Kruger National Park Safari with Mr and Dr Plunket from the 25th - 28th Febuary 2010

I met my clients at Crossings shopping centre in Nelspruit after being transfered by Dean from Johannesburg, and as soon as the baggage was packed, we headed off to the Kruger Park for a 4 night stay in the Southern part of the park based at Pretoriuskop.

After obtaining our vehicle permits at Numbi gate we drove down to Pretioriuskop. At this stage my clients needed a light lunch and just sometime out of a motor vehicle, before we could be on our way “animal hunting”. We all agreed that that an afternoon drive, commencing at 15h30 would be the call of the day.

As I had been out of the park for a couple of days, this gave me ideal opportunity to chat with other guides and hear of any good animal sightings in the area.  Same old answers from the other guides “Ja, this area is pumping”.  With what I asked “ah, the usual stuff” they answered.
Not very interesting I must admit, but then again I’m not paid to take short cuts. Fortunately I’ve had “Old School” training and don’t rely on what people say, but rather get out there and look for myself.
Some brainy chap once said “the more you out there, the more chance to see things”. I think the guy was Einstein’s brother.

15h30 sharp, I picked up my clients and set off down Napi road. We turned off to Shatavi waterhole as I could see the big Jumbo’s of the bush were bathing. Got to the edge of the water and saw 17 African elephants all either drinking water, spraying them with mud or physically lying in the water, similar to that of a Hippo Float (Collective noun).
This was extremely interesting, as it looked as though some elephants had decided that they would just stand there and watch. They didn’t even touch the water and politely moved off to the main rd.  Once they had left so did we, and we continued on our search for other animal sightings in the area.

At the entrance to Napi boulders, a Rhino bull was standing sent marking his territory. I switched off the engine of my OSV and allowed him to approach us. Rhino’s have poor eyesight and only when it’s almost too late, then they realize they somewhere they shouldn’t be. Nimble fellow as it took him a fraction of a second to cross the road once he spotted us. As you all know, time is what stops us having fun and at this stage, I decided to start heading back to camp.
Kurt (A College) called me and told me of a leopard sighting just outside of Pretoriuskop camp. No guide in the park chases after a leopard sighting, as we all know the nature of the animal we talking about. They prefer to stay out of the lime light and usually hide very well. With having said this, we took a ride down the gravel rd and approximately 30m from the Numbi tar Junction; there she lay under some natural thickets. Something strange, although we were there, she didn’t move off like most do. Movement in the bush gave the game away. There lay her cub. After spending approximately 30min with her, we started the car and drove back into camp. Successful first afternoon drive I thought.

05h30 Coffee at the OSV and with that bit of caffeine in our bodies, we left camp for a northern route.  I went back to the leopard site, to see if she had moved off, during the night. No there they were. To my surprise, it wasn’t 1 cub but 2 just lying there enjoying he morning sun. We spent some time with them and then moved off, to see what else we could get for the day.

Andrew (A College) called me and informed me that there were wild dog on the road I was traveling, but when we got to the area, nothing could be seen as they had moved off into the bush. We stopped off at Skakuza for breakfast and then continued our route to Tshokwane. Usually between Skakuza and Tshokwane there are good animal sightings, not today. From Tshokwane we drove along the H10 to Lower Sabie – Boring would sum the drive up.

We decided we would skip the stop at Lower Sabie and rather head for Nkuklu picnic spot. Sunset dam had its usual attractions Hippos, Crocks and wonderful bird life. Well we moved on and 4.9kms from sunset dam lay 3 Male, 2 female Lions with 2 cubs. We spent approximately 20min with them and then for no reason, they all got up and moved off into the thicket. Astonishing how fast a predator can disappear in to the bush.
2.1kms from the pride of Lions, we came across a leopard lying halfway up a Marula tree. Brilliant photos were taken as he seemed rather interested in us and kept looking our way.

At the Eco entrance, 4 Black manned male lions, lying in the river bed. It’s amazing how many times I come across Lions in the park just lying sleeping.

The park is dry and judging on the water flowing in the Sabie River for this time of the year, we have a very dry winter ahead of us. As we drove on general game was out and it seemed everything was crossing over the road to enjoy a drink of the most important source of life “Water”. 
At bravo entrance a herd of elephant crossed over also on their way to water. This seemed to make up for what was not a good start to our day. At 16h30, we started making our way back to camp and driving down Napi rd. We chatted about “The battle of Kruger” footage taken at transport dam. I told my guests that I would take them down to see the famous water hole.

We turned onto the gravel rd heading towards Transport dam and 1.2kms from Napi, something amazing happened.
1 slow animal, 1 very fast animal chasing and a whole lot of dust.
“What’s happening?” asked my guests.
The answer: The world’s fasted animal on 4 legs (Cheetah) has just taken down the most common antelope in the Kruger (Impala). There it sat front legs on its prey, just trying to catch its breath. The impala tried to get up, but not today as the teeth of the predator sunk into its neck. A jolt and then stillness – the Cheetah had won.  Thanks for the show Mr. spottie


With all of this to take in, we traveled back to camp with happy people on board, all chatting about the brilliant sightings for the day.

The next morning my guests were still chatting about the previous day. Happy that we saw such great things we drove out of camp after having our usual cup of coffee.
Down Voortrekker road as the previous day one of my colleges had spotted a pride of 17 Lion’s and I was interested in seen if we could pick them up. No luck though, I could see their spoor but nothing else. They must have moved off during the evening.

Voortrekker gave us some good general game sightings such as Zebra, giraffe, different antelope etc. and this kept us busy while we built up a hunger. Just before a got my first groan of hunger from my clients, we arrived at afsaal. Trust me a Trader’s breakfast is always good.

As my guests were flying back to the U.K the next day (14hrs flight), they asked if we could make our way back to camp, so they could spend an afternoon just relaxing at the pool in camp. They wanted to enjoy their last midday African Sun. I agreed and we took a slow drive towards camp.

The next morning, we went out for a short drive and drove down Albaseni road as very often there’s wonderful sightings early in the morning. 1.4Kms from the tar, we came across a herd of buffalo, all standing chewing the early morning cud. This was enough for my guests and it put the “Cherry on the top” as the Big 5 was seen in the largest animal reserve in the world.

We returned to camp for a breakfast and after that bid the Kruger National Park farewell, were my guests would go back home and I would start with my longing to be back in the bush.  

Till next time my friends
Good night, God bless, Goodbye

Mark
Senior Nhongo Safaris Guide