On Safari With Karen From 2 June 2014

2 June 2014

My guests arrived at the KMIA airport and we took a slow drive up to the Kruger Park through all the plantations. Upon arrival  guests had some time to relax before they went on their Sundowner safari.

They went to Mashawu Dam where they unfortunately just missed the sunset because they had stopped for giraffes along the way. But the sky was still a lovely red colour so it gave some nice photos. They saw the hippos playing in the dam. On the way back it was a quiet drive with just a sighting of a scrub hare.

 

3 June 2014

Today my guests were not feeling well so we decided to take it easy and relax around our camp for the day.

 

4 June 2014

Today we left after breakfast to go on game drive. On camp road we spotted a small herd of waterbucks with two very nice adult males. Just before reaching the tar road a tree trunk seemed to move, but it turned out to be covered in dwarf mongooses. When we stopped the car however they all seemed to disappear quickly.

Then we took a slow drive around Shabeni where we saw impalas, kudus, a young tree squirrel and a crested barbet. Continuing on we saw some fresh tracks of rhinos and elephant but the animals making them were hiding in the bush. On Albassini we spotted a buffalo herd in the high grass. However the herd was slowly moving our way so we patiently waited a bit for them to show themselves for better pictures. They came close to the vehicle and then the first brave bulls started crossing in front of our vehicle. Their followers got spooked by a private vehicle though so they turned around. Most of the herd ended up crossing behind us. We estimated the herd was about 60 buffalos strong, but the stream seemed never-ending in the high grass.

Further up the road we spotted some zebras. The first lot was hiding very well in the bush and had no interest in coming closer. So after a couple of pictures we continued and then spotted a nice zebra on the side of the road. He walked around the bush and we were hoping he would cross. Then 5 zebras came out of hiding and one by one started crossing the road in front of us. They posed nicely in the middle of the road, except for the baby that took the crossing at a trot. Close to the end of the road we spotted even more zebras.

Down Doispane we saw a warthog, many impalas, vervet monkeys and lilac breasted rollers. We then stopped at Skukuza for an early lunch, where a crocodile was lying in the riverbed.

On the way back we drove to Transport Dam. Just before the turn off a hyena youngster was lying outside the den. He wasn't feeling very well as he puked while we were watching him. We weren't very keen on watching him eat what he had just thrown up though so we continued our drive. At Transport Dam we spotted a nice crocodile with his mouth open on the island close to the shore. In the far end there were hippos. On either side there were large herds of waterbucks. We also spotted an African jacana male with two chicks and a malachite kingfisher. On the way back to Napi road we spotted some giraffes, one a very young one drinking from its Mum, but they were mostly hiding in the bushes.

Down Napi we saw more kudus with a very nice bull, bateleurs and yellow billed hornbills. We ended our drive with a herd of elephants in the distance close to Shitlhave Dam and a lone giraffe close to Numbi Reception.

 

5 June 2014

Today we set off after breakfast for a full day game drive. On Camp road we spotted our first animal already: a duiker, showing why it is named as such. We then headed down Napi which was littered with buffalo dung. It was hard to slalom around and felt like it was going for kilometres on and on but then we finally saw the herd of mess makers! The entire herd was on a little hill on our left just before Shithave Dam. On the right side however, elephants were walking not that far from the road so a great opportunity for pictures.

We continued on Napi spotting impalas, kudus, lilac breasted rollers, a red crested korhaan, yellow billed hornbills and then just before Transport Dam a bull in must was standing on the side of the road. He was massive! And the smell very pungent! We watched how he came onto the road, had a good long look at us and decided we weren't worth the effort. He turned and walked away from us in the opposite direction.

We then turned onto the H3 soon seeing a wildebeest all by himself and shortly after a large journey of giraffes. We counted about 9 of them in the bush, spread out. Most were feeding but two were arguing about a tasty tree or, more likely, a lovely female and had a good fight. We saw warthogs being chased off the road by another vehicle and when while on the S112 we saw some more. We had heard about a wild dog sighting and drove in that direction on the S114. We found them surrounded by cars on the side of the road. It took some manoeuvring skills of all to make way for others, but when it was our turn we got treated to a great sighting! The alpha female seemed heavily pregnant and the alpha male stayed close to her. The rest of the pack was playing around, which was a good watch.

We left the sighting more than happy with what we saw driving towards Skukuza. We reached the tar road and just around the corner a leopard was busy crossing the road about 50m in front of us. He looked at us but didn't change his route or speed. We continued to drive closer trying not to spook him, but when we got close he had disappeared into the bush. We searched and searched but gone.

After a break at Skukuza we continued on a drive around the river area. We started with a lovely sighting of a couple of marabou storks accompanied by bateleurs and two tawny eagles in the air as well as in trees nearby. At our first sight of the river we saw three hippos lying on the shore sunning themselves. We also spotted a hamerkop, a  hoopoe that almost got run over by an oncoming car, a great kudu bull and more hippos out of the water when we reached the bridge over the Sabie river.

