As our flight wasn’t
until this evening, we didn’t need to leave Kruger until around midday so we
had all morning in the park. As usual we left camp at 5.30am when the gates
opened. We knew it was a long shot but we decided to drive for 1-2km north on
the H4-2 to see if we could see the wild dogs that we had spotted there
yesterday afternoon. We didn’t see them so we turned around and drove south
towards Crocodile Bridge. We spotted a very large crocodile resting on the edge
of Sunset dam as well as a hippo standing in the bushes beside the road near
the dam and a big herd of impala.
Once past Lower
Sabie we spotted impala, steenbok and guinea fowl all crossing the road
together in a line; it was quite funny seeing the three animals together. We
also spotted a small troop of vervet monkeys, elephant and a guinea fowl resting
on top of a tall dead tree. He looked like he was too scared to come down.
Further down
the road we saw a few cars had pulled over and there were animals in the road.
At first we thought it must be baboons, but as we got closer we saw it was a
pack of wild dogs. There were over 15 of them including adults and pups. They
were resting, walking and the pups were playing with each other, it was great
to watch them all interacting.
After around 20
minutes another wild dog joined the pack and all the other dogs went crazy,
running up and yelping at it. We noticed that this dog had a very bloody face
as if it had put its face inside a kill. We then noticed that he had some meat,
it was quickly taken from him and before you could blink it was eaten and they
were yelping for more. They then started all running off into the bush were we
assume he was leading them all to the kill.
We were
ecstatic to have seen this as this was one of the things we really wanted to
see. I didn’t care what we did or didn’t see now as I was happy with all our
sightings for this trip. I couldn’t believe it was only 6.30am so we still had
over 5 hours left in the park.
We drove
further south for a bit before deciding to turn around and return back to Lower
Sabie. On the way back up we spotted a slender mongoose, impala, a troop of
vervet monkeys before finding 2 hyenas running along the road. One ran off into
the bush but the other stayed in the road running along before stopping,
smelling something then rolling around in whatever she had just smelt.
Moving on we
spotted a common duiker before seeing 2 rhinos crossing a dirt road.
Unfortunately there was a game truck the other side of them so the photo wasn’t
great.
Further up we
spotted a family of 4 warthogs just walking in the road like baboons. Normally
when we see them they run into the bush but these ones did not seem to mind at
all, very unusual. They are obviously used to all the cars and just ignore
them. We also spotted a marshall eagle in a tree and a family of mongoose
crossing the road.
After stopping
briefly at Lower Sabie for a toilet break we had breakfast at Sunset Dam before
continuing north on the H4-1 towards Skukuza. Along the way we spotted
elephant, a saddle bill stork in the river, warthogs and another dung beetle
rolling is dung.
We also spotted
2 fish eagles with a juvenile. They had obviously just caught a fish for the
juvenile as he was happy eating it whilst the mature fish eagles perched nearby.
We then spotted
a herd of buffalo with 2 males fighting. Unfortunately the photos weren’t great
as they were just the other side of the bushes.
We then stopped
again 100 metres down the road as we spotted a brown headed kingfisher. It was
a shame there wasn’t any blue sky behind him but I liked his matching feet and
beak!
We spotted some
more impala before the road came to a complete standstill as a large troop of
baboons were sitting across the road grooming and playing with each other;
there were a lot of young baboons in the troop. It took about 15-20 minutes to
weave our way through as they did not want to move, but we did manage to get a
few photos of them.
Further up we
spotted another elephant bull by the road as well as a male bushbuck who
crossed the road in front of us but was unfortunately camera shy.
We turned onto
the H1-1 and spotted some more buffalo as well as steenbok, impala, lots of
vultures soaring, a tawny eagle and a herd of elephant with one funny elephant
scratching the back of his ear with his trunk.
We then drove
along the H3 down to Melalane Gate. We stopped at where we had spotted the dead
steenbok yesterday but unfortunately it had gone; not sure whether it was eaten
there or dragged off into the bushes. We also spotted impala, kudu and an
incredibly small tortoise in the road, probably only 5cm circumference. We also
spotted some zebra – first sighting of zebra today before we pulled over as
Asfaal Picnic Spot to go to the loo and pack away our Kruger books, camera bean
bag etc into our luggage. We then drove the 23km or so to Melalane Gate. Along
the way we spotted very little; this road has been quite quiet each time we’ve
driven along it. We did spot an elephant with large tusks, a herd of kudu,
impala and a mongoose resting on a rock in the shade.
