On safari With Robbie From 7 March 2015

7 March 2015

We started our safari at Numbi and what seems to be the norm these days . Our very first species seen was Elephant!

We watched a beautiful bull approach us and then cross the road with a couple of vocals right in front of us!

After checking in at camp and a bit of a rest we headed out on our afternoon game drive! The highlights were good sightings of Elephant , White Rhino and a large herd of Giraffe in what was otherwise a relatively quiet drive.

We head out tomorrow at the crack of dawn so we hopefully may find some felines!

8 March 2015

We set off at 5-30 am and were dually rewarded with a great sighting of a male lion and 3 lioness in the middle of the road! The male for some unknown reason was extremely aggressive and mock charged a Park safari vehicle when they approached the sighting!

Elephant ,W. Rhino, Buffalo, Kudu, Waterbuck, Giraffe and Impala were seen on numerous occasions throughout the day!

Later we came across a 12 member strong Lion pride in an open area of a river bed making it a perfect opportunity for guests to get that "classic" Lion pic , especially as there were 2 tiny cubs and 3 superb black manned males!

Towards the end of the day we had fun amongst close encounters with the Hyena clans youngsters and had a great visual of a 2m plus Black Mamba stalking a frog!

It was a great day!

On Safari With Curtis from 6 March 2015

6 March 2015

Another early start and within ten minutes we had found our first highlight of the day.

A female leopard lying in the fork of a tree just five meters from the road and we were the only car at the sighting. As more vehicles showed she decided that was enough and slowly got up, stretched, yawned and climbed down with just the white tip of her tail showing in the tall grass.

Our second highlight was later in the day as we drove up to a more open stretch where the thatching grass is replaced by much shorter varieties of grass. Here we found a multitude of animals including a herd of zebra, a herd of wildebeest, a couple of giraffe and of course a few impala. Although through out the day we saw plenty of these it's nice when they are all clustered so close together.

Other sighting today include elephant, a buffalo herd, several rhino, hyena, a second leopard, waterbuck, kudu, klipspringer, hippo baboons and vervets as well as a leopard tortoise, chameleon and warthogs.

Birds included the saddle billed stork, brown snake eagle, grey heron, wooly necked storks and carmine bee eaters.

7 March 2015

Our last day of this tour and we set off nice and early.

Once again our first sighting was the female leopard we had seen yesterday and once again she had no inclination to hang around for too long. But we still managed to get a few good photos of her before she disappeared into the grass.

Our second highlight was rhino, we found a lone male just busy grazing and as he moved closer to the road we had a good look at him. As he then turned to move away we drove off only to find three more rhino just a couple of hundred meters down the road. These were lying in a nice open area giving a great view. Eventually one by one they got up and moved away and so did we.

Other sightings of this final drive were a buffalo herd, impala, kudu, waterbuck, zebra, wildebeest, klipspringer, steenbok and lots of giraffe.

Then it was time to leave the park and transfer my guests up to Nelspruit where they are going to carry on their adventures.

On safari With Curtis 5 March 2015

5 March 2015

We left camp nice and early this morning, giving us the opportunity to watch a beautiful sun coming up over the Kruger horizon.

Although the morning soon hotted up and this had an impact on sightings we still had a nice drive.

Our first highlight was down at the dam where we found a hippo lying in the shallows watching as two rhino lay down enjoying the early morning sun.

Our second highlight was at a hyena den. When we arrived we could just spot one hyena but then more and more appeared and we eventually had seen nine of them including a couple who were right next to the road.

Other animals of interest were elephants, buffalo, crocodile, giraffe, waterbuck, kudu, impala, common duiker, baboons and a dung beetle rolling his ball.

Birds seen included woolly necked storks, yellow-billed hornbills, lilac breasted rollers, bataleurs, jacanas and a goliath heron to name just a few.

This evening it was time for the sunset drive where plenty of general game was seen.

PROGRAMME FOR CARE OF INJURED AND ORPHANED RHINO

The South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced a partnership with the Peace Parks Parks Foundation (PPF) as part of the Rhino Protection Programme (RPP) which will see R2.4-million allocated towards assisting with the care of rhino which have been injured and orphaned as a result of rhino poaching. The Kruger National Park has been particularly affected by rhino poaching and in the course of 2014 SANParks rescued 16 rhino orphans, of which 12 went to specialist care and 4 were placed with surrogate mothers in holding bomas managed by SANParks.

The ultimate aim is for the rhino orphans to be integrated back into a normally functioning breeding population. The rhino orphans that are rescued in circumstances where their mothers have been killed by poachers require specialist care as they are generally weak and dehydrated. With the nurturing cycle broken, human intervention is essential to support the rehabilitation of orphaned rhino. Once the rhino orphans have recovered and are grazing, and have been integrated with older rhino, they will be moved to rhino strongholds where they will form part of the breeding population.

Veterinarians and rangers are also regularly confronted with dealing with wounded adult rhino in the Kruger National Park following poaching incidents. Unfortunately many wounded rhino have such severe wounds that they have to be humanely euthanized. If there is a chance, however, that the rhino will recover, then specialist veterinary treatment will be administered, and the rhino released with a tracking collar in order that the rhino can be monitored and follow up treatment administered.

According to Mr Fundisile Mketeni, CEO of SANParks, “We appreciate the support of the Rhino Protection Programme in helping rhinos that have been injured and orphaned as a result of poaching, and supporting our teams of vets and field staff who brave the frontlines of the rhino poaching war every day. These interventions form a critical component of the strategic integrated approach to combatting wildlife crime as announced by the Minister of Environmental Affairs last year.”

The Rhino Protection Programme (RPP) - a collaboration between the Department of Environmental Affairs, South African National Parks, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (Ezemvelo) and Peace Parks Foundation (PPF) - is funded by the Dutch and Swedish postcode lotteries and other private donors which include The Sophia Foundation as well as the UK-based fundraising initiative, The Charge.

ENDS

Released by SANParks Corporate Communications

For further information contact:

Lise-Marie Greeff-Villet
Communications Coordinator
Peace Parks Foundation
Tel:+27 (0)21 880 5125
Email: lgreeff-villet@ppf.org.za

Paul Daphne
Head of Communications
SANParks
Tel: 012 426 5072
Cell: 082 806 5409
Email: paul.daphne@sanparks.org