26 September 2014
Today we set
off fully loaded as all 9 guests joined me on the full day game drive. It
wasn't cold this morning, but a bit of overcast gave us hope for some good
sightings. We started of with a duiker on camp road. He was shocked we stopped
for him. So much so he stood frozen for a while before running away. Just long
enough for some pictures though.
Then we
followed Numbi tar and Napi where once again we spotted two harems of zebras,
the giraffe mum and her baby we saw on the first day were reunited, and some impalas. What followed was lots of
road with bush on the side with animals hiding out of sight. In other words we
saw nothing for a long time.
Then a car had
stopped on the side of the road. We joined them and saw a lovely white rhino
bull grazing quite close to the road. However the people in the car weren't
looking at him. We followed their gaze and there sat a leopard under a tree!
Once again we had a white rhino sighting with a leopard behind him. But this
time the leopard was better visible, as he got up and slowly walked to a
termite mount and lay down. We lost visual for a bit but then he got up again
and walked back where he came from to another termite mount. Then he completely
went down and we lost visual once again. This time he stayed put, so we
continued our drive.
After all the
excitement of following the leopard, seeing him, losing him, seeing him again
(and unfortunately for some, not seeing him at all), it was quiet all the way
till Skukuza. Here we stopped for coffee, where the rumors were also floating
around that there were lions on the river.
So after the
break we set off in that direction. We passed a lovely nyala bull, lots of
impalas, a giraffe in riverbed. When we arrived at high level bridge, where the
lions were reported, there was a traffic jam ahead of us. Slowly we moved up
the bridge, seeing 22 hippos resting in the water and on the sand, a goliath
heron flying away and then finally 4 lions under a bush in the shade and a
little further two out in the open on the sand. One by one those two got up and
walked to the shade just when we were at the exact right spot to see.
We didn't want
to get through the traffic jam again, so we continued down Marula tar. Here we
enjoyed sightings of buffalos, a group of nyala females and lots of impalas
before a small group of elephants crossed in front of us. There were many herds
already down in the riverbed drinking and even some big bulls on the opposite
side.
Then we heard
an angry elephant in the bush and decided to wait a little longer to see of
more were coming out. And we were rewarded! A herd of another 20 elephants
crossed in front, together with a lot of youngsters and even a little baby that
hadn't learned yet what to do with a trunk. The little thing was just dangling
in front of him while he walked underneath the bellies of the mother and the
aunties. He was so cute! We waited till the last elephant had crossed. This
grandmother was at the end of her lifespan and she was showing so. Her entire
body language was saying she had lived long enough.
After watching
the elephants we suddenly saw a marabou stork flying over. When we looked up,
we saw one, and another one, and then another! We think we saw at least 35 of
them suddenly circling down towards what is know as vulture beach. We tried to
find an open spot to get a nice picture but everywhere the branches obscured
our vision. But it was still an amazing sight.
Down at low
level bridge over the Sand river and then later the Sabie river we saw some
hippo heads sticking out of the water and a swimming crocodile. Then just
before we turned off to Skukuza we discovered another leopard. Again obscured
by branches but after staring for a while all of us had seen this one. He then
got up and left us through the bushes out of sight. And we were off to Skukuza
for a nice lunch break.
When we were
back on the road the animals had decided we had had enough luck for today and
they went into hiding. As it was hot and quiet we took a drive up Mathekanyane
to enjoy the view while standing in a nice breeze.
We continued our
way back down Napi, not stopping for a long drive. Near the end we noticed some
new animals again: a warthog that decided it was to hot to run away or care about
those humans in a car, a sable bull grazing far in the open fields at Shithave
Dam, a steenbok couple hanging out with a reedbuck couple, an elephant herd
hiding in between trees and some waterbuck. We finished our drive with the same
mother and baby giraffe we saw early this morning.
It was the end
of a long, hot but great day!
27 September 2014
This morning
we split up again as some of us went on a bushwalk, while others
preferred to come on a drive.
On the
bushwalk they focused on the littler things of the bush. The guests enjoyed it
very much. But this time they also encountered some big things. They had to
stand still and wait for a while when being sniffed out by elephants.
When they started walking in their direction some of them had a heartbeat that
was a little faster than normal. However it all ended ok. They even saw
a 1,5 meter snake skin of a black mamba on the way back.
On the game
drive we also had a snake story to share, as we saw a fresh snake track
across the Napi boulders. As a car just passed in front of us and there were
no car tracks other than our own over it, we just missed it.
Furthermore,
as we had taken a trip around Fayi Loop before driving to the Napi Boulders,
we had also seen some nice groups of zebras, herds of impalas,
kudus, and giraffes. At one sighting two duikers were hanging
out with a herd of impalas. After having taken all the pictures, it
was time to start the car. As predicted the two duikers sped off by hearing
the sound, while 99% of the impalas raised their head in alarm. Oh and
we also saw two male reedbucks fighting while the two females kept on
grazing without having the slightest interest in the outcome.
Carrying on in
the direction of Nkambeni Safari Lodge for the last time. We still
saw a steenbok and a white rhino bull that had just crossed the road and
not to forget, a full size herd of about 100 buffalos. This was a nice end to
the tour, as it was time to say goodbye to seven of the guests. Thanks
to Ina, Ton & Michel, Alex & Mike and Abhi & Shavhu (hope that is
correctly spelled) for joining us on this safari and hope all of you have a great
time on the rest of your travels, may it be one day, a few or another week!!
Enjoy!
In the
afternoon my two remaining guests, Bill & Sherry, joined in with Curtis' two
guests to go on another game drive. He has to write that update ;)
More coming
soon!!
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