We
reached Melalane Gate and off we went on our 4 hour drive to Johannesburg and
the airport.
Although
it had been quite quiet with sightings to begin with it ended great. Despite
the weather being a bit miserable for Friday and Saturday morning it did mean
we got to see how the bush and the animals behaved in this environment. I’m
sure it also meant that the animals were more active in the day as it was
cooler.
Whatever the reason, it was a great trip and bring on the next one!
I
don’t think we managed to remove many things from our wish list, so here is the
list for our next trip:
-Leopard in a tree
-A successful predator hunt
-The outstanding Secret Seven which include the
Pangolin, Aardvark, Porcupine (seen), Genet (seen), Civit (seen), African Wild
Cat (seen), Serval
We woke up to
it still raining; although this was disappointing we still headed out to go on
our morning game drive. Luckily the rain stopped and started throughout the
morning but cleared to blue sky in the afternoon. As it was our last full day
in the park (for this trip) we wanted to be out as much as possible. We drove
south down the H4-2 and stopped at where we had seen the leopard yesterday. No
leopard, the only sign he was there were a lot of porcupine quills left from
his kill. We continued down the road where we came across a terrapin in the
road; he was slightly too far from water but I supposed he was happy with all
the rain hammering down.
Shortly after,
we came across a hyena in the road. We stopped and rather than running off she
came up to the car, sniffing and circling us as if she was interested in eating
us. If we moved forward a bit she would come too. She did this for the few
other cars that drove past too; very bizarre behaviour. This happened for about
20 minutes or so before she eventually ran off. We guessed that she must be
used to people feeding her from the car and that was why she stayed so close.
It was very daunting as she would come within a metre of the car and she looked
like she was ready to jump in so we kept closing our window, worried that she
actually would! There was a herd of zebras and impalas nearby so we were hoping
that she may chase them, but I suppose on her own she wouldn’t and instead she
eventually ran out of sight.
It kindly
stopped raining at this point and further south we saw a car had pulled over,
as we got nearer I spotted her; a cheetah! It was amazing. She walked south
along the road for a few hundred metres before heading off into the bush. I was
amazed that she didn’t seem to mind the cars following her along the road and
only ran into the bush when a man overtook her. It was great to see – not even
7am and we had already seen hyena and cheetah – I didn’t care what happened now
as I was happy!
We then turned
around and headed back north towards Lower Sabie on this road. We were going to
drive up the S28 but didn’t fancy going on the gravel roads in all this rain.
On the way back
up the road it was a lot quieter, but we did spot some impala, warthogs and a vulture
drying out his wings whilst the rain had stopped.
At 8am we
arrived back at Lower Sabie where we stopped briefly for a quick loo break
before driving north up the H4-1. We spotted a herd of buffalo and impalas
before stopping and seeing a 2 meter long African rock python in the road. He
didn’t stay for long and soon slithered off into the grass. Our first snake
sighting in the park! Today was just getting better and better.
We continued on
the road trying to avoid the hundreds of millipedes and swerving around all the
tortoises. We did spot a small one that had been driven over which was very
sad. We then stopped by a very large herd of impala before spotting a large
rhino with a huge horn.
We also spotted
some kudu including a few males with lovely big horns but unfortunately they
were too far into the bush to be able to photograph. We then spotted some
warthogs and more vultures drying out their wings whilst the rain had stopped.
Before arriving
at SKukuza we spotted a bushbuck and a hyena sleeping just 5 meters from the
road. There were already quite a few cars and as we already had a few hyena
sightings we didn’t stay and continued with our drive.
We turned onto
the H12 then the H1-2 where we spotted a male kudu on the Sand River bridge, as
well as a ground hornbill, a common duiker and more baboons huddled together
from the rain.
