On Safari With Gert From 29 April 2016

29 April 2016

We headed out early for our morning drive and had a fairly quiet morning, the highlight being a visit to a small waterhole where we had a good few hundred Impala congregating in the area. This would have been several herds together and they where quite loud, from the females contact-calling to keep track of the youngsters in the chaos, to the males doing several versions of their rutting-calls and trying to simultaneously chase off rival males while keeping their own herd females in check! A family of Warthog and a lone Giraffe browsing in the background completed the scene.

On our afternoon drive, while watching a few young male Kudu browsing close to the road, a female leopard came trotting out of the bush, crossed the road in front of us and continued into the bush on the other side, disappearing out of sight - a quick but very good sighting. Further on we found 5 very lazy lions, males in their prime, sleeping in a shady spot, obviously bothered by some flies, as they were constantly flicking their ears and tails to get rid of them. 2 of them got up while we were there, but only to change position and get more comfortable again!

In the end, a very successful day and we can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

30 April 2016

After an early breakfast we loaded luggage and departed for our final morning Safari.

While having breakfast we could hear Spotted Hyena calling close-by and about 300 meters into our drive we found 5 of them in a drainage line close to the road. They must have made or found a kill earlier in the morning, as they were feeding on what was left of a male Impala, tugging at the carcass and one trying to claim all of it, carrying the carcass off into a thicket; some good action to start the morning!

Driving along the river front we also found a couple of very large Nile crocodiles basking in the morning sun as well as a young hippo grazing on the bank.

We managed to find another very lazy male Lion sleeping in the shade of a tree and had a quality Elephant sighting at a small waterhole, as a breeding herd of about 30 individuals, joined by 2 very large adult males, drank and splashed around, also having a few mud-baths. They were quite vocal and there was certainly some tension between the 2 large males, spilling over to some of the younger males, all very excitable, chasing each other around, but keeping their distance from the larger males!

We exited the park just before noon, which signaled the end of another successful safari!

On Safari With Gert 28 April 2016

28 April 2016

Starting a new Safari today with Nicole and Krista from the USA, we entered the park just after midday.

Although quite hot, we still had good general game sightings, including Zebra, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffe and a few large Kudu Bulls. We also found a few Buffalo at various locations, in the shady spots or by the waterside, as well as some large Elephant Bulls and a White Rhino crossing the road in front of us!

The highlight of the afternoon was most likely our stop at a large waterhole where we had some Hippos out of the water and a bit of action when an African Fish-Eagle swooped down from its perch to grab a fish which ventured to close to the surface for its own good!

On Safari With Amanda 18 April 2016

18 April 2016

Last day for my 2 lovely English guests as we headed out after breakfast for a drive.

Driving along the napi road we spotted an adorable baby giraffe, just standing looking at us and close by was his mum, giraffes are generally curious animals and always give us a good stare before continuing munching away on their food!

An update of lions feeding on an Elephant that had died of natural causes and we head off, there not more than 50m from the road was a young male lion feeding on the elephant, hidden out of view was another male lion resting. We sat and watched as the smell of the elephant was quite pungent! 

We decided to have a visit to shitlave dam where we came across over 100 buffalos drinking at the dam, amazing to see.

So now we are 3 after saying our goodbyes my remaining guests went for a siesta before their sunset drive, hopefully to return with stories of a wonderful drive.

On Safari With Amanda From 17 April 2016

17 April 2016

A new safari and new guests from Canada and the UK.

A gloriously sunny day in the park today as we left for an afternoon drive. 

First animals we came across were giraffe, top on my guests list of favorite animals.

We watched them browsing and munching away before they headed off out of sight.

A nice drive around the koppies and we spotted a couple of klipspringers resting on a rock. 

Zebras alarm calling and a couple of cars in front of us and we knew something exciting was there...we missed the leopard by minutes apparently! That's how it goes in the bush right time right place. We watched the adult zebras stand protectively around a young zebra and in the background was a lone wildebeest and buffalo!

An update from one of our guides informed me of wild dogs, 5 of them basking in the sun and they were still there when we arrived. Incredible to see as there are roughly only 250-300 left in the park.

So we headed back to camp after a very rewarding drive but not before a lone bull elephant prevented us from getting to the gate! We followed him as he ambled slowly along the dirt road before turning off and heading into the bush.

Tomorrow is another day in the Kruger and after a filling supper we all turn in for an early night.