On Safari With Amanda 7 March 2016

7 March 2016

Incredible day today!!!

Incredibly Hot.

Incredible sightings

Incredible Guests.

Expected temperature today was 40°+ so we headed out with no expectations! 

Driving through numbi gate gave us great photo opportunities as a low mist covered the sun and as we drove gave us a lovely cool breeze. 

A report of lions lying off the road and we headed off as the sun was burning through the clouds and I knew that they would move as soon as it got too hot.

We arrived to a see a few cars but no one could see the lions we drove up and down for 20 minutes very slowly scanning the area and then luck was on our side and one of the 2 magnificent males lifted it's head. We sat for 2 hours watching them move up and down and then head off into the shade.

A cool off was needed so we headed back to camp for a siesta. 

At 3:30 we left for an afternoon drive. ...we were not disappointed lying in a fig tree was a beautiful female leopard. We watched her for over an hour as she looked around and eventually leapt down from the tree.. amazing.

Incredibly hot as we headed home. Along the road we saw a beautiful giraffe browsing an acacia tree and to our amazement was the brother of the female leopard stalking the giraffe!! Fantastic sighting!

Another beautiful day in the Kruger with very hot but happy guests.

On Safari With Mark From 6 March 2016

6 March 2016

So after collecting my 2 new visitors, we set off for our camp Pretoriuskop. As it was the heat of the day not much was around and we decided to check in early and go out once it started cooling off.

On our afternoon drive we spotted a lovely herd of elephant playing around in the natural mud pan. Funny to watch as they lay down and rolled around, coating their bodies with mud. While we watch this so out popped a buffalo bull and also lay down in the muddy water to cool off. This just goes to show that very little water is left in the area and that animals are now having to search for wet areas or man made water holes to fulfill their needs. I suspect that this is going to be a long and hard winter for the animals.

Further to this we spotted general game throughout our drive and ending it off with a lovely Journey of giraffe around one acacia tree, enjoying all the sweet leaves.

7 March 2016

Early morning drive was initially a lot of fog restricting our vision however this seemed to lift just at the right time as we spotted 2 male lions in the distance just lying looking out over the plains. After a while one got up and moved out of sight towards taller trees where I presume they will spend the day. Will go back to have a look later and see if we find them. Maybe they come out into the open.

Great to have found 4 rhino on our return to camp and guests happy that we could get out of the real heat of the day. Before we could do that we, stopped off at the gate to collect 2 new comers on our safari. We will see what we spot this afternoon as we set out at 15:30.

On Safari With Amanda 6 March 2016

6 March 2016

New guests today's from America, Ken and Erin and Stéphanie from France. 

After picking up at Numbi gate we headed off to camp.

My guests were on a sunset drive leaving at 4:30 and enjoyed sightings of zebras, rhinos and buffalos and of course the glass of Amarula to watch the beautiful African sunset.

A hearty breakfast and we set off for a morning drive.

We headed to shithave dam where there were 4 separate herds of Elephants heading to the dam. An incredible sight as they ran thirstily to the water, it was amazing to see the reactions of the separate herds as they greeted each other, none were related but they showed familiarity with each other. Saddle billed storks watch a crocodile cautiously as it approached slowly to the waters edge and we watched it as it caught a fish and then retreated to the depths out of sight.

Zebras ran to edge and came with Waterbuck.  Birds seen were juvenile fish eagles, grey herons, white fronted bee eaters, European rollers and a brown snake eagle.

After lunch we went on a short drive and watched the sun go down . Admiring the amazing scenery the sun glowing on the koppies, breathtakingly beautiful and a lovely way to end another relaxing day in the Kruger Park. 

On Safari With Gert and Robbie with the Wharton University Group 5 March 2016

5 March 2016

We departed early for our morning Game Drive, amid slightly overcast conditions and a beautiful morning it was as the sunrise turned he clouds various shades of pink and orange!

Our first highlight of the morning came when we found 6 young Spotted Hyenas, about 5 months old, running down the road between den sites! They were quite skittish though and continued straight into the den and out of sight as soon as they got there.

Shortly after that we encountered a large herd of buffalo, a good few hundred strong, on both sides of the road and crossing. It was a mixed herd consisting of large males, many females and a high number of very young calves. We also encountered a high number of Elephant Bulls, some solitary, others walking together and in one instance also found a White Rhino in close proximity to some of the bull Elephant.

One of the other highlights of the morning was finding a pair of Lions, male and female, rather lazy, but lying only about 20 meters off the road. Even though they were hiding in the shade, the male had his head up for the most part and looked in our direction often enough to get a few shots and some good views!

After a stop at a nearby viewpoint, it was time to return to camp for a late breakfast and some relaxing time during which the pool proved quite popular, as the day had warmed up significantly by now.

In the afternoon we visited a couple of waterholes, where sightings was dominated by elephant, as we found 2 breeding herds and a variety of males near the herds. We also found the first Hippos of the tour and a good variety of water birds, including Saddle-billed, Wooly-necked and Black Storks! Other birds we found during the course of the day, worth a mention, was a family of Southern Ground-Hornbill as well as a Secretary Bird on the prowl for unsuspecting prey.

All in all a good variety of sightings and a very successful day!