On Safari With Mark, Gert, Amanda and Shannon (Bridal Party)

8 December 2015

All 3 safari cars lined up to go on safari and show our group wonderful African animals in the bush. This was a unique safari as all of our wonderful guests have one thing in common "the Bride and Groom". What a pleasure to have all these Canadians on board with us.

It's off to Skukuza we go. Highlight for the drive towards camp was the herd of buffalo we spotted and stayed with them till they moved across the road right in front of us, a lone elephant bull right on the road eating approximately 3m from the car, white rhino 5m from the car, it had to be a power afternoon and heard many guests asking the respective guides if it was normal to see so much or were we just lucky.

9 December 2015

This morning we were up for an early morning drive before having breakfast.

The highlight for this drive had to be the pack of wild dogs that were spotted on the road. After following them for approximately 20min it was time for breakfast and depart for Satara Camp.

Our highlight had to be the 3 lions lying under an acacia tree just chilling waiting for the heat of the day to break. As temperatures got to 44 Degrees, it was time for the guests to get into a swimming pool in camp and cool down.

The night drive highlights had to be the 2 lions walking down the road eventually moving off into the bush looking as though they had lost the rest of the pride.

10 December 2015

A new morning a new start, an onto Olifants camp for breakfast.

On our drive north, we stopped to watch a herd of elephants approach the road and all of a sudden out popped 2 cheetah onto the road approx 50m ahead of us. Both these males went along their daily activities with scent marking their territories.

Great photos could be taken and on with the drive where the next highlight was the little honey badger that to was busy with his early morning activities. After watching this for a while we stopped of at one of the very few waterholes on route and found 2 black manned lions lying enjoying the cool morning breeze combined with the sunrise only offered by an African sun.

All sightings have been special and the entire group has enjoyed themselves with been able to see so much in literally 2.5 days. We wait in anticipation to see what's in store for us for the remainder of the tour.

On Safari With Amanda 9 December 2015

9 December 2015

New guests brings new adventures! The day started bright and early with coffee and tea for everyone before leaving camp at 4:45.

We were 5 minutes out of camp when we spotted in the road 3 wild dogs heading towards us at a pace. We quickly turned around and trailed behind them...we thought they may be hunting as they seemed to be on a mission but they stopped briefly to look at an impala ram and then trotted off! We continued for at least 3 kms before they headed off so we decided to turn and continue driving.

We were lucky to see a family of endangered southern ground hornbills in a marula chasing away a brown snake eagle! 

The morning was quickly hotting up but we were still lucky to see lots of zebras , blue wildebeest, impalas and a young elephant mock charging us!

After breakfast we headed up to our next stop satara. Our drive provided us with a pair of bataleur eagles more southern ground hornbills and approximately 8kms from camp there we came across a waterhole with a lone bull elephant drinking and splashing water as well as impalas and zebras and there close by under a tree lay three lions cooling down away from the blistering African sun!

With the temperature in the mid 40's we all decided that a cooling dip in the pool and an ice cold beer was on the cards...the African bush delivered again its beauty to our hot but very happy guests 

On Safari With Gert 7 December 2015

7 December 2015

Setting off early for our final morning game drive, we headed out along a dirt road close to camp. About 5 km out we noticed something far ahead of us in the road. It turned out to be a Spotted Hyena, on a serious mission, galloping in our direction.

We watched as it approached, run past with barely a glance in our direction and continue on it's way, down the road. We let it be and carried on in the original direction.

A few minutes later we found a majestic bull Sable Antelope, unfortunately moving away from us, but stopping off here and there for a quick graze and affording us a good view.

It was also a good morning for buffalo as we encountered some large bulls as well as breeding herds. The dung beetles were taking full advantage of all the buffalo activity and we watched a few of them rolling their dung balls in various directions trying to find their spots for burying it, some more successful than others, but sheer determination seeming to prevail.

We also received word about 2 leopards on the move not very far away, thanks to the dream team, Amanda and Shannon. As these were reportedly moving out of sight temporarily, we decided not to rush there,  but rather take our chances later on.

We passed the area about half an hour later and were lucky enough to catch some glimpses of the two young leopards, who had now been joined by their mother! It was a fairly quick sighting, but always exciting to find as this leopard family had become rather famous in the area and we had seen their brother the day before.

After a hearty breakfast and loading luggage, we headed out of the park along another loop and it was a fitting end to the Safari to find, at a nearby dam, 6 elephant bulls playing in the water to cool down; very shortly before exiting the park after three days of good fun, fine weather and great sightings

On Safari With Shannon and Amanda 7 December 2015

7 December 2015

Today was a beautiful day in the park!! Incredibly hot, Mercury hitting over 40°! We set off at 6am from numbi gate, our guests were volunteers at a rhino sanctuary so they were very excited at the prospect of finding rhinos in the park.

