On Safari With Mark 5-7 October 2015

5-7 October 2015

We've had a couple of great days with many fantastic sightings of different animals.

Highlights so far for these couple of days has been cats cats and more cats

We were spoiled with a beautiful Male leopard lying at the sweni waterhole.

Fantastic how relaxed he was and all on his own. After many precious minutes he decided to get up and move off on his late afternoon stroll about. We too had to head back to camp but very happy we found this beautiful boy in the late afternoon.  

On our journey from Orpen camp we had another female leopard in a jackelberry tree with her bushbuck kill. She moved a bit and this the gave us poor visibility, so decided to move on and search for other animals.

On our way down south, we found a further 5 massive male lions lying 5m from the road. Although not the best visual my guests could still get some photos of these majestic males.

Approximately 10kms from that we found a further 6 lions lying next to the road and eventually reported for breakfast at 11:45. Although very hungry we were all very happy with what the morning had given us other than the beautiful general game that we also could watch on our drive down south.

The afternoon drive we drove along the river and although relatively quiet, it was great to spot general animals such as buffalo, elephant and giraffe all drinking. We then found a further 2 male lions lying in the river bed and approximately 1km from them we spotted a pair of mating leopards. This was definitely a highlight for us as team Nhongo spotted these on their own regardless of traffic from the holiday makers. Seems like people are driving around with blinkers on.

Wanting to see a Sable bull we decided to head down towards Pretoriuskop to search for this. Nothing found we headed around the Pk rocks and found 1 of the leopard Cubs walk out in front of us and very calmly watch us for a while as we were the only car with it. Guests have loved the sightings and what has been special is that most of them have been done without many other cars around us.

We head down towards berg en dal tomorrow and are sure we will have fantastic time there as well.

On safari With Curtis 5 – 6 October 2015

5 – 6 October 2015

This tour we were joined by Hosea and Pilar for a very quick one night safari. That had been fortunate enough to have spent the last week in Chobe and so had seen many great sightings.

The one thing they really wanted to see was Rhino as they had missed that in Botswana.

We made up with that as we found several sightings of rhino, the best being our first sighting as we found three white rhino grazing right next to the road. We enjoyed them as they carried on moving towards us, crossed the road and then continued to eat.

We also were spoiled as we also had two lion sightings, two leopard sighting, buffalo, elephants, waterbuck, kudu, warthog, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, hippo, crocodile, vervets, baboon, Impala, steenbok, common duiker, sable, bushbuck and African wild dog.

A short but sweet couple of days before we said farewell to Hosea and Pilar whose next leg of their African adventure is the lovely island of Zanzibar. Great meeting you guys and travel safe!!!

On Safari With Mark 1 October 2015 – 4 October 2015

So many special sightings over the past couple of days that it's hard to single out specifics.

A highlight for us on the safari was our first Leopard sight in just out of shingwetzi on our way south. Fantastic to watch a female in a dry riverbed walk parallel with the road. As we followed her, we got great photos as she presented herself with clear visuals while she carried on with her daily activity.

Our following day seemed a lot quieter as the temperatures plummeted and the wind picked up. Unusual to have such a variance in weather temperature must of had a impact on the game viewing. None the less we had a great time spotting different bird species as well as some interesting roads could be travelled that hadn't been travelled before. This did help add another specie to our ever growing list as we got a short but great glimpse of a honey Badger. This improved on our PM drive as we spotted a second little guy very busy digging approximately 5m from our car. After he realized nothing was in the hole, he simply gave us a short stare and off he headed on his quest for food.

Once again on our way and just before the Olifants river we spotted another of our leopard highlights, this time a young female sitting in a lead wood gazing out towards the east. After spotting a steenbok, she was down and out in front of us crossing over the road and into what could of been a successful hunt. We wouldn't know as she moved off out of sight.

On our Pm drive and as we returned towards Satara we found a massive Male leopard lying in the short grass watching the afternoon traffic return to camp. After guests got some rather difficult photos due to poor light we entered camp with a certain satisfaction that we had achieved great sightings for the day. This continued though as we sat and enjoyed a sundown drink together while watching the resident Honey Badger do his daily rounds.

Once it was total dark out popped the African wild cat and photos could be taken of this beautiful animal up close and very relaxed with its surroundings

On our AM drive this morning, we decided to travel a road less traveled and enjoyed every minute of it as very few cars came our way. Brilliant Journeys of giraffe and herds of buffalo were spotted and time could be spent with each all on our own. As we once returned towards camp for our late morning breakfast so we were graced with a lioness walking parallel with the road and once again we positioned the vehicle so best photos could be taken. Great condition and wonderful sighting.

Overall, great animal sighting have been experienced with the general feeling of achievement and gratification towards all the animals that have come our way.

Let's see what our next journey provides as one Safari Statement I've come to learn from my Pax is .......it is what it is........ (No expectations). Great to have people on board that are happy with anything nature provides from a Spoor to Lion

On safari With Robbie 3 - 4 October 2015

3 October 2015

Its incredible how karma works and especially on a game drive!!

Exiting camp with my 2 special Australian ladies .. I heard them say to each other ... " today we are going to respect Kruger and what we see!!!"

Turns out at one particular waterhole we get this ....a) 7 male lions in total, 3 of them feeding vigorously on a Buffalo they killed close by! 2 of them snoozing with perfect visuals opposite the kill on the watering holes bank! 2 of them mating with beautiful females only 60 meters away!!

A herd of Elephant coming down at one stage and chasing the snoozing lads away who then proceeded to cross the road angrily in front of us!!

A herd of Buffalo nervously approaching the waterhole and then stampeding away once they picked up the Lion scent!!!

Herds of Impala, Waterbuck and Zebra drinking with zero interest from the Lions!!!

A Martial eagle surveying the incredible events below him with an attitude of pure endurance!

Lastly a tree Squirrel that entertained us just as much as the Lions did!!!

Before we knew it... It was lunch time where one of the comments from Sue summed it up ... " I went through moments today that haven’t been awakened in me for years!!!"

These 2 ladies showed me the power of bush karma!!!

They expected nothing but everything arrived for them in one particular place .... In by miles the Best Place On Earth!!

4 October 2015

When the word "Epic" is utilized by an Australian to describe the day then one knows it was kind of good!!

We basically set out with the objectives to find the two cat species needed .. Cheetah and Leopard!

To cut some very long stories and jovial expressions short ... The following occurred on safari today:
Time -- 07-23
Location -- 1,6 north of Watergat itself.
Species observed: Cheetah.
Sighting ratio : 10/10!

Time -- 17-10
Location -- Ingwe Donga.
Species observed: female leopard with cub.
Sighting ratio : 10/10!

Incredible sightings of Buffalo, Elephant, W.Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra, Impala, Nyala, Kudu, Hippo and Crocodile as well as Dwarf Mongoose were seen!

4 Raptor species were also spotted!

Tomorrow we set out to tick off: 1) Spotted Hyena and African Wild dog!

Lets see what progresses!