21 April 2014
After picking up the guests in Nelspruit we drove through
the plantations to the starting point of our safari: Nkambeni Safari Camp. Upon
arrival the guests had little time to relax after checking in, as they went
straight on their first game drive, the sundowner safari. They were lucky as
they saw buffalos on Shabeni rock, impalas, a spotted eagle owl, a herd of
elephants that was reluctant to let them pass and a white rhino close to the
road. Upon return they were treated to a dinner next to the campfire in the
boma with some cultural entertainment.
22 April 2014
After a good night sleep we set out after breakfast on our
first morning drive. On camp road we spotted a herd of impalas and a little
further two male impalas were fighting over those females. A young male impala
watched and learned but didn't want any part of it.
On the Numbi tar road we were then surprised by a slender mongoose that instead of sprinting across the road, what they normally do when they see a car, froze on the side of the road like a statue, but out in the open so we could have a really good look.
We then drove down Voortrekker Road, which was a nice scenery, but a wrong choice for seeing animals. We saw some whitebacked vultures in a tree, the rarer white headed vulture and a herd of elephants in the distance. Two elephants were having a sparring match which included throwing sand at each other, which was fun to watch.
We took a break at Afsaal, before driving the H3 up to Skukuza. Only a few 100 meters from Afsaal we found five ground hornbills up in a marula tree. As this bird is very endangered and rare to see, it was great to watch them in full sight. A Coue was preening each other and the rest was preening themselves too.
We then stop for a bull elephant feeding close to the road and while watching this fella a white rhino mother with her young calf appeared in the background. We watched both for a while until the elephant disappeared down to the water stream and the rhino and her baby walked off behind the bushes. A little further on we saw a subadult bateleur eagle flying and then suddenly he landed on the road in front of us. Apparently he spotted a nice snack on the road and started eating, not minding our car at all. He flew off once another car arrived at the sighting.
Before we arrived at the Skukuza Golfclub we also saw a warthog come out of the grass straight at us, but then crossing the road behind us, a very old male giraffe showing us the length of his tongue and two bull buffalos doing what they do best, lie in the mud. While most of us started with lunch, Allen was having a go around the golfclub with his wife Susan as his caddy. They took about an hour to do all nine holes and we cheered them on from our table in the shade as we saw them running across. We saw warthogs grazing and impeding Allen's game. The hippos were playing in the water, popping up and submerging. There was a tiny baby hippo, we saw the male yawning, and we saw a hippo get hit on the head by a golf ball after which all the hippos suddenly popped up their heads as if they were looking for the culprit. And while eating our lunch a crocodile came floating by lazily as well.
On the way back we went down Napi where we saw the same two buffalo bulls, a small journey of giraffe with a very young baby giraffe, a herd of elephants that was crossing the road and a bateleur eagle flying. At Transport Dam we saw more hippos, waterbok, red-billed buffalo weavers, cape glossy starlings, a grey heron and an African jacana.
Another journey of giraffe surprised us just when we turned back onto the tar road, this one bigger than before and we had an amazing white rhino sighting. Spotting just one in the bush we were amazed it turned out to be five adults and a baby. The baby was making sounds that made us chuckle and then suddenly a male rhino showed up on the right side of the road. He started snorting, having heard the other rhinos, which then decided to cross. Amongst the five was a subadult male, close to adulthood, and the territorial male had some trouble accepting his presence. He was instantly aggressive to this subadult male who got a very submissive posture, but some pushing and shoving had to be done right in front of us in the middle of the road. He then decided he let him go to the other side and it calmed down a bit. When the baby then again started making noises the territorial male wanted to come close to the baby, but the mother didn't allow it. The territorial male then cooled this hostile attention of the female back onto the subadult male and we saw some more pushing (hardly any shoving this time though). After sitting with this show for quite some time the rhinos decided it was over and they left in single file. The territorial male followed, so he probably could keep an eye on them while in his territory.
The last kilometres back to camp we also had a nice sighting of a puff adder on the road, guineafowls running in front of the car, a waterbuck male hanging around with kudu females and just before Nkambeni the herd of impalas.
