Safari Starting 14th February Ending 18th February 2013

14th February 2013

Dean picked up Dr Rou and his wife at the airport and made his way to Nelspruit. After changing  into the open safari vehicle they travelled the last bit to Numbi Gate. They then made their way to Pretoriuskop for lunch, and took a drive down napi to transport dam and back again. Animals seen were elephants, rhino, kudu, impala and giraffe. After this they made their way to Nkambeni for the evening.

15th February 2013

After breakfast Dean packed the bags and drove down napi, then down the h3 onto the s112 onto the James Stevenson Hamilton and then onto the s114 after which they went onto skukuza. Animals seen, elephant, rhino, giraffe, impala on napi, rhino, lion and wild dogs on the s114.

After a break at skukuza, they made their way up the tshokwane tar, over the high water bridge and back down elloff street to camp for a rest before going out again in the afternoon. Animals seen on this route was hippo, crocodile, elephant, buffalo and lots of birds.
They departed skukuza late in the afternoon for an afternoon game drive, going down the Paul Kruger Gate Road and onto doispane. Not much was seen except for elephant, buffalo, impala and kudu.

16th February 2013

On this morning, it was out early down the S114 right onto the S112 up the H3 and then down the napi to have breakfast at Pretoriuskop.

A great sighting of three male lions three kilos down the s114 and then another three lionesses 2.7 from the James Stevenson Hamilton on the s114 was the highlight of the day.  Also got a great sightings of rhino with more elephants and buffalo on napi.

After picking up the other guests from Numbi Gate they made their way down albasini to doispane and then onto skukuza, getting elephant, rhino, buffalo, impala, kudu on the way. After a good lunch, it was back onto napi towards Pretoriuskop camp for the night. A great sighting of a leopard on a marula tree 1,7 kilos from deleport waterhole was experienced as well as more elephant, buffalo and rhino. They then made their way to Pretoriuskop camp for the night.

17th February 2013

Today it was out early, and after going down napi as well as the h3 with nothing other than elephant, and rhino seen, we decided to make our way back to Pretoriuskop for breakfast as Mark was coming in and Dean was leaving with the current guests. On their way to the camp they came across a female cheetah about 5.7 kilos from transport dam, walking towards the road. After watching her for quite a time, she crossed the road and disappeared into the bushes. They continued on and took the Napi Boulders road, only to come across a great sighting of a serval cat walking on the side of the road. After enjoying this sighting, they made their way back to camp and a good breakfast was enjoyed.  After breakfast it was off to Numbi Gate to change over so guests could come back to Johannesburg.

Guests were collected by Verity early morning in Melville Johannesburg  and transferred through to the Kruger National Parks Numbi Gate., where Mark was waiting for them.

The route travelled for the day was:  Albaseni - Doispan - Napi - H3 - Napi - Pretoriuskop

The sightings for the day were the following:  Elephant bull approximately 5m away from the car 1.8km down albaseni, Herd of buffalo (approx 50) crossed over albaseni just before the junction to doispan. Down doispan we had numerous sightings of general game namely, giraffe, waterbuck, kudu, zebra, duiker, steenbok and blue wildebeest. Throughout the day we had very good sightings of elephant (mainly bulls), buffalo and rhino. We returned to Pretoriuskop camp before gate closing. No lions, leopard or any other cats were spotted and this is what we will concentrate on tomorrow.

18th February 2013

What an action packed day was experienced by Mark and his guests!

