Safari Starting 13th December Ending 17th December 2012

13^th December – Our guests arrived in Nelspruit where they were met by Mark who then proceeded to the Kruger National Park entering at Numbi gate. The route taken was straight down Napi into Skukuza for lunch. Good sightings were experienced such as Elephants just past shithave, 8 Giraffe together on the road at the Boulders entrance, 2 White Rhino which approached an elephant bull  and got the fright of their lives when the Elephant flapped its ears, a herd of buffalo at the Napi Boulders exit walking down the road and 3 wild dogs just before Transport Dam access road. We then proceeded to Nkambeni Tented Lodge for the evening.

14^th December – After a good breakfast we set out for the day when we spotted a male Leopard just past the Sabi River Low Water Bridge. We then proceeded on the Marola Loop where a Male Lion was marking his territory.  Other sighting for the day include Elephants, Rhino, 5 Giraffe lying down, a female Leopard who was stalking a Serval cat but after the chase the serval got away and the Leopard gave up, another 11 Lions down the S37, 3 male lions as well as fantastic sightings of general game.

15^th December – On this day we set out for another day in the Kruger. We turned onto the Kruger Gate Road where we got 17 Wild dogs lying in the road after a kill, still bloodied faces and stomachs full, we then made our way to watergat where we found 2 Lioness and 1 male Lion, after some time we proceeded onward with our route when we got good sightings of Rhino, Giraffe, General Game, another 3 Lions lying in the shade of a tree, a Leopard cub relaxing on a Silvercluster tree branch, a Buffalo herd of about 100 and Elephants.  After an exciting day we then made our way back to camp.

16^th December – Our route today is Voortrekker- S114 – Napi then back to camp. A great day experienced by our guests with a herd of Buffalo on their way to the first historical sight, 3 Wild Dogs on Voortrekker marking their territory, a Female Leopard walking parallel with the road,  5 Elephants on the S114, mating Lions on gwatamiri, 3 Lions on Napi, a Leopard in a morola tree just before the Transport Dam access road, 2 Rhinos and a female Cheetah having a afternoon walk before the Shithave entrance. After dinner we said our goodnights so our guests could have a rest before leaving the Kruger on the 17^th.

Dean enters the Park today with new guests. Sightings of Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, 2 different sightings of Lions, as well as Buffalo on the Nkambeni  access road to camp was spotted within two and a half hours of arrival.

17^th December – After their morning drive on their last day of their safari guests leave at 10h00 where they were handed over from Mark to Verity who would be bringing them back to OR Tambo to catch their flight.

Jock Of The Bushveld by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick (Chapter 24)( Page 8 ) The Last Trek

