On Safari With Mark From 17 February 2014

17 February 2014

Route: Numbi tar - Napi - Napi boulders - Napi - Nkambeni

General animals seen: Impala, Kudu, warthog, waterbuck

Fantastic rhino sightings this afternoon with a male, female and calf altogether approx 10m from our vehicle. All very relaxed, grazing on the short grass as the sun sets.

On boulders itself we found a buffalo bull walking along side of the road and as we approved it moved off into the long grass and politely lay down to rest.

On our return to camp we found a massive elephant bull right next to the road approximately 40m from camp gate.

Great start to the safari. Would love to show the guests a lion or leopard tomorrow morning as some of the guests are here on a quickie and return to JHB tomorrow morning.

 

18 February 2014

Route: Napi - Doispan - Albaseni - Nkambeni

General animals seen: giraffe, warthog, impala, waterbuck, blue wildebeest, zebra, hippos, rhino's and vervet monkeys

Rather quiet morning drive for the first part, then Curtis called to say he had found a male and female lion near doispan, albaseni junction.

We headed that way as the guests hadn't seen lions yet. As we approached the sighting, they got up and walked out onto the road heading directly for us. Great sighting experienced as both came walking past our vehicle. The female staying on the road and male choosing to walk past us in the grass next to the road. Guests could get great photos of these and all enjoyed the sighting

 

19 February 2014

Route: Napi - Doispan - Albaseni - Nkambeni

General sightings: kudu, impala, warthog, zebra, hippos,chackma baboon, waterbuck, hippos and  vervet monkeys

Came across the spotted Hyena on transport access road. Female with her siblings. Some still totally black in color.

After stopping for coffee, we heard about some lions up the road and decided to go in search of them. We found them under a tamboti tree. 3 sub adult males and 1 female.

Further to this the ride was rather quiet and not much was spotted from then on.

 

20 February 2014

Route: Napi - H3 - Napi - Shabeni - Nkambeni

General animals seen: giraffe, elephant, kudu, impala, buffalo, rhino, warthog, blue wildebeest, vervet monkeys

I decided to try the H3 this morning as I was informed that nothing was found on other roads.

On our return to Numbi gate we had some time to kill and still no leopard. The thought of saying goodbye to guests without seeing a leopard, was still in my head when a guest called out to stop.

There she lay on a fat Marola tree branch just watching the bush. Once we spent a few minutes she jumped down from the tree and walked out into the road just ahead of us. All guests let rip with their digital cameras and many great photos taken.

Everyone was happy with what the bush had to offer and for the last two guests we will just try to get lions in a better position than yesterday.

 

Keep watching for more!

On Safari With Karen From 15 February 2014

15 February 2014

I picked up the new guests at Numbi gate. We checked in at Nkambeni Lodge, where we had lunch and a relaxing afternoon at the pool before our first game drive. We were only going out for a short drive, just to get an introduction to what may come, but they had already spotted hippo and buffalo while lounging at the pool.

As soon as we... went out of the gate we stumbled upon a nice large herd of impalas. We then followed the tar road to Pretoriuskop and did a loop around the area. We spotted zebras and kudus along the way.

We analysed the differences between elephant dung and that of white rhino and buffalo. And following some very fresh dung we stumbled upon a small herd of elephants feeding. After watching them for a while we took a loop around Shabeni and found vervet monkeys sitting in trees, kudus, more impalas and had a very close encounter with a big bull elephant. He stood in the bush and came walking onto the road towards us and he was so big that only one of us would fit on the road. Unfortunately he had to be told that we were there first and he had to get off the road to pass us. It was a breathtaking moment for some of the guests!

We then returned to the lodge and found the white rhino that holds a territory in that area. He was leisurely feeding and rumbling his face and horn on the tree stump nearby.

We returned just in time for gate closing time after a very successful first drive!

16 February 2014

We left this morning after breakfast and stumbled straight upon a herd of impalas. Then we drove the route Albassini - Doispane to see what we could find on a longer morning drive. We saw a duiker crossing the road quickly and also a male waterbuck was running away from us. At Mestel Dam we saw the hippos playing in the water before they would go to sleep.