As we've had luck with leopards lately we decided to head to flat rocks near pretoriuoskop camp, we drove very slowly around the rocks but no sign of the leopards, we weren't giving up so we decided to do a square root around the rocks just in case, we weren't disappointed, there not even a meter from the road lay one young leopard joined a few minutes later by another leopard, they were totally unfazed by our presence, from the other side of the road we heard the mother calling them, a rasping saw like call, they responded immediately and ran to her and there we lost sight of them, still an amazing experience! We went and grabbed a quick cool drink and then headed towards skukuza. 

Fantastic rhino sightings along with an elephant who came very close to the vehicle our guests exhilarated by his closeness and enormous size.

later down the road a huge herd of buffalo crossed the road, at least 100!

lovely woodlands kingfisher, bee eaters, forked tailed drongos along with two dark chanting goshawk on a termite mound seemingly picking off termites.

The temperature was quickly rising and we headed along watergat road and there possibly 10 meters from the road lay a beautiful male lion! I chatted to another guide who told me he's roughly 10 years old and has been busy catching impala lambs as a snack! He sat very majestically under a guarri bush. 

We got to the end of the road and turned right as there were a few cars...and there lying in a marula tree was another leopard! ! Cooling off it seemed. We sat for a while and saw a few more cars and there in a donga lay a pack of wild dogs, also trying to keep cool.

The Kruger showed us it's best today along with a large amount of zebras and of course the most adorable baby impalas. 

Come to the park with low expectations, enjoy the scenery and maybe the park will show you everything you wish to see!

Another fun filled, hot and rewarding day in the Kruger. 

On safari With Gert From 5 December 2015

5 December 2015

This afternoon saw the arrival of 5 new guests, a group of friends from North America.

Not long after entering the park, we saw our first large herds Impala and Zebra. They were taking full advantage of the lush, short grass sprouting after some recent rains. With the Impala there are also many lambs running around these days, up to about 2 weeks old and they will most likely be joined by many more new arrivals over the next week or two.

We were also lucky enough to encounter a few large bull elephant, one of them feeding quite close to the road and our vehicle and also crossing the road just in front of us.

The highlights of the day came when we found 3 young male Cheetah, slowly on the move and looking as if they were on the hunt. They took turns climbing on fallen trees and termite mounds, having a look for any available targets. Again, we were lucky enough to have one of them cross the road in front of our vehicle twice. We left the sighting with the cheetah still in full view, relaxing on a termite mound.

On our way to camp we passed an active spotted hyena den where we saw a large female with 4 cubs. They were suckling at the den entrance and then moved onto the road, the curious cubs inspecting a few of the accumulated vehicles' tires until a sound or movement send them running back to mother! Having left the hyenas and heading back to camp, we found another solitary cheetah, stalking some nearby Impala! This was quite a dense area with not so much space for the cheetah to gain speed and it needed to get very close for the attempt. The cheetah eventually was about 35m from the Impalas before launching an attack, but even that was too far as the Impala spotted the threat and took off, scattering in all directions. The cheetah immediately abandoned the attempt and headed back where it came from to rethink strategy and we headed to camp.

An amazing and truly memorable first afternoon of safari!

6 December 2015

Setting off early this morning in an attempt to maximize our sightings,  it paid off very quickly.

We stopped to watch a large herd of buffalo in tall grass close to the road. Suddenly, a leopard appeared on the opposite side of the road and, very optimistically, it was actually stalking the buffalo. It was a young male and tried to use our vehicle as cover while approaching the buffalo. Eventually it crossed the road in front of us. By now the buffalo had spotted it and a very large male was keeping a close eye on it.

Even though no serious threat was posed by the leopard, caution overcame curiosity on the part of the buffalo and the herd retreated, leaving the leopard to rethink his strategy! We watched it a little while longer, until it headed back in the direction it came from.

Not much further, we came across the remains of a buffalo carcass, slightly obscured by the surrounding shrubs,  being fed on by 3 spotted hyena and a large number of vultures. Even though the visibility wasn't very good, it was quite an experience hearing the crushing of bones, squabbling of the vultures and the occasional giggle from a hyena. Every now and then a hyena managed to break off a piece and trot off to go eat in peace and quiet...

Next up was another buffalo carcass, this time a bit fresher and 2 young male Lions were lying in the shade close-by. There still seemed to be some good eating left on the buffalo and it looked like they were just taking a break from feeding although there were many vultures around, patiently waiting their turn.

After our breakfast stop it had warmed up considerably and it was a good time to find some Elephants having their mudbath, from a hole dug by themselves in dry riverbed. We also found 2 white rhino lying in a mud pool to cool off as well as the first journey of giraffe for the tour. They were feeding and we observed them leisurely moving from tree to tree and also cross the road in front of us.

After taking a break from the afternoon heat, we set off again late afternoon for a leisurely drive during which we had a very relaxed White Rhino grazing in a clearing, as well as a small breeding herd of elephants feeding in a riverbed. All in all a very successful day!