Safari 12 February to 15 February 2013

12^th  February 2013

Mark Collected his guests from the City Bug Shuttle which we use from time to time if  we cannot transfer guests ourselves.  Once guests arrived it was a wet drive to the Numbi gate of the Kruger National park.  On arrival at Numbi Gate Mark drove the following route for the afternoon

Route traveled: Napi - boulders - napi - nkambeni

Not many animal sightings this afternoon due to bad weather as it was still raining quite hard fro the afternoon. First sighting for the afternoon was a tower/journey of giraffe just before  Shebeni turn off on the numbi tar. (6 female in total) A few sightings of Kudu down the napi road. A elephant bull next to the road just before Boulders entrance.  A very distant rhino sighting as well.  On our way to Nkambeni Camp we had a small herd of elephant walking in the road just before numbi gate. The herd was protecting to very small elephant  that couldn't of been more than a month or two old.
That's all for the afternoon drive, before making his way to camp for the evening, so lets see what tomorrow has to offer.

13^th  February 2013

Mark departed from Nkambeni after breakfast and this is the route followed for the day.

Route traveled: napi - H3 - little jock - S114 - napi - Nkambeni

This morning provided great results with regard to general game viewing  along the napi (giraffe, warthog, kudu, waterbuck, blue wildebeast, zebra  and many of the small antelopes were seen). We responded to a leopard sighting 300m from transport dam access rd on the napi.  Unfortunately with no sighting of this amazing animal. As we turned onto the H3 we had a magnificent sighting of a herd of elephants walking along the road. 1.9kms from the H3 on the little jock we came across 2 male Lions, 2  lionesses and 6 cubs on a zebra carcass. All the stomachs were full and the lionesses started to move off once traffic and the heat of the day started  to increase. We had lunch at the golf course as this was a surprise for our client, which  is the owner of a golf course in France. They absolutely loved the place and  couldn't believe we play golf out here in the wild Africa. The afternoon drive back to camp proved to be rather quiet with the occasional sighting of general game. Our guests left on a sundowner this afternoon and we wait in anticipation to  see what is seen.

14^th  February 2013

After a good hearty breakfast at Nkambeni guests departed for the day on a drive.

Route: Albaeni - Doispan - thsokwane tar - S114 - Doispan - Albeseni - Nkambeni

A total of 55 Elephant seen throughout the day. Mostly seen on Albeseni and Doispan. Great dazzles of Zebra also seen on Doispan. We missed a lioness carrying her cubs 1 for 1 from Klipspringer Koppies. A herd of buffalo (300) at Deleport Dam, they must of spent the night there  waiting for first light before the herd moved on. Very little happening all the way up to Jones Dam. While on the Tshokwane tar we got a call about a leopard at the experimental tar. We drove to the sighting to find it kill a young impala and eat it on the ground right next  to a false marola tree.

After lunch we headed back to camp and on the way we had another leopard  sighting but rather far from the road. She was enjoying the shade in the heat of the day. Rhino sightings were plentiful today with these magnificent animals approximately 5m from my car. Our clients are impressed with the sightings today and came back to camp to lie around at the swimming pool. Tomorrow morning is our clients bush walk and hopefully this could provide good results.

15^th  February 2013

Guests will return to Johannesburg this afternoon  as they fly back to France this evening.

Mark will re-enter the park on Sunday with new guests.

Update On The Rhino Poaching Statistics

South Africa National Parks

 

Update on the rhino poaching statistics:

 

The total number of alleged poachers arrested in the Kruger National Park has risen to 23 from 14 last week.

 

To read the full story visit http://www.sanparks.org/about/news/default.php?id=55438

Poachers Arrested In The Kruger National Park

In a joint operation between SANParks & #SAPS, the 5th #RhinoPoachingSuspect from the #Letaba section contact on Sunday has been arrested.