Apparently this morning was the day that everything would run away from us as when we stop to look at a water monitor in quickly moved off into the grass not to be seen again. And a 100meters onward there was a nice buffalo standing still for a couple of seconds before walking off too. We stopped to look at some birds, like a white fronted bee eater, European roller, yellowbilled hornbill, which promptly flew off...

After that it calmed down a bit. We did spot zebras hiding in the long grass, kudus between the bushes and had some lovely elephant sightings. While we were watching a big bull elephant we got a tip there were lions and we changed course to see if we would be lucky. On the way we saw a nice elephant herd feeding close by the road, but after a short stop we drove on. We did indeed get to see the lions, five females, a young male and an adult male, but soon after we arrived one by one they got up and walked down the riverbed towards a nice shady spot out of sight. Just making sure they stuck to the theme of today.

We had our coffee break at Skukuza after which we turned down Napi aiming back for the camp. Shortly after we saw 4 very fat warthogs right next to the road digging in elephant dung and eating the undigested scraps. We also encountered a large family of baboons, had an elephant with youngster crossing the road in front of us and sat watching a very large herd of buffalo for a while before it was so hot that we continued driving to have some wind cooling us down.

After lunch and some relaxation time at the pool we went out this afternoon again for a short drive. It was still very hot so most of the drive was very quiet. The hippos at Mestel Dam were almost entirely submerged and then we had to wait till shabeni loop to see animals. In one spot we then saw warthogs, impalas, vervet monkeys and kudus. We also spotted dwarf mongooses and when we stood still for a while they came back in the road to play.

On the way to Shitlhave Dam we saw two leopard tortoises in one spot. The small one had a lot of attention for the hindquarters of the other one, which was at least twice its size. We thought they were going to mate, which would have been a funny sighting judging by their size difference, but they took too long before anything happened and we were running out of time... Who knows what happened later when nobody was watching ?!

17 February 2014

This morning we once again left the lodge after an early breakfast. The impalas hadn't left camp road yet and shortly after a white rhino was lying in the drainage line very close to the road. We kept on watching him for a while but apparently he didn't want to do an early morning so we left him still sleeping.

On Napi we encountered elephants and more impalas, baboons, leopard tortoises and warthog. We stopped at Transport Dam where there were hippos in the water close by, woolly necked storks doing a mating dance, waterbuck and lots of water birds. Also a dead impala was lying on the opposite shore, but nothing ate it. We were told wild dogs were there but after waiting for 30min nothing had move so we decided to continue.

Close to Skukuza we saw two male giraffe having a very half-hearted fight. There was no female around so they had nobody to show off to. Or maybe the female had gotten bored and moved on. That was what we did after a while. When entering in Skukuza we saw vervet monkeys on the fence inside the camp and there were buffalo on the riverbank.

On the way back we took another shot at Transport Dam but once again no wild dogs. However zebras had joined the ranks with the waterbuck and a baby waterbuck was having a run-like-you're-crazy moment so that was fun to watch!

Then a call came in from Curtis who had found two leopards. We speeded up the pace to maximum allowed to see if we would get there in time and we were so lucky, we just made it! One leopard was lounging in the tree, the other invisible on the ground. But we had an excellent sight of the one in the tree who scratched the tree, stretched and after a while got up and jumped down. We followed it down the road but it was rather wary of the cars so it shot back into the high grass. We saw it standing next to us for a little while until it disappeared completely into the thick bush. That was our cue and we returned back to the camp for lunch.

Our afternoon drive was short but sweet. We saw two separate elephants before we went down to Shithave Dam and watched the world go by slowly. At this nice tranquil spot a pied kingfisher kept us busy while he was fishing. He made a couple of dives but he wasn't successful.