Along the H1-1
we saw some impala and a large herd of elephant but otherwise it was pretty
quiet. We then drove along the H3 and spotted impala, warthogs, kudu and
giraffe. We then stopped at Asfaal Picnic Spot for a quick toilet break before
heading back up the H3 towards Skukuza. Along the way back up we spotted a herd
of kudu with a few males with lovely big horns as well as another herd of
female kudu and a bird of prey which we believe to be an Osprey, but not
hundred percent sure.
Continuing up
we spotted some warthogs and the same herd of elephants that we spotted on the
way day. Whilst watching the elephants we saw two steenboks running, one
chasing the other. Perhaps it was female chasing after a female or two males
fighting over territory. We will never know. The steenbok in front crossed the
road and ran off into the bush. Whilst watching it we spotted another steenbok
lying dead just a meter from the road. It didn’t look injured or eaten so we
wondered if perhaps it had been hit by a car. After watching for a few minutes
we decided to continue with our trip rather than sit and watch it as we didn’t
know how long the vultures and scavengers would take before finding it.
We drove south
along the H4-1 towards Lower Sabie. This was a busy road. We first spotted a
tawny eagle circling up ahead before swooping down right in front of our car
and catching something, possibly a millipede and flying off. We were annoyed
that we didn’t have time to take a photo or video it, but it was amazing to
watch. Our first successful hunt of this trip!
We also spotted
a large crocodile lying on the river bed catching some rays as the rain had now
stopped and the clouds cleared bringing the sun out.
Further along
our drive we spotted giraffe, impala and steenbok. It wasn’t long before we
came across a massive traffic jam which we though can only mean one thing –
lions. Everyone appeared to be looking over the riverbed so we stopped our car
quite far away from the traffic jam but with a view of the river. We decided to
wait it out until all the cars had left before trying to get through. We turned
our engine off and looked along our view of the river to see if we could spot
anything. Within seconds a lioness walked straight into our line of sight and
started clawing a tree.
This was so unexpected as we didn’t think we’d see
them from our position. We then suddenly saw a second lioness follow her. They
briefly went out of view before walking back along the riverbed and out of
sight.
While we were
watching them the traffic jam up ahead cleared, as they obviously couldn’t see
the lions anymore, so we could now continue our drive back to Lower Sabie. This
was now 4 out of the 5 Big Five seen today; any chance we’d spot a leopard?! We
slowed as we got to where the traffic jam had been to see if we could see
anything. There were not any lions around, but there was a large group of
hippos out of the water warming themselves in the sun.
As we drove
further we spotted kudu and vervet monkeys before getting stopped by a troop of
baboons causing a traffic jam by grooming themselves in the middle of the road.
Once we managed
to get through we spotted warthogs, saddle-billed stork, kudu and elephant.
About 1km north of Lower Sabie we came across a few cars stopped at the side of
the road. We pulled over and spotted a wild dog. Oh my goodness! We couldn’t
believe it. As we drove a bit closer we spotted a second dog. They we both just
lying resting. We were amazed at how fast they were breathing, it looked like
they had just been running really fast. The one dog closer to us had a lot of
wounds all over his body and looked like he had been the loser in a fight. We
watched them for a while but a lot of cars started to pass and so we thought we
should move on.
At 2.30pm we stopped off at Lower Sabie for a quick
loo break and to change into our shorts. The rain had finally stopped so we
felt safe in removing our trousers! We left Lower Sabie and drove south along
the H4-2 towards Crocodile Bridge – the same road we had taken that morning and
seen the hyena and cheetah. We didn’t see anything this big, but we did spot a
slender mongoose, impala and whilst stopping at where we had seen the leopard
yesterday we saw a monitor lizard.
Further down we saw more hippos out of the water, a
fish eagle, warthogs and a steenbok. The zebras that we had seen that morning
by the hyena were still there as well as a bateleur eagle that flew off as soon
as we stopped to photograph it
As we drove
further south we spotted elephant before Wayne slammed on the car breaks to
stop for a dung beetle in the road rolling his dung ball. Wayne was very
excited as he had never seen them do it in the wild. We of course took photos.
Wayne now
seemed to have a close eye on the nature in the road as we shortly spotted a
bush cricket.
Then a small
common egg-eater snake. We think this was a juvenile as it was still pretty
small.
Then a rhino,
but unfortunately we couldn’t photograph him as he was well hidden in the
bushes.
