3 September 2014
This morning
some of us left on a bushwalk. They saw some zebra, impala, but most of all
lots of poo. During breakfast a couple of giraffes walked by and the hippos
were noisily playing in the dam.
In the
afternoon it was time for another game drive. This time we decided to take a
little bit more time so we could have a late lunch in the park. We started on Numbi
tar in the direction of Napi while seeing some zebras, reedbucks and impalas.
There were three reedbucks on our right chasing a fourth across the road in a
stampede that even shocked the zebras who looked up from grazing and looked
disdainfully at the reedbucks. The impalas on the other hand couldn't care less
and continued feeding.
A pair of long
crested eagles circled overhead when we turned onto Napi. Here a warthog got
scared and ran away, swiftly followed by the rest of his family. And we
encountered three lovely kudu bulls. Along the way we were treated to an
awesome white rhino sighting of him crossing the road and posing for us for
pictures, multiple elephant bulls as well as a herd of mothers and youngsters.
One of the elephants in the herd was so wide and with lumps on either side of
her we were pretty certain she was pregnant with a calf. And that wasn't all as
we also saw three rare and very endangered ground hornbills, a steenbok,
another white rhino, yellow-billed hornbills, wildebeest, lots more zebras and
some waterbuck bulls before stopping at Skukuza for our late lunch break.
We then
continued on the road to Kruger Gate and Doispane towards Watergat. A juvenile
bateleur was resting in a tree with some elephants in the background. Watergat
was the place to be today for giraffes as we saw plenty. With a truck full of
girls and only one guy, it was a proper squeak moment of the day when a tiny
baby giraffe came from behind a bush walking towards what we thought was its
mum. However, after standing still they both went in different directions. As
the baby was way too little to be on its own we were hoping the mum was hiding
in between the trees at the back as the one in front of us had only eyes for
some green leaves.
Down Napi
again on our way back to camp we kept on seeing more giraffes and large herds
of impalas. But our lucky break was a sighting of a leopard on top of some
rocks. He was lying all relaxed looking at the cars, the cameras and the
people. We saw him coming down to the sun, and probably deciding it was too hot
in the sun as he turned around and jumped back on the rocks almost instantly.
He washed himself and flopped down for a nap as we were leaving. We were very
lucky, seeing three different leopards in three days!!
Further down the
road we saw some more warthogs, twice a red crested korhaan, more bull elephants,
zebras, giraffes, a hoopoe, a grey duiker dashing out of sight, a small group
of kudu females (as we had seen only bulls so far today, this was quite
special), and had another great sighting of a white rhino, were stopped by a
buffalo herd that was slowly crossing the road and just before the camp gates
also saw some buffalo bulls. It was a long but great day!
4 September 2014
We had time
for a short dash this morning before our transfer to Jo'burg left, so we loaded
up the car early after breakfast and set off. On Camp road we stopped for a
giraffe that came out of the bushes and decided to cross the road right in
front of us, not even looking left or right. Just when he already was across it
seemed he noticed a car was parked there with people taking pictures.
Further on
Camp road we saw some kudus and a small group of daggaboys that was just
getting up. They stretched and jawed and when they started their early morning
bowel movements we decided to take off. We just had our breakfast...
On Numbi tar
we saw zebras and impalas before finding a Kruger-style road block in the form
of a buffalo herd crossing. As it was still early morning most buffalos just
slowly walked across not paying much attention to their surroundings. One of
the bulls however challenged another and a push and shove match broke out just
in front of us. One slipped on the tar and therefore lost the match. The winner
instantly went around the other males with his nose in the air boasting that he
had won the fight, challenging others, but none took his bait. The one who lost
however started pushing some other bulls around to redeem himself.
It was
actually a double roadblock as in the background elephants were crossing too.
By the time we were past the buffalos most of the elephants were already
crossed, but here as well some of the bulls were in the mood for a fight. One
bull in must was trying to bully his way through the ranking as the girls were
not impressed. By the time it had all calmed down the girls had long gone and
all that was left was a juicy tree the bulls started eating from.
Pressing for
time we took a little loop around Pretoriuskop where we saw zebras crossing.
Back on Numbi tar we noticed a large smear of blood on the road. It had a
puddle that was still wet and some pieces of skin of what most likely was an
impala. Judging by the drag marks on the road towards the bush, this was
probably done by either a cheetah or a leopard. The impala definitely dead had
lost the last bit of poo that was inside of him as he was dragged away. As we
had passed this site in the last 45min, this was definitely recent (and
unfortunately we just missed it). So we searched the trees and bushes nearby
for movement and listened for any sound, but no such luck. All we got was a lot
of blood that told the story.
We also took a
quick look at the wild dog den, where we had been visiting the previous days.
However the dogs weren't on our side of luck this time as we saw one adult
walking and then lying down behind a rock. Judging by the amount of ears more
were lying down there, but they were mostly out of sight. So we took our drive
back to Numbi Gate and down to Nelspruit where we said goodbye to Michelle and
Byron as well as Eunice, Connie, Ji and Egosa. Hope you all enjoyed the tour at
least as much as I did! Thanks for joining us and have fun on the rest if your
travels!!
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