On Safari With Karen from 24 October 2015

24 October 2015

Another safari started today and after check-in and a spot of lunch we went straight on a drive. As our first drive all animals we saw for the first time were a highlight on its own of course. But twice we saw a grumpy elephant bull taking all the attention.

The first one was happily plucking small plants and digging up its roots when disturbed by zebras. Well, disturbed, they came walking up to him and wanted to pass him, but he wanted none of that. He turned around and made himself look big and impressive so the zebras halted. Then he reconvened his search for food. After a while he had enough, walking off in the opposite direction and not once did he look back at the zebras. 

The second time the bull elephant was drinking at transport dam. While the hippos and a large crocodile were on the other side, he had it all to himself. That is until two blue wildebeest showed up. They walked right up to the elephant and he got shocked they dared. Then, just like the other one earlier, he made himself look big and impressive. However this time it had the opposite effect as one of the wildebeests saw it as an invitation to come play. Jumping around he ran towards the elephant. We thought he aimed for a head-on collision. But once again the elephant bull had no time for play and chased the wildebeest off. When the elephant had its fill and walked off, the wildebeests were allowed closer to the water to drink. 

Other animals off the checklist: impalas, more blue wildebeests, lots of zebras, dwarf and slender mongoose, giraffes, hippos, warthogs, buffalos, white rhinos, sable antelopes, waterbucks, a very large crocodile, kudus and a nice kudu bull too. 

Birds included twice a red crested korhaan displaying its dangerous dive, african hoopoe, african jacana, blacksmith lapwing, cape glossy starlings, crested francolin and helmeted guineafowls. 

25 October 2015

We started with a long quiet stint with occasionally an impala until a tree branch looked a bit different than normal. Upon a closer look we had found a leopard on that branch! She was just peacefully lying stretched out, making the branch look extra thick. She wasn't asleep though as she occasionally lifted her head and looked around. She yawned a couple of times and once she even stretched and sat up for a bit, but then laid back down. A good start of the day!

Our second interesting sighting was actually while waiting in line to see lions eating a sable (don't they know it is a rare antelope 😕). A hooded vulture decided to make use of the time while waiting for the lions to finish eating and stretched its wings as far as it could go. Then when he had found a nice ants nest laid down on top of it with its wings still open. This we called anting as the ants now walk over the vulture and clean it. It is not often you see this happen. It is actually only the second time I have seen it. The ants move over the bird in question, in this case a hooded vulture, will eat dried pieces of skin, maybe some meat that he got in his feathers and while walking around the ants secrete a formic acid that will clean the skin even further.

They did irritate the vulture too though as he kept on shaking his head ferociously sometimes too. After about 5 minutes he had enough and got up, gave himself a good shake and then preened his feathers. All ready to finish the kill the lions had made, once the lions would move out of the way.  

Other interesting sightings: klipspringer, steenbok, waterbucks (including two fighting males), zebras, giraffes, hippos, warthogs, vervet monkeys with lots of babies, bushbucks, nyalas, impalas (including fighting males), hyenas, elephants, white rhinos, buffalos, blue wildebeests, tree squirrels, lions and baboons. 

Birds included an african fish eagle, bateleurs, lilac breasted roller, brown headed parrots, a lone ground hornbill, yellow-billed hornbill, crested francolins, great white egret, grey heron and african hoopoes. 

On their Sundowner Safari they saw lots of elephants and a boomslang hanging on a tree quite close. However after dark the animals did not want to play in sight, so it ended rather quiet. 

On Safari With Karen 22 October 2015

22 October 215

On our last morning of this safari we had a short game drive before exiting the park. We saw a tiny baby giraffe that could barely put its head on its mum's hindquarters. We met a family of white rhino with a very small baby.

And we saw a baby elephant that was still wobbly on its feet, so adorable.

