6 February 2015
Today was a new safari and the guests' first drive was a Sundowner safari.
Their sunset was amazing, and had all the fabulous aspects of the Kruger Park. The sky turned brilliant orange as the sun set, dancing its last rays over the water where the hippos were yawning to show off their strength. The hippos were waking up, adding some lovely bush sounds to the amazing picture.
And even though it was only their first drive, there were already many highlights. But the best thing was meeting this tiny little baby elephant and its mother that was protecting it from harm. She was shielding the baby from the big bad car, and shoving it underneath her so nothing can touch it. If they wanted to come close to the little one, they had to pass her first.
Other animals seen: spotted eagle owl (another highlight as owls is one of the guests most favorite animal), zebras, giraffe, impalas, waterbuck, and last but not least a big bull elephant in must that stopped them from returning to the lodge for quite some time.
Verity and Dean Cherry had an African dream in 1999 and started Nhongo Safaris® to eliminate the logistical challenges of international visitors on safari. We provide a once in a lifetime experience for wildlife enthusiast that demand quality overnight safaris in South Africa and most particularly the Kruger National Park. We want to enrich our visitors’ experience by providing Luxury Safari Packages or African Safari Holidays and maintain our position as leader in Kruger Park Safaris.
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Some of Nhongo Safaris Fleet of Open Safari Vehicles
The photo shows some of our fleet of Open Safari Vehicles used while on safari in the Kruger National and Hwange National Parks. These ve...
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Monday, 9 February 2015
On Safari With Curtis: 8 February 2015
8 February 2015
We woke, on this our final day, to dark rain filled clouds which were releasing plenty of rain as we left camp. This, unfortunately did affect the sightings early on but we were spoilt with one particular sighting.
As we drove past the entry of a dirt road we found two large black manned lions walking towards us. We watched as they walked off the dirt road onto the tar and continued to walk along the road. We turned and followed them, the two of them were so confident that they allowed us to move along side them as they walked down the road. So close to them were we that we could clearly see the scars and war wounds that these two have encountered over the years.
Occasionally each of them would stop and scrape the ground with their back paws and scent marking the grass along the road. We spent about fifteen minutes with just our vehicle at the sighting before other vehicles started to turn up and this was our cue to let others enjoy this amazing experience.
Our second highlight of the Day was our first rhino of this tour. Not only did this complete the Big 5, more importantly it allowed the guests have a good look at a creature which has become a important symbol of the struggles of fighting poachers nowadays.
Other sights this last day were giraffe and calf, hyena, a herd of buffalo, elephant, and a couple more rhino.
We woke, on this our final day, to dark rain filled clouds which were releasing plenty of rain as we left camp. This, unfortunately did affect the sightings early on but we were spoilt with one particular sighting.
As we drove past the entry of a dirt road we found two large black manned lions walking towards us. We watched as they walked off the dirt road onto the tar and continued to walk along the road. We turned and followed them, the two of them were so confident that they allowed us to move along side them as they walked down the road. So close to them were we that we could clearly see the scars and war wounds that these two have encountered over the years.
Occasionally each of them would stop and scrape the ground with their back paws and scent marking the grass along the road. We spent about fifteen minutes with just our vehicle at the sighting before other vehicles started to turn up and this was our cue to let others enjoy this amazing experience.
Our second highlight of the Day was our first rhino of this tour. Not only did this complete the Big 5, more importantly it allowed the guests have a good look at a creature which has become a important symbol of the struggles of fighting poachers nowadays.
Other sights this last day were giraffe and calf, hyena, a herd of buffalo, elephant, and a couple more rhino.
On Safari With Curtis: 7 February 2015
7 January 2015
Last nights drive was a great success with plenty of general game as well as civet and genet to add to the list of animals seen.
This morning got off to a flyer as only fifteen minutes we got our highlight of the day.
Four lions laying slap bang in the middle of the road, so relaxed were they that we were able to drive right up next to them. We sat watching them for about fifteen minutes when we heard hyenas calling close by. This immediately made the lions sit up and take note. We watched for a few minutes more before chancing it and trying to find the hyenas. Just a couple of hundred meters from the lions we found four hyena. Three right next to the road and the fourth more shy and hidden in the trees.
