Safari 5th February Ending 8th February

5^th February – Guests departed from Nkambeni early morning on a Bush Walk until 10h15am, having a very exciting walk with the highlight being an African Rock Python eating a Common Grey Duiker.  Great photos were taken and everyone in the group returned happy and ready for a great breakfast.  After breakfast some guests departed for Johannesburg with our shuttle and new guests arrived on safari.  Dean and Mark then left down Napi and onto the H3 and S112 getting numerous sightings of Elephants , Rhino, Buffalo as well as some lions on the S111, more lions were found on James Stevenson Hamilton that had killed something but due to the grass being so long they could not make out exactly what they had killed.  Both Dean and Mark then made their way to Skukuza for lunch.  After lunch they took a drive down the Paul Kruger Gate road after hearing about a Leopard close to the Phabeni gate.  Along the way more Elephant, Buffalo and Rhino were spotted with lots of general game such as Impala, Zebra, Wildebeeste and Giraffe sightings .  We then were able to find the Leopard in a Sycamore Fig tree , but it was not such a great sighting until it eventually moved down the tree and gave us a better view.  After lots of photos and a great sighting we departed down Albasini for camp.

6^th February – Once again after breakfast it was back on the road going down Napi back onto the H3 with sightings once again of the Big 5.  We came across two female Lions with two younger males and watched how a young Elephant Bull tried to chase them away without any success, after this we made our way towards Skukuza with a lovely sighting of a female leopard walking along the road marking her territory, she then decided to climb into a jackalberry tree right next to our Open Safari vehicles, we then stopped off at Skukuza for a break before making our way back to Numbi gate to allow guests to depart back to Johannesburg and Mark to collect three new guests that had been picked up in Pretoria.  Mark collected the new guests from Verity and then departed back down Napi towards Skukuza for lunch with  a herd of Buffalo crossing the road near boulders.  There were many general game sightings along the way .  Lunch was enjoyed at Skukuza before departing down the Paul Kruger Gate road to Lake Panic bird hide for some great photo opportunities of birds.  After this we departed back to camp with sightings of Impala, and general game.

7^th February -  This morning Dean left the park with four guests and made his way to the Panorama Route and Mark continued the day with six guests.  The route he took for the day was as follows:  Numbi tar - circle road - Napi - doispan - watergat - napi - H3 - napi - back to camp. On numbi tar we had 3 large elephants with 2 calf's he then did Circle Road and found a large Buffalo Bull with many different sightings of Rhino during the day.  On Stevenson Hamilton road there was a fleeting sight of a female Leopard but she disappeared very quickly in the long grass.  We were then told of another Leopard sighting on Napi, so we went to have a look but he was nowhere to be found.  By then the general game-viewing had decreased due to the day being quite hot.  We continued back to Doispane and then found that Watergat was once again open after the heavy rains but very little was found on this road so we decided to go back on Napi again to look for the male Leopard and found him lying right next to the road.  After spending 10 minutes with him he got up and walked across the road next to our Open Safari Vehicle and then back into the bush.  After this we made our way onto the H3 where we got two male Lions lying next to the road Sleeping, this was a great sight to see and all the guests enjoyed their day before heading back to camp for the night.

8^th February -  Today is Marks last day in the Kruger National Park with his three Dutch Ladies before departing back to Nelspruit so that guests can return to Johannesburg, Till meet again next week with our next safari departing on the 12^th February have a great weekend!…..

Update On Rhino Poaching

Update on the rhino poaching statistics: The total number of rhino poached since the start of 2013 is 82 with 61 in the #KNP. View the link to get the full media release 

 http://www.sanparks.org/about/news/default.php?id=55438

Safari Starting 2nd February 2013

 2nd February 2013
Mark collected guests from Nelspruit at 11h00am and then made his way to Pretoriuskop for lunch before departing on an afternoon drive.