We continued to Mestel Dam where the hippos were starting to wake up and were playing in the water. We also saw a giraffe on the opposite side. When it was time to go we drove back straight to the camp only stopping for kudus crossing the road and just before we arrived at our lodge this big bull elephant was in the way. As his bulk was quite a lot more than our teeny tiny little vehicle, we decided to give him right of way. He came from our right onto the road and there was nothing left to do then wait and then slowly followed him down the road. About 20meters before the lodge gates he turned off, distracted by marulas, and we could finally finish to enter the camp!

18 February 2014

Today we were going out for a full day safari so after a hearty breakfast we left for our trip. Curtis had found some lions already so we went up Albassini in the hope we would get a glimpse. On the way we had zebras crossing the road and lots of impalas.

We arrived at the sighting on the tar to Phabeni gate with the lions close by the road but lying flat in the grass. We decided to wait to see if they would get up but before we had settled in too nicely Curtis called he found some others and they were walking on the road 500meters up ahead. So off we went and we got a lovely sighting of a male and female lion walking in front of us. After a while those lions split up and we stayed behind watching the male while a lot of other cars kept on following the female. As the lions were getting skittish we decided to give them a bit more space and left the sighting to go back to the first sighting of lions. There we made ourselves comfortable and waited. And waited.... And waited... As it was male and female as well we thought it would be a mating pair but after watching them snooze for over an hour we knew it wasn't to be. We decided to leave them and continue our journey.

We drove for about 3km on Doispane when we suddenly saw the male lion of the ones that walked away earlier, sniffing a tree right on the side of the road. He then crossed right behind us and continued in the direction of the cross roads. We turned around and saw him walking towards us and cross in front of us on the cross roads. He then disappeared into the bush and we continued our way to Nyamundwa Dam.

We had a great sighting of two white Rhinos lying in the water to cool down. There were hippos in the water and impalas and wildebeest on the opposite site.

We then continued our way towards Skukuza golfclub where we would have lunch. On the way we saw a couple of bull elephants, waterbuck, bateleurs and a great martial eagle that flew over us, circled back around us and then sat in a tree to get yelled at by hamerkops.

After lunch we decided it was getting really hot for a game drive and some air-conditioning would be nice. As the wind only blows while driving, air-conditioning, it meant we would only stop for something special. We spotted but didn't stop for giraffe, kudus, impalas, bull elephants and wildebeest, but did have a quick stop at a small and later on a big herd of elephants.

To top off today’s awesome drive our new animal of today was hyenas. At a den site the mother was lying in the shade feeding her two young cubs and we also saw one cub that was a little older than the 2 babies and 2 youngsters. This was a great sighting and we stayed until the heat became unbearable.

We returned to the lodge for a play in the pool before dinner. It was our last drive as we decided to have a lie-in tomorrow before the transfer back to Jo'burg. It was a great five days! Thanks to Charlotte, Sunny, Isa, August, Eirik and Inga for joining us on this safari!

Keep watching for more!!

On Safari With Curtis From 17 February 2014

17 February 2014

Today two of my guests were leaving so I decided to aim for specific sightings, just those that we hadn't seen yet and those which we hadn't had the best viewings of. We left the lodge at 06:30 and headed down Albasini making just brief stops at the Rhino and Elephants we came across. We then spotted Zebra and Wildebeest close up and w...ere able to have a nice clear sighting of both. Along doispane we also spotted Leopard Tortoise, Impala and Kudu before we found a troupe of Baboons, something we hadn't found yet on this tour.

After turning onto Watergut we also found Impala, more Zebra and Wildebeest, Kudu, Giraffe, a brief glimpse of Dwarf Mongoose and Common Duiker. As we come to the end of the road I was stopped and informed of a sighting at Transport Dam. I made my way there and sure enough we came across a pack of African Wild Dog. Apparently they had been eating an Impala which was stolen by a Crocodile. However it was nice to see them and the array of Vultures which had descended around them. There was also Waterbuck and Zebra at the dam.