After watching for a while we returned to the lions spending another twenty minutes with them all to ourselves.
Our second highlight of the day was a troupe of vervets also relaxing on the road. Being early and still cool the youngsters were having great fun playing and wrestling with each other while the adults were busy feeding.
Other animals of note seen today were elephants, buffalo, 2 leopard sightings, another 2 hyena sightings, Bushbuck, wildebeest, giraffe, plenty of hippo, marsh terrapins and a tiny chameleon crossing the road.
Birds included marabou stork, yellow billed stork, African spoonbill, grey heron and a trio of hornbills including the Yellow-billed, red-billed and the southern ground hornbill.
Last nights drive was a great success with plenty of general game as well as civet and genet to add to the list of animals seen.
This morning got off to a flyer as only fifteen minutes we got our highlight of the day.
Four lions laying slap bang in the middle of the road, so relaxed were they that we were able to drive right up next to them. We sat watching them for about fifteen minutes when we heard hyenas calling close by. This immediately made the lions sit up and take note. We watched for a few minutes more before chancing it and trying to find the hyenas. Just a couple of hundred meters from the lions we found four hyena. Three right next to the road and the fourth more shy and hidden in the trees.
After watching for a while we returned to the lions spending another twenty minutes with them all to ourselves.
Our second highlight of the day was a troupe of vervets also relaxing on the road. Being early and still cool the youngsters were having great fun playing and wrestling with each other while the adults were busy feeding.
Other animals of note seen today were elephants, buffalo, 2 leopard sightings, another 2 hyena sightings, Bushbuck, wildebeest, giraffe, plenty of hippo, marsh terrapins and a tiny chameleon crossing the road.
Birds included marabou stork, yellow billed stork, African spoonbill, grey heron and a trio of hornbills including the Yellow-billed, red-billed and the southern ground hornbill.
On Safari With Curtis: 6 February 2015
6 February 2015
This morning was an early start from camp and a quiet start before we started to rack up the sightings.
A herd of giraffe was a highlight of the day as we came across three of them, a female and two males who were busy fighting with each other. Maybe trying to show their prowess to the female the two males carried on their funny display of swinging necks just a bit too long enough as the female decided to walk off leaving the boys to it.
Our second highlight was a lion sighting. Initially on arrival there was not much to look at. Four lions sat hidden twenty meters in the bush and although we waited they didn't move much. We decided to leave them and go for some breakfast with the plan of returning afterwards.
This plan worked as on our return we found one of the lions just three meters from the road having a hard time getting a meal out of a leopard tortoise it had caught.
As we waited and listened to the crunching of shell the others all moved closer to the road giving us a great look at them.
Other animals seen included kudu, baboons, vervet monkey, bushbuck, elephants, leopard, more lionesses, warthog, giant land snail, buffalo and a young cobra.
Birds included crested francolins, swansons spurfowl, cape glossy starling, lilac breastfed roller, tawny eagle and blacksmith lapwings.
Tonight it's the night drive so will tell all tomorrow.,
This morning was an early start from camp and a quiet start before we started to rack up the sightings.
A herd of giraffe was a highlight of the day as we came across three of them, a female and two males who were busy fighting with each other. Maybe trying to show their prowess to the female the two males carried on their funny display of swinging necks just a bit too long enough as the female decided to walk off leaving the boys to it.
Our second highlight was a lion sighting. Initially on arrival there was not much to look at. Four lions sat hidden twenty meters in the bush and although we waited they didn't move much. We decided to leave them and go for some breakfast with the plan of returning afterwards.
This plan worked as on our return we found one of the lions just three meters from the road having a hard time getting a meal out of a leopard tortoise it had caught.
As we waited and listened to the crunching of shell the others all moved closer to the road giving us a great look at them.
Other animals seen included kudu, baboons, vervet monkey, bushbuck, elephants, leopard, more lionesses, warthog, giant land snail, buffalo and a young cobra.
Birds included crested francolins, swansons spurfowl, cape glossy starling, lilac breastfed roller, tawny eagle and blacksmith lapwings.
Tonight it's the night drive so will tell all tomorrow.,
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