On Safari With Karen From 15 February 2014

15 February 2014

I picked up the new guests at Numbi gate. We checked in at Nkambeni Lodge, where we had lunch and a relaxing afternoon at the pool before our first game drive. We were only going out for a short drive, just to get an introduction to what may come, but they had already spotted hippo and buffalo while lounging at the pool.

As soon as we... went out of the gate we stumbled upon a nice large herd of impalas. We then followed the tar road to Pretoriuskop and did a loop around the area. We spotted zebras and kudus along the way.

We analysed the differences between elephant dung and that of white rhino and buffalo. And following some very fresh dung we stumbled upon a small herd of elephants feeding. After watching them for a while we took a loop around Shabeni and found vervet monkeys sitting in trees, kudus, more impalas and had a very close encounter with a big bull elephant. He stood in the bush and came walking onto the road towards us and he was so big that only one of us would fit on the road. Unfortunately he had to be told that we were there first and he had to get off the road to pass us. It was a breathtaking moment for some of the guests!

We then returned to the lodge and found the white rhino that holds a territory in that area. He was leisurely feeding and rumbling his face and horn on the tree stump nearby.

We returned just in time for gate closing time after a very successful first drive!

16 February 2014

We left this morning after breakfast and stumbled straight upon a herd of impalas. Then we drove the route Albassini - Doispane to see what we could find on a longer morning drive. We saw a duiker crossing the road quickly and also a male waterbuck was running away from us. At Mestel Dam we saw the hippos playing in the water before they would go to sleep.

Apparently this morning was the day that everything would run away from us as when we stop to look at a water monitor in quickly moved off into the grass not to be seen again. And a 100meters onward there was a nice buffalo standing still for a couple of seconds before walking off too. We stopped to look at some birds, like a white fronted bee eater, European roller, yellowbilled hornbill, which promptly flew off...

After that it calmed down a bit. We did spot zebras hiding in the long grass, kudus between the bushes and had some lovely elephant sightings. While we were watching a big bull elephant we got a tip there were lions and we changed course to see if we would be lucky. On the way we saw a nice elephant herd feeding close by the road, but after a short stop we drove on. We did indeed get to see the lions, five females, a young male and an adult male, but soon after we arrived one by one they got up and walked down the riverbed towards a nice shady spot out of sight. Just making sure they stuck to the theme of today.

We had our coffee break at Skukuza after which we turned down Napi aiming back for the camp. Shortly after we saw 4 very fat warthogs right next to the road digging in elephant dung and eating the undigested scraps. We also encountered a large family of baboons, had an elephant with youngster crossing the road in front of us and sat watching a very large herd of buffalo for a while before it was so hot that we continued driving to have some wind cooling us down.

After lunch and some relaxation time at the pool we went out this afternoon again for a short drive. It was still very hot so most of the drive was very quiet. The hippos at Mestel Dam were almost entirely submerged and then we had to wait till shabeni loop to see animals. In one spot we then saw warthogs, impalas, vervet monkeys and kudus. We also spotted dwarf mongooses and when we stood still for a while they came back in the road to play.

On the way to Shitlhave Dam we saw two leopard tortoises in one spot. The small one had a lot of attention for the hindquarters of the other one, which was at least twice its size. We thought they were going to mate, which would have been a funny sighting judging by their size difference, but they took too long before anything happened and we were running out of time... Who knows what happened later when nobody was watching ?!

17 February 2014

This morning we once again left the lodge after an early breakfast. The impalas hadn't left camp road yet and shortly after a white rhino was lying in the drainage line very close to the road. We kept on watching him for a while but apparently he didn't want to do an early morning so we left him still sleeping.

On Napi we encountered elephants and more impalas, baboons, leopard tortoises and warthog. We stopped at Transport Dam where there were hippos in the water close by, woolly necked storks doing a mating dance, waterbuck and lots of water birds. Also a dead impala was lying on the opposite shore, but nothing ate it. We were told wild dogs were there but after waiting for 30min nothing had move so we decided to continue.

