On Safari With Curtis From 25 February 2014

25 February 2014

The final day of the tour for four of my guests and after breakfast and packing we set off on their final drive. We headed up Napi which turned out to be very quiet seeing a couple of Elephants, Kudu and Impala before seeing Waterbuck and Hippo at Transport dam. We then headed down Watergat spotting more Impala and Kudu when we came across a lovely sighting of three Cheetah lying out in the open. We spent plenty of time at the sighting with luckily not many vehicles so we were able to get a very nice position to view them. At once stage a couple of Male Impala wondered past on the other side of the vehicle and suddenly the cheetah were all on full alert. One of the Cheetah got up and gave chase but soon gave up. An half-hearted attempt but still fun to watch, they then settled back down in the shade and we left them to it. We headed to Skukuza for morning coffee spotting Vervet Monkeys on the way.

Heading back home we found more Impala, Kudu and Elephant before we reached the lodge. Here we said goodbye to Susie, Erling, Johann and Frank who left to fly back to Denmark.

The afternoon drive was a very quiet drive as we came across Impala, Kudu, Giraffe and Elephant, however just as it seemed that it was going to be one of those drives we spotted walking towards us on the road a female Leopard. We slowed and let her pass us by and then turned to follow her for about five minutes before she walked into the bush and disappeared from sight. The guests were absolutely delighted with this encounter and were still talking about it as we reached the lodge.

 

26 February 2014

Today was the final day of this tour and so with breakfast eaten and Luggage packed we set off on our drive, heading up to Shabeni we spotted Buffalo and Kudu around the loop. Carrying on down Albasini turned out to be fairly quiet although we did see Impala and Zebra.

At the end of Albasini I decided to take a gamble and headed down river road, a road which can be very quiet and is rarely used by the guides, however today turned out to be the exception to that rule. A quiet start as we spotted Impala first and then we stopped as two Hamerkops were busy building their nest, as they did a large male Baboon jumped down from the trees, we tried to find him in the thick bush but to no avail.

We carried on and turned a corner to find a pack of wild dogs lying in the middle of the road, 8 in total, we watched them for quite some time as they played and interacted with each other. It was only when they started building up a bit of confidence and came up to the vehicle having a sniff and trying to bite the bull bars and then the wheels I decided it was time to move on.

We carried on up the road spotting plenty of birds such as the Burchell's Coucal, Yellow-Billed Hornbill and a Tawny Eagle when driving around a corner we suddenly found ourselves looking at 7 lions, again standing in the middle of the road, we followed them for a few metres before they settled down for a rest. Then to make things interesting a troupe of Baboons appeared at the far end of the road. On spotting the Lions the Alarm Calls started sounding, but instead of running away three large males started to walk closer to the lions. The Lions paid little attention to the fuss and continued to sleep as the Baboons crept forward, although they make sure they didn't wander to close. We also had a little Bushbuck wander past at the end of the road. Eventually the Lions moved slightly into the bush and the Baboons wandered away. With so few cars at the sighting we were able to witness this sighting for over an hour before we left it.

We carried on up Doispane back to Phabeni gate, spotting Elephant, Impala and Kudu, before leaving KNP to transfer the guests onto their Citybug shuttle. Thank you Sarah and Cheryl for your company, I'm glad you enjoyed the wonderful sightings we had over the last few days, I know I did.

 

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