On Safari With Mark From 11 March 2015

11 March 2015

On arriving at Phabeni gate we headed down Doispan towards skukuza rest camp.

This to be our base for the next 2 nights on safari.

Highlight for the afternoon must be the first elephant sighting for my new guests as this was a magnificent bull with Large tusks for the area. Great photos taken and as he moved closer, we just enjoyed the sighting.

12 March 2015

This morning, we found 2 rhinos sleeping next to the road enjoy the fresh African air the mornings are starting to offer. Once again great photos could be taken of these beautiful animals.

The other highlight was the 4 lions we got to see at Jones's dam. Distant visual but able to enjoy as they moved around a lot as the shade moved.

General animals spotted: kudu, Impala, black back jackal, warthog, elephant, waterbuck, giraffe, zebra, hippos, crocodiles, buffalo, Nyala,  Chackma baboons, vervet monkeys and bushbuck.

On safari With Karen 12 March 2015

12 March 2015

On the last day of their safari, the guests went on a bushwalk. This is a completely different experience than driving in a safari vehicle and therefor a highlight on its own. They came across waterbucks and impalas and had time to study the tracks of buffalos as well as other signs of different wildlife like poop. The best was seeing a large female golden orb spider up close and spotting the much smaller male on the edge of her web. Also they could add more birds to the already long bird list: a cardinal woodpecker and a hoopoe. But they saw many other birds on their walk too. A successful ending of another great safari!

On Safari With Karen 11 March 2015

11 March 2015

Today was another day full of game spotting! And it's always a treat to see something rare and today we got lucky to see four ground hornbills. Three adults and a young. The adults were walking through the grass and foraging for food while the young kept on begging for food from the adults.

Our second highlight was at Nyamundwa Dam. Apart from seeing two old bull buffalos lounging in the shallow waters and five hippos and a baby hippo feeding outside (with the baby bouncing up and down next to mummy, clearly too young to eat grass, sweeeeet) or the waterbirds, we were surprised by a massive herd of buffalos that suddenly appeared out of the bush on the opposite side. They drank their fill and the older ones went to lie in the shallow water for a bit to cool down while the babies stayed on the shore. It seemed like a never ending stream and before the last ones were at the water's edge, the first ones already stood up and continued on their way.

Other animals seen: giraffes, dwarf mongooses, banded mongooses, leopard tortoise, kudus including beautiful kudu bulls, impalas, common grey duikers, multiple white rhinos, an elephant herd as well as solitary elephant bulls, a leopard, klipspringers, warthogs, zebras, blue wildebeests, tree squirrel, crocodile, marsh terrapins, a male lion sleeping in the distance, waterbucks and a very venomous boomslang.

New birds to add to the list: apart from the ground hornbills we saw magpie shrikes, wooly necked stork, lappet-faced vulture, white-headed vulture, white-backed vulture, dark chanting goshawk, black crake, fish eagle, pied kingfisher, grey herons, red breasted swallows, green woodhoopoe, swainson's spurfowl and a mocking cliff-chat.

On Safari With Karen 10 March 2015

10 March 2015

Today it was very hot very early, and we could see the difference between the early morning and late morning animal activity. But our best sighting of today carried on over both. This morning we heard about a lion sighting, but by the time we were getting close we were also informed that all the cars at the sighting had created too much of a hassle and the lions had moved off. So we decided to go and have a coffee first and maybe get lucky on the way back. Well, lucky we did get. The cars passing us in opposite direction told us the lions had come into view a little bit again, but you couldn't see much. But by the time we arrived at the sighting we can honestly say, right place, right time:

Upon arrival a couple of female lions were lying down but had their head up, therefor with binoculars they were easily visible. But over the course of half an hour, lions kept on standing up and lying down somewhere else. We even saw a lioness with three young cubs at her heels. She stood up twice and her cubs followed both times. At the second time she sat down to let them drink, which was a wonderful sight. In the end, all 8 adult lionesses and 3 cubs stood up one by one, had a little drink and crossed the last bit of stream that was left to lie down in the shade on the opposite side. The moment they lied down under that bush they were completely out of sight. When the last one had crossed is when 5 other cars left so we had it all to ourselves (and a small grey vehicle) so no issues with other to block your sighting either! It was wonderful and we only left when all lions were out of sight.

Other interesting sightings: elephants, giraffes, kudus, waterbucks, hippo trying to impress these waterbucks, a family of warthogs, vervet monkeys, baboons, crocodile, dung beetle rolling a miniscule dung ball, wildebeest, dwarf mongooses, a tree squirrel and of course impalas.

Birds on this tour: carmine bee-eater, juvenile hawk eagle, bateleurs, one of the last migratory Wahlberg's eagles, black stork, grey louries, pin-tailed whydah, lilac-breasted rollers, orange-chested bunting, blue waxbills, forktailed drongos, Cape glossy starlings, blacksmith lapwings, hamerkops, grey headed kingfisher, brown hooded parrots, white-fronted bee-eater, dark-capped bulbul, sabota lark, Egytpian geese, red-billed oxpecker, yellow-billed and red-billed hornbill and Burchell's coucal (yes we like our birds this tour). Not to mention the calls we heard of birds we didn't even see!

Sundowner drive: zebras, white rhinos, impalas, fish eagle, fiery-necked nightjar, African jacanas and hippos.

On Safari With Robbie 10 March 2015

10 March 2015

Today involved a lot of luck as the 2 guests that joined us last night literally only had 4 hours of sightings time so for me every sighting was a highlight!

We saw large herds of Impala, Brilliant kudu bulls, Waterbuck, Hippo, 2 excellent visuals of W.Rhino. A pride of lion including 2 cubs, Elephant bulls and at the close a massive herd of Buffalo crossed the road in front of us!

