23 May 2015
Before we
reached the Kruger NP today we had already seen our first animal as baboons
were roaming around on the highway. Before we checked in at Nkambeni Safari
Camp we had also seen a large herd of impalas and we hadn't even properly been
on game drive yet!
The sundowner
safari had to go on without a sunset tonight as two elephants in the middle of
the road prevented the guest from making it in time to a nice spot to watch it.
But the elephants were forgiven as it was still a nice sighting!
Other animals
seen on the sundowner: a lone bull buffalo, the wiggly ears of a white rhino,
the eyes of a klipspringer and a scrub hare.
24 May 2015
We started as the
sun came up, and we needed some warmth, as it definitely was a cold morning.
When we saw our first herd of elephants we actually saw just one elephant at
first. It was expertly demolishing a set of bushes as to munch on the inner
bark. Then more and more elephants came out of the thickets and started feeding
all around. A tree was demolished in the process too as two elephants wanted to
eat its roots. Then slowly the herd started crossing the road, which gave us
some excellent shots.
We had a bit of
a tense moment when the last group of elephants of this herd wasn't crossing as
easily as the others had done. There was this one elephant that had clearly
taken offence by our presence and wanted us to know that! While she was showing
us her big size and impresses us (which worked), another elephant was lying
down in the middle of the road behind her! It was a strange situation, but it
all ended well in the end with all elephants safely across and our heartbeats
going back to a normal rate.
Our second
highlight caught us totally by surprise and suddenly this leopard was walking
down the road aiming for a head on collision with our vehicle! Unfazed by our
presence it strolled down the road and just in front of us went to lie down in
the shade of the tree. He was only 3 meters away and surely looked at us as if
he couldn't care less!! All in awe we took some amazing pictures while the big
cat was panting in the heat. After a while deciding it apparently wasn't the
best spot to have a quiet lie down. So he got up, walked straight across the
road in front of us and without a backward glance he disappeared slowly into
the bush. Magnificent as he is, he blended in so well we quickly lost visual.
Other
interesting sightings: a herd of buffalos still sleeping, a Speke's hinged
tortoise crossing the road (and taking its time doing so), kudus, warthogs,
vervet monkeys, zebras, hippos, a crocodile, giraffes, more elephants, a couple
of white rhinos, a common grey duiker, a bushbuck, the tail end of a herd of
buffalos crossing (different herd than the first one) and waterbucks.
Birds on this
day included a black stork, bateleurs, wolly necked storks, a sadle-billed
stork, blue waxbills, egyptian geese, blacksmith lapwings, yellow and
red-billed hornbills, cape glossy starlings, just one lilac breasted roller, a
whirl of vultures in the distance and fork-tailed drongos.
Our new guests
that joined us today went on a Sundowner Safari tonight and they spotted: ...
We'll tell you tomorrow!
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