29 December 2015
Hot, hot and
hotter today in the Kruger but that didn't keep the animals away.
After an
interesting bush walk my 3 American guests and I took a nice slow drive to
skukuza.
We were entertained
by 3 bull elephants play fighting...this proved too much for them as one by one
they gently laid down and had a sleep, We listened to the birds calling and 3
very loud snoring elephants...amazing.
The sun was
beating down and we had no updates of cats, always nice to see but never
guaranteed. Beautiful baby zebras along the way joining a herd of wildebeest
all happily eating the plentiful grasses.
Lots of tawny
eagles today along the Doispan road too. We saw reedbuck and a glimpse of a
sable as well as impalas.
The last leg of
our safari was 12kms we had to be back for sundowner drive as we got closer to
camp we saw resting on a termite mound sleeping a very large male leopard
literally 300m from the tar road back to the gate...very lucky to see as he
soon became aware of us stared into our eyes and then slunk away from view.
Another hot but
amazing day in the Kruger.
30 December 2015
As the year
draws to an end it brings me my last guests of 2015! We all head out after my
guests returned from a great bush walk seeing the tail end of a leopard!
Elephants
galore today as hot as it was they seemed to be enjoying our company.. Plus a
few marula fruits. A tiny baby entertaining us trying to work out how to use
his trunk picking up sticks and just as quickly dropping them.
Further on we
watched 3 very cute baby baboons chasing each other around a tree on the left
hand side of the road.. On the right hand side of the road there were at least
10 vervet monkeys, I wondered if there would be any interaction between the two
species but they happily entertained themselves on either side of the road!
Lots of birds
today ,my guests armed with their check list ticked off crested barber, black
shouldered kite, violet backed starling, juvenile bataleur, tawny eagle, goliath
heron and black headed oriole to name a few.
Our last drive
gave us a beautiful golden hour when the sun is lowering it gives a beautiful
golden warmth to the bush, lots of baby impalas, kudu and zebras grazed happily
in front of us.. no cats yet but tomorrow is another day in the best place on
earth!
31 December 2015
New years Eve
2015! The day started with a full breakfast for everyone and then we headed out
to skukuza.
Despite the
heat there were plenty of beautiful elephants close by to the road, 3 lovely
bulls challenging each other not bothered by us in the slightest!
Zebras along
the way with a few adorable baby ones hanging out with the impalas.
At skukuza we
got an update on lions at high level bridge we arrived and there under a guarri
bush were a male and female lion, Quite a far visual but worth the trip. As we
were leaving one of the other guides told us of a buffalo kill that lions had
made earlier, only 8 kms from the lions we'd just seen so off we went and parked
on the bridge and to our left were 2 male lions hiding from elephants that had
just chased them away from their kill! After spending time with them we headed
back for lunch and a cool down.
The journey back
gave us more elephants kudu and lots of zebras. A lovely way to end 2015! Happy
New Year to everyone.
1 January 2016
Today we said
goodbye to lovely guests but not before a short drive.... News of a leopard and
lions filled us with anticipation, we looked on the koppies for the leopard, no
joy, we looked on the loop for the lions, no joy! So we were entertained
by a chameleon painstakingly crossing the road, shielding him to make sure he
reached the other side of the road! Far, far across from shithave dam we saw a
lone sable antelope.
Impalas lots of
buffalo and zebras along with kudu were close to the gate as my guests departed
leaving me with my last 3 guests.
We decided to
meet at 3:30 for the pm drive and we expected to just drive and see what we
see. As we turned onto circle loop we were confronted by a huge bull elephant
walking along the road, he came close to us before turning off into the bush.
We drove around
the koppie and I said to my guests let's just sit and look for the leopard,
after only 5 minutes there we spotted the flick of a tail and then a big male
leopard stood up and stretched slowly walking down the koppie and walking right
in front of us across the road.. and then he was gone!
Amazing to
encounter a leopard.. we then agreed to head home as it started to rain
we took a
little loop and there in a marula tree was another leopard climbing down!
A quick visual
but none the less a leopard!
Great way to
start 2016!
2 January 2016
Today was the
final day for my 3 lovely American guests. As we set off for their final drive
we had no expectations, the best way to be, expect a nice chilled drive and
then maybe the bush will surprise you and today it did!
After driving a
km or so we saw zebras and impalas grazing together, after our photos were
taken we drove slowly away and there bounding up the tar road came 2 wild dogs.
After they had passed us I did a quick u - turn and we followed them, They spotted
the impala and chased them straight into the bush, a baby impala was separated
from the herd, as hard to see as it was, the thing that amazed me was I noticed
the zebra were running, not away from the wild dogs ,but straight at them, it
seemed like they were trying to save the impala as if it was one of their own?!
The kill was quick and hopefully enough to fill them for a while.
We then headed,
exhilarated, to pretoriouskop and 5mins away from the camp was a beautiful male
leopard walking slowly into the bush! It was lovely to see and we sat and
watched as he disappeared.
Not long until
our departure so we decided to chill and sit at shithave dam for half an hour.
A crocodile and hippo and 5 buffalo were present and then out of nowhere
appeared a herd of at least 200 buffalos rushing for the water, amazing to see
. We watched them eating and cooling off in the water as the crocodile grabbed
a fish and started chomping on it!
A truly amazing
way to end a wonderful trip in the Kruger Park!
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