On Safari With Robbie 21\22 September 2015

21 September 2015

We began our trip with a sunset drive which was rather uneventful.

22 September 2015

Today however saw some prolific sightings which for me there was great difficulty in singling out one highlight!

Early in the morning we encountered a female Leopard and three of her +- 9 month old offspring on a rocky outcrop near Pretoriouskop camp .... A large herd of Buffalo was also seen nearby.....

This afternoon we had superb sightings of Elephant, Buffalo, W.Rhino, Cheetah, Spotted Hyena, Wild dog and a magnificent sighting of a fully matured Martial Eagle...

General game was prolific as always and we came across some Hippo activity as well...

Tomorrow the guests visit the Panarama route so we hope the weather is good up there!

On safari With Gert 21 September 2015

21 September 2015

Today started off cold, foggy and drizzly, not pleasant conditions, but perfect for predator activity.

The first hour or so was rather cold and we didn’t see many animals out and about.

That all changed, however, when we saw a cheetah walking adjacent to the road about 30 meters in. We then saw another and another and they changed direction, heading back on to the road! We were treated to a very special sighting of these 3 males as they were quite relaxed, but constantly busy, marking territory, jumping on termite mounds for a better view or chasing each other around. We spent at least half an hour with them, following them down the road and observing their antics.

We then responded to a report of Wild Dogs, which Curtis was generous enough to tell us about. At first the dogs were lazily dozing about 5 meters of the road. After the sun came out they moved into a shady spot and we let them be until the late afternoon. At around 17:00 it was time for the wild dogs to start moving around and we were lucky enough to find them trotting down the road, definitely looking to catch something. A nearby impala herd made themselves scarce very quickly, while many dwarf mongoose were scuttling for their burrows, narrowly escaping the dogs' jaws. Again, we spent about half an hour with them until losing sight after they set off into the bush. A truly memorable day spent with Southern Africa's 2 most endangered carnivores! 

On Safari With Curtis 21 September 2015

21 September 2015

Another great morning as we found wild dogs and hyena in close proximity again.

Also, after being found by Gert we had a lovely sighting of three cheetah brothers very close to the road.

But I think the highlight was of two adult white rhino which we found and then watched as they crossed over the road just ten meters in front of us.

Throughout the day we also saw bushbuck, steenbok, common duiker, three lovely bull sable, baboons, buffalo, hippo, crocodile, waterbuck, kudu, zebra, giraffe, common reedbuck and Impala.

Birds seen were saddle billed stork, grey heron, pied kingfisher, blacksmith lapwing, white backed vulture, Egyptian geese, African fish eagle and African darter.

On Safari With Gert 20 September 2015

20 September 2015

This afternoon we welcomed David and Louisa, who are on their honeymoon, on Safari. After transferring from White River, we entered the Park for a short Game Drive on route to our camp for the next 2 nights; Pretoriuskop.

After having driven for about 10 min, not yet having seen anything, we came across 4 majestic Kudu bulls in their prime. We watched them gracefully crossing the road‎ one by one and eventually let them be. A short while later, having driven a total of about 10 km, there was a small pride of Lions walking along the road. We had the cool wet weather to thank for this as they were trying to escape the wet grass and it was also not too hot for them to be on the move. The pride, consisting of 1 adult male, 1 younger male and 3 females, were very active, frequently lying down in the road, rolling over and playfully grooming each other.  We followed them down the road for about a kilometer where their pathway led them off the road and back into longer grass. We watched until we had lost sight of them in the grass. A truly amazing start to the Safari...