6 November 2014
Another day on
this safari and today we were going to spend all day in the park. We started as
always when we stay at Nkambeni after breakfast. Camp road was quiet, but on
Numbi tar we got sightings of dwarf mongoose hanging out with a male waterbuck
and two cardinal woodpeckers just after Numbi Reception. Then a little further
down the road we saw some zebras quite close to the road, a buffalo herd far in
the background and spread out in the bush and we had a sighting of giraffes
traveling together with a group of zebra. Three bull elephants we munching on
the trees just before the Napi turn-of. One of them was in must and he started
pestering the other two, so obviously he was in a grumpy mood and didn't want
anybody too close. Taking the hint we continued on our way.
Down Napi we
got plenty more zebra sightings and of course plenty of impala. As the raining
season has started, impala birthing season should start soon, so every impala
herd has been inspected of newborns, but so far no luck. We did encounter kudus
and steenbok. A fresh pile of poo from rhino was spotted with many dung
beetles. And as competition for the best dung is fierce, the beetles started
rolling it away in every direction as soon as they had something that was sort
of rollable. One brave dung beetle rolled a pile of dung that was almost like a
rectangle and it looked more like flipping than rolling. And there were still
about 30 dung beetles in the pile of poo itself searching for the best bits
leftover. So all this was a great and sometimes hilarious sight, then why
didn't we think having it in the middle of the road was such a good idea? Well,
have you ever tried to drive around a pile of poo with dung beetles scattering
it in every direction, without driving over any of them? Well, it took us quite
some time...
Just past the
Napi boulders a lone hyena was safe guarding the den site as the little ones
were probably sleeping inside. It was already getting quite hot, so it was
fully understandable. Then further on towards Skukuza it was a quiet drive.
Apart from a red crested korhaan, Cape glossy starlings and some elephants in
the distance, we reached Skukuza with some time to spare.
Then after
break we drove along Doispane where we suddenly came to a site where one car
was standing still and the people looking in the distance. "Lions"
she says, so we instantly looked in the same direction. And there they were
indeed. Hard to spot with the naked eye, but easy to see with binoculars (and
once you know where they were you could see them with the naked eye too). We
spotted at least three females, but they were a bit restless: lying down,
getting up, walking a short distance, lying down again. Nonetheless a very good
lion sighting.
A short drive
further we stood still again, but this time for a herd of elephants and not too
far off two big big bulls. We could only assume they were checking out the
ladies, but it certainly looked like they were. On the opposite side of the
road we noticed some beautiful kudu bulls as well. Furthermore we came across a
small group of wildebeests before we got
to Phabeni Gate. Here we sadly had to say goodbye to Eulee and Nick, who have
brought a lot of luck on their safari tour! It was great having you (and all
the luck you brought) on this safari and I hope you have just as a great time
in Cape Town! Thanks for joining us.
Then together
with Max an Laura, who were still remaining on this tour we took a scenic drive
down Riverroad. A beautiful drive with changing landscapes and most of the time
lots of sounds of the bush protruding the silence. We heard the beautiful tones
of the grey headed bush-shrike, gorgeous bush-shrike, cicadas, a brubru, black
collared barbets, African hoopoe, fish eagles, greater honeyguide, elephants in
the distance and even the scream of the lilac breasted roller. On top of that
we also enjoyed sightings of a family of warthogs with 7 small piglets, a
crowned hornbill in addition to the yellow-billed hornbill, elephants hiding in
the shade and shielding their sleeping babies from the sun, a black headed
oriole, vervet monkeys, both male and female bushbucks and the rare and
endangered ground hornbills.
On the last
stretch before Skukuza, on Kruger road, we noticed a white-backed vulture nest.
One bird was sitting on it in the full sun, and if we looked closely with
binoculars we could identify the chick in the nest she was shielding from the
sun.
During lunch
at Skukuza we had lunch with a show. A herd of elephants found lunchtime the
perfect time to have a drink in the river in front of the restaurant, and the
drink was thoroughly enjoyed both by the elephants as well as by us watching
them. A pretty coloured tree agama was spotted on the way back to the vehicle.
Then down Napi
it went, where once again we could add a new animal to this tour: a troop of
baboons was resting and feeding next to the road. Suddenly a lot of uproar when
a youngster most likely had done something it wasn't supposed to. One of the big
king males had to discipline the youngster and the youngster screamed murder!
All havoc broke loose when the king chased the youngster all around and the
rest of the troop scattered for safe havens.
While driving
we came past so many elephant and white rhino sightings that in the end we
didn't even stop for them anymore. It was pointed out, but we didn't stop
anymore. It was getting hot, almost too hot to stop, but then we were spoiled
rotten with sightings! However we did definitely stop for a sighting of sable
antelopes. Another new animal of this tour, but also a great sightings as we
don't see them too often. These shy animals like to hide in the bush. We could
see three of them clearly with binoculars, but judging by movement and patches
of brown and white more we hiding in the bush beyond.