Nearing
Crocodile Bridge we turned off to the S28 and spotted impala and warthogs
before stopping at where we had seen the two leopard kills a few days
previously. Surprisingly to us one of the leopard kills was still there
untouched. I guess that the leopard hadn’t returned and as it was in a tree
well covered in branches and leaves no other predators could reach it and the
vultures couldn’t get it. We drove on
and spotted a herd of wildebeest who were mainly lying down before spotting 2
jackals which ran across the road in front of us. This was the first time that
we had seen the jackals on this trip except for the brief glimpse of them at
the cheetah sighting a few days ago. This was a day for many firsts!
Unfortunately they weren’t very accommodating to having their photograph taken.
Further up the
road we spotted 2 male kudus cross the road in front of us.
We then drove
to the Nthandanyathi hide where we saw nothing but Wayne managed to make his
shoes muddy by walking in the mud left by all the rain. We then drove onto the
Duke’s Dam where we spotted impala, wildebeest and a couple of giraffes
standing on the road and did not move or stop eating when we drove past – they were
big!
We sat at the
dam for half an hour before heading back to camp. Along the way back we spotted
another jackal, similarly unaccommodating in having his photograph taken as
well as 3 more dung beetles with their dung balls. One dung beetle that we
spotted Wayne video recorded and this one already had a female dung beetle on
the dung ball showing that they had already mated. It was amazing how she
stayed on the ball, not moving at all, while he rolled it to where they wanted
to bury it with their eggs inside the ball. Once the larvae hatched they would
then eat the dung ball before turning into beetles themselves – at least, this
is what Wayne tells me happens!
We drove back
to camp, making it with minutes to spare. We just stopped briefly as we saw a
giraffe, zebra and wildebeest all walking along a dirt track into the sunset.
Back at camp
re-fueled our car and stopped at the shop to buy breakfast (yoghurt) for
tomorrow. We then went back to our room and cleared out our car ready to pack
everything as we were flying home tomorrow. We offered our coal to the hut next
door to us, which they took but only in exchange of a bottle of wine – they
owned a winery. It was very nice! Wayne then made sandwiches for tomorrow lunch
and when opening the fridge he found a cicada in there. We had heard it flying
around by the fridge 2 nights ago which meant it had been in there for 2 days.
Wayne put it on the table to show me. Around one hour later it appeared to be
de-thawing as when we blew on it, it flapped it’s wings and its legs moved.
Very intriguing. We left it on the table to see if it was still there in the
morning. Oh no, no need to wait until morning; it’s became more alive by the
minute!
During the
night it was raining but we hoped it would soon blow over – no such luck! We
both woke at 3.30am to hear the lions roaring and thought that perhaps we’ll
see them later this morning during our drive. We drove down the H4-2 towards
Crocodile Bridge with our windscreen wipers going mad and our headlights on
full. This is not what we expected from our Safari! However, keeping our
positive mental attitude we decided that it would be interesting to see the animals’
behaviour in the rain as we had not been in the park while it was raining
before. Along the road we saw many millipedes and tortoises – obviously hoping
it would be dryer on the road – not likely! We also spotted impala, giraffe and
wildebeest as well as a very wet herd of approximately 30 elephants. Another
car stopped us and the lady advised us of lions just after the lower turning to
the S28 so we headed down hoping to see them. Wayne wanted to photograph them
in the rain and was hoping for a male to shake his mane. Unfortunately we saw
all the cars leaving just as we arrived so we knew we had missed them. Oh well;
hopefully next time. We turned back and went along the S28 to perhaps spot the
leopard with the 2 kills in the trees. We kills were still there, but no
leopard. We stayed briefly before deciding to move on. Further up the S28 we
spotted impala, wildebeest, zebra and kudu all trying to shelter from the rain.
Thankfully it started to ease up so we could at least drive with our windows
open without getting soaked. We stopped at Nhlanganzwani Dam; there was nothing
here but we had some breakfast before going onto Dukes Dam. Again, there was
nothing here.
