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Some of Nhongo Safaris Fleet of Open Safari Vehicles

The photo shows some of our fleet of Open Safari Vehicles used while on safari in the Kruger National and Hwange National Parks. These ve...

Wednesday, 26 March 2014

On Safari With Curtis From 22 March 2014


22 March 2014

After picking up my guest from Nelspruit we headed down to Nkambeni Tented Safari Lodge and checked in. After a bit of lunch and a bit of time to settle in we set off on our first Safari of this tour. A very short drive around the local area and it turned out to be a quiet drive. We had three separate Kudu sightings as well as a sighting of five Giraffes in the distance. We also had a nice Elephant sighting where a young Bull walked across the road in front of us.

Although quiet my guest enjoyed her first experience of Kruger and we both hope for much more tomorrow morning.

 

23 March 2014

We left the lodge early and started to head down Napi. A bit of a quiet start but we did find a couple of nice Elephants close to the road, we also saw a family of Dwarf Mongoose which scurried into the bush as we neared them, However after we turned off the engine and waited a couple of minutes they soon came back out onto the road. We also had sightings of Zebra and Kudu before we turned down to Transport dam. The resident Hippos were there as well as plenty of water birds.

As we drove back and came across two male Rhinos lying in the middle of the road and we got some great close ups of them before they wandered into the bush. We also had two sightings of Waterbuck near the dam. We then heard about a Lion sighting nearby and drove straight there. Unfortunately the Lions had decided to move into the shade of a nearby Acacia and so we only got brief glimpses as they occasionally moved around.


Heading back to the lodge we had Elephant, Impala, Giraffe and Kudu sightings as well as Vervet monkeys.

This afternoon my guest has gone out on an evening drive, with more details to follow tomorrow.

 

24 March 2014

Last nights Sun downer drive was enjoyed very much, with a lovely sunset, and a tot or two of Amarula followed by sightings of Buffalo, Rhino, Impala, Scrub Hare and an owl.

This morning we set of down Albasini where we spotted several Hippo, at Mestel Dam, as well as a tree full of Cattle Egrets as well as Impala and a brief glimpse of a Warthog. As we turned onto Doispane we found two male Lion lying in the bush , not much movement by either so we decided to carry on to Nyamundwa dam where we found a solitary 'Dagga Boy' stood in the dam at the edge. We then noticed a pod of Hippos making their way to the Buffalo, one of them moved all the way up and opened his mouth touching the Buffalo. The Buffalo didn't take kindly to this and turned around before moving slowly out of the water. He moved further along the edge before entering the water again and again one of the Hippos came up to him. This time , however the Buffalo was having none of it and stood his ground and the Hippos moved away. We watched as two more very large Hippos moved closely to the Buffalo but again he stood his ground. While all this was happening we also had a family of Vervet monkey playing and feeding in the tree next to us. We also saw an African Fish Eagle and a Crocodile at the dam.

Carrying on we spotted two White Rhinos and we spent 20 minutes sitting watching them munching away on the grass, as the Red-billed oxpeckers sat on them and the Impalas looking for Ticks. We moved back up to the Lion sighting and the two of them had moved next to each other.
Driving back down doispane we found more Impala, the Hippos and Waterbuck before we returned to the lodge for lunch.

 

Late afternoon we went back out for a short drive spotting Hippo, Impala, Kudu, Cape Buffalo, Giraffe and a very inquisitive family of Dwarf Mongoose who came right up to the car and started looking up at us, even lovelier were the baby Dwarf Mongooses who were just as brave as their parents.

 

 

25 March 2014

 

This morning it was time for the bush walk, accompanied by two armed rangers the guests set off on a three hour walk in the bush. The actual walk turned out to be a quiet affair regarding the larger mammals however this meant more time to explore the smaller, and often forgotten, bits. The guests were shown different spoor, how to identify it and how to decipher what it means. They also learnt about some of the more common local trees, animal scat and smaller animals such as the Golden orb spider. It was thoroughly enjoyable experience and there even had sightings of Giraffe and Cape Buffalo on the drive back.

In the afternoon we went for a drive on the way spotting Impala, Kudu, Waterbuck, Elephants and four separate sightings of White Rhino, with a total of 13 Rhino seen. As we got to the dam we slowly drove past some known Hyena dens but with no luck, we went down to the dam and turned off  the engine and just sat for twenty minutes just enjoying the peaceful tranquillity the water brings. Numerous birds as well as Hippo and Waterbuck were seen. Heading back up to Napi we decided to have one more look for the Hyenas, again we drove past but nothing. As we turned around to head back to the lodge three young Hyena cubs walked across the road before disappearing into the bush. Our patience had been rewarded.

We headed back to the lodge with my guest very happy at seeing the Hyena, her ' top of my list' animal. We saw more Impala, Rhino and Kudu on the way back to the lodge.

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