After we left the dam we moved on and things were quite quiet when a member of the public flashed me down and told me of a leopard sighting just down the road. Big thanks to that person as when we got to the location I spotted not just one but two Leopards in a marula tree. However as we pulled up one of them jumped straight down and we never saw it again, the second one stayed in the tree and we spent a good 20 minutes at the sighting before leaving him. Before we got to Numbi gate we also spotted more Elephants and Rhino as well as Impala and Vervet monkeys.

I then said goodbye to two of my guests, Manish and Aaron before they set off for new adventures. Enjoy Cape Town !!!

18 February 2014

Leaving the lodge early in the morning I hadn't got no more than a kilometre down the road when I was informed of a Lion sighting on the Doispane road. I turned around and started to make my way to the area of the sighting. As we drove we found Impala and Elephant.

When we got to the area of the Lion sightings both male and female were having a bit of a siesta in the shade, we sat with them for about 40 minutes and got a few moments when the male popped his head up and had a look at us, the female still just lounging around. It didn't seem that they were going to move any time soon so I said to the guests we would take a short drive to Nyamundwa dam and then return to the Lions a bit later.

On the drive to the dam we came across Zebra, Wildebeest and more Impala while at the dam itself there was Buffalo and Hippo. After a while we headed back to the Lions who hadn't moved an inch, we carried on watching, hoping for some movement but it was not to be. I turned around and headed back down the road when just a few hundred metres from the original sighting we found ourselves watching a second male and female pair of Lions standing on the road. They seemed a bit surprised by our vehicle and moved quickly into the long grass where we lost visual. I slowly turned and moved down towards the first pair of Lions hoping the second pair would join them, unfortunately they didn't. We moved off again and sure enough a few hundred metres down the road we found the second pair again lying by the road, this time they didn't move off and started to walk down the road. We followed at a distance for some time until the pair split up, the female still on the road the male moving into the bush. We got a few more glimpses of the male before he disappeared completely.

After leaving the Lions we headed back down Albasini finding Impala, Giraffe, Kudu, Waterbuck, Elephants and Baboon before getting to Numbi gate, this is where the tour ended for two of my guests who are heading down to Cape Town.

The rest of us headed back to camp for some lunch, a sleep and a swim before my remaining guests go out on their night drive. Details about that tomorrow.

19 February 2014

Today was the last of this particular tour and so we were up early to go for a short drive before heading out of the park. On the drive we came across Elephant, Rhino , Buffalo, Impala, Kudu and a brief glimpse of a family of Banded Mongoose who quickly scurried back into the long grass when they saw us coming.

On leaving we headed down to Nelspruit for my remaining guests to be transferred to Johannesburg. Big thanks to Brian, Andrea, Manish, Aaron, Ashley, Clay, Dennis, Sarah and Mish for their company over the last few days. I hope you all enjoyed the amazing sightings we had as much as I did.

Keep watching for more!!

Media Release

Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs welcomes some of the provisions contained in the London Declaration on Illegal Wildlife Trade.. Follow the link to view http://www.sanparks.org/about/news/default.php?id=56001

Illegal Hunters Paid Admission Of Guilt Fines

Illegal hunters have appeared in the Makhado Magistrates court today, Monday 17 February 2014 on charges of hunting illegally on the farm Den Staat which is an open system to the Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site, situated outside Musina in Limpopo.

Their appearance follows the arrest of a SANParks employee, Michael Sematla in January ...this year who is out on bail after facing similar charges.

Eleven (11) of the hunters were issued admission of guilt fines by the Magistrate court. The fines range between R1 500.00 and R4 500.00 depending on what animals were hunted, which brings the total amount paid to R37 000.00.

The case of one of the hunters was postponed and the accused will appear alongside Mr Sematla on 7 March 2014. The prosecution of the hunters and the SANParks employee follows months of investigations after a giraffe carcass was found with three bullet shots in the park. The SANParks Environmental Crime Investigative Unit was instrumental in the arrest and the fines paid by some of the hunters.