On the Numbi tar road we were then surprised by a slender mongoose that instead of sprinting across the road, what they normally do when they see a car, froze on the side of the road like a statue, but out in the open so we could have a really good look.
We then drove down Voortrekker Road, which was a nice scenery, but a wrong choice for seeing animals. We saw some whitebacked vultures in a tree, the rarer white headed vulture and a herd of elephants in the distance. Two elephants were having a sparring match which included throwing sand at each other, which was fun to watch.
We took a break at Afsaal, before driving the H3 up to Skukuza. Only a few 100 meters from Afsaal we found five ground hornbills up in a marula tree. As this bird is very endangered and rare to see, it was great to watch them in full sight. A Coue was preening each other and the rest was preening themselves too.
We then stop for a bull elephant feeding close to the road and while watching this fella a white rhino mother with her young calf appeared in the background. We watched both for a while until the elephant disappeared down to the water stream and the rhino and her baby walked off behind the bushes. A little further on we saw a subadult bateleur eagle flying and then suddenly he landed on the road in front of us. Apparently he spotted a nice snack on the road and started eating, not minding our car at all. He flew off once another car arrived at the sighting.
Before we arrived at the Skukuza Golfclub we also saw a warthog come out of the grass straight at us, but then crossing the road behind us, a very old male giraffe showing us the length of his tongue and two bull buffalos doing what they do best, lie in the mud. While most of us started with lunch, Allen was having a go around the golfclub with his wife Susan as his caddy. They took about an hour to do all nine holes and we cheered them on from our table in the shade as we saw them running across. We saw warthogs grazing and impeding Allen's game. The hippos were playing in the water, popping up and submerging. There was a tiny baby hippo, we saw the male yawning, and we saw a hippo get hit on the head by a golf ball after which all the hippos suddenly popped up their heads as if they were looking for the culprit. And while eating our lunch a crocodile came floating by lazily as well.
On the way back we went down Napi where we saw the same two buffalo bulls, a small journey of giraffe with a very young baby giraffe, a herd of elephants that was crossing the road and a bateleur eagle flying. At Transport Dam we saw more hippos, waterbok, red-billed buffalo weavers, cape glossy starlings, a grey heron and an African jacana.
Another journey of giraffe surprised us just when we turned back onto the tar road, this one bigger than before and we had an amazing white rhino sighting. Spotting just one in the bush we were amazed it turned out to be five adults and a baby. The baby was making sounds that made us chuckle and then suddenly a male rhino showed up on the right side of the road. He started snorting, having heard the other rhinos, which then decided to cross. Amongst the five was a subadult male, close to adulthood, and the territorial male had some trouble accepting his presence. He was instantly aggressive to this subadult male who got a very submissive posture, but some pushing and shoving had to be done right in front of us in the middle of the road. He then decided he let him go to the other side and it calmed down a bit. When the baby then again started making noises the territorial male wanted to come close to the baby, but the mother didn't allow it. The territorial male then cooled this hostile attention of the female back onto the subadult male and we saw some more pushing (hardly any shoving this time though). After sitting with this show for quite some time the rhinos decided it was over and they left in single file. The territorial male followed, so he probably could keep an eye on them while in his territory.
The last kilometres back to camp we also had a nice sighting of a puff adder on the road, guineafowls running in front of the car, a waterbuck male hanging around with kudu females and just before Nkambeni the herd of impalas.
23 April 2014
This morning we set out on safari and saw the usual
impala herd just outside the gate. We also saw a buffalo in the high grass just
on the side of the road, but as soon as he saw us he made a break for it.
Apparently morning photos are not his best shot!
We decided to go up Albassini and shortly after
turning onto the road we saw two male waterbucks fighting. The moment we
stopped though, we distracted the winning male, who stood fierce and watching
us, so the losing male actually tried to sneak away. Once discovered the other
male started the chase.
