On Safari With Robbie From 16 August 2015

16 August 2015

We entered the Park in perfect game viewing conditions and on the sunset drive 3 of the big 5 were spotted (rhino, buffalo and elephant).

17 August 2015

Today we started our drive in icy weather conditions. It was a rather quiet day with our highlight being a superb White Rhino sighting.

18 August 2015

There comes a time and yes these types of miracles happen on safari!!!

Yesterday the 4 Indian girls (Whom today are known as the magnificent 7) were in serious gratitude mode despite having seen relatively little!!! As my long term colleague Mark said last night "a bad day out in Kruger is rare!. Things normally turn back the next day!!!

Too true it could not have been.... 6:09am we spotted three wild dogs on the hunt! O6:48am a Cheetah with 1 cub 07:12am 2 leopards chasing 2 Hyena and vice versa!!! O7:39am 1 female Hyena 08:15am 1 lioness and 2 cubs 08:45am leopard.

Elephant, buffalo and W rhino were also spotted.

19 August 2015

Todays guests started a 2 nighter out of Nkambeni and we saw some great general game for a while and then got some luck in with a 3/5 Cheetah sighting which was about 30 meters from the road!

Although they were pretty much flat out sleeping they lifted their heads up at us quite often allowing for some great pics!!!

On returning to camp we picked up some great Elephant and Buffalo sightings!

Tomorrow we chase the sun and look forward to it!!!!

20 August 2015

This time of the year and especially this year due to excessive dryness brings those on safari a fair amount of luck!!!

This morning was no exception where we picked up 4/5 within 7 minutes of entering Numbi gate and a loan wild dog near Pretoriouskop picnic site!!

What was to follow was rather incredible with 3 Leopard sightings, a pride of 13 Lions,11 w.rhino and four herds of Buffalo!!

Our sighting which took the cake towards the end of River road near the Sabie was a relatively large herd of Elephant extremely close in a very open area!

However what made this sighting special was there were 6 little calves literally all of the same size trotting along with their Moms and playing all around!!!

There sure was some unbelievable birth timing amongst this bunch of ever caring females in a magnificent herd!!!

All general game sightings were of a high standard as well and the Hippo pod at Mestel dam was something else!!!

We head out a bit later to cover the koppie roads near camp and cant wait!!!

Day Safari With Mark 18 August 2015

18 August 2015

So today we set out for the day with the Volunteers from Care For Wild. This proved to be a great day and as all the pax were passionate about the bush it even added to the day. Many different questions from the ladies kept the day interesting.

Rob called me and let me know that Wild dog were spotted in the area and we should be on the look out. This was good cause as we came around the corner we found them running towards us. Later at the sighting 2 cheetah arrived a female with a sub adult cub. They lay on the termite mound while the dogs moved towards them and once again back on the road and away from them again. Would of been interesting to see the interaction between dogs and cat.

We got word of a possible leopard sighting and responded as it was unusual to hear that there were 3 together. On our way there we bumped ourselves into a lioness and her cubs lying on the side of the road.

On our arrival at the leopard we saw the hyena chase the female up into the tree and as she lay and snarled so the hyena moved off into the bush. Out popes the sub adult leopards and moved across the road in front of us.

Crazy times ahead with brilliant sights of buffalo and elephant before we stopped at skukuza for a leg stretch. Magnificent 7 done before 09:30 WOW was the day.

General animals seen: Impala, waterbuck, kudu, steenbok, common duiker, rheedbuck, mongoose, baboon, monkeys, warthog, giraffe, Nyla's, bushbuck, more lion, rhino, hippo, crocodiles and zebra

What a great day and ending on a highlight of a crash of Rhino right next to the car.

On Safari With Karen 19 August 2015

19 August 2015

On our last morning we had time for a short drive before we had to exit the park. We saw some new birds today, but unfortunately no new mammals. However seeing a white rhino mother with a very young calf was very lovely. The calf was bouncing up and down being curious about the cars while mum just grazed and didn't even bother to look around. 

Another highlight was seeing a ground hornbill. As they are rare and endangered this one wasn't helping much for saving the species as he was on his own. On the recently burned and still smoldering landscape he was walking around trying to find a barbecued snack. And he found something too as we suddenly saw him run after something that had caught his interest, but it made him disappear behind a bush. 

Other interesting sightings: kudus, many common grey duikers, more white rhinos, buffalos, giraffes, impalas, zebras, warthog, tree squirrel, waterbuck, hippos, hyena, water monitor and vervet monkeys (actually, those we saw driving down to Nelspruit!). 

And apart from the ground hornbill the new birds were a Burchell's coucal, dark chanting goshawks, and swainson's spurfowl. 

Media Release: KNP Helicopter Lands Safely After Engine Failure

One of the Kruger National Park (KNP) helicopters with three park officials on board went looking for two rhinos, which were believed to be outside the Park west of Orpen Gate yesterday (18 August 2015). The female rhino and her calf were observed outside the park; and a helicopter was dispatched to locate the animals in order to guide the Game Capture team on the ground.