For previous media statements please go to www.sanparks.org

Issued by:
South African National Parks Corporate Communications

On Safari With Curtis From 13 February 2014

13 February 2014

Picking up my two guests at Numbi gate at 11:00 hours we went straight to our overnight accommodation at Nkambeni Tented Lodge, after the guests had settled in they went down for a bit of lunch and a bit of a rest ready for their first safari.

Luckily at 15:00 hours the worst of the rain had moved on and so we set off on our drive. W...e came across Impala, Kudu, Cape Buffalo and Waterbuck just on the lodges camp road. As we headed down Napi towards Shithave dam we spotted more Kudu and Impala and then Elephant at the dam. We also spotted a couple of very wet sorry looking rollers as well as Grey Heron and Egyptian Geese at the dam.

Heading back the way we came we found Waterbuck, Kudu, a couple of small herds of Elephants and more Impala. We also came across a lovely large male Rhino who headed straight towards the vehicle and at one stage was just a couple of metres away from us. We also saw a large herd of Cape Buffalo, they were quite a way in the distance but it was still nice to see the movement of the herd.

After dinner an early night for everyone as it's an early start for us tomorrow.

14 February 2014

Leaving the lodge early we headed down spotting a very nice male Rhino, Elephants, Waterbuck, Kudu, Impala, Zebra, Giraffe and Hippo. We then turned onto Watergut where we found more Impala and Giraffe as well as numerous bird species including Rollers, Drongos, Hornbills and African Hoopoes and Cape Glossy Starlings. We also found Dwarf Mongoose and Tree Squirrel close to one another. As we continued we also spotted more Kudu, Giraffe and Impala and Vervet monkeys and a couple of White-backed Vultures and a Brown-Snake Eagle.

Turning onto Doispane we were driving along when one of the guests shouted 'Lion' and there he was, standing just a few metres from the vehicle a large Male Lion. We followed him for about twenty metres before he decided he'd walked far enough and flopped to the ground in the shade of the bushes. We spent time just watching him as he relaxed and then carried on heading to the Skukuza golf club for an early lunch.

After lunch we stopped off at Lake Panic Bird Hide where we had a lovely sighting of Hippo and a large Crocodile as well as plenty of birds including three species of Kingfisher, Water Thick-Knee and African Jacana. We carried on and came across a small herd of Nyala and then found the Male Lion again. He had moved about 500metres in the last two hours but this time he was much more shy and didn't even pop his head up from the bushes. Moving on we came across more Elephants, Impala, Kudu, Giraffe, Hippo as well as a solitary Reedbuck. We also had the time to stop at some of the smaller things in the park including both the Leopard Tortoise and the Hinged Tortoise as well as the Dung Beetle rolling his ball.

After we got back to camp a short break for the guests before they set off on their Sunset drive.

15 February 2014

This morning it was time for my guests to go on their bushwalk. Accompanied by two armed rangers from Nkambeni they set off. It turned out to be a great walk with sightings of Wildebeest, Impala, Zebra, Hyena and a crash of four Rhino. But it wasn't just about the mammals, they also enjoyed the numerous birds and the smaller things like the Golden Orb spiders and their webs.

While my guests recovered from their bushwalk excursions I went to pick up four more guests from Numbi gate, after getting them checked in and having lunch it was back on the vehicle for the afternoon drive.

We headed down Numbi tar spotting Impala, Kudu, Zebra and Wildebeest. We came across a mother and calf Rhino, waterbuck and more Impala. It was beginning to get quiet when we came across a nice male Elephant, while at the sighting we were informed about a group of Lions further down the road. These lions had been spotted in the same place earlier in the morning so I thought we probably had a good chance of still seeing them. We drove down to the area where they had been seen and sure enough there was a female lion with three older cubs. No sooner had we stopped then a member of the public informed us that four large males were walking down the road just a kilometre away. As the female and her cubs had been lying in the same spot for at least 6 hours I thought there was a good chance they would stay there for a while longer so we went off in pursuit of the other sighting.

It was a good decision as a couple of minutes later we were following in the footsteps of the four males. An incredible sighting as they just walked with the arrogant swagger of animals that know they are the boss in their territory. We followed them for ten minutes, getting loads of great photos and memories which will last a lifetime, before turning round and heading back to the other lions.