On the other side of the Sabie river we continued on Marula tar where we were treated to multiple elephant herds crossing the road towards the river. At one sighting a mother with her 5 month old baby was about to cross when she noticed our vehicle and got a bit scared. She was immediately accompanied by two sisters to protect her baby. One of them so serious she came very close to the vehicle to give us the evil eye! We also saw zebras along this road.

Crossing the Sand river bridge we saw some hippos popping up and while driving over the Sabie river bridge A buffalo herd, crocodiles, hippos and a fish eagle. Back on the road to Skukuza we saw a cluster of cars and before we could ask them what they saw, a leopard appeared out of the trees and plopped down in the shade under a bush. We were just at the right spot to see him raise his head a couple of times, but he decided it was time for a nap.

After lunch at, once again, Skukuza we took a drive around River road and River link to see if anything was thirsty. We did see a small terrapin, a large herd of waterbucks with a very large-horned male and lots of pretty birds but no drinking animals on the riverside. On Doispane however elephant bulls were having an elephant mud bath. They were spraying it all over themselves and then rubbing the trees. We had great fun watching and listening to all the splashing of elephant feet in the mud!  Then we came across a small buffalo herd in an open area. We also spotted two white rhinos together on our drive. Our first rhinos of this tour!

At a sighting of a couple of steenbokkies we were told about wild dogs close to Phabeni Gate. We took a little detour on our way back to camp to see two dogs lying in the grass on the side of the road. This was a different pack as the ones we saw this morning. It is rare to see two separate leopards in one day, but even more rare to see two packs of wild dogs! We left when they got up to lie in the grass almost completely obscured, like the rest of their pack.

A last stretch on Albassini added zebras and two crested barbets to our long list of animals we saw today! At Mestel Dam we even saw some hippo heads, but as my guests said, we were kinda hippoed out after all of the ones we had already seen. It was a long day, but an awesome one!!

On Safari With Curtis From 1 June 2014

1 June 2014

The first day of a new tour and after a stop for lunch in Nelspruit we headed down to Phabeni gate, our first sighting was a large herd of impala close to the road and then a short look at a buffalo before he disappeared into the bush. We stopped at Nyamundwa dam and found hippos on the other side as well as wildebeest and a variety of birdlife such as cormorants, Egyptian geese, blacksmith lapwings and an African fish eagle. Further along doispane we found zebra before turning onto watergat where immediately we found a nice sighting of impala, kudu and vervet monkey's in the same spot. We then came across a large bull elephant only a few metres from the road, we pulled up close and watched as he pushed over a smallish acacia tree and started to pick branches off it before crossing over behind us. We then found impala alongside baboons and a warthog at the watering hole. After turning onto Napi we found a young hyena cub lying by his den before visiting transport dam. Again we could see hippo on the other side, as well a waterbuck, a couple of steenbok and more water birds. The rest of Napi was very quiet with just a few impala and kudu. As we drove down camp road we got another close sighting of an elephant before entering the gates of Nkambeni tented safari camp for the night.

 

2 June 2014

This morning we immediately bumped into an elephant just outside the lodge gates before taking a drive around shabeni and finding a leopard, we only got a short glimpse of her before she moved deep into the bush but never the less it was a good start. We drove down Napi which was quiet, with only impala and kudu seen. Continuing on with our drive we spotted rhinos and on closer inspection showed that the two were actually mating, a very unusual sighting. Further along we came across a large herd of buffalo with animals on either side of us and on the road in front of us. We carried on and found elephants before one of my guests shouted lion!! We reversed and unfortunately the thing she had seen was not a lion, we would have been disappointed however the thing she had seen was in fact our second leopard. We were the only vehicle for some time and spent plenty of time watching him before he got up and walked over to the road enabling us to follow him closely. A great sighting enjoyed by us all.

We then drove to Skukuza seeing giraffe along the way. After our break we took a trip around the river spotting kudu, bushbuck, a nice crocodile sunbathing on the sand as well as group of white backed vultures which were also sand bathing. We then heard about some lions on bravo. We headed down there and found two lions a bit into the bush, the Acacia trees blocked our view a bit but with some positioning we were able to get a good view of the pair. On the way back we came across 3 hyena cubs , plenty of elephants and impala we also saw the buffalo herd we had seen earlier.

 

3 June 2014

The last morning of this tour and after packing up our bags we set off for a last safari before transfers.

