On Safari With Gert 5 January 2016

5 January 2016

After an early breakfast at camp, we started our morning game drive at 06:00. The day started off pretty well, when we saw a heard of 8 young male elephants having an early morning swim and mud bath at a nearby waterhole. We found most of them half- submerged in the water, splashing around while some of the others were using their trunks to cover their sides and backs with the mud - a very effective sunblock and also an indication that they were expecting a rather hot and sunny day! One or two of the Bulls also found convenient scratching posts to sort out a few itches and get rid of some ticks in the process.

It was also a good morning for buffalo sighting as first up we saw a very large herd, sleeping a bit late, all lying down and huddled together in tall grass. In addition to that we saw many quite old Buffalo bulls, one of them a real old boy with 2 broken and significantly worn down horns.

A little further on we spotted a herd of Sable Antelope, by the looks of it all females and young. It is always special to find these majestic animals and we watched them for a few minutes until they also decided to lie down in fairly tall grass which meant we couldn't see them that well anymore.

Next up was a colony of one of my personal favorites; Dwarf Mongoose, all hiding in a hollow, fallen over tree trunk. Although they were quite shy, we could see some of their heads popping out through holes on the log, curiosity getting the better of them.

On our way back to camp we responded to a report of a Leopard in the area. We found it exactly where it was reported from - lying on a granite slab in the thick shade of overhanging trees. It appeared to be an adult male and we watched in lazy grooming and cleaning itself for about 15 minutes before getting up and off the rock into a more private spot with the heat of the day approaching, us losing visual and moving on, back to camp for lunch and a relaxing afternoon to bring an end to another great safari!

On Safari With Karen 5 January 2016

5 January 2016

Our morning drive was short but sweet as we sat and watched a herd of buffalos passing by. There was lots of action as some buffalos were eating, there was a lot of moo-ing and animals crossed in front and behind us. One cow decided to take a break and have a short mud bath while the rest passed her by and only getting up just when the herd was leaving. We were watched by plenty of buffalo which stopped chewing mid-chew just to check us out. And we even saw mating buffalos (although she wasn't too keen and didn't want to stand still). 

The fact that there was a white rhino watching close by made it even more interesting. She looked like she was protecting a youngster that was still snoozing and therefore lying down. She didn't waver far from the other rhino, but kept a close watch on the passing herd of buffalo. They came within 5 meters of each other but they just passed by. 

In the afternoon we saw the first giraffe for some guests and it was high on their "want-to-see"-list. It was a small group of 5 giraffes with four of them hiding in the bush, and 1 standing in the road. This young lady decided to pose and then make some room on the road and stand in the shade under a tree for a while. It was thoroughly enjoyed as she gave us many great pictures!

Other interesting sightings: a crocodile, a hippo head, impalas, waterbucks, elephants, zebras, kudus, a sable bull, tsessebe and vervet monkeys. 

Birds included a tawny eagle, blacksmith lapwings, yellow-billed kite, European rollers, African fish eagles, grey heron, white-breasted cormorants, yellow-billed stork, wooly necked stork and goliath heron.

On Safari With Amanda 5 January 2016

5 January 2016

I have six very excited new guests that arrived yesterday, all from the U.S.A. After their pick up they were all on a sundowner drive where they encountered Elephants,  Buffalos and Rhinos and of course tasted Amarula! 

Two of my guests the following day were on The panorama trip and the rest of us headed out for a slow drive . Just outside of camp we encountered Elephants , very relaxed and amongst them a tiny baby not more than two months old! My guests wanted to see giraffe and they weren't disappointed we found two young giraffe at the side of the road joined by zebras and impalas, the babies seem to have grown very quickly I've noticed.

After a quick bite to eat we headed back to camp. On the way my guests enjoyed the beautiful scenery the park has to offer. I also saw my first European Roller. Lots of kudu and also wildebeest on the journey home.

Pool time at camp and three bull elephants came to swim and cool off in the waterhole. A perfect way to end another perfect day in the Kruger park. 

On Safari With Curtis 5 January 2016

5 January 2016

This morning was a fairly quiet affair but we saw plenty of general game along the way. We again visited a couple of waterholes where we had multiple animal sightings there.

We however did enjoy seeing three Verrauxs eagle owl. They surprised us, or maybe we surprised them, when they flew out of a silver cluster right in front of us and landed in a tree on the other side of the road. Tough relocating them but we eventually found two of them.

We picked up three new guests and what beginners luck as just at that moment we heard of a leopard.

We headed straight down to it and found it lying in the shade area of a rock.

It had its back to us too start but then stood up, walked around the rock, posed for us before jumping down in the bushes.

Perfect timing!!!

We also saw white breasted comorants, white faced ducks, goliath heron, hadeda ibis, blacksmith lapwings, water thick knee and cape turtle dove.