On Safari With Curtis 4 June 2015

4 June 2015

A bit of a late start this morning as the guests had a much needed lie in.

When we did get going we found our first highlight straight away. We headed down to dam and found the hippo in good voice with waterbuck sitting nearby us. What made this sighting even nicer was the sudden appearance of an elephant from the nearby trees. We watched as she moved down to the waters edge and started to drink, we watched for a few minutes when suddenly another elephant and then another until all eight members of this family were drinking.

Our second highlight happened as we were driving to a possible sighting we had been tipped off about, but before we got there we found a leopard lying up in a marula tree. Our timing was very lucky as she jumped down soon after we arrived and so after finding her again we followed her for about a kilometer before losing sight of her.

During the day we also saw 3 cheetah, 2 lion sightings and a second leopard sighting as well as giraffe, warthog,  steenbok, common duiker, impala, kudu, waterbuck, zebra, cape buffalo, white rhino, crocodile and lots of sunbathing hippo at the golf club.

Birds included African fish eagle, bataleurs, red-billed oxpeckers, red-billed hornbills, blacksmith lapwings and hamerkops.

On Safari With Karen 4 June 2015

4 June 2015

This morning apparently was a horny morning (excuse my French) 😏. But the males were trying to impress and mount females left right and center! First we got a waterbuck male strutting around and then singling out a female in the herd he was really trying hard to impress. She was playing hard to get and he followed with a loud chase. Then there were the impala males going nuts for the ladies. Ok one of them chased a young impala away from its mother as he was still suckling. But it had all to do with him not having a chance with the mother! And then there was a young waterbuck male trying to mount an even younger female (poor girl). There was also some mounting going on in the herd of buffalos we saw. And then we didn't even hang around to watch the mating dance between giraffes...

The cream on the cake (or the cherry on top) was one of our last sightings of this safari. We were told by others about a cheetah trio that had been spotted and we decided to pursue it. Upon arrival we were lucky as to see them getting up and walking alongside the road for about 100m. Through the bushes and the high grass we lost visual, but as Rohan's favorite animal of all is a cheetah, we were nonetheless delighted!

Other interesting sightings: a leopard snoozing in the shade, giraffes, hippos fighting in the water, plenty of waterbucks, zebras, kudus, a massive white rhino, common grey duikers, impalas, a bushbuck, a large herd of buffalos and a lazy crocodile slowly swimming in the dam.

And or last birds included a flock of red-faced mousebirds, a hamerkop, white-backed vultures and a grey hornbill.

Then it was time to turn around and head back to Nelspruit, where Rohan and Selina would go back to Johannesburg and from there to Cape Town! Safe travels and thanks for joining us on this safari!

On Safari With Curtis 3 June 2015

3 June 2015

The start of a new safari and time for a short afternoon drive.

The highlight of the drive was a lovely herd of sable antelope. These animals are quite rare in the park and most sightings are either brief or poor but today we found a herd right next to the road and they didn't scamper when we approached them giving us a great look.

This afternoon we also saw elephants, cape buffalo, white rhino, impala,  common duiker, kudu, zebra, giraffe, vervet monkeys, baboons and crocodiles.

Birds included the yellow-billed hornbills, white breasted cormorants, cape-glossy starling and African fish eagle.

On safari With Karen 3 June 2015

3 June 2015

Early this morning we were surprised by a drop of rain (wtf, it is JUNE, we should not have rain from end of April till end of October!). But it didn't diminish our spirits. In the morning we saw a small family of elephants huddled around a recent pushed over tree (done by one of the adults?) so the whole family could eat the nice leaves. A little baby kept hanging around Mum's legs for safety.

But we topped this in the afternoon by seeing a herd of 40 - 50 elephants! We lost count halfway through the herd crossing as there was too much going on. A sub adult chased a car that had no patience to wait for the elephants to cross and wanted to get through (and did so but now rather in a hurry). An adult was throwing sand over her back to protect her from the sun. And a young bull was looking for a fight with a younger elephant. But after this young one shied away, he picked a fight with another youngster. However, one of the adults had enough of his attitude and told him off for picking fights!! Loudly and persistently as she chased him for 100m with some others in her tow.

A second highlight was our giraffe sighting as it was a group of 14 of them!

Everywhere we looked there were giraffes! In the beginning they were spread out, but they started huddling together a bit so we got plenty of them in one photo shot.

They were lounging around and then as if on a walkabout they all crossed the road in a nice line. And lucky us, this happened right in front of us!

Other interesting sightings: two warthogs sleeping, waterbucks, common grey duiker, buffalos, impalas, zebras, two separate lion sightings (one male sleeping in the distance and one female coming up really close to the vehicle and within minutes she had disappeared completely), vervet monkeys, slender mongoose, kudus, a hyena came running down the road but took a wide birth around us through the bush, hippos sunning out of the water, a crocodile and white rhinos.

Birds we saw included a goliath heron, a fish eagle, a cloud of flying marabou storks, brown snake eagle, grey louries, magpie shrikes, an african hoopoe, southern ground hornbills, sub adult hawk eagle, bateleurs and a brown hooded kingfisher.

On Safari With Karen 2 June 2015

2 June 2015

As one of the guests was really hoping to see a rhino, we were lucky to have multiple highlights this morning. As a matter of fact we saw multiple white rhinos today! Some of which were very close to the vehicle, others hidden deep in the bush. But with the current poaching war going on and it being a full moon (which always has a spike in poaching) it was very good to see them at all!

We also saw a couple of big bull elephants. They were eating, eating and eating some more. One was plucking a tree empty of leaves and apparently got tired of reaching to the top. As in a one, and a two and ... CRASH!! The tree toppled over and the leaves were suddenly very easy to reach! And we got to see these magnificent giants at

work.

The leopard was called in by Mark and by the time we arrived at the sighting she had managed to eat the entire southern ground hornbill she had caught. She definitely had not gotten the memo that those birds are even more rare than she is!

However she was still finishing off the scraps while keeping an eye on every single person watching her. It gave us some great photos! When she had made sure there really wasn't anything left, she crossed the road right behind our car nice and slow.

Our cameras were unfortunately still too zoomed in to get a nice picture but nonetheless it was a thoroughly enjoyed view! Across the road she laid down in a pit and started cleaning herself. It was a great sighting!!

And to top it off a special mention for a very rare sighting. This morning we saw a sable bull. Not a great sighting as he was quite obscured in the bush, but it is only the second sighting for me this year, so imagine how rare it is to see one. And we managed to see all parts (butt, belly, head, face and horns) in separate sightings so all in all an entire sable! However to make it special, this afternoon we actually saw an entire herd of them!! The babies were well hidden in the grass and the same colour too, so they were difficult to spot. But the adults actually stuck out nicely to see them. It looked like they might even want to cross, but too many cars and people goggling at them made them wary and they didn't dare.

Other interesting sightings: hyenas, zebras, dwarf mongooses, vervet monkeys, giraffes, impalas, kudus and hippos.

Birds so far: red crested korhaan, lilac breasted roller, Cape glossy starling, bateleur, yellow billed hornbills, chinspot batisses, blue waxbills and helmeted guineafowls.