But our highlight was seeing a second leopard of this safari. It caught us by surprise. We heard reedbuck alarm calling and scouted around when it suddenly crossed the road in front of us. After crossing it stood still for a second and while the reedbucks were still going crazy on our right he walked away to our left. Nicely camouflaged we had on and off sightings of him. However the moment another reedbuck in the high grass broke cover and ran away, the leopard instantly paid attention. It stopped in its tracks and watched the reedbuck go, which gave us an excellent opportunity for some facial shots. He had no interest in the reedbuck though, as after a few seconds he walked on again. But it was a great end of this safari!

Other interesting sightings included kudu, lots of zebras, giraffes, elephants, white rhinos, buffalos, klipspringers, impalas, waterbucks, reedbucks, common grey duikers and warthogs.

Nhongo Helping Hand Campaign

Often people in Need, cross our path for a reason and hence why we at Nhongo Safaris decided to start a internal campaign where we can help people as a company.

We not trying to create a welfare fund but rather assist regular people with life's obstacles that seem too Large for them to over come on their own.

Our first Helping Hand is a young Man Rupert Caldwell that suffered a massive car accident, involving him and a truck on 02 June 2015. Doctors gave him very little chance of survival, let alone any type of recovery.

As a fighter, Rupert has pulled through and undergone many grueling hours of operations and intense Rehabilitation.

Due to the massive medical bills, the family wasn't in the position to purchase the much needed Rehabilitation chair he needs with the broken Hip that's not healing.

We decided to offer a free Private Overnight Safari for 2 in Kruger National Park as a prize and people took to the challenge. This proved a massive success and all the much needed funds were raised to purchase the specialized chair.

Although a small gesture from our side, it has a massive impact on Ruperts life, as soon he will be able to sit in a chair that can assist in the Rehabilitation process he so badly needs.

We at Nhongo are just thankful we are able to HELP people in times of need and thought it well to share this with you guys out there.

Regards

The Nhongo Team

On Safari With Karen 21 October 2015

21 October 2015

So far we had two lion sightings this safari and both were nice, but not 100% great.

As both times we had to look through bushes and around trees, we were longing for a better view of some nice lions and today we were rewarded.

After a third mediocre lion sighting we ended up at an amazing sighting of a mating pair. They were in an open area quite close to the road so there was a nice view for everyone at the sighting. Upon arrival the lions were sleeping but we had time and patience so we hang around a while. When the lady was ready she went up to her mate and made him get up too. They shortly mated and it looked like it was more of a compulsory affair than that they actually had fun. Possibly this was the end of their honeymoon period and the male was just tired by now. However the guests had great enjoyment in watching the affair go down, even though it was subdued. It resulted in some great pictures and a video!

Our second highlight was spending our siesta time at Transport Dam. We couldn't check-in in our new camp till two pm, so after lunch we drove to the dam and enjoyed a bit of national geographic live. 

There were elephants swimming in the dam which looked like fun, and then two exited the water close by to have some bushy snacks. The last one in the water got a visit from a hippo that might have wanted to impress the elephant but when he got within two meters he made a big splash and the hippo dashed away. 

Also there were waterbucks hanging around, Warthogs and zebras came, had a drink and went. We watched Egyptian geese get frantic about something, a pied wagtail taking a bath, an African jacana walking by and a fish eagle flew over too.

And three kudu bulls came for a drink too, only to be chased away by an angry elephant. We have no idea what the kudus had done to him as he was eating the bushes on the other side when they arrived, but he purposefully walked around and then ran after the kudus. A very unfair fight it was!!

Other interesting sightings included reptiles like a tree agama, rainbow skink, side-striped skink, giant plated lizard, leopard tortoise, water monitor and a crocodile.

Also we saw a reedbuck, steenbok, lots more zebras, giraffes, a herd of elephants, buffalos, hyenas three times (once when a hyena came out of its layer in the heat of the day, did a poo and went back into its layer to sleep!), bushbucks, impalas, and a new animal: blue wildebeest.

Birds included green woodhoopoes, hadeda ibis, goliath heron, cattle egret, grey heron, brown snake eagle, bateleurs, black stork, three banded plover, helmeted guineafowls, purple crested turacos, grey go-away birds, magpie shrikes and two giant kingfishers.