On Safari with Curtis 27 December 2015

27 December 2015

A brand new safari and we were joined by Gemma, Hannah and Fabricio for four days.

On arrival at the lodge they set off on their first activity which was the sundowner drive.

Great weather today with perfect skies meaning a great sunset and they also had first sightings of Cape buffalo, waterbuck,  elephant, kudu, zebra,  Impala, hippo, rhino and Giraffe.

A good start to this tour!!!

On safari With Karen From 25 December 2015

25 December 2015

The sunset drive went by tonight without a sunset as the sun had been hiding behind clouds most of the day. But the guests were pleased to see their first animals of this safari.

Apart from a buffalo that was walking along the fence line of the lodge, they encountered several other game species on their drive: giraffes, zebras, impalas, waterbuck, kudu and elephants.

26 December 2015

We set off in the morning thinking the thin cloud layer in the sky would dissolve and it would become a lovely warm day. We were wrong. Half an hour into the drive the guests were wrapped up in blankets as if it was winter, but we still enjoyed our drive.

Our first highlight was seeing our first herd of elephants. Little did we know that we parked right next to a fantastic patch of grass to eat. As the elephants came closer to the road they came more and more out of the bushes. They were feeding on grass and branches. Slowly one elephant started feeding next to the truck. Not a care in the world about us watching them, she kept on plucking the grass right next to us. Soon she was joined by two others. The gentle giants were within touching distance and we sat watching them in silence. When the tuft of grass was plucked empty they moved off (and some of us started breathing again). In the end the entire herd crossed and we had a great sighting of these magnificent animals.

Our second highlight was coming across three cheetahs. They were unfortunately walking away from us, but with binoculars we had a good visual. We then lost visual of them as they disappeared behind bushes. But we saw an impala in the general direction of where they are moving. While everyone gave up we decided to hang around and see what happened. And it paid off as suddenly the impala got wind of something and stood alert. Then he bolted. Two cheetahs gave a half-hearted 10 meter chase but the impala was long gone. A missed chance!

Other interesting sightings: kudus, a chameleon, common grey duikers, a hippo, giraffes, waterbucks, more elephants, a white rhino, warthog mummy with two piglets, zebras, impalas, hyena, baboons and two herds of buffalos including a calf so young that it was just able to walk.

27 December 2015

Eager to see lions we set off this morning in the hope to find some. And we were in luck as we came across two male lions eating off a rhino carcass. It was a highlight and a lowlight in one as we were confronted with the horrible truth of rhino poaching. The carcass was clearly a victim of poaching with half its nose hacked off. Its last stance was to provide food for those two nomad lions. As it was quite close to the road we were treated to some excellent lion shots to take pictures. 

In the afternoon we sat watching two elephants swim for quite some time. It looked like they were having much fun as it was still hot we would have loved to join them in the "pool". To stay safe though we stayed on the shore in the car. They were using the full length of the dam and came closer and closer to a pod of snoozing hippos. Soon they made some noise to deter the elephants but they didn’t seem to notice or care. Then a few scared ones scattered but most hung on to their spot. The elephants drifted away a bit again which gave the hippos some peace. But not for long as the boisterous elephants were pushing and shoving each other closer and closer to the hippos. So much so that they chased the entire harem in all different directions under loud protest. It was like a tv show!

Other interesting sightings: herds of elephants, very cute hyenas, a distant visual of wild dogs but as they are rare it is always a treat, terrapins on the back of a hippo, steenboks, warthogs, waterbucks, blue wildebeests with babies, lots of zebras, impalas, giraffes, buffalos, kudus, common reedbucks, vervet monkeys, a baby crocodile and baboons.

On Safari With Amanda From 26 December 2015

26 December 2015

Christmas in the Kruger, there's no better place to spend the festivities!

Two lovely new guests travelling all the way from Korea arrived full of excitement and ready for the Kruger.

After a short breakfast we headed out towards skukuza. Fantastic elephants greeted us slowly crossing the road eating along the way. Lots of beautiful birds enjoying the coolness of the morning, levailants cookoo, lilac breasted rollers, bee eaters, white storks and a few tawny eagles.

We drove towards delaporte waterhole as news came in of wild dogs, so we were expecting to see them and 1km before then out came a leopard crossing the road and walking into the bush...expect the unexpected as the saying goes!

On arrival at delaporte there must have been 15 wild dogs lazing watching impalas come to drink, a half attempt at hunting took place but it looked like the dogs had already eaten. 

We drove to skukuza and had a quick coffee and then straight to the 114 for 2 very handsome male lions. After sitting with them for half an hour we decided to turn back to see the wild dogs,1 was still visible patiently watching the impalas then, out of nowhere the whole pack charged out and charged at the impalas who quickly dispersed, another unsuccessful hunt but I'm sure they will be rewarded later today!

