30 October 2014
The start of a
new tour and after meet and greets we headed down Nelspruit to Numbi gate.
After the formalities of checking in at the gate we headed down to our first
rest camp which for tonight is Pretoriuskop. Along the way we found a couple of
zebra deep in the bush and then an elephant even further in the bush. We then
came to a much nicer, and closer, elephant sighting. A female herd with a
couple of youngsters including a calf about a year old. We sat and watched as
they moved closer to the vehicle and then crossed the road.
Once at Pk
restcamp we checked and while one of our guests went on a sunset drive the rest
of us went for a short drive around the area.
Immediately out
of the gate we found impala and then elephants walking away from us before
taking a loop around Shabeni. There we saw plenty of buffalo, vervets monkey
and babboons as well as kudu. Just before re-entering the camp we found a group
of banded mongoose scurrying across the road.
31 October 2014
An early start
this morning saw us taking a loop around Shabeni to begin where we found plenty
of impala and a large herd of buffalo with a solitary wildebeest hanging around
with them. We also spotted vervets and baboon as well as two klipspringer.
Back on numbi
we spotted a nice large giraffe walking around minding his own business.
Turning on to Napi we found a couple more giraffe. On boulders we found a herd
of sable but they moved off into the thick grass abruptly. We had a couple of
elephants at a distance before we turned up at the hyena den where five hyenas
were lazing around. Two of the guests also saw a couple of cubs before they disappeared
back in to their den. The next section was fairly quiet apart from impala and
kudu and even transport dam was subdued although we got a look at waterbuck. As
we turned back onto Napi we spotted a leopard standing close to the road,
we followed her as she walked occasionally moving further into the grass and
then coming back out. The leopard then crossed over the road before changing
its mind and re-crossing back over. By this time a lot of vehicles had gathered
around and she decided the best thing to do was climb up into a tree and chill.
After having such a great sighting too ourselves for quite a while we decided
to move off and let others have a look.
We headed down
to the golf club for an extended breakfast and sat and watched as a few hippos
moved along the dam to take a look at us. After breakie we took a drive around
the river where we found Bushbuck, nyala, dwarf mongoose and steenbok before
hearing about a possible lion sighting. Making our way to the lions we passed
elephants and buffalo as well lots of impala.
At the sighting
we found two female lionesses sleeping next to a watering hole.
Occasionally
they popped their head to look around and have a stretch but not much else.
Luckily they had chosen to lie down in a very clear area with nothing blocking
our view of them.
After leaving
the sighting we headed back to Skukuza for lunch along elloff which was
extremely quiet. With the exception of hippo on high level bridge and a couple
in the river we saw not much else before lunch.
After lunch we
headed back along Napi which until klipspringer koppies was also quiet. Just
past the koppies we found our second leopard of the day, this one lying up in a
marula tree about thirty meters in. We watched until the tale tell signs that
it was about to climb down and sure enough it did jump down. We thought that
was it but we managed to keep it in view for about ten minutes more as it
walked through the grass before disappearing. We then spotted three male
elephant who had been playing in the mud. We passed the hyena again and this
time managed to see the cubs a bit longer before they went back into the den. Other
sighting include warthog, kudu, duiker and Waterbuck before getting back to the
rest camp.
1 November 2014
This morning we
woke to a cold dull overcast start to the day and as we left the gate we found
our first animals virtually straight away in the shape of waterbuck, in
fact for the first kilometer we had just waterbuck sightings. Along Napi we
found elephant and buffalo. Shithave was quiet this morning with just the
nostrils of the hippo seen. Carrying on we found three hyena standing just next
to the road with a further three laying down close by, but the guests were more
interested in the little cubs which were playing around before they darted back
to the safety of the den. We then came across four large male elephants, one
of which was slowly walking down the road towards us. He eventually moved
on to the grass and we parked up and watched as all four walked by us just a
few meters from the road. We then found a couple of very nice rhino who were
busy eating very close to the road. Just before we stopped for breakfast we
found another hyena den with four adults hanging outside but no cubs to be seen
here. After breakfast things turned quieter but we still passed by lots of kudu
and impala as well as stopping for elephant. A trip round Shabeni and we found
a small herd of male buffalo with two of them clashing horns quite aggressively
trying to ascertain dominance as well as seeing baboons and Warthog.