We also saw two male elephants feeding, both on
Albassini as well as on Doispane, a troop of baboons coming out of a tree and
crossing the road in front of us, giraffe, grey louries, magpie shrikes, an
African harrier hawk and white backed vultures.
We then got a call on the radio from mark about
lions down at Klipspringer Koppies. We were quite far away, but as it wasn't
that hot we decided to make our way down Watergat to see if we could get lucky.
On Watergat road we saw lots of impalas, but nothing else stopped us from
getting to the lion sighting in time to see three females lying on the rocks.
One of them actually got up, walked around and lay back down. Astonishingly, on
the other side of the Koppies we saw a klipspringer that was keeping watch in
the other direction. We didn't have the heart to tell him the lion were already
up on the rock behind him! However, with the lions back asleep, we didn't hang
around and continued our drive to Skukuza for a quick break.
After the break we drove down Doispane to meet
Curtis at Phabeni Gate, on the way spotting more elephants and 2 lots of
zebras. We then had to say goodbye to Allen and Susan, who were at the end of
their holiday. It was a great pleasure driving with you in the KNP! Sad we
continued our way back down Albassini, spotting nothing but an elephant bull in
must and a couple of banded mongoose running across the road. We returned to
Nkambeni for some well deserved pool time and relaxing.
In the afternoon we had a short but very good
drive. We drove up to Napi Boulders and then returned, stopping on the way at
Shitlhave Dam. We saw impalas, kudus, a young bull elephant up close, two
separate white rhino sightings and a waterbuck. On our way to Shithave Dam we
heard from a member of the public that there were two leopards, so we sped up
and indeed, they were sitting on the dam wall. They kept on moving and lying
down, so we got some great sightings and photos. One of them actually crawled
quite close to us, even though there were many cars around us. We got some
great photos there!!
24 April 2014
Today was our last game drive of this tour so this morning
we started our game drive at daybreak. It was a cold and misty morning so we
were unable to see very far around the car. Close by however we saw the impalas
on camp road.
We drove around the Loop spotting more impalas, kudus and two lots of two white rhinos. We drove around (well, mostly around) a lot of fresh buffalo poo on the road and were keeping an eye out. Shortly after we turned onto Shabeni Link a buffalo was scouting us out while standing in the middle of the road. We halted and watched her. Once she decided we were ok she continued walking and out of the high grass came more and more buffalos to cross the road. Some very young calves, an injured calf that with a very protective mother, some very massive bulls. Buffalos of all ages came by and quickly we lost count. The last lot came stampeding out of the grass and wondering what would have caused that we waited a little longer then the last buffalo to pass, but nothing happened. No rustling sounds either so we continued our way.
On Shabeni Link it was very quiet afterwards. We drove down Albassini back to Numbi Gate, spotting a lot more impalas and some waterbuck, but then the drive was over. Having to catch a plane we drove down to Nelspruit for the early transfer, where I said goodbye to Jim, Mindy, Dean and Kelly. Thanks for all the laughs, you guys were awesome! Hope you do come back for the nine day safari!
We drove around the Loop spotting more impalas, kudus and two lots of two white rhinos. We drove around (well, mostly around) a lot of fresh buffalo poo on the road and were keeping an eye out. Shortly after we turned onto Shabeni Link a buffalo was scouting us out while standing in the middle of the road. We halted and watched her. Once she decided we were ok she continued walking and out of the high grass came more and more buffalos to cross the road. Some very young calves, an injured calf that with a very protective mother, some very massive bulls. Buffalos of all ages came by and quickly we lost count. The last lot came stampeding out of the grass and wondering what would have caused that we waited a little longer then the last buffalo to pass, but nothing happened. No rustling sounds either so we continued our way.
On Shabeni Link it was very quiet afterwards. We drove down Albassini back to Numbi Gate, spotting a lot more impalas and some waterbuck, but then the drive was over. Having to catch a plane we drove down to Nelspruit for the early transfer, where I said goodbye to Jim, Mindy, Dean and Kelly. Thanks for all the laughs, you guys were awesome! Hope you do come back for the nine day safari!
Keep watching for more!!
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