After passing the town of Witbank, we stopped off at the Ultra City to give the group time to have some breakfast at “Steers”, before continuing on to Nelspruit. After bypassing Nelspruit on the new road opened for the 2010 Football World Cup, it was on to the Numbi Gate of the Kruger National Park. After checking all of the vehicles through, we made our way to the camp of Pretoriuskop which would be home for the next three nights while on safari.
After a short break, and time to settle in, it was onto the open safari vehicles. Firstly a time to hear the do’s and do not’s while aboard these vehicles, so after a nice chat, it was off out of the camp for an afternoon game drive. We decided to take a ride down the Napi road to see what was going on. Not too far down, we came upon a herd of elephant close to the road. After checking these guys out, we made our way further down also finding some impala anf kudu on the road. I decided to go down the Boulders loop as there were earlier reports of some rhino in the area. After a short distance down, we managed to get a distant visual as tow rhino made there way deeper into the bush. We made our way further down the Boulders loop, only to come onto a good herd of buffalo across the road. We decided to stay a while and watch what happens. Mark and Elkana also came around to join us, and we spent around half an hour with them. The radio in the vehicle suddenly came alive with a broadcast from one of the other rangers “Jan”, who let us know that he had found a leopard lying on a termite mound with her cub. We decided to take a look, and began making our way in that direction. After arriving at the location, we quickly identifies where she was and proceeded to point the guests in the right direction. Some of the guests picked it up quickly, and others could not see it, as she was lying with most of her body behind the termite mound below the cub. After being on the sighting for nearly half an hour, we decided to make our way further down the Napi to see what was going on before turning back for camp in order to get back before the gates closed at 05h30. We managed to find some wildebeest as well as zebra a bit further down the road, after which we turned around bound for the camp of Pretoriuskop.
Dinner was prepared and everybody was off to bed early in order to get up early for an early morning start.
After tea and coffee being enjoyed by everyone, it was off and out of the camp for the mornings game viewing. We made our way down the Napi road, looking for any animals especially the leopard that had been seen the previous afternoon. Without luck, we made our way on finding good rhino, elephant, impala, kudu, wildebeest and Zebra. We made our way to the Skukuza Day Visitors area where Verity and Kerilouise had set up and were cooking breakfast. After enjoying a hearty breakfast, we made our way back onto the road to see what we could find. Good sightings of rhino, elephant, giraffe, hippo, buffalo, crocodile and lion were enjoyed by all. Soon it was time to return to Pretoriuskop camp for some good dinner and a time to rest and reflect on the sightings of the day.
After a good meal prepared by Verity and assisted by Keri-Louise, it was time for some shut eye before leaving early in the morning again.
The next morning, it was up early again to had out of the camp in order to see what there was to find in the African bush. Guests enjoyed tea and coffee and then it was off, all wrapped in blankets due to the cooler weather that was being experienced. We made our way down the Albasini road and then onto Doispane which enteres the park from the Phabeni gate just outside of Hazyview. Good general sightings were encountered along the road. We made our way to the Nkulu Picnic spot, where Verity and Keri-Louise had prepared a continental breakfast for the group. After enjoying the breakfast, it was decided to return back to Skukuza in order for the group to do some shopping at the the Skukuza shop, before starting another game drive which lasted until our return to the Pretoriuskop camp late in the afternoon.
Everybody had a good time aboard the open safari vehicles that day, with many good sightings being seen. It was now time to rest, download all the photos to the laptops and also enjoy some dinner, before tucking into a warm bed for the night.
Some of the group decided to stay in camp the following morning and sleep inn, however there were a few die hard fans that decided to go out and see what they could find. They were dully awarded with a wonderful sighting of one of the male lions right next to the vehicle roaring and looking for his friend. After this wonderful sighting had been experienced by those die hard fans, everybody returned to camp to enjoy a hearty breakfast in the camp restaurant. After this, it was time to bid the camp and the Kruger Park farewell, before starting our journey back to Johannesburg.
The group got back to Johannesburg at 16h00 and all said that they had a wonderful time, and were looking forward to returning next year for another visit.
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