Then it was
time to move down to Nkambeni lodge which is our home for the next two nights.
2 November 2014
The morning
started off much brighter today and we headed down Napi with the sun beating
down. Unfortunately Napi was extremely quiet this morning and although we saw
impala, kudu, zebra, buffalo and common duiker it wasn't the start we hoped
for. We then came across a nice herd of giraffe and a couple of elephants
before stopping for an early breakfast. Afterwards we set down along the river
and things started to pick up as we at first found buffalo and then a couple of
hippo out of the water. Plenty of impala and a few Bushbuck were out shone by
the hundred or so elephants we saw down in the river. We also had a nice look
at the African fish eagle as it quite violently called for its mate. Further
along we also saw the southern ground hornbill walking along the road searching
for a tasty morsel. We then found lions, five of them across the river lying
down in the shade. They had no intention of moving and although too far for a
good photo we had lots of time looking at them through the binoculars.
We then moved
onto a dam where we found hippos basking in the ever shrinking watering hole
and two warthogs.
At sunset dam
more hippos, lots of crocs and yellow-billed stork along with zebra and
giraffe.
I then heard
about a leopard sighting just down the road but alas it had gone, however it
did mean we ended finding a second lion sighting. This time four lions who were
unsuccessfully trying to hunt buffalo. We watched as they edged closer only to
be spotted and after twenty minutes of this game the buffalo had had enough and
chased the lions into the bush. With the lions disappearing it was time for us
to do the same and we went to lower sabie for lunch.
Afterwards, on
the way home, we drove past a lot of the stuff we had already seen but we did
get a nice baboon sighting close to the road and also a small group of
elephants cross over the road in front of us as they headed down to the river.
Napi was also
extremely quiet but we did have a close encounter with four bull elephants,
nice giraffe, zebra, kudu, impala, steenbok, Waterbuck and common duiker before
we got back to the lodge.
3 November 2014
The last day of
this tour and as always a good hearty breakfast before we checked out and left
the lodge to go on our last drive. Going the same route as yesterday our last
morning turned out to be considerably busier than yesterday. Once on Numbi tar
we found a small group buffalo before we passed waterbuck, impala, kudu and
zebra in quick succession. We then found a herd of elephant who were heading
into the bush so really we found a herd of elephant bums!! We turned onto Napi
and came across the final few stragglers of a herd of buffalo who had crossed
the road before we got there. We drove past the flat rocks and found only one
of the hyenas outside the den this morning before we came to a missed lion
sighting. Just as we turned up the second of two lions walked over the edge of
the rocks, where they have been laying, not to be seen again.
Moving on we
found plenty more general game before we found a lone bull elephant crossing
the road, he was obviously in a bad mood as we were about twenty meters from
him and he still gave us a disgruntled shake of the head. Taking this as a sign
we left him to chill and carried on. We were following a private car when
suddenly it braked and reversed quickly, as we approached I spotted why the
sudden maneuver, a leopard was sitting on the lower branch of a marula
tree. This was the same female leopard we had seen just a couple of days ago
and she was still very skittish around cars. Even being thirty meters away up
in a tree she didn't feel comfortable and as the number of vehicles increased
she decided she had had enough and jumped down from the tree and walked off
into the bush.
Heading down
watergat we found a tower of giraffe as well as impala, steenbok, kudu and baboons
before we turned onto Doispane where we found more giraffe with three of them
crossing the road in front of our vehicle. We headed down river road after
being told about a sighting and we indeed found two female lions lying
down on some rocks in the dry river bed. They were some way away so no great
photos but with binoculars we could still see them clearly. Eventually one got
up and moved down into the reeds while the other happily posed with head up.
Eventually we moved off leaving the sighting to others while we headed back up
doispane. Heading to the gate we came to across buffalo, elephant as well as
zebra, wildebeest, kudu and impala before we found hippo at Nyamundwa dam and a
brown snake eagle just after that.
Then it was time
to leave the park and transfer back to Nelspruit to the shuttle which was to
take the guest back to Johannesburg. Thank you James for joining us on this
tour. Safe onward journey and enjoy reliving all those great sightings you have
had over the last five days.
More coming
soon!!
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