On Safari With Curtis From 17 April 2014

17 April 2014

This morning was the last of the tour and we had time for one last drive. We found Impala and Giraffe and then a White rhino, the resident male was standing in a drainage line so we had a great view of this wonderful animal. We drove around and spotted the Buffalo which are often seen up on the rocks but this time they had company in the shape of two White Rhino. We also found two Klipspringers on the rocks. I then got a message from Karen about a sighting at Cheetah pan so we made our way there. When we got there we found a Cheetah sat on atermite mount  sunning himself in the morning sun, we spent quite a while watching him before we moved on. Along Doispane we saw an African Fish eagle and a Slender mongoose before we got near to the dam. There we saw Impala, Wildebeest and Zebra. As we drove back to Phabeni we noticed a couple of Giraffe in the distance. Sadly it was now time to transfer Robert and Jill to Kmia for their flight to Port Elizabeth. Thanks to all my guests on this tour, we have had so many wonderful sightings in the last few days and I'm sure everyone has enjoyed it as much as me!

 

 

18 April 2014

 

I collected 8 new guests ready and eager for their Kruger experience. After settling in at the lodge it was straight onto their sunset drive. Everyone enjoyed the evening as they had perfect weather, a lovely sunset and got to see White Rhino, Owls, Impala and Buffalo.

 

 

19 April 2014

 

This morning we set out aiming to carry on the good work from last night. Even on camp road we spotted alone Giraffe we moved on down Napi and found plenty of Impala, Kudu and a nice group of Waterbuck. Later on we had stopped at an Elephant sighting when I heard about a Cheetah sighting not too far away. I made my way there and found him lying under an Acacia tree. We waited a while and he eventually popped up his head and sat up and had a look around. My guests had to be quick to get some photos before he lay back down in the tall grass. We also heard about some Wild dog further down the road but when we got there they were lying in the bush with no sign off them, also the traffic had built up so I decided to head for a coffee break.

After the break we headed back to the wild dogs and were in luck as two of them had moved right next to the road and in full visual, the traffic had also left so we were able to spend a good amount of time with them. Heading down to Afsaal for lunch was fairly quiet until we spotted an Elephant next to the road, after closer inspection we could see that it was a whole family and so we waited for them to come closer which they did do. They took their time but eventually crossed the road in front of us. At lunch I heard about another sighting and went straight there after lunch. We found two female Lions by the side of the road both sleeping, every now and again one of them popped her head up and then our patience was rewarded when she stood up and moved closer to her companion. As we headed back to the lodge we found more Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest, Buffalo and a quick glance as a large Warthog ran out in front of us. We also got to see a Common Duiker before it ran off into the bush.

A good start to this tour with, hopefully, more to come tomorrow.

 

20 April 2014

 

As soon as we left the lodge this morning we bumped straight into the territorial white rhino male who was happily dozing in a sandy donga. We also got three giraffe soon after. Onto Napi and again it was fairly quiet at times but we did see plenty of Kudu and Impala. Further along we found a couple of elephant sightings and a large herd of Buffalo, unfortunately the heavy bush stopped us having a good look. We took a detour down to transport dam and found the hippos in the water and a medium sized croc floating close by. There were also Kudu and Waterbuck at the dam as well a family of Zebra who crossed over in front of us. After the dam we came upon a couple of Hyena playing with a kudu horn but they soon disappeared into the bush. Not much down Watergat except for the odd impala, kudu and lots of yellow-billed hornbill and cape glossy starlings. We headed down to the golf club for a drink and stretch of the legs and sat and watched the hippos in the water and the warthog running across the 9th hole.

After the break we headed down Doispane where we came across a herd of elephants, most had already crossed the road but a few still had and we got some pictures when they did. We also saw Vervet monkeys sitting up in a marula tree grooming one another. As we carried on we saw plenty more Impala, kudu and zebra as well hippos and Saddle-billed stork at Nyamundwa dam. We also had a brief glimpse of a large male baboon before he disappeared into the grass, we looked around for others but no luck.

 

This afternoon we set off with down Albasini and found hippos, at mestel dam, along with terrapins resting on their back, we found the resident buffalos on the rocks at shabeni as well as klipspringers. We then drove down circle where we found a large bull elephant coming towards us. With nowhere to go we stood our ground as he walked closer to us, he wasn't very happy with us as a roadblock and made his feeling clear with a few headshakes and scraping his trunk along the road but he finally moved off. We then came to a lovely sighting of dwarf mongooses who were playing and scurrying around the road, taking no notice of us they kept on running across the road and then running past the vehicle with a few having a cheeky look up at us. Then we caught glimpse of a slender mongoose at the same place who was abruptly chased off by three of the dwarf mongooses.

 

 

21 April 2014

 

It was the final day of the tour for four of my guests and after a couple of very long exciting days they decided to have a sleep in and we said goodbye to them at Numbi gate. Myself and my remaining four guests went out for the day and it turned out to be a great day. The day was an elephant day as we had sighting after sighting of Elephants. Big solitary bulls, bachelor groups and the family herds. One particular family herd sighting stood out, we found a family of about 10 standing right next to each other under the cover of Acacia bushes. We managed to creep right up to them without disturbing or upsetting them, turned off the engine and watched their interactions. While some dozed in the midday heat others were busy giving themselves, and others, a dust bath. Every now and again the matriarch would lift her trunk to check us out but never concerned herself with us. We were able to watch this beautiful sighting for more than 15 minutes. During the rest of the day we found plenty of good sightings of Rhino, buffalo, impala, kudu, warthog, giraffe, waterbuck, zebra, wild dog and honey badger as well as birds such as the lilac-breasted roller, yellow-billed hornbill, Southern -ground hornbill and the saddle-billed storks, which seem to be following me around recently.

However the day belonged to the elephants!!!!