31 July 2015
This safari we
started from a different direction as we are overnighting at a beautiful lodge
overlooking the Crocodile River in the south. The guests' first activity was a
sundowner drive from Malalane Gate. They came across their first animals of the
South African savannah: impalas. They would see more during this drive (and
every day after too, I am sure).
Highlights were
seeing five lions close to the road, many hyenas, a nightjar, a giraffe, a
zebra and kudus.
1 August 2015
We set off to
Malalane Gate once again this morning, after having enjoyed our breakfast while
spotting a bushbuck by the river. Vervet monkeys were raiding the papaya
plantations when we passed, so lots of animal activity before we even reached
the Kruger Park!
Our highlight
of today was one of our last sightings of the day. A family of hyenas had woken
up and was using the last rays of the sun to warm up before the night. The
babysitter was watching two baby hyenas and three young ones just a couple
months older. They were still so cute! The babies were most adventurous and
came close to the road to look at some cars while the others decided to lay
behind. And at some point one baby was suckling with mum, while a young one
climbed over it. But it was a great sighting all around!
Second
highlight of today was a white rhino duo. It had all the makings of the
youngster refusing to take one more step and nap right there where it stood: in
the middle of the road. No matter how it happened, when we arrived, that was
exactly what we saw: this young rhino lying stretched out on the warm tar
snoozing with mum standing next to him or her watching the approaching cars.
All cars present behaved well and gave the youngster space and time so we sat
and waited. Then mum started to get hungry and walked to the side of the road
to start grazing. That was the cue for the youngster to stretch out and then
get up to follow mum. As the cars then started to come closer and moving the
mum steered her calf away from the road and back into the bush.
Other animals
seen: steenboks, waterbuck, nyala bulls, more white rhinos, impalas, zebras,
buffalos, kudus, warthogs, wildebeest, vervet monkeys (inside the park this
time), a slender mongoose crossing the road and plenty of elephants.
Birds we have
seen: magpie shrikes, yellow-billed hornbills, forktailed drongos, crested
francolins run across the road, bateleur eagles flying over, brown headed
parrots, Cape turtle doves and two separate sightings of the rare ground hornbills.
2 August 2015
As we entered
Malelane Gate this morning we played a game "which animal do we see
first", not counting the animals we had seen prior to entering (buffalos
and elephants while having breakfast and a crocodile while driving over the
bridge over the Crocodile River), which we all lost. It was a family of
warthogs!
As we bumbled
along we came across an eagle chick in a nest on top of a tree without parental
supervision. Or at least none that we could see. The chick was flapping its
wings trying to fly, but no air movement yet. However when another bird of prey
flew over the nest it ducked down completely out of sight. When the bird was
gone he went back to his efforts of spreading its wings and flap.
We encountered
a large herd of buffalo this morning that was getting thirsty. At a waterhole
they stopped to drink and some even lied down for a nap. We couldn't count them
really well, as they kept moving around, but it was a large herd for more than
100 buffalos for sure. What made it extra special was the herd of elephants on
the opposite side of the road standing in the shade of a tree all huddled
together around their young that were taking a nap lying down.
Another
highlight was seeing elephants up close. Yesterday we saw many elephants and
today as well, but being eye to eye with an elephant up close is different.
First we watched this small herd feeding next to the road when they started to
cross. There was no trouble as they all gently crossed and didn't even look at
us. But just before the last one moved off the road, this big bull comes
marching down the hill. As he comes to the tar he gives us an evil stare as if
we were planning to get it on with one of the ladies that he obviously had
planned for himself. But when we didn't move, and the ladies walked away, he
chose to follow them rather than to mess with us. It was a cool meet and greet!
Other
interesting sightings: waterbucks, quite some duos of white rhinos, steenbok,
warthogs, just 4 zebras, baboons, dwarf mongooses, very cheeky vervet monkeys
at Berg and Dal raiding our (empty) car while we had not even got out of the
vehicle properly, lots of giraffes in the middle of the road, kudus, a hippo in
the Biyamiti weir that was at eye level and lots of impalas.
Birds we added to
the list were lilac breasted rollers, once again a couple of ground hornbills,
woolly necked storks, Egyptian geese, brown snake eagle, chinspot batises, blue
waxbills and a green woodhoopoe.
3 August 2015
Today was our
last morning drive of this safari, so we braved the cold and left at sunrise!
During the day we encountered many species: white rhinos, elephants, buffalos,
steenboks, kudus, giraffes, vervet monkeys, impalas, zebras, wildebeests,
bushbucks, and a new one of this safari: a klipspringer that sat as still as a
statue.
But our
highlight was a sighting of the rare wild dogs just before we left the park!
They were relaxing all bundled together. We occasionally saw a head raise or a
tail flick. Only one wild dog was kind enough to stand up briefly so we could
have a good look. And one of the pack of wild dogs rolled over. But it was a
great sighting of this rare carnivore nonetheless.
We also added
some new birds: a little bee-eater and a white-backed vulture. And once again
we saw some ground hornbills, so the guests stopped believing they are rare...
Then it was time
to say goodbye to Sanjana, Pralad and Vicky, who would travel on to
Johannesburg and end their holiday in Cape Town. Enjoy the last days in South
Africa guys, and may the pictures be a happy memory after all the trouble of
getting here!
