When is Close too Close

                                                            When is Close too close

                                                                Nhongo Safaris                                 

On Safari Wth Kara From 3 October 2016

3 October 2016

After checking in at our camp, Lawrence, Stacey and I started off with our first drive in Kruger.

Our first animal was spotted by Stacey, a big herd of Impalas grazing along the road from there I was happy to discover that anything small and fluffy will make her happy and Lawrence who’s favorite animal is an Elephant had no expectations therefore we saw loads.

We found masses of those two species and in between were surprised by a lot of pregnant Zebra's and Kudu's with the rainy season approaching.

4 October 2016

They definitely brought the cold weather with them from the UK but that luckily didn't keep the animals from appearing close to the road.

Our highlights was the two teenage White Rhinos who we could watch for quite a while and then see them cross the road.

Later we were surrounded by a huge herd of Buffalo's. Then the amazing spot by Stacey was a incredible female leopard lying on a termite mound in the shade of a Jackal berry waiting for the sun to go down. Keeping a watchful eye on any snack that might stroll by unaware of her.

5 October 2016

Early in the morning while the doe was still on the grasses we got a heads up on 2 cheetahs and being my first in a while we had some celebrations on the vehicle early on. We visited the river areas of the Reserve and there in the heat of the day we found them watching a Stampede of Elephants playing in the water even climbing on top of one another.

Our day ended with a pair of Lions mating in the open.

6 October 2016

Our last few hours together we got to add a few new species to our adventure which were a baby Reedbuck with mom, a Martial eagle, a Rock Monitor and a Blue Headed Agama.

All in all nature did not disappoint us.

On Safari With Mark 4 October 2016

4 October 2016

What a great day and had some fantastic sighting.

It's amazing, how many elephants we saw today. It all started off, as we drove out of our camp and found two massive elephant bulls on the road standing eating. What's amazing is the amount of time they took to strip small branch and eat only the bark. Such small pieces feeding the 5ton beast, we had to laugh as it took the time to enjoy it's small meal.

Further to this was one of the last sightings for the day where we found 6 lioness and 2 cubs lying sleeping in the riverbed. All looked healthy irrespective of the drought we are currently experiencing. 1 lioness decided to wake up and move into some late afternoon sun and while doing this, her little cub woke up and watched mom walk away. With very little on his/her mind, it just politely flopped over and carried on sleeping.

Over all, my clients are very happy with what we have seen and look forward to the visit to the rehabilitation center tomorrow.

On Safari With Amanda From 17 February 2016

17 February 2016

My new guests Ashliegh and Patrick arrived to a hot, humid overcast day in the Kruger.

After a freshen up they headed off on a sunset drive where they came across Elephants, Buffalo and 5 meters from the road...a lovely Cheetah! 

18 February 2016

Today was a fantastic day in the park! After a filling breakfast and a good night's sleep we headed off. 

Today was cloudy but incredibly humid. We headed to manugu koppies and came across very fresh Lion tracks, we spent time following the tracks and could see they headed off into the bush so we continued and found a family of 3 klipspringers enjoy the view!

An update came in of Leopards at flat rocks so we drove off and lazing on the rocks was a young male leopard and his sister was in the tree close by, we sat and watched as the female negotiated the best branches to use to get down, quite comical to watch!.

These Leopards were born at flat rocks and their mother has now mated again as they were born in 2014, so they keep returning to their birthplace waiting for their mother, they are catching a few dwarf mongoose while they are waiting but will eventually realize she's not coming back.

Beautiful Walbergs Eagle, lilac and European rollers were spotted.

After lunch we left for a drive. We headed for shithave dam, en route we saw a big herd of Elephants heading that way so we drove off to meet them. The buffalo were also resting by the dam and took no notice of the elephants as they rushed off to the water...we watched for over an hour as they rolled in the water drank urgently and generally enjoyed the water, beautiful to see.

On our last leg back we watched a Zebra as it rolled in the dust a few times until it joined the rest of the herd.

All in all another fantastic day in the park!

On Safari With Curtis From 29 December 2015

29 December 2015

Today all the guests jumped on the truck for an early start and we had a great start with two leopards up in a Marula tree within the first ten minutes.