Route: Napi - H3 - bergandal tar - H3 - Napi - tshokwane tar - doispan - albaseni - preotiuskop

Game viewing was great today with the following spotted. Total elephant (62) Rhino throughout the day with the largest crash been 6 together lying on the road sleeping. 1.8km from the flat rocks on napi a massive male leopard walked out next to us and for approximately 1.5km walked along the road sent marking his territory. While this was on the go a female cheetah walked out on the road and got into a fight with the leopard. With a couple of swipes she was off back into the bush only for the leopard to carry on with his morning walk. 1.2km from watergat junction we had another leopard and as we were watching her so we got a glimpse of her cub on the opposite side of the road. Both turned out to be great sighting. Leopard no4 was spotted on the H3 at the first drainage line from napi and then moved into the bush where she lay down in some shade of a sickle bush. Down to Bergandal tar, as there was lions spotted there but no luck on finding them. We moved back up to Skukuza where we got a report of mating lions just past the sand river. Got to them and enjoyed the sighting. On delta we found 2 lioness and 1 cub lying in the tamboti thicket enjoying  the shade. Further to this we had great sightings of general game throughout the day. Must of been one of the best days so far this year. We will see what brings us on the next safari...

Animals Of Africa By Different Photographers Part 2



Baby Leopard



Great timing for this photo



Female Lion and her Cub

Thank you to these photographers for these great photos of our African Wildlife





Animals Of Africa By Different Photographers



Serval



Giraffes



Leopards having words in the tree



Thank you to these photographers for these great photos of our African Wildlife

Update On Rhino Poaching Stats

View an update on rhino poaching stats.. Click the link to get full story:  http://www.sanparks.org/about/news/default.php?id=55452

Kruger National Park Catches Poachers

It has been a great 24 hours - during the evening of the 18 February, rangers in the KNP managed to arrest one suspected rhino poacher with a rifle, silencer and ammunition. Last night (19 February) the SANParks investigation unit with support from SAPS arrested 5 suspected rhino poachers outside the park who are believed to have been heading for the Kruger National Park, in possession of a hunting rifle, silencer and ammunition which were all recovered. We say well done to our colleagues for a job well done.
Head of Communications, wanda mkutshulwa

SANParks Dispels Beeld Nuus Report On Destroyed Rhino DNA Samples

SANParks dispels @Beeld_Nuus report on destroyed #RhinoDNAsamples

The South African National Parks (SANParks) would like to refute a report made on Beeld newspaper (Monday, February 18, 2013) regarding rhino DNA samples. The paper’s report is based on an unnamed source within the Kruger National Park (KNP), who alleges foul play and deliberate switching off of fridges storing the samples, a claim... rejected by the Kruger National Park Environmental Crime Scene Investigations Unit representative, who said that data was never lost.

KNP spokesperson, William Mabasa said on the weekend of 13 October 2012, only seven collected DNA samples decomposed due to a power failure experienced at Skukuza Airport and not 60 as reported in the paper. “It is important to note that the samples that went off included blood, tissues and part of a rhino ear, and as result of this loss a new sample was collected to replace the one that decomposed.”

Mabasa said apart from the samples that are prone to decomposition other samples can be collected from tail hair and toe nails which would not in any case decompose. “Therefore an insinuation that data was lost is far from the truth and misleading based on hearsay.”

According to Mabasa measures have been put in place to ensure that when power failure is experienced an alarm will go off to alert the authorities. “It must be noted that samples are not kept indefinitely at this facility in KNP. “The facility is merely used as a holding place until they are moved to Ondestepoort in Pretoria for further process and data collection.”

The fight against rhino poaching will not be detracted by this side shows, designed to create confusion and mistrust. “We are confident in winning this war and invite members of the media to verify their facts before publicizing,” concludes Mabasa.

…ENDS

Released by: Reynold Thakhuli: GM: Media Liaison, Telephone: 012 426 5170 Mobile: 073 373 4999 e-mail: rey.thakhuli@sanparks.org

For Media Enquiries:

William Mabasa, Kruger National Park: Head of PR & Marketing, Tel: 013 735 4363 Mobile: 082 807 3919 e-mail: william.mabasa@sanparks.org

Ike Phaahla, Media Specialist, Tel: 012 426 5315 Mobile: 083 673 6974 e-mail: isaac.phaahla@sanparks.org

Photos Taken While On Safari In The Kruger National Park



Male Lions Resting



Giraffe's In The Road



Leopard In The Tree

Photos Taken By Nhongo Safaris



Male Lions



Female Lion Lying By The Road 



Cheetah Crossing The Road