The sun was out again, and in the straight reach above the bend there was every chance to watch the flood from the bank where I stood.  It seemed strangely long in coming, but come it did at last, in waves like the half-spent breakers on a sandy beach--a slope of foam and broken waters in the van, an ugly wall with spray-tipped feathered crest behind, and tier on tier to follow.  Heavens, what a scene!  The force of waters, and the utter hopeless puniness of man!  The racing waves, each dashing for the foremost place, only to force the further on; the tall reeds caught waist high and then laid low, their silvery tops dipped, hidden, and drowned in the flood; the trees yielding, and the branches snapping like matches and twirling like feathers down the stream; the rumbling thunder of big boulders loosed and tumbled, rolled like marbles on the rocks below; whole trees brought down, and turning helplessly in the flood--drowned giants with their branches swinging slowly over like nerveless arms.  It was tremendous; and one had to stay and watch. Then the waves ceased; and behind the opposite bank another stream began to make its way, winding like a huge snake, spreading wider as it went across the flats beyond, until the two rejoined and the river became one again.  The roar of waters gradually lessened; the two cataracts beside me were silent; and looking down I saw that the fall was gone and that water ran to water--swift as ever, but voiceless now--and was lost in the river itself.  Inch by inch the water rose towards my feet; tufts of grass trembled, wavered, and went down; little wavelets flipped and licked like tongues against the remaining bank of soft earth below me; piece after piece of it leant gently forward, and toppled headlong in the eager creeping tide; deltas of yellow scum flecked water worked silently up the dongas, reaching out with stealthy feelers to enclose the place where I was standing; and then it was time to go! The cattle had turned their tails to the storm, and stood it out.  They too were washed clean and looked fresher and brighter; but there was nothing in that!  Two of them had been seen by the boys moving slowly, foot by foot, before the driving rain down the slope from the outspan, stung by the heavy drops and yielding in their weakness to the easy gradient.  Only fifty yards away they should have  topped in the hollow--the shallow dry donga of the morning; but they were gone! Unwilling to turn back and face the rain, they had no doubt been caught in the rush of storm-water and swirled away, and their bodies were bobbing in the Crocodile many miles below by the time we missed them. In a couple of hours the water had run off; the flooded dongas were almost dry again; and we moved on. It was then that the real `rot' set in.  Next morning there were half a dozen oxen unable to stand up; and so again the following day.  It was no longer possible to take the four waggons; all the spare cattle had been used up and it was better to face the worst at once; so I distributed the best of the load on the other three waggons and abandoned the rest of it with the fourth waggon in the bush.  But day by day the oxen dropped out, and when we reached the Junction and branched up the Kaap, there were not enough left for three waggons. This time it meant abandoning both waggon and load; and I gave the cattle a day's rest then, hoping that they would pick up strength on good grass to face the eight drifts that lay between us and Barberton.

Kruger Park Safari with Sabine Korte 21 - 24 October 2009

Sabine conducted a 4 Day Budget Kruger Park Safari with us leaving from johannesburg. Upon arriving at the Kruger National Park we started our first game drive at 15h30 on the afternoon of the 21st, the game drive delivered sightings of general game and large herds of elephant. On the second morning we left camp at 06h00 and made our way deeper into the park enjoying sightings of general game, elephant and a black rhino. After breakfast we carried on with our game drive finding our first sightings of lion and cape buffalo. We made our way to skukuza for lunch and a deserved break. After lunch we took a drive down the S1 (Doispane Road) and at about 14h30 at a distance of 7,1 Km's from the intersection of the S4 we came upon a sighting of a female lion and her 2 cubs, only to find a male lion also present with a snare around the neck. Dean informed the ranger from the area and the veterinary services who proceeded to come to the scene and look for the male in order to dart him to remove the snare. The task at hand proved to be harder than anticipated and we had to leave the scene in order to get back to camp in time before the gates closed. We were informed later that the authorities had successfully darted the lion and removed the snare.

The morning of the 23rd we left camp a little earlier and after good sightings of white rhino. After a short distance we came across a sighting of lions, one male lion with two lionesses at the Deleport water hole. The lions were quite relaxed showing little interest in the tourist presence around them. we continued conducting game drives for the duration of the day getting good sightings of elephant, buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, zebra and wildebeest. Upon our return journey to camp, we came upon a sighting of Sable antelope, these sable are seldom seeing in the park due to there low numbers in the region.

Our last morning game drive was spent around the camp of Pretoriuskop seen large herds of Zebra, Rhino and also seen our first impala lambs of the summer season that had just been born.
All in all this was a memorable safari for Sabine who wants to return to go and do some volunteer work at the Moholoholo wildlife centre in the near future.

For more info on our safaris to the Kruger national Park, please visit our Kruger Park Safaris website 
For more info on our 4 Day Budget Kruger Park Safari, please visit our 4 Day Budget Kruger Park Safari Itinerary

Photos taken by Kyle Olsen while on safari in the Kruger National Park

Two Photos from a Lion sighting with Nhongo Safaris at klipspringer Kopies

For more info on our Kruger Park safaris, please visit our Nhongo Safaris website

Photos taken by Kyle Olsen while on safari in the Kruger National Park

Two photos of a leopard taken while on safari with Nhongo Safaris.

For more info on our Kruger Park safaris, please visit our Nhongo Safaris website