The last bit
of today's long drive we did come across giraffes, zebras, waterbuck, a black
bellied bustard on a hill trying to shout for the ladies and having the higher
ground aiming to reach further. And we noticed trees full of white backed
vultures. This is normally the case when a dead animal is lying around waiting
to be eaten, but where ever we looked, no such dead animal was found (or
smelled). In the end we gave up, satisfied with having seen just the vultures
without their food source. It had been a long, but very great day!!
7 November 2014
This morning
we started wet and cold. Not my favorite way to start the day, so all hopes
were on the weather forecast that predicted warmer and sunnier times. Alas, by
the time I am writing this we are still waiting for that sunshine. It did
however dry up, so at least it was just one of the least favorite things on
game drive: cold. We started with a sighting of a yellow-billed kite eating
what looked like a leg bone (os femoris to be exact) from a small mammal, like
a rabbit or something.
Then on the
road towards Napi we saw a couple of elephant bulls and later one in must.
Buffalos had no fun in this morning weather either and they were still trying
to wake up before a breakfast munch. We saw waterbuck, impalas, lilac breasted
rollers and a red-crested korhaan doing his suicidal display before we reached
the hyena den. This time we were lucky as the hyenas had decided it wasn't too
hot to sleep outside. We counted at least 4 adults and 5 pups lying scattered
around the high grass to have a rest. Bateleurs were flying in the background
giving us an aerial show at the same time.
We enjoyed the
view from the top of Mathekanyan. We also spotted baboons walking along the
round down below, so we decided to get back in the truck and drive down to have
a closer look. The youngsters were playing while the older ones and the mums
with young babies retreated into the quiet corner. Then we also came across a
big male warthog as well as two more hyenas just before our break-time at
Skukuza.
We then drove
down a new road for this tour: Ellooff. We had gotten a tip there might be wild
dogs around, but while we looked real close on the said spot, no dogs were
found. We did see a slender mongoose crossing the road, a common grey duiker on
bravo loop, and a family of green woodhoopoes, when suddenly the wild dogs were
lying next to the road. A little further in there were more dogs walking around
and some were chasing white-backed vultures. However the vultures kept
returning to a spot obscured by bushes and we did see one wild dogs chewing on
something, so we deduced they must have made a kill in the dense bush. The ones
lying down in plain sight looked indeed quite full and nothing could disturb
them.
We continued
our drive having many sightings of impalas on the side of the road and we saw
some lovely vervet monkeys. Then we got a tip about lions on the Tshokwane tar.
We decided to have a go and while passing zebras and buffalos on the way, we
made it indeed to the lions. Three young males were lying in the high grass so
at first we only saw some ears wiggle. If you haven't been on a safari in the
winter or just after, you should know that the colour yellow of the lion is an
exact match to the yellow of the dry grass. So even though these lions were
just about 20 meters away from us, they were mostly invisible. We decided to
wait patiently for a while and to see what would happen when more and more cars
came to look at those wiggling ears. Well, to be honest, not much. Until one
male decided to get up and find another spot to lie down. And when that was
apparently a worse spot, he returned to his original hiding place. And that was
all we got for staring at grass for 30min! But those two minutes of seeing a
full lion up close was definitely worth it!
We turned
around and drove back towards Marula tar to return to Skukuza. On the way we
saw a Burchell's coucal, also know as the rain bird, but luckily it stayed
quiet, saw a lovely elephant herd drinking in the dam and caught the tail end
of an elephant herd crossing the road towards the river for a drink, a couple
of bushbucks, some steenboks, more buffalos and just before Skukuza 4 giraffes.
We had our
lunch once again at Skukuza, since the detour to see the lions gave us a
limited time frame to go someplace else. Then off we went, once again along
Napi. This time we saw a giraffe munching quite close to the road and our new
animal of today was a klipspringer on Klipspringer Koppies (if you ever
wondered where the name came from, now you know).
And then
suddenly, out of the corner of our eye, we saw something move. Out in the open
was walking ... a leopard!! Our abrupt stopping maneuver got noticed, so we got
an evil eye and then he continued walking as if nothing was following him. We
kept up with him while he walked alongside us, about 10 meters in the bush. And
then he decided to cross the road just behind us. As other cars had turned up
he did it at a bit of a trot, but then walked slowly on the other side. We kept
following until he settled down just behind a fallen tree where he found
something to munch on. It looked like a warthog leg and he started chewing on
it as if his life depended on it. Well, he was looking a bit slim, but not so
much he wouldn't be able to hunt. So while he was munching this afternoon
snack, the sighting got busier with cars and as he didn't seem to want to walk
any further we decided to leave him. It was however once again third time lucky
as we missed a leopard sighting by minutes already twice this morning! That's
how life can be in the bush.
We continued
down Napi where we were entertained by various sightings like
a tree
squirrel, plenty steenboks, even more elephants, , scattered sightings of buffalo
bulls, the same hyenas as this morning, just less obvious, kudus, dwarf
mongoose and a black bellied bustard that was standing on the exact same hill
as yesterday. He was real though as he was making his very recognizable sound
as if he blows a bubble. We finished as we started with a sighting of a
yellow-billed kite, however he had finished eating by now.