It was a great safari for all the guests who departed Kruger as happy as can be!!!

On Safari With Karen 9 March 2015

9 March 2015

Another first day of safaris and once we got to the park we were all excited. We saw already many animals to start with, like impalas, a beautiful kudu bull, a tawny eagle flying away right next to us, zebras, European roller, hippos, buffalos, white-breasted cormorants, vervet monkeys, water thickknees, blacksmith lapwings and dwarf mongooses.

But our highlights were at the end of the drive. First we saw an impala run across the road, and then it was followed by a running wild dog. But wild dogs usually don't hunt alone, so we stopped and waited. Suddenly we saw a different one on the other side of the road, but it was trotting in the other direction. It was definitely a different one as you can tell wild dogs apart by the white bit on their tail. Then it was quiet for a long time. We didn't hear an impala in trouble either, so supposedly she got away.

We continued our drive but after a while when we had just turned onto the tar road, out of the high grass jumped a wild dog! This time he lingered around and out came three more. But they were obviously waiting for the rest of the clan and they stood expectantly and two even lied down. We heard the grass rustle and tried to pinpoint where they would appear. Then out of the grass came more wild dogs. In total we saw nine of them greeting each other and reaffirming their bond. After a short break, off they went again, passing our vehicle. It was our cue to head for our lodge as time was running out.

But before we got to our lodge we were stopped by an elephant, standing in the middle of camp road. As these road blocks are difficult to push aside we turned off our engine and waited for the elephant to move. But once he did, another one showed up. And another one. And even a fourth one! Well, we had no chance to be on time this way, so we just enjoyed the sighting! Until we saw no more elephant.

We just knew they must be there as we heard branches break and saw trees move. We drove by and finally this time we made it to the lodge.

And last but not least: my personal highlight is the sound of the territorial call of the hyena I am hearing right now while typing this update

On safari With Robbie 9 March 2015

9 March 2015

On day 3 we experienced our highlight at first light when we picked up 22 Wild dogs just 2km from camp!

This sighting was unique as we followed them for well over 8km and had superb photographic opportunities with the ever increasing morning light!

An attempted kill at a Kudu herd also occurred with no luck for what seemed a very hungry pack of dogs!

The interaction between sub adults and adults was awesome to watch and the playful nature of some of the younger dogs had my guests enthralled for over 1 hour!!!!!

Through the day we saw Lion, Buffalo, Elephant, W.Rhinos, Kudu, Impala, Waterbuck, Hippo as well as great up close visuals of Giraffe and Zebra!

Dwarf and Banded mongoose were also seen as well as some lovely Leopard Tortoises!

For my late arrived guests there was a tear for them when my fellow ranger Karen called me to the same Wild dog pack that we had found this morning!

Awesome stuff!

On safari With Robbie From 7 March 2015

7 March 2015

We started our safari at Numbi and what seems to be the norm these days . Our very first species seen was Elephant!

We watched a beautiful bull approach us and then cross the road with a couple of vocals right in front of us!

After checking in at camp and a bit of a rest we headed out on our afternoon game drive! The highlights were good sightings of Elephant , White Rhino and a large herd of Giraffe in what was otherwise a relatively quiet drive.

We head out tomorrow at the crack of dawn so we hopefully may find some felines!

8 March 2015

We set off at 5-30 am and were dually rewarded with a great sighting of a male lion and 3 lioness in the middle of the road! The male for some unknown reason was extremely aggressive and mock charged a Park safari vehicle when they approached the sighting!

Elephant ,W. Rhino, Buffalo, Kudu, Waterbuck, Giraffe and Impala were seen on numerous occasions throughout the day!

Later we came across a 12 member strong Lion pride in an open area of a river bed making it a perfect opportunity for guests to get that "classic" Lion pic , especially as there were 2 tiny cubs and 3 superb black manned males!

Towards the end of the day we had fun amongst close encounters with the Hyena clans youngsters and had a great visual of a 2m plus Black Mamba stalking a frog!

It was a great day!

On Safari With Curtis from 6 March 2015

6 March 2015

Another early start and within ten minutes we had found our first highlight of the day.

A female leopard lying in the fork of a tree just five meters from the road and we were the only car at the sighting. As more vehicles showed she decided that was enough and slowly got up, stretched, yawned and climbed down with just the white tip of her tail showing in the tall grass.

Our second highlight was later in the day as we drove up to a more open stretch where the thatching grass is replaced by much shorter varieties of grass. Here we found a multitude of animals including a herd of zebra, a herd of wildebeest, a couple of giraffe and of course a few impala. Although through out the day we saw plenty of these it's nice when they are all clustered so close together.

Other sighting today include elephant, a buffalo herd, several rhino, hyena, a second leopard, waterbuck, kudu, klipspringer, hippo baboons and vervets as well as a leopard tortoise, chameleon and warthogs.

Birds included the saddle billed stork, brown snake eagle, grey heron, wooly necked storks and carmine bee eaters.

7 March 2015

Our last day of this tour and we set off nice and early.

Once again our first sighting was the female leopard we had seen yesterday and once again she had no inclination to hang around for too long. But we still managed to get a few good photos of her before she disappeared into the grass.

Our second highlight was rhino, we found a lone male just busy grazing and as he moved closer to the road we had a good look at him. As he then turned to move away we drove off only to find three more rhino just a couple of hundred meters down the road. These were lying in a nice open area giving a great view. Eventually one by one they got up and moved away and so did we.

Other sightings of this final drive were a buffalo herd, impala, kudu, waterbuck, zebra, wildebeest, klipspringer, steenbok and lots of giraffe.

Then it was time to leave the park and transfer my guests up to Nelspruit where they are going to carry on their adventures.