On Safari With Curtis From 6 March 2014

6 March 2014

The start of a new tour saw me picking up the guests from Nelspruit and driving down to Numbi gate, once there we only had a couple of hours before gate closing time and so we headed straight down Napi tar. A quiet start to begin with as we saw Kudu and Zebra from a long distance, so we stopped and talked about the Rhino Middens and Elephant dung along the road. We then came upon a small group of Giraffe and watched them for a few minutes. Time to turn around and head to the lodge but the return journey was a lot more productive. The Zebra had moved out into the open and we had three separate sightings of White Rhino close by. We also saw our first Impala of the tour by the time we had gone through Numbi gate.

However the sightings weren't over as on the dirt road to the lodge we had a good sighting of a solitary 'Dagga Boy' Buffalo and then a sighting of 3 Elephants on the road. A strange grouping as there was a female with her calf and a older male with them. Not the usual family grouping but still fun and interesting to watch. As we drove past the youngster got a little vocal and tried to show who was boss!!! We then drove into Nkambeni Tented lodge which will be home for the next couple of days.

 

7 March 2014

Driving through Phabeni gate, todays start was fairly quiet seeing Impala, Kudu and Zebra along the road. We then spotted what must have been around 50 Vultures all in the same spot, we could smell a kill but unfortunately it was too far in the bush to see. Carrying on we found Giraffe, Elephant and a solitary Vervet monkey.

As the day progressed we continued to see more Impala and Kudu as well as Elephant and a couple of Warthogs crossing the road in front of us before we stopped for a break.

After lunch we found yet more Impala, Kudu, Elephant, Zebra and Wildebeest and we saw our first Rhinos of the day, a crash of three standing together. We were also able to spot a few of the smaller creatures during the day including lilac-breasted Rollers, Southern Ground Hornbills and the Yellow-billed Hornbills. We also saw Leopard Tortoises and a Chameleon crossing the road.

 

8 March 2014

The final day of the tour for my two guests and we left the lodge , luggage packed, to try our luck on the final safari. We came across general game such as Impala and Kudu before finding Elephant and yet more Rhino. We also found Waterbuck and quite a few Leopard Tortoises walking along the road. We also got a nice sighting of a Common Duiker before he ran away and we had to make our way out of the gate and up to Nelspruit to transfer the guests to Johannesburg. Thank you Tiffany and Sam for your company and hopefully you will come back one day when there is less rain.

No rest for the wicked as I had four new guests immediately, after driving back to the lodge and settling in we went out for a short drive to let the guests have their first taste of a safari. Just on the lodges camp road we spotted Elephant, Kudu and Impala. Driving up to Numbi gate we also spotted the first of four separate Dwarf Mongoose sightings. Three of the sightings were short as they ran into the bush but at one sighting they hung around poking around in Elephant dung searching for tasty morsels. We saw more Kudu, Impala, a Warthog and Rhino. We also had a beautiful Elephant sighting, coming around a corner we found ourselves looking at a large Bull about 100metres down the road walking towards us. We stopped and I checked for signs of Musth, there were none so I told my guests to be very quiet and we waited as the Ellie continued to walk towards us. He just kept on coming and walked straight by us, close enough for us to touch him if we had wanted. NONE of us did though!!!!!  An incredible moment none of the guests will forget in a hurry.

 

9 March 2014

Leaving the lodge early and heading up to Numbi gate we came across a group of Vervet Monkeys playing in the trees. We then took a short trip around Shabeni Loop where we spotted two Cape Buffalo lounging on the top of the rocks. We headed down finding Impala, Kudu, Warthog and two Bull Elephants in the distance as well as a family of Dwarf Mongoose at the side of the road. We went down the road to the dam and came across Zebra walking over the road, we also found Waterbuck around the water’s edge and Hippos lounging in the water as well as an array of birds such as the Grey Heron, Cattle Egrets, Egyptian Geese and a couple of weavers. As we headed back to the main road a member of the public told us about some Hyenas playing near the road so we headed in that direction. We found them lying in the long grass but we stayed long enough to get a few good photos as they moved around.

We carried on and found a large Male Giraffe standing next to the road, he carried on eating and then decided to walk across the road right in front of us. We also saw Wildebeest and more Impala before getting to Skukuza for our morning coffee.

After our stop we headed back the same way and found more Giraffe, Impala and Warthogs. We also found a number of White Rhino close to the road, unfortunately they were busy having a siesta in the long grass so we could only see the backs and flicking ears. We did however have a nice White Rhino cross the road in front of us and when we got to the spot found a second Rhino with him. We also found several Tortoises crossing the road along the way (luckily they all made it safely to the other side) We also had time to stop at the Hyena den again and found a couple of the older pups still outside the den allowing us to get some more pics.

This afternoon it's time for the Sundowner drive (weather permitting) more details tomorrow!!!

 

10 March 2014

Last nights Sundowner drive was a very enjoyable event for the guests as they enjoyed a beautiful sunset before seeing Lions and many other animals. Even the torrential downpour and storm which caught them couldn't stop the smiles when they got back to the lodge.

A very cold and even wetter start to the day as the weather turned for the worse meant that when we stopped at the golf club for a break we had seen very few animals, some Impalas, Buffalo, Giraffe and Kudu as well as Elephant from a distance. After the break the rain held off and we progressed down to the river and found a couple of female Lions. We had a glimpse of them for about ten seconds before they disappeared into the bush. We had planned to go back to the lodge for lunch due to the weather but I then heard about a possible sighting of Cheetah further down the road, unfortunately no luck as it had gone by the time we got their so we returned to Skukuza for lunch.

The afternoon turned out to be much more productive and interesting than the morning, firstly we spotted the regular Klipspringer on Klipspringer Koppies and headed down Napi where we saw Waterbuck, Wildebeest, Zebra and Rhino as well as Warthog, Impala and Kudu. It was getting late in the afternoon when we got to Numbi tar and I decided to take a quick look around Shabeni loop and it was lucky we did as we found a crash of Rhino with a few Impala near by, as we drove on we then spotted a Leopard sitting on the rocks, We turned the engine off and watched her for quite a few minutes as she rolled around on her back and yawned. Suddenly she decided to get up and disappeared into the bush. We turned around and started to follow looking for the tell tale sign of her tail waving and then it became apparent she was starting to hunt the Impala. She edged closer and closer, as we every now and then got a glimpse of her moving through the bush, wonderfully swerving around the Rhino which were in her way until she was just metres away. She stopped for a second, crept forward a few feet more and then pounced and caught her intended prey. We watched as she kept her grip on the neck of the animal and slowly the Impala took its last breath. Meanwhile we heard that just a few hundred feet away another safari truck had spotted a second Leopard also hunting. While our Leopard lay with her prey we proceeded to this second sighting to take a look and sure enough a second Leopard we found, this one hadn't managed to make a kill however, We watched for a while getting even more amazing photos before returning to the first Leopard, she had moved the Impala to the base of a tree but didn't attempt to take her meal up.

Sadly it was coming to the end of the day and Krugers closing time so we decided to leave and head home. However we had one more lovely surprise as we also found two Male Lions lying in the middle of the road. We were able to enjoy being just metres away from them as they rolled over and then stood up giving us a great view of them. However time was not on our side as we had to head back to the lodge before gate closing time.

A day which started so miserable and wet ended with all the guests on a major high, telling everyone back at the lodge about their unforgettable experiences.