On Safari With Curtis From 11 April 2014

11 April 2014

A new tour and after greeting all the guests in Nelspruit we headed down to Nkambeni Safari Lodge which is our home for the few nights. Along camp road we saw the resident Impalas before entering the camp. After checking in and locating our rooms it was time for the guests to go on their Sunset drive. (Details about that tomorrow.

12 April 2014

Last night’s Sunset drive was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, the rain stayed away and everyone got to see a lovely African sunset with a glass of Amarula in hand. They also had a number of good sightings to get their safari off to a good start, animals seen were White Rhino, Impala, Zebra with foal, Owl, Buffalo and Klipspringer.

This morning was an early start as it was time for the bushwalk, a chance to see all the smaller aspects of the bush as well, if lucky, to see the larger animals up close. Although the larger mammals turned out to be limited, with Buffalo and Waterbuck being seen from a distance, all the guests thoroughly enjoyed the experience. There is nothing better than walking in the bush experiencing the sounds and sights at ground level learning about all the scat and spoor and the smaller life forms that make the bush what it is!!!!

In the afternoon we headed down Albasini and spotted the resident Hippos at Mestel dam as well as a Sounder of Male Warthogs. The loop around Shabeni was fairly quiet although we did see three buffalo hiding in the bush as well as a female Klipspringer on the rocks. As we left Shabeni onto the tar we got a message from Karen about a Leopard sighting. Luckily we were very close and were able to get there in time. The young male Leopard was very skittish and wouldn't allow us to get too close but we did have plenty of time following him down the road. We made our way back to camp seeing Kudu and Impala along the way.

13 April 2014

We left the lodge a little bit later than normal and set off down Napi, sightings were fairly limited for the first part until we got to the boulders and found a couple of Bull Elephants hiding away in the bush, they unfortunately had no plans on showing themselves too much and so we carried on, we then came upon a couple of White Rhino very close to the road and in the open. As we carried on we made a detour to Transport dam where the pod of Hippos were lounging at the edge of the water and a herd of Waterbuck were hanging around. There was also a Water monitor basking on a nearby rock.

We then heard about possible Leopard and Lion sightings further down the road and so made our way there however on both occasions we turned up too late missing both by just a couple of minutes. As we headed down to lunch we then heard that the Leopards had returned again and so we turned around and headed back, on our way we came across a old Male Giraffe who obliged us by stopping and posing for us and then walking across the road in front of us. After he had disappeared we continued to the Leopard sighting and we were lucky enough to find two Leopards up in a marula tree. They hung around for a while before jumping down and again disappearing into the bush. We made our way to our lunch stop at Skukuza golf club seeing Warthog, Kudu, Steenbok, another White Rhino and plenty of Impala before we saw a young Elephant by the side of the road, too young to be on his own we waited for a few minutes before the rest of the family showed and crossed over the road in front of us.

After an enjoyable lunch, where the Hippos were very vocal, we headed back to the lodge, the afternoon was warming up a fair bit and sightings were very scarce but we did get to see more Elephants, Waterbuck, Kudu, Warthog, Impala and a small family herd of Zebra. On the lodges camp road we also found the huge territorial White Rhino male.

14 April 2014

This morning three of the guests set off early on their bushwalk enjoying the magic of walking in the Kruger National park, although the larger animals were in short supply all the guests enjoyed the walk.

While they were on the walk the rest of us went for a drive. As I got through Numbi gate I happened to look down one of the dirt roads and noticed something walking along the road. A closer look, through the binoculars, saw me looking at a African Wild Dog, we quickly turned the car around but by the time we got to the place it had disappeared. We looked up and down the road but unfortunately nothing. I decided to carry on and was in luck as about a kilometre further down we came across the rest of the pack, 8 dogs in total. We followed for twenty or so minutes with them occasionally stopping and sniffing around before they disappeared into the bush. We then found Hippo and Waterbuck at the dam and Warthog close by. Further along we saw White Rhino. It then became a little bit quieter as we drove around Fay loop although we did have some fun with a family of Dwarf Mongoose who popped out of the grass to have a peek at us before scurrying back in. We drove up Napi but it was very quiet. As we turned around to head home we had time to stop and get some more photos of the Impala and Kudu which were hanging by the side of the road and a nice sighting of a Cape Buffalo which was very close to the road. We also saw both the Hinged and Leopard Tortoise as well as Chameleon. Unfortunately when we got back to Numbi it was the end of the safari for Zoya and Jason who both thoroughly enjoyed their time here in KNP.