The team was still searching for the animals, when the helicopter suddenly experienced a power loss and engine failure. The pilot was forced to carry out an immediate emergency landing which he did successfully with no injuries or further damage to the aircraft.

“We are grateful that our employees are all safe and no one was hurt; even grateful that the game capture team managed to recover the animals and ensure their safe return to the park. A special commendation goes out to the Pilot; who under critical circumstances, managed to land the aircraft safely;” concluded the KNP’s Managing Executive, Mr Glenn Phillips.

The helicopter is currently being inspected to determine the cause of the engine failure.

Issued by:
Communications & Marketing Department, Kruger National Park
Tel: 013 735 4262, cell: 082 807 1441
E-mail: laura.mukwevho@sanparks.org

Media enquiries:
William Mabasa
GM: Communications & Marketing, Kruger National Park
Tel: 013 735 4363, cell: 082 807 3919
E-mail: william.mabasa@sanparks.org

Reynold “Rey” Thakhuli
GM: PR, Media and Stakeholder Relations, SANParks
Tel: 012 426 5203, Cell: 073 373 4999
E-mail: rey.thakhuli@sanparks.org

On Safari With Karen From 17 August 2015

17 August 2015

Once upon a time there was this family from Brasil and they joined us for a safari.

Upon arrival in the Kruger NP we were immediately greeted by the impalas as well as a common grey duiker. Their first game drive though, was the sunset safari. It was a lovely sunset for starters and the amarula tasted very well! They could also add elephants and zebras to their checklist of animals.

18 August 2015

Today we went out for a day full of game drives. Our first highlight was a visit to Transport Dam. Here we spotted many different animals and as the guests say they could have stayed there for hours. First we watched about 100 impalas (many many!!) coming for a drink. They were a bit skittish at first but soon all came down for a drink. There was however a crocodile watching nearby, but none came too close. Zebras were drinking on the other side of the dam. There were also waterbuck hanging around as well as a large water monitor sunning himself on top of the rock and hippos lazing around in the water. An African fish eagle was sitting in a tree, blacksmith lapwings were there, as well as cape glossy starlings, yellow-billed hornbills and a malachite kingfisher. And if that wasn't enough, in another corner a small group of wildebeest was hanging out and two of them started to duel. One was a lot stronger though, and pushing the other back to the dam. He escaped by turning around and get cashed the other way. 

Our second highlight was an elephant sighting. This big old bull was having a quiet meal by himself, but the best branches were high above him. He was doing a good stretch to get to the best bits and broke off branches and then munched on them as if they were starters. After he moved on to an acacia tree for mains. These trees have thick spiky thorns and this bull once again started breaking off branches by bending them over his tusks. But then instead of putting it straight in his mouth he used his feet to rub off some of the thorns. A dessert was made up by the roots of a nearby bush where once again he used his feet to dig them up before pulling with his trunk and putting it in his mouth. He looked so content and wasn't bothered by our presence at all!

Other interesting sightings: buffalos crossing the road, warthogs, kudus, giraffes, white rhinos, a glimpse of a lioness, vervet monkeys, impalas, reedbucks, common grey duikers, steenboks, a tree squirrel, nyala bulls and a hyena. 

Birds we saw today included a grey-headed bushshrike (twice! And that for a bird that is often heard but not seen), magpie shrikes, pied crows, chinspot batisses, yellow-billed, red-billed and grey hornbills, green woodhoopoes, a kori bustard (not often seen in this area), natal francolin, white-backed vultures, marabou storks, african hoopoe, bateleur, african fish eagle, blacksmith lapwings, egyptian geese, pied kingfisher, hamerkop, cape glossy starling, malachite kingfisher and the always beautiful lilac breasted roller. 

On Safari With Mark From 15 August 2015

15 August 2015

Today I picked up my guests and headed for camp as they were scheduled to do the sundown safari.

On their first drive (sundown drive), they spotted many different species but the highlight was the "white tailed" mongoose (uncommon animal to spot). This little guy didn’t really stick around for photos and once spotted in the light, it moved off into thick bush next to the road and no further sight of it was gained.

16 August 2015

This morning we decided to head out a little later than normal and as the weather was just ideal we stayed out a little longer than usual and this paid off.

We had numerous sightings of general animals such as zebra, impala, waterbuck, giraffe, kudu, vervet monkeys and warthog but the true highlight happened very early with the beautiful sighting of 3 male cheetah walking parallel with the road scent marking their territory. This was fantastic and all of us were able to get some great photos of these beautiful cats as they walked along.

17 August 2015

Although today was rather quiet due to poor weather conditions initially, we managed to spot a massive Sable bull enjoying the short grass and out in the open. I initially didn't spot it and one of the guests asked me, “what's that black thing over there”. I had to chuckle as it is one of the rarest antelope in the Kruger National Park.

General animals include: dwarf mongoose, banded mongoose, slender mongoose, Impala, kudu, waterbuck, common rheedbok, zebra, steenbok, klipspringer, checkmate baboons, vervet monkeys, hippos, crocodiles, common duiker, giraffe, warthog, lions, buffalo, elephant and rhino.

It was then time to say goodbye to my clients as they leave us and continue on with their travels.