8 November 2014
Another cloudy
and drizzly morning, but we set off anyways hoping the
weather would
be better. On camp road we encountered some waterbucks and a duiker that ran
away once we stopped to look at it. We drove Numbi tar towards Pretoriuskop to
take one of the loops. A warthog walked ahead of us on the side of the road,
showing us the way. On the loop a leopard was seen this morning, but we
unfortunately had missed it. We did get to see a nice elephant show of a male
trying to impress a female. Either he was doing yoga, just trying to separate
her from the other elephants in her group or maybe even proposing, fact is that
we saw him doing all kinds of weird stretches and that he went down on his
knees for her. Either way, she was not impressed and when he forgot for a split
second to cut her off, she crossed the road and rejoined the others. For one of
the young ones in the group, this was probably the first encounter with an
adult male as he kept sniffing the air and looked rather stressed and
uncomfortable.
Then we turned
onto Napi where an elephant bull in must blocked our way. He was a smelly dude!
And definitely bigger than the one we just saw doing the courting, but he
didn't seem to be in any hurry to meet up with the little herd of females.
Further down
Napi we saw a nice herd of buffalo. We were snapping our pictures when suddenly
the back of the herd started galloping and within a few seconds the entire herd
was galloping away. We waited to see if something was following, like a lion, that would cause them to run away. But as
no hunting animal or otherwise showed up, we were forced that something or
someone in the truck behind us had started the event.
Of course we
spotted many impala, a few steenboks, a klipspringer on its Koppie, kudus and a
troop of baboons just before we got to Skukuza for some coffee. When we left
Skukuza a half hour later, the baboons were still there. Then we drove Kruger road
where we saw our first giraffes for some. 5 long-necked animals were feeding of
the trees in the area. On Doispane we saw some more giraffes and added zebras
to our list.
At Phabeni
Gate it was unfortunately time to say goodbye to Laura and Max. I know they
enjoyed their safari very much, and I hope to see them back one day! Thank you
for your company on this trip and enjoy your stay in Cape Town!!
With the last
leftover guests we drove back on Doispane where this time the giraffes had
gone, but they were replaced by a small group of vervet monkeys. At Nyamundwa
Dam we took some time to look at the hippos lying in the shallow water and the
lone crocodile lying on the shore opposite us. A fish eagle sat in the nearby
tree, and we spotted some other water birds. A herd of buffalo was drinking in
the puddles in the overflow of Nyamundwa.
Then the rest
of Doispane was still rather quiet, although the two male zebras were still
there as well as the impalas and kudus. So we took a turn down the S4 where we
were greeted by more baboons that were following some kudus around. And we saw
our first baby impala of the season. That means it is truly summer now and soon
all the impala lambs will be born.
We stopped for
lunch at the Skukuza golfclub where the hippos were giving a show. In and out
of the water they went, 2 babies were playing with each other and the rest of
the harem was yawning at each other as if they were showing that they didn't
need a dentist visit anytime soon. When our lunch was brought a red-billed
hornbill tried to get a piece but was out of luck (no feeding of any animals in
the Kruger NP!) and we watched a grey lourie in a nearby tree.
Guess we had
been hoping too hard for better weather as by now it was a blue sky, nicely
sunny, but then of course boiling hot. The way back down Napi brought us long
stretches of empty bush, or at least the animals were hiding away from our
sight. Still, we passed two big herds of buffalo that were split across the
road and saw a herd of elephants drinking and throwing water over themselves.
On the last stretch it got a bit busier with, kudus, impalas, zebras, lilac
breasted roller, and a warthog with piglets.
Back at
Nkambeni it wasn't over yet, as the guests embarked on a sundowner safari.
Hoping for some lions, or a leopard, they set off. Unfortunately no such luck,
but they did get a nice sunset, and nice sightings of white rhino, buffalo and
an elephant pushing over a tree right next to the road.
9 November 2014
Today was the
last activity of this tour, as the guests went on a bushwalk.
Taken by
rangers from the lodge they walked through the bush (not on a path) for about
two hours. They saw impalas, a nice kudu bull, waterbuck, fresh tracks of leopard
and elephants (fortunately just the tracks) before encountering a herd of
buffalos. These were not awake yet, but stood up being disturbed in their
slumber by the arrival of the bushwalkers. They formed a line to look at them
while the guests looked back from a termite mount height. Then the buffalos
decided they had enough and they walked off. Upon return at the lodge they saw
the hippos back in their dam going back to sleep.
And that was
the last bit of this safari as after a transfer down to Nelspruit we said
goodbye to Andrew, Marcio, Linda and Ingenia (hope I spelled that correctly),
who had to get back to Jo'burg to go back to work on Monday. Thanks you for
joining us on this safari, I hope you had a good time!