Route: Napi - H3 - Napi

Sightings for the afternoon were 3 x Elephant bulls at voortrekker link 1 x elephant bull in altercation with a dazzle of zebra. He chased them around for approximately 20min until the zebra's gave up and moved off. 2 x lioness and 3 x males lying on the road on the H3 300m from S113 Herd of buffalo near boulders exit on Napi.  He then made his way to Nkambeni for the night.

3rd February 2013
After breakfast Mark made his way back down Albasini. Below is the route that he took.  He met up with Verity at 11h30am to collect another four guests that joined the safari.

Route: Albaseni - Doispan - S114 - S112 - Napi

Sighting for the day were 1 x Musth elephant bull just before mestal dam 2 x Lioness at Stevenson hamilton in the shade 5m off the road. Distance visual of herd of buffalo just before transport dam. General game viewing (kudu, waterbuck, giraffe, zebra, warthog and birding) was good over the past two days. No Rhino or leopard as yet.

Dean enters the park with 6 guests who were picked up at the Life Hotel. After entering the Kruger at Numbi Gate his route wwas as follows:

Route:  Numbi gate, up Napi to about seven kilometres past the boulders exit,  Pretoriuskop and then onto Nkambeni.

Sightings on the drive were elephant, impala, kudu, buffalo and cheetah seven kilometres past the Napi boulders where we had a great sighting of a female cheetah with her two juvenile cheetah cubs. After a toilet stop at Pretoriuskop we headed out for the camp of Nkambeni.

 4^th February 2013

Route:  Nkambeni,  Numbi tar, Napi, H3, Afsaal, S112 , Stevenson Hamilton, S114, Skukuza, Paul Kruger gate road, Doispane , Albasini and into Nkambeni.

After lunch at Skukuza we headed out. Animals spotted were loads of elephant, impala, kudu and giraffe. As well as rhino and buffalo. A very slow days game viewing. Lets see what the next few days bring........

A "Did you know" For The Day.....

Did you know that snakes eat their pray headfirst because the limbs of the victim fold flat against the body making it easier to swallow.

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Kruger National Park Photos



Blackbacked Jackal



Male lion



Close - up of a female lion



SANParks Beefs Up Security At The Entrance Gates Into the KNP

South African National Parks
SANParks beefs up security at the entrance gates into the #KNP

The South African National Parks (SANParks) announced in a statement today that new security measures at the iconic Kruger National Park are being implemented.
According to Wanda Mkutshulwa, Head of Communications at SANParks, the measures are meant to enhance current security arrangements when guests, visitors and contractors ente...r the iconic KNP. “We have taken a decision to deploy a crop of newly trained rangers to assist with policing and security at all our main entrance gates. These rangers will help with search and seizure duties where necessary, as well as the arrest of offenders. She said this deployment is part of a wider security strategy being implemented in the fight against rhino poaching. “We are at war and every single tactic will assist in ensuring that total control of all entry and exit points are managed by those tasked with the upkeep of the area integrity. It is no secret that the KNP has borne the brunt of these activities in recent times. Therefore if we are serious about winning this war all commands must be marshaled from one point.” According to Mkutshulwa the deployed rangers have been trained in customer etiquette and also in the handling of sniffer dogs. “Our tracker dogs have been instrumental in the many successful anti-poaching operations that we have decided to utilize sniffer dogs at our gates; we are in a fortunate situation where individuals and companies are assisting us with training and donations of these dogs. We are not pulling out any of our tracker dogs from their missions but have specially trained sniffer dogs ready for deployment.” The deployment is with immediate effect and is part of rolling out the many security measures that are being implemented in the KNP. The measures are meant to bring down the number of animals that are being lost to illegal hunting emanating mainly from the KNP’s eastern border with Mozambique.
……..ENDS
Released by SANParks Corporate Communications, Telephone: 012 426 5170
For Media Enquiries
Reynold Thakhuli, SANParks GM: Media Liaison, Tel: 012 426 5170 Mobile: 073 373 4999 e-mail: rey.thakhuli@sanparks.org
Ike Phaahla, Media Specialist, Tel: 012 426 5315 Mobile: 083 673 6974 e-mail: isaac.phaahla@sanparks.orgSee More