We had plenty of white rhino sightings the best being a huge territorial male which crossed over the road in front us.

But I think the guests favorite sighting was the lion sighting. We initially found a big male lying in the riverbed taking cover from the increasingly hot sun. With a lot of trees and bush making visibility difficult we moved forward to a much clearer opening and there we spotted another male with two females also in the shade.

As we watched we noticed a herd of elephants which walked right past the bushes and the lions down to the water. They had walked just ten meters from the lions but had missed them, although it certainty got the lions attention. As the elephants drank a second herd did exactly the same, walking past the lions without noticing.

We spent fifteen minutes watching the elephants drinking and splashing about before they moved.

The lions, following the elephants departure, then settled down and relaxed a little bit easier.

Throughout the day we also saw cape buffalo,  Impala, steenbok, giraffe, warthogs, waterbuck, kudu, zebra, wildebeest, klipspringer, hippo, bushbuck, nyala, vervet monkey and baboons.

Birds included goliath heron, fish eagle, woodlands kingfishers, yellow-billed hornbill, marabou storks,  blue waxbill.

30 December 2015

On the final morning of this tour we again split into two groups, a couple of us went for a drive where we saw plenty of elephants including a few very small calves.

We also saw lots of Cape buffalo, zebra, giraffe, kudu, waterbuck, warthog, common duiker, Impala and vervet monkey.

Meanwhile the two girls went out on a bushwalk where they enjoyed learning about the smaller stuff of the Kruger National Park.

They also enjoyed a 200 strong herd of buffalo stampeding, luckily not in their direction, a brief glimpse of hyena and they had a go at tracking leopard!!!

Unfortunately although one of the rangers saw the leopard the guests didn't. But they had great fun!!!

Then farewell time as we said goodbye to Gemma, Hannah and Fabricio who are all exploring more of South Africa.

1 January 2016

The first day of a brand new year and a brand new tour. Joining us today were Barbara and David.

On arriving at Numbi Gate we had time for a drive before heading to the lodge. The drive consisted of a missed leopard and a very nice elephant sighting.

The family herd of about twenty had just enjoyed a nice drink and maybe a swim for a couple of them and now as they walked away from the stream a couple enjoyed a nice dust bath!!!

We also saw zebra, Impala, kudu, waterbuck and warthog for a good start to this safari.

2 January 2016

An early start and a early highlight as, after a tip from Amanda, we found African wild dog!!!

We found just one initially but then spotted a second,  they had caught a baby Impala and although a bit in the bush we could see and hear as their small snack was devoured all within five minutes.

They then decided to walk back onto the road allowing for a much better look. We followed them for a couple of minutes before they sharp turned back into the bush.

Second highlight was a herd of elephants busying destroying a tree in the name of food. We sat watching for about ten minutes when we noticed two more walking towards the herd.

We then looked on the other side of the vehicle and were surprised to not only see a large bull elephant but a white rhino standing watching us and the elephants.

Our attention turned to the rhino and we hoped he would come closer to cross the road but he kept his distance. Nevertheless lovely to see!!!

Also seen were Impala, waterbuck, kudu, crocodile, Vervet monkey, baboon, giraffe, warthogs, common duiker, sable antelope, dwarf mongoose, common reedbuck,  klipspringer, buffalo and hippo.

Birds included the woodlands kingfishers,  lilac breasted roller, tawny eagle, grey heron, cape glossy starling, blacksmith lapwings and goliath heron.

3 January 2016

The highlight of todays drives was the lion sighting. Four lionesses had killed an wildebeest and we arrived to find them lying in the shade digesting their meal.

As is very often with lion sightings you don't get much action but they did occasionally move back to the carcass to eat some more.

Later on we returned to the sighting and found three of them lying next to each other, only awaken by the appearance of a kudu. But they were too full to attempt anything.

When we got bored off looking at the lions we also had two white rhino relaxing on the other side of the road.

As the day warmed up we visited a couple of waterholes. At one we found a small group of buffalo, a small bachelor group of elephant playing in the water, a slightly annoyed hippo, two giraffe, waterbuck and Impala making for a great sighting.

New species also included hyena and steenbok.

Birds seen today included yellow-billed hornbill,  lilac breasted roller, hadeda ibis, egyptian geese and african fish eagle.