After we had spent some time with the female and her cubs we had to head for home. But we still had time for another wonderful sighting as we found a female hyena babysitting three older cubs and two young cubs who were still completely black with no spots at all. We sat watching the cubs play as the adult slept paying no attention to us or the other vehicles. Further down the road we came across Kudu, Giraffe, Elephants and as always Impala. As we neared the lodge we had one more treat as we came across a large male Rhino standing right next to the road. We watched for a while before he headed off and we headed into our lodge for the night.

16 February 2014

An early start and straight away we came across Impala and Kudu just outside the lodge gate. We drove on spotting Elephants, Impala, Waterbuck, Kudu and Hippo, Cape Buffalo, Giraffe, Klipspringer and a Leopard Tortoise before heading down to Numbi gate to drop off two of my guests who were being transferred to Johannesburg. As we waited at Numbi I heard a rustle in the grass and suddenly just 15 metres from us stood a huge White Rhino. We watched him as he watched us and then he started to move across the car park allowing everyone to get some great photos. We also had an Elephant walk across the road further down the road.

We set off again in the afternoon, with the sun still burning strongly, and it turned out to be an afternoon packed full of sightings of Elephants and Rhino. We also had sightings of Impala, Kudu, Hippo, Vervet Monkeys, Klipspringer, Waterbuck, Warthog and Zebra.

Keep watching for more!

On Safari With Karen From 13 February 2014

13 February 2014

After 3 scorching hot days somebody had done a rain dance last night and it had worked. We woke up to a rainy morning and instead of diminishing it increased during the morning. Even though it was nice being a bit cooler we could have done without the rain.

We left after breakfast for a drive down Napi to find what was out there. It w...as a quiet stretch as apparently the rain made the animals shy. We encountered a couple of elephants close to the road feeding, but otherwise even the impalas were in hiding.

Nevertheless we once again found a new animal today, a klipspringer! And just then the call came in about a lioness on the road. We followed up on the tip and were lucky to see her walking towards us with an escort of about 15 other cars behind her. We stopped so she walked past our vehicle and she came quite close. She was roaring, calling out to presumably her lost pride members. While the rest of the cars followed her we had to turn around and decided to stay at a distance since we had such a good sighting. We stopped waiting for the road to clear when the lioness decided it was better looking the other way and she had turned around. This time just in the bush, but close to the road, once again she walked past our vehicle and once again she was followed by an amount of cars that had now doubled. While trying to make our way in the opposite direction out of the sqaubble she had turned again and we were a third time lucky to have her pass our vehicle and now she was roaring quite adamantly. We felt the car vibrate through her roars and decided now it was really time to let her be. We left the sighting while even more safari cars showed up and we were told later that she had found at least two more members of her pride.

On the way to our coffee break we saw more elephants, giraffe, vervet monkeys, leopard tortoises and after a long search some impalas.

The coffee was nice and warm on this rainy day and after the warm-up we needed to make way to the gate as some of our members were saying goodbye. But before we were on our way Mark called in a leopard in a tree. Pushing our luck we followed up on the sighting and just before we got there it had jumped down. We searched and searched but didn't spot her. But time was an issue so we unfortunately had to leave the sighting. We were a mere 500m away when the call came to return as she had just climbed into another tree. We turned and just as we arrived at the scene she was lying in a tree, looked up, got up and jumped out of the tree out of sight. 30 seconds and it was worth it! Would you believe our luck!

But now we ran out of time so we headed back to the gate. We had no more time left to properly stop at a sighting but we could point out more impalas, kudus, leopard tortoises, a chameleon and three white rhinos.

At the gate we said our goodbyes to Gaby and Michael who were a great part of the group. Morgan, Terry and Maggie are staying another night to overcome all the excitement from the last few days and will transfer back to Johannesburg tomorrow. You guys were a fantastic group, I thank you for joining me on this safari!!