This afternoon I decided to concentrate on going to a possible Lion sighting which had been reported earlier in the day. We headed down along Napi which was very quiet, as all we saw were Waterbuck and Impala, until just before transport dam we found a Leopard walking along the road. He walked to a known Hyena den, had a sniff and then walked across the road to smell the other side of the den. He then continued to walk along the road as we followed him. After he had disappeared into the bush we drove straight to the Lion sighting and found two males lying in the grass. Unfortunately they were in no mood for us tourists as all we got to see was the occasion flick of the tail, their bellies as they rolled over and on a couple of occasions they sat up to have a look at us. Time was running out for us and so we regrettably had to leave heading back along the same road we came. As we drove we came upon roadblock after roadblock, firstly a herd of Elephants had just crossed the road and with them 5 White Rhino, 3 of which decided to come back onto the road and stand staring at us. Once we past them we met our second roadblock in the shape of two Cheetah, with a third slightly in the bush. They again stood their ground and with time running out we had to edge our way past as they sat on the road. We drove on to find the third roadblock of 5 Giraffe with around ten more either side of the road. They were a bit more co-operative and moved off the road to allow us to pass. As we approached transport dam again our final stoppage in the shape of Hyenas. They were very chilled and we were able to pass by without to much problem.

Afterwards the road was very quiet which is just as well as we just managed to get camp by curfew time.

An incredible day, one which everyone including myself will never forget!!!

15 April 2014

Last night sunset drive for the two new arrivals was a huge success, as well as seeing the sun go down with a glass of amarula they also saw plenty of animals including White Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Hippo, Impala, Kudu and Owls. The highlight has to be when they saw the pack of Wild dog, which we had seen early morning, hunt and chase and kill an Impala. The sight of the pack ripping apart the animal was an incredible sight.

This morning we went for a short drive and saw a nice herd of Buffalo, we could see around 50 animals but from the noise around us I think there were many more. We also had 3 more Buffalo sightings during the drive as well seeing Hippo, Saddle-billed storks, African Fish Eagle, Impala, Kudu, Giraffe and Dwarf Mongoose before we had to say goodbye to six of our guests, Monika, Robin, Hannah, Louisa, Daniel and Jonas have had some incredible sightings over the last four days and I wish you plenty of more great memories on the next part of your travels.

This afternoon we set down Napi where we saw Kudu, Impala, Warthog as well as a lovely sighting of Giraffe and Zebra which crossed the road in front of us. We also had a couple of sightings of bull Elephants and a good sighting of 4 White Rhino. At transport dam we saw the resident Hippos, Waterbuck and a really nice Water Monitor which crossed the road right next to the vehicle. There were plenty of birds also including the Egyptian Geese, Blacksmith lapwings and Lilac -breasted Rollers. On the way back to the lodge we headed down Shabeni link, after a tip off, and found a Leopard hiding in the grass. We were patient enough to wait and in time he started to get up and move enabling us to watch him for some time. As time ran out we also came across the herd of Buffalo we had encountered this morning, they really hadn't moved very far in a day.

16 April 2014

After setting off today we had seen some Impala and Kudu when we got news of some Lions on Shabeni loop, when we got there we saw two male Lions sat on the top of a large rock. With a good set of binoculars we were able to see both very clearly. We then moved on and found a Giraffe which was busy having breakfast thanks to the Buffalo thorn he was munching on. It must have tasted good as he was happy to munch on it for about 30 minutes. We then moved onto Doispane which was fairly quiet although we did come across a Common Reedbuck and African Fish Eagle. We were also lucky enough to find four large bull Elephants who obligingly walked across the road in front of our vehicle, one of them giving us an unconvincing shake of the head. We then continued onto the golf club for a warm cup of coffee, just before we got there we found ourselves with a Elephant near to the road, a closer look and we found a herd of 15-20 around us. We watched until they moved further into the bush and then came a family of Banded Mongoose.

After coffee we headed to Watergat finding Kudu, Impala, Buffalo and also two Honey Badgers which ran across the road, as we approached the place they had crossed we had another brief look before they disappeared into the bush. We also saw two Chameleons and a lot of Leopard Tortoises on the road. We also saw two Saddle-billed Storks in the river bed as we went down the H3.

After lunch, at Afsals, we headed down Voortreeker, this was extremely quiet as we only came upon Impala, Kudu, both White-backed and Lappet- faced Vultures and Helmeted Guinea-fowl before we got back to the lodge.

Keep watching for more!!