Lunch was calling so we headed back to camp as we got close lots of cars were in the road so I knew it could only be leopard....we slowly approached I saw him so did a quick u turn and we were the only car following him for 10 mins.. lucky us...patience is a virtue in the Kruger and anticipation of the animals behavior will help with the best of sightings!

Another fantastic day in the park. 

27 December 2015

Exciting start to the day for my guests they decided to do a bush walk early morning.

I watched them leave and not more than half an hour later I heard elephants trumpeting loudly close by camp.. I watched them and saw 3 of them running fast downhill and then heading towards the same tree over and over bashing it and calling loudly. After half and hour they disappeared at great speed! I greeted my guests when they returned full of excitement telling me how they were close to the elephants on foot whilst they were bashing the trees, they mentioned that they saw fresh leopard tracks just before the elephants so we all wondered if there was a leopard around bothering the elephants? !

After breakfast we did a very relaxing drive and went to mestle dam where we sat for over an hour watching elephants in the water Cooling off.

Again we had lovely bee eaters lilac breasted rollers and red billed oxpeckers along the way.

Our afternoon drive was filled with spectacular scenery as the sun was setting changing everything to a lovely golden colour...beautiful. 

As we head off to bed there's a report of a leopard that has been spotted close to camp...maybe tomorrow we can find another elusive leopard! 

On safari With Gert From 25 December 2015

25 December 2015

After an early breakfast we left camp at 06:00 for our Safari. The day started off cool and cloudy and we were hoping this would work in our favor sightings-wise.

First up we were quite lucky and found a small herd of elephants consisting of 2 adult females and 3 youngsters. One of the calves was still very young, about a month old and delighted all present with his antics, running around with his trunk flopping all over the place and just being very cute in general. This was followed shortly by a large buffalo herd and the first of our Rhino sightings for the day, rather distant, however we did find a couple of white rhino fairly close to the road later on and a large bull crossing the road in front of us...

We then followed up on a tip about a lone male lion and headed in that direction. We found the lion lying about 10 meters off the road, fast asleep. He was quite an old boy, but we could see him fairly well as he was lying in the open and did eventually wake up to turn over and face our way, posing for a few pictures before we continued with our drive.

On our way to a nearby camp for a break we then noticed a few cars parked in the road in front of us and on approach saw what they had stopped for; one of the largest male leopards I had ever seen were about 15 meters off the road, settling on a termite mound for a grooming session before getting comfortable and dozing off, to the delight of the many onlookers. This however was along one of the main roads and the traffic very quickly got intolerable and we decided to move on after getting a short but very sweet sighting.

The final highlight of the day came during the hot late afternoon, when we found a solitary Spotted Hyena lying in a mud pool close to the road. It had obviously figured out the best way to keep cool and even though it did lift its head a few times to look around and sniff the breeze, it wasn't going anywhere and we eventually left it in peace.

All of this, in addition to some very good general game sightings made for the perfect African Christmas!

26 December 2015

Setting off early on a rather cool morning thanks to the overcast and windy conditions, we had very good general game sightings for the first hour or so, including a nice mixed herd of Zebra and Impala with many youngsters. We also saw 2 elephant bulls leisurely grazing in an open area, slowly but surely working their way closer to the road. We observed them for a few minutes, amazed at how gentle these giants can be!

We then stopped for a short coffee break, before continuing with our, drive, in the direction of an earlier report of lion. However, along the way at a waterhole we were lucky enough to find 3 Wild dogs, most likely part of a larger pack. The dogs for the most part were quite well hidden, but did get up a few times to reposition themselves or find cooler, more comfortable shady spots... Eventually they all lay down in the tall grass on the edge of a riverbank and we lost sight of them, deciding to move on.

A little later, we did reach the reported lion sighting and it was 2 large males feeding on a rhino carcass. The Rhino had reportedly succumbed to injuries inflicted by another Rhino during a fight. The lions by that time must have been feeding for quite a while as they had hollowed out a decent chunk of the Rhino's belly and it was very interesting to see them force their entire heads into the carcass to feed. What was most impressive though, was the sheer power of these male lions as they tugged at the at least 2,5 ton carcass, managing to rock it back and forth seemingly effortlessly! The space at this sighting was rather limited though and we decided to move on after observing them for a few minutes, letting some other vehicles in for a view. We also got a quick glimpse of a Spotted Hyena, slinking past in the background, no doubt waiting for his turn at the feast.

After lunch and a couple of hours relaxing time back at camp, we went out again for a short late afternoon drive during which we were treated to memorable sightings of a baby Giraffe with its mother, a month old baby elephant suckling from it's mother and a baby Hyena of about 4 months old lying by a den entrance, peeking at the passing vehicles... All in all, another very successful day's game drive!