skukuza. Today was our lucky day as we
spotted an elephant , a herd of buffalo, as well as daggaboys, waterbucks of
which one female had laicism, our first warthog of this tour, impalas, dwarf
mongooses, a slender mongoose crossing the road, a beautiful white fronted bee
eater and lilac breasted rollers.
We had heard there were more lions in the area and we were once again in luck.
On Klipspringer koppies two females and two youngsters were relaxing in the
shade, close to the road and not minding the cars. We got some excellent
pictures.
We continued to Skukuza for a quick break and then down Doispane to exit at
Phabeni Gate. On route we had multiple elephant sightings, all bulls, and we
saw giraffes, zebras multiple times, wooly necked storks, big herds of impalas
and a tawny eagle. We ended this safari with one more buffalo just before
Phabeni, before driving down to Nelspruit.