As we left the lodge for the last time we spotted a couple of common duikers which quickly dived into the bush before we set off down Albasini, we spotted impala before we got to mestel dam and found a mum and small calf hippo out of the water lying on a sandbank, maybe the water was colder than the winter air around us!! We carried on down the road, which was quiet, finding a nice herd of Zebra close to the road, we just had time to drive down to nyamundwa dam finding more hippos and the water birds at the edge before we had a drive down to phabeni gate and leave the park.

I would like to thank Evie, James, Josie and Susan for their company, we have been very successful over the last three days and we got everything that you had hoped for. Hope to see you back here one day!!!

TripAdvisor Reviews on Nhongo Safaris

To view TripAdvisor reviews on Nhongo Safaris follow the link http://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Attraction_Review-g312618-d2204555-Reviews-Nhongo_Safaris_Day_Tours-Kruger_National_Park.html

On Safari With Karen From 29 May 2014

29 May 2014

Upon arrival my guests went straight on their Sundowner Drive after checking in. Beside a very lovely sunset with a drink in hand, they saw two different elephants, a lion crossing the road in front of them and a zebra butt.

 

30 May 2014

This morning we started off with two waterbuck on the road out of camp. Then we were surprised to find a male white rhino in the parking lot at reception. We sat with him quietly, so quiet that he came walking within 5m of the vehicle before he started to turn away. He ambled towards the reception office, where we saw the Sanparks Rangers hiding out of sight. He munched on their lawn a bit and then crossed the road and disappeared into the bush.

We were just on our way again on Numbi tar road when Curtis called that he had found lions on Albassini. We made a u-turn and followed up on the call. On the way we saw 4 zebras hiding in the bush and a couple of impalas. When we got to the lion sighting two of the three lions had disappeared behind a bush but the third one was still visible. Looking through the high grass and bush we saw him lying with his head up. We waited patiently for a half hour to see if he would get up and were rewarded. He did indeed got up and started marking the area by rubbing his chin on nearby bushes and scratching the trees, rubbing of his scent. Then he got tired from all the effort and plopped down again, behind a bush this time.

We continued our drive on Doispane where we spotted wildebeest, lots more impalas and a steenbok until we got to a couple of cars standing on the side of the road. They were looking at hyena cubs that were outside their den. Two young ones that were still very brown were play fighting over a piece of what looked like wood or scraps of food that one of them had picked up somewhere. Their older brother or sister looked at them with a disdainful look. After watching them for quite some time we continued our ways spotting a nice kudu bull and his females, a tawny eagle and a beautiful martial eagle.

At Skukuza we were almost sharing our coffee with a large troop of vervet monkeys. The youngsters were playing nearby but the adults were thieving from tables and bins. We protected our food and coffees and decided to leave.

We drove down Napi spotting a marabou stork flying over as well as white backed vultures and multiple bateleurs, and we saw warthogs and more kudus. Close to Transport Dam another young hyena was lying in the middle of the road, not fazed by any passing cars. He looked sad and cute at the same time and some of us were willing to take him home, but did not want to risk the wrath of its mother or the babysitter. So we left him on his spot and continued. It had gotten rather hot by now and the animals were hiding in the shade out of sight.

We took our lunch and break time at Nkambeni Lodge where some of us saw four hippos outside the Dam in front of the restaurant and others saw waterbuck and elephant passing by the fence line in front of the huts.

The afternoon drive started really quiet. Being still hot the animals hadn't come out yet. We saw a slender mongoose crossing and were suddenly surrounded by a troop of banded mongoose. Some of us will be haunted by eyes staring at them from the bushes! But then it was quiet all the way around Shabeni and up the link.

However as soon as we turned onto Albassini, we knew where the animals had been hiding. We saw a big dazzle of zebras, two separate elephants before we reached Mestel Dam. At Mestel Dam the hippos in the water were pretty active and showed half their bodies. We also saw a fish eagle trying to catch some fish but he was unsuccessful. When it was time to go we were surprised by two elephants that were walking towards the road. We hang around and one of them crossed in front of us. The second one rather stayed feeding off a tree on the other side and as time was running out we had to leave them. Just before the end of Albassini a side-striped jackal was walking on the road but he quickly ran off when we came closer.

It was the end of a very succesful day!

 

31 May 2014

Today we started early for what turned out to be an awesome day. On the road we saw once again a waterbuck and little bee eaters and brown headed parrots. On Numbi tar we saw our first giraffes of this tour: a group of 7 giraffes and baby,  that looked only a couple of days old. We watched them browse for a while before carrying on. We spotted various white rhinos, one of which a group of 4 white rhino, a great kudu bull and more giraffes.