14 February 2014

Today I picked up the guests at the airport and with very variable weather we made our way through the plantations towards Numbi Gate. As soon as we entered Kruger Park we stumbled upon a herd of impala. We checked in into Nkambeni Lodge, our home for tonight and after lunch we went on our first game drive.

As soon as we were ready to go it was pouring down with rain, but undeterred we set off. We turned into Albassini following rumours that there might be lions in that direction far ahead. After a quiet start we saw kudu bulls and had our first elephant not far from the road. A dwarf mongoose was sitting on a tree stump but disappeared as soon as we stopped.

In the meantime it had stopped raining and bravely we had taken off our ponchos. On Doispane we saw guineafowls, a very well hidden steenbok , more impalas, wildebeest, zebra, warthog and giraffe. Of course it also had started raining again.

When it dried up we saw a lovely rainbow and Filip took one for the team and kept his poncho on. Then Melanie spotted movement and thought it was a lioness. As we were coming close to the spot where the rumoured lions should be we stopped and scouted around. We saw a leopard sitting on a rock, but that was not where she had seen the lion. We looked a bit more and found a second leopard close by! Two leopards in one spot, what a great sighting! Both were sitting up so we were hoping they would get up, but one by one they put their head down and eyes closed so we knew there wasn't going to be more to this show.

We continued our search but did not spot the rumoured lions. The time had come to make our way back to the lodge as the gates would close soon. On our way back we saw a family of baboons walking in the road, two reedbucks, a zebra crossing the road, more giraffes (also crossing), waterbuck more wildebeest, and two separate herds of elephants.

We stopped at Mestel dam for a good look at the hippos playing in the water and were surprised by a white rhino walking and grazing on the opposite side. And to top it all off, just before we got back to the gate a dung beetle was rolling his dung ball across the road. Once he had passed we drove the last bit and finished for today. It was dry as long as Filip had kept his poncho on, but what do you know, as soon as he took it off to go to his room... downpour!!

We had a very wet but good start, now bring on tomorrow!

15 February 2014

After breakfast this morning the bags were once again packed in the vehicle and we drove off for the last game drive of this safari. After being incredibly lucky yesterday we were hoping to find something new.

We drove along Napi and started off really quiet with a long stretch of nothing. We saw a duiker cross the road quickly in front of us, an elephant and leopard tortoises in different sizes (small, medium and large) and we'd been driving for two hours already when we spotted a small troop of baboons in a tree.

We were heading for an early coffee break when we saw cars ahead and got excited. But apparently we just missed a leopard that had crossed the road and now had disappeared into the bush. We thought our luck had run out when we heard about another leopard so we changed course. And man, were we lucky. She was lounging in a tree just off the road, snoozing, washing herself and snoozing again. At one time she even sat up, it was a brilliant sighting.

We continued on the S114 towards the S112 where we then spotted 6 lions lying on a rock. They were about 100meters in but we had good visibility as there was only 1 other car at the sighting. The females and youngsters were deep asleep, so the only movement we got was the twitch of an ear.

After watching this for a while we continued down Napi again towards our long overdue coffee break. We were told about another leopard not far away, but as we just had a brilliant sighting and were spoiled yesterday and were in need of a toilet break we decided not to pursue this sighting.

On the way though we saw an elephant crossing the road in front of us, two white rhinos, wildebeest, giraffe, zebras and kudus. Unbelievably we stopped next to a car at a sighting and he told us about the leopard in the tree a little further in the bush. We looked and there it was! The best sighting was our first leopard of the day, but who can say no to watching another one when you are already there?!

After the long overdue coffee and a just in time toilet break we headed back towards Numbi gate for the end of our safari. We were still lucky in seeing more elephants, zebras, wildebeest and impala. We arrived early at the parking lot at Numbi reception so we walked around and swapped stories about trees and bushes as Filip works in a nursery back home. When the transfer arrived it was time to say goodbye. Melanie and Filip, it was great having you! I hope you'll enjoy the rest of your holiday just as much!

Keep watching for more!!