SANParks CEO's Message

South African National Parks

 

#SANParksCEO'sMessage: The CEO says that "after almost 5 hours up on the air with 3 teams of rangers on the ground, looking for the suspects in this thick bush has been like looking for a needle in a haystack. He says, I don't only understand, I now know firsthand the frustrations my people have to deal with on a daily basis but we will not give up."

News Flash...

South African National Parks

   

 #NEWSFLASH-In a dramatic turn of events, typical of the current war on rhino poaching, the CEO of SANParks while on a helicopter flight to observe flood damage had to divert to chase suspected poachers currently running towards the Mozambican border.



View of poacher pursuit area from the helicopter



Unusual Lion Behavior (With 2 Sets of Roaring) - 14 January 2013 - Lates...

SANPARKS RANGERS COME UP TOPS IN FIERCE FIRE BATTLE IN THE KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

The South African National Parks (SANParks) today announced the arrest of four suspected poachers in the Kruger National Park (KNP).

To date the KNP has borne the brunt of rhino poaching in the country, with the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Edna Molewa, having announced last week that the Kruger Na...tional Park had lost 61 of the total 82 rhinos lost to poaching in the whole country.

According to Wanda Mkutshulwa, SANParks Head of Communications, four suspected poachers were arrested while on their way to Mjejane, a SANParks contractual park adjacent to the Malelane section of the KNP on Saturday the 9th of February . During the operation a hunting rifle, ammunition as well as other poaching related equipment were recovered

In a second incident on the same day at around midnight, a two man SANParks Ranger routine patrol turned into a full scale fire fight when they made contact with a group of armed suspected poachers in Letaba. Three of the armed suspected poachers were fatally wounded, one was seriously injured and is receiving medical care but his condition has been described as critical. The other suspect managed to escape into Mozambique. Two heavy caliber hunting rifles, an AK47 assault rifle, a pistol and an assortment of ammunition were confiscated. A posterior rhino horn and other poaching related equipment was also recovered. “This was a fierce fire fight in which our two rangers did very well to hold their nerve and prevail. All indications were that the poaching group of six were well trained, well-armed and were attired in battle camouflage fatigues. The sheer number, equipment and tactics presented by the poaching group indicated their aggressive intent. Conditions are currently really difficult and urgent cooperation from our counterparts in Mozambique to ensure stability in the KNP is required,” Mkutshulwa elaborated.

Earlier on in the week, Mahlangeni rangers made contact with another group of armed suspected poachers and one of the suspects was fatally wounded. “These incidents now bring the number of armed contacts between the KNP Task Force and suspected rhino poachers to five in the last week. It is only the sheer dedication, commitment and training of our rangers that has prevented any injuries or fatalities on our side” said Mkutshulwa.

“We have seen an escalation of incursions north of the Olifants River towards the border with Zimbabwe. This is a vast area covered by SANParks rangers alone, as the military has not deployed in this area as yet but is expected to do so soon. Poachers have been taking advantage of this situation, however, with SANParks having changed its strategy to the current military command deployment we have put special focus and emphasis on these areas and are beginning to see results, though they are not significant at this stage,” said Mkutshulwa. “We have also received intelligence information that indicates that with the decision by the Mozambican government to relocate communities currently residing inside the Limpopo National Park, the Mozambican component of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park, the poachers within those communities have gone aggressive on poaching rhino horn in order to amass large quantities of stock before the move.

The Chief Executive Officer of SANParks, Dr David Mabunda, congratulated all those involved in the operations saying, “this shows true commitment from our men and women in uniform, who endure harsh conditions and a difficult and vast terrain , for the protection of our parks and we thank them for their committed service. Our wish is to see a significant increase in the police’s successful arrest and conviction of the various syndicate bosses, as they are the masterminds, sponsors and drivers fuelling this scourge. We are prepared to fight fire with fire but also believe that a solution also lies in the Mozambican law enforcement authorities cooperating fully with the South African law enforcement and conservation authorities to bring this matter to a close.”

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.org