Then just past Transport Dam we saw two cars slowly reversing. Assuming they were looking at something that was walking in our direction we stopped the car and watched. Surprisingly not one but two leopards came walking towards us in the grass not far from the road. The male leopard came out of the grass towards the road and walked by our car so close it almost rubbed it. While the other cars overtook us reversing we decided to turn around and follow them to see if the female would come on the road too. This was a good decision as both of them crossed and continued walking on the opposite side. We followed them and when other cars showed up from opposite direction it got a bit crowded as they all stopped. Unable to turn around in the squabble of cars we overtook them with the intention to turn around behind them, but as luck would have it the male leopard came back onto the road behind us. We stopped and waited as we had him all to ourselves this time as the rest of the cars was still busy turning around and impeding each other. He walked by us again and didn't care about us being there at all. Then the cars caught up with him and we let them overtake us and follow the couple so we could turn around and follow our way to Skukuza. But what an amazing sighting it was!

On the way to Skukuza we also saw a duiker and a journey of giraffes that looked like it wanted to cross but decided against it. After the break we drove down Eloff where we spotted a well hidden buffalo in the riverbed, loads of impala, bushbucks, a crocodile and two sounders of warthogs.

We crossed at High level bridge, while watching an island full of hippos and another crocodile. As we were looking for buffalo and elephant herds we decided to go all the way down to Lower Sabie and watch the river. We took our luck down Salitjie and were rewarded quite quickly with a herd of elephants in the reeds and the bush on the other side. While watching those elephants we noticed a well blended tree agama on a tree stump next to the road as well. Furthermore we came across warthogs, zebras, more giraffes and our second viewing of ground hornbills. We did see 4 yesterday already, which I had forgotten to mention. One sighting is pretty unique of those rare birds, two separate sightings even more so. We also stopped for a nice lilac breasted roller, yellow billed hornbills, a big water monitor, terrapins and two elephants having a shower.

The last stretch to Lower Sabie on the H10 rewarded us with wildebeest, more zebras and a large elephant herd with babies that were still so young the easily fit under their mothers' bellies. From the bridge we looked at buffalos, hippos and baby crocodiles.

After our lunch at Lower Sabie we stopped at Sunset Dam where the shore was divided by hippos on one side and a large flock of yellow-billed storks on the other. Spread out everywhere though were over 40 crocodiles! One of the guests had previously asked if there were crocodiles in the park and if we hadn't seen any before this definitely answered her question! A water monitor crept by next to the car as well.

Then we continued on the tar road to Skukuza spotting once again the endangered ground hornbills (a third group, this is amazing!), more hippos, elephant herds, giraffe, daggaboys and black storks.

Down on Eloff again we stopped to look at a brown hooded kingfisher, when we heard something else. We turned off the engine and it was a lion roaring. After a bit he came out from behind the bush, had a drink and came up just in front of our car where he started calling to other lions again. We only continued after he disappeared back into the bush. It was another great sighting!

Skukuza was the scene of a splash n dash and down Napi we went. As the day was coming to an end we only stopped for a hyena pup sunbathing outside its den. We returned to the lodge after a long day but what an amazing day! We were so spoiled today!!

 

1 June 2014

This morning we went on a morning safari after breakfast. We spotted for two duikers together on camp road and a little further on we saw another one. We drove down the tar road towards Shabeni. On the loop we had a couple of nice sightings of buffalo bulls that were grazing and we even saw an elephant in the distance.

Up Shabeni and then Albassini it was rather quiet. We did see some zebras and wildebeest hiding in the bush and of course impalas, but we were so spoiled yesterday that we thought it was quiet.

At Nyamundwa Dam we then saw a group of hippos in the distance, a darter and a white-breasted comorant. A crocodile showed himself briefly before diving under. Then we were surprised by a hippo walking on the dam wall and close to us he walked down and into the water. He did it nicely, no splash at all.

Then it was time to make our way to Phabeni Gate where we had to say goodbye to Leo and Cata. Their honeymoon had come to an end, but by the sound of it they had a great time. I hope to see you back one day :-)!

Then we drove back to Nkambeni over Albassini road. The bachelor group of zebras with wildebeest friends had come closer this time around and we saw a zebra harem further down the road as well as warthogs quickly crossing the road. At Mestel Dam we spotted waterbucks and hippos again. Just past it we encountered our first troop of baboons of this tour. The older ones were grooming each other and relaxing in the sun while the youngsters were playing and throwing each other out of a tree. It looked like they had a lot of fun. After watching for a while we continued back to the lodge for a nice break.

In the afternoon we went for a slow drive around Fayi Loop. On the tar road we had two elephant boys crossing in front of us, which were half wet from an earlier shower. Then just as we started wondering if there were any animals around, we saw a herd of impalas and some hippos playing in one of the overflows. At the end of the loop we saw giraffes feeding.

We visited Shitlhave Dam spotting terrapins, a crocodile on a rock and a half submerged hippo. On the last stretch before entering the lodge we saw those two elephants again that we started with. They had followed the water trail to camp road and were now feeding alongside it.

Not as lucky as yesterday but all in all a good day!

 

More coming soon!!