On Safari With Curtis From 22 May 2015

22 May 2015

Today was the start of a new tour and we headed straight down to Kruger and the lodge we will be staying at.

The first activity of this tour was the sundowner drive, a chance to enjoy the African sunset as well as a first taste of what the Kruger can offer.

Animals seen tonight were the cape buffalo, elephant, kudu, impala, common duiker, scrub hares and fiery necked nightjars.

Let's hope we see plenty more tomorrow.

23 May 2015

This morning was a cold misty start which limited sightings to begin with but we soon started racking them up.

Our first highlight of the day was two bull elephants by the side of the road. We pulled beside them and started to enjoy watching them when one decided to have a much closer look at us. He walked off the grass onto the tar and stood just three meters from our vehicle. I think a couple of guests had slightly beating hearts at this moment but there was no need as this giant was just having an inquisitive look before moving away. A lovely experience!!!

Our second sighting was a couple of lionesses we had been told about, our timing couldn't have been better as they had lying in the shade for an hour before we turned up and as we arrived they decided to stand up, walk towards us and right past us. Being the last of the vehicles at the sighting meant we were now closest to the lionesses now and we followed them for a while before they walked out of sight.

Other animals seen were cape buffalo, white rhino, waterbuck,kudu, giraffe, warthog, zebra, steenbok, impala, bushbuck, hyena, hippo, crocodile, vervets,  baboons, leopard and leopard tortoise.

Birds included cape glossy starlings, eqyptian geese, African fish eagle, red-billed oxpeckers, wooly-necked storks, yellow-billed hornbills, lilac breasted rollers, white breasted cormorants.

24 May 2015

So this morning no game drive but instead the bushwalk. A chance to experience the bush on foot and learn about all the smaller aspects of the bush. There was even time to spot a few impala, a troupe of loud baboons and their favorite moment a family herd of elephant crossing in front of them about forty meters.

There were some very happy guests who returned from the walk.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Alex, Daniel, kellie, Stephany and Jennifer.

Then this afternoon it was time to welcome some  new guests and we went out for a short afternoon. Surprisingly we were spoilt with a sighting in the heat of the afternoon when we saw impala, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, warthog, kudu, rhino, buffalo and hippo.

The highlight happened on camp road as we found an elephant right next to the road. As we approached he got spooked and walked away but he calmed down, regained his composure and came back to his original spot. He had found a tree, which had already been pushed over, and was busy stripping off the dead outer bark to get to the more nutritional inner bark. We sat and watched for quiet a while before time meant we had to head into the lodge.