On Safari With Karen From 3 April 2015

3 April 2015

Another day, another safari. It was the start of a quickie safari so time was short.

Their first day they set off on a sundowner safari where they got treated to some lovely Amarula as the sun set. But some animals also joined in in the fun, as they saw plenty of elephant, impalas, kudus, klipspringers and vervet monkeys.

The highlight though, was two elephants that were flanking the road on either side of the car. They were close to the road and so they had to wait for the elephants to move off so they could get by safely. Before they walked of however they had plenty of time to observe the gentle giants up close. Dinner was postponed by thirty minutes because of them, they didn't mind.

4 April 2015

Early in the morning we set off once again and straight away we ran into an elephant just outside our camp. As one of our guests was listing zebras as her favorite animals we were then lucky to come across a nice harem of them. At first they were shy and all we could see were their bums and their tails swinging. But for our patience we got rewarded with side views and then even frontal views. One was kind enough to actually lift her head and stare at us long enough for a great photo.

Our second highlight was the amount of white rhinos we had seen. Every sighting of them being great,  as the guests had not seen a rhino before on a previous safari in Kenya.

Downside was that one rhino seemed to have a shot wound through and through in its neck. It was still bleeding as if fresh, so we reported it at the nearest camp upon arrival. Later we saw a helicopter circling the area as well as two cars with each 4 ranger being deployed, so hopefully they were trying to locate the wounded rhino and maybe catch them some poachers too.

Poaching is a very big problem in South Africa. Last year 1215 rhinos were slaughtered just for their horn. Most of them shipped to Asia (China, Vietnam) where they believe it has medicinal properties. Well, no, it does not. It is exactly the same compound as our hair or nails. However, with demand in Asia being high, rhinos in Africa are slaughtered for it anyways. As this weekend is a full moon weekend, poaching incidents are spiking as with a full moon they have better vision.

Let's hope this time the rhino won and the poachers got caught!

Other animals seen: giraffe, vervet monkeys, hippos, crocodile, purple heron, egyptian goose, yellow-billed hornbill, blacksmith lapwing, elephants, steenbok, more zebras, chameleon, waterbucks, wildebeests, kudus, and of course impalas.

After saying goodbye to Ainsling and Ciara, I straight away picked up new guests and set off on a new safari. Upon arrival at Nkambeni we checked in and then the guests went on a sundowner safari.

This time the sundowner wasn't so great. First of all it was a cloudy evening and thus no sunset that they could see. With the clouds obscuring the brilliant stars, there was not much there to see either. Secondly it was a rather quiet drive with just sightings of impalas and a kudu, both of which we already had seen on camp road upon arrival, and 1 buffalo in the distance.

They were treated to dinner with a show afterwards, which they enjoyed. But as we do personally, they had sneaked out when they were looking for volunteer dancers.

On Safari With Curtis From 2 April 2015

2 April 2015

 Todays highlight was both elephant sightings, the first a family group scattered all around us on the left and right and we just sat and watched for twenty minutes as the group fed around us.

The second sighting was of a family group again but this time drinking. But not down at the river or at a dam but from a concrete water tower. That's all very well for the biggest elephants but it was not fun for those teenagers who were not quite big enough to get their trunks over the side. And it definitely was not fun for the little youngsters who despite their efforts couldn't reach. Even standing on two legs with the front two against the side of the tower this youngster still had a fair way to grow.

Also other animals seen were rhino, lions, leopard, giraffe, kudu, waterbuck, zebra, impala, steenbok, vervets, dwarf mongoose and slender mongoose, hippo and a crocodile.

Birds seen include rollers, hornbills, wooly necked storks, African jacanas, African fish eagle, bataleurs, saddle billed stork, cape-glossy starling and many more.

3 April 2015

This morning we set out with much nicer skies and renewed hope of more great sightings. We did indeed see plenty of game with sightings of new species for this tour such as cape buffalo, hyena, bushbuck and baboons.

The highlight of the day was, however, two male rhino we found grazing at the side.

The grass was relatively short at the sighting so the guests could appreciate just how big these animals are. The two were not perturbed in the slightest by all the attention they were getting and got within a couple of meters of the vehicle before turning and moving off.

Other animals seen include impala, zebra, kudu, waterbuck, warthog, elephant and giraffe.

Birds seen included tawny eagle, African fish eagle, pied kingfisher, hamerkops, reed cormorants, grey go-away bird, yellow-billed hornbills, white backed vulture and plenty of bataleurs.

4 April 2015

This morning was the last of this tour and we set out in the hope of a few final great sightings.

We managed just that as we paid a visit to a nearby dam where we found a bull elephant fully immersed in the water having a swim, much to the annoyance of the resident hippo. We also had two African fish eagles fly by and herds of waterbuck and zebra come down to the waters edge.

Our second highlight was finding a new species for this tour. We were blessed with not one but two separate sighting of sable antelope. We don't often see this majestic animal and we were spoilt with two great sightings.

Other animals seen were rhino, klipspringer, impala, kudu, warthog, giraffe, crocodile and birds such as the red billed hornbills,  white breasted cormorants, brown snake eagle and so many more.

Then it was time to say goodbye to the guests Stephanie, Tom and Graham who fly back home.

On Safari With Curtis 1 April 2015

1 April 2015

The final day of the tour and after breakfast we set off to see what we could find.

The last couple of days we had seen quite a few elephants but always the lone bulls.

We had yet to find a family group.

This all changed today when we found a great family of elephants and this was our first highlight of the day.

At first we could only see three of them but gradually they all  appeared from the bush and we had the whole family cross the road in front of us. A great experience!!!

The second highlight was two male lions which were busy sleeping, luckily for us they were in an open area and so when they did get up and walk about we had great views and got some fantastic photos.

Unfortunately it was then time to say goodbye to my four guests who are off traveling more of South Africa.

But it was hello to three new guests who joined me. We went for a drive in the afternoon and found zebra, impala, kudu, hippo, warthog and klipspringers.

On Safari With Curtis 31 March 2015

31 March 2015

After heavy rains, last night, we awoke to a cold very grey overcast morning with the expectation of more rain.

Nevertheless we set out once again in high hopes. The highlight was our first sighting of hyena this tour.

Just a lone adult who was a little apprehensive of all the cars parked watching. It become clear that it wanted to cross over the road and so we waited. As the amount of vehicles whittled down just to two it saw its opportunity and crossed over the road in front of us and proceeded to disappear on the other side of the road.

Throughout the day we saw plenty of impala, kudus, waterbuck, hippo, vervets, steenbok, zebra, warthog, a family of dwarf mongoose as well as elephant and buffalo near the end.

The afternoon produced more general game as well as two new mammals to add to the list in the shape of a pair of klipspringers and a white rhino.

The rhino completing that legendary 'big 5'