On Safari With Karen From 13 February 2014

13 February 2014

After 3 scorching hot days somebody had done a rain dance last night and it had worked. We woke up to a rainy morning and instead of diminishing it increased during the morning. Even though it was nice being a bit cooler we could have done without the rain.

We left after breakfast for a drive down Napi to find what was out there. It w...as a quiet stretch as apparently the rain made the animals shy. We encountered a couple of elephants close to the road feeding, but otherwise even the impalas were in hiding.

Nevertheless we once again found a new animal today, a klipspringer! And just then the call came in about a lioness on the road. We followed up on the tip and were lucky to see her walking towards us with an escort of about 15 other cars behind her. We stopped so she walked past our vehicle and she came quite close. She was roaring, calling out to presumably her lost pride members. While the rest of the cars followed her we had to turn around and decided to stay at a distance since we had such a good sighting. We stopped waiting for the road to clear when the lioness decided it was better looking the other way and she had turned around. This time just in the bush, but close to the road, once again she walked past our vehicle and once again she was followed by an amount of cars that had now doubled. While trying to make our way in the opposite direction out of the sqaubble she had turned again and we were a third time lucky to have her pass our vehicle and now she was roaring quite adamantly. We felt the car vibrate through her roars and decided now it was really time to let her be. We left the sighting while even more safari cars showed up and we were told later that she had found at least two more members of her pride.

On the way to our coffee break we saw more elephants, giraffe, vervet monkeys, leopard tortoises and after a long search some impalas.

The coffee was nice and warm on this rainy day and after the warm-up we needed to make way to the gate as some of our members were saying goodbye. But before we were on our way Mark called in a leopard in a tree. Pushing our luck we followed up on the sighting and just before we got there it had jumped down. We searched and searched but didn't spot her. But time was an issue so we unfortunately had to leave the sighting. We were a mere 500m away when the call came to return as she had just climbed into another tree. We turned and just as we arrived at the scene she was lying in a tree, looked up, got up and jumped out of the tree out of sight. 30 seconds and it was worth it! Would you believe our luck!

But now we ran out of time so we headed back to the gate. We had no more time left to properly stop at a sighting but we could point out more impalas, kudus, leopard tortoises, a chameleon and three white rhinos.

At the gate we said our goodbyes to Gaby and Michael who were a great part of the group. Morgan, Terry and Maggie are staying another night to overcome all the excitement from the last few days and will transfer back to Johannesburg tomorrow. You guys were a fantastic group, I thank you for joining me on this safari!!

14 February 2014

Today I picked up the guests at the airport and with very variable weather we made our way through the plantations towards Numbi Gate. As soon as we entered Kruger Park we stumbled upon a herd of impala. We checked in into Nkambeni Lodge, our home for tonight and after lunch we went on our first game drive.

As soon as we were ready to go it was pouring down with rain, but undeterred we set off. We turned into Albassini following rumours that there might be lions in that direction far ahead. After a quiet start we saw kudu bulls and had our first elephant not far from the road. A dwarf mongoose was sitting on a tree stump but disappeared as soon as we stopped.

In the meantime it had stopped raining and bravely we had taken off our ponchos. On Doispane we saw guineafowls, a very well hidden steenbok , more impalas, wildebeest, zebra, warthog and giraffe. Of course it also had started raining again.

When it dried up we saw a lovely rainbow and Filip took one for the team and kept his poncho on. Then Melanie spotted movement and thought it was a lioness. As we were coming close to the spot where the rumoured lions should be we stopped and scouted around. We saw a leopard sitting on a rock, but that was not where she had seen the lion. We looked a bit more and found a second leopard close by! Two leopards in one spot, what a great sighting! Both were sitting up so we were hoping they would get up, but one by one they put their head down and eyes closed so we knew there wasn't going to be more to this show.

We continued our search but did not spot the rumoured lions. The time had come to make our way back to the lodge as the gates would close soon. On our way back we saw a family of baboons walking in the road, two reedbucks, a zebra crossing the road, more giraffes (also crossing), waterbuck more wildebeest, and two separate herds of elephants.

We stopped at Mestel dam for a good look at the hippos playing in the water and were surprised by a white rhino walking and grazing on the opposite side. And to top it all off, just before we got back to the gate a dung beetle was rolling his dung ball across the road. Once he had passed we drove the last bit and finished for today. It was dry as long as Filip had kept his poncho on, but what do you know, as soon as he took it off to go to his room... downpour!!

We had a very wet but good start, now bring on tomorrow!

15 February 2014

After breakfast this morning the bags were once again packed in the vehicle and we drove off for the last game drive of this safari. After being incredibly lucky yesterday we were hoping to find something new.

We drove along Napi and started off really quiet with a long stretch of nothing. We saw a duiker cross the road quickly in front of us, an elephant and leopard tortoises in different sizes (small, medium and large) and we'd been driving for two hours already when we spotted a small troop of baboons in a tree.

We were heading for an early coffee break when we saw cars ahead and got excited. But apparently we just missed a leopard that had crossed the road and now had disappeared into the bush. We thought our luck had run out when we heard about another leopard so we changed course. And man, were we lucky. She was lounging in a tree just off the road, snoozing, washing herself and snoozing again. At one time she even sat up, it was a brilliant sighting.

We continued on the S114 towards the S112 where we then spotted 6 lions lying on a rock. They were about 100meters in but we had good visibility as there was only 1 other car at the sighting. The females and youngsters were deep asleep, so the only movement we got was the twitch of an ear.

After watching this for a while we continued down Napi again towards our long overdue coffee break. We were told about another leopard not far away, but as we just had a brilliant sighting and were spoiled yesterday and were in need of a toilet break we decided not to pursue this sighting.

On the way though we saw an elephant crossing the road in front of us, two white rhinos, wildebeest, giraffe, zebras and kudus. Unbelievably we stopped next to a car at a sighting and he told us about the leopard in the tree a little further in the bush. We looked and there it was! The best sighting was our first leopard of the day, but who can say no to watching another one when you are already there?!

After the long overdue coffee and a just in time toilet break we headed back towards Numbi gate for the end of our safari. We were still lucky in seeing more elephants, zebras, wildebeest and impala. We arrived early at the parking lot at Numbi reception so we walked around and swapped stories about trees and bushes as Filip works in a nursery back home. When the transfer arrived it was time to say goodbye. Melanie and Filip, it was great having you! I hope you'll enjoy the rest of your holiday just as much!

Keep watching for more!!