Close to Skukuza we saw two male giraffe having a very half-hearted fight. There was no female around so they had nobody to show off to. Or maybe the female had gotten bored and moved on. That was what we did after a while. When entering in Skukuza we saw vervet monkeys on the fence inside the camp and there were buffalo on the riverbank.

On the way back we took another shot at Transport Dam but once again no wild dogs. However zebras had joined the ranks with the waterbuck and a baby waterbuck was having a run-like-you're-crazy moment so that was fun to watch!

Then a call came in from Curtis who had found two leopards. We speeded up the pace to maximum allowed to see if we would get there in time and we were so lucky, we just made it! One leopard was lounging in the tree, the other invisible on the ground. But we had an excellent sight of the one in the tree who scratched the tree, stretched and after a while got up and jumped down. We followed it down the road but it was rather wary of the cars so it shot back into the high grass. We saw it standing next to us for a little while until it disappeared completely into the thick bush. That was our cue and we returned back to the camp for lunch.

Our afternoon drive was short but sweet. We saw two separate elephants before we went down to Shithave Dam and watched the world go by slowly. At this nice tranquil spot a pied kingfisher kept us busy while he was fishing. He made a couple of dives but he wasn't successful.

We continued to Mestel Dam where the hippos were starting to wake up and were playing in the water. We also saw a giraffe on the opposite side. When it was time to go we drove back straight to the camp only stopping for kudus crossing the road and just before we arrived at our lodge this big bull elephant was in the way. As his bulk was quite a lot more than our teeny tiny little vehicle, we decided to give him right of way. He came from our right onto the road and there was nothing left to do then wait and then slowly followed him down the road. About 20meters before the lodge gates he turned off, distracted by marulas, and we could finally finish to enter the camp!

18 February 2014

Today we were going out for a full day safari so after a hearty breakfast we left for our trip. Curtis had found some lions already so we went up Albassini in the hope we would get a glimpse. On the way we had zebras crossing the road and lots of impalas.

We arrived at the sighting on the tar to Phabeni gate with the lions close by the road but lying flat in the grass. We decided to wait to see if they would get up but before we had settled in too nicely Curtis called he found some others and they were walking on the road 500meters up ahead. So off we went and we got a lovely sighting of a male and female lion walking in front of us. After a while those lions split up and we stayed behind watching the male while a lot of other cars kept on following the female. As the lions were getting skittish we decided to give them a bit more space and left the sighting to go back to the first sighting of lions. There we made ourselves comfortable and waited. And waited.... And waited... As it was male and female as well we thought it would be a mating pair but after watching them snooze for over an hour we knew it wasn't to be. We decided to leave them and continue our journey.

We drove for about 3km on Doispane when we suddenly saw the male lion of the ones that walked away earlier, sniffing a tree right on the side of the road. He then crossed right behind us and continued in the direction of the cross roads. We turned around and saw him walking towards us and cross in front of us on the cross roads. He then disappeared into the bush and we continued our way to Nyamundwa Dam.

We had a great sighting of two white Rhinos lying in the water to cool down. There were hippos in the water and impalas and wildebeest on the opposite site.

We then continued our way towards Skukuza golfclub where we would have lunch. On the way we saw a couple of bull elephants, waterbuck, bateleurs and a great martial eagle that flew over us, circled back around us and then sat in a tree to get yelled at by hamerkops.

After lunch we decided it was getting really hot for a game drive and some air-conditioning would be nice. As the wind only blows while driving, air-conditioning, it meant we would only stop for something special. We spotted but didn't stop for giraffe, kudus, impalas, bull elephants and wildebeest, but did have a quick stop at a small and later on a big herd of elephants.

To top off today’s awesome drive our new animal of today was hyenas. At a den site the mother was lying in the shade feeding her two young cubs and we also saw one cub that was a little older than the 2 babies and 2 youngsters. This was a great sighting and we stayed until the heat became unbearable.

We returned to the lodge for a play in the pool before dinner. It was our last drive as we decided to have a lie-in tomorrow before the transfer back to Jo'burg. It was a great five days! Thanks to Charlotte, Sunny, Isa, August, Eirik and Inga for joining us on this safari!

Keep watching for more!!