By the time we
reached back onto the H4-2 it was 8am and had stopped raining. Approximately
3km south of Lower Sabie we saw a few cars pulled over to be informed that
there was a leopard with a porcupine kill. We waited for a couple of minutes
before the 2 cars in the ‘prime spots’ left and so we could see him. We
couldn’t believe it; he was clearly there eating and crunching on the porcupine
less than 10 metres from the road. He looked like a very healthy male leopard,
but he was limping on his front paw. Another car had seen him yesterday and
suggested he may have had a fight with another male and was resting up here. I
assume this is also why he didn’t take his kill up a tree as he couldn’t get up
with his limp paw.
After a while
he dragged his kill to near a bush and then went and sat under it.
More cars were
arriving and some silly person got out of their car so they could see him. This
spooked him and so he went and hid on the other side of the road using a pipe
that went under the road to help with water flow from the river. As he went
under, lots of bats came flying out as he had obviously disturbed them.
We all moved
our cars to the other side and although he was close, he was well hidden. He
was only there for 5-10 minutes before heading back across to his kill on the
other side of the road. Although we had lost our ‘prime position’ it wasn’t
long before cars left and we got it back. After feeding some more on the kill
he went to hide behind a bush so we couldn’t take very good photos but it was
still great to watch him. We enjoyed watching him cleaning himself after eating
and then rest.
Whilst we were
watching him we also spotted a herd of buffalo on the opposite side of the
river as well as an elephant on the other side of the road – 3 of the big 5 at
one just sighting! Not bad! All we need to do now is find some rhino and lion
and we’ve done all of them in one day. Bring it on! We have managed to spot all
5 within 24 hours as we saw rhino and lion last night – does that count?! After
about 3 hours he still hadn’t moved from under the bush so we decided to leave
– our bladders couldn’t hold out much longer!
We arrived back
at our room both desperate to use the toilet only to find our room key didn’t
work. Wayne ran to the communal loos whilst I went to reception to enquire and
ask for another key. We had had some maintenance men stop by yesterday to say
they had been asked to look at our lock as it had been reported that it wasn’t
working. We didn’t have a problem with it so they left. However, it must have
been the housemaid that had reported it and so when she struggled with our lock
again they had just changed the lock. Unfortunately, reception didn’t know
anything about it but gave me another key. When I got back to the room this
turned out to be the same as the previous key and so it still didn’t work –
aaaarh, I still needed the loo! Wayne noticed that the window next to our door
was open and realised that he could slide his arm in through the window and
open the door. Yes! This worked and we were in. Once we were in we found the
new key inside the room! We thought this was hilarious; how did they expect us
to get in when the room was locked and the key in the room?!
After lunch we
headed back out into the now heavy rain. This rain didn’t stop all afternoon.
We drove past the leopard sighting but there were so many cars we couldn’t see
anything. We decided to head on as we had some great photos from this morning.
We drove north
up the H10. Shortly we saw 6 rhinos all together – 4 our of the big 5 today,
just lion to see now.
Further along
we spotted a small herd of buffalo and 3 very wet cape vultures sitting in
trees with their necks tucked into their shoulders.
We turned off
onto the S29 we spotted wildebeest and warthogs before stopping at Mlondozi
Picnic Spot and Viewpoint where we saw lots of hippos all squashed in tightly
together as well as some stork.
We drove back
to the H10 to continue our drive north. We spotted 2 elephants, another 2 rhino
before getting stopped by an elephant bull causing car mayhem on the road.
Once through
the traffic, we also spotted a tawny eagle, steenbok, a herd of 18 elephants
including 4 small calves, more elephants just 300 metres down the road,
possibly from the same herd as well as a warthog trotting off for cover and
some very wet looking impala and wildebeest.
It was hard to
spot anything by this point as it was too wet to have the windows open even an
inch and the rain was coming down hard and fast making any animal spot
impressive.
We turned onto
the H1-2 and at Leeupan we saw on lone impala, some ducks and a troop of very
wet baboons.
We carried on
down the H1-2 and saw some more elephants, including one bull standing guard
next to the Kruger Memorial Tablet!
We then drove
along the H12 over the river before heading south on the H4-1 to Lower Sabie.
Along the road
back to camp we spotted some more baboons, although these ones were hiding
under the tree trying to shelter from the rain, as well as another tortoise and
a rhino on the riverbed.
We stopped off
at Sunset Dam but it was so foggy that visibility was hard so we decided to
drive back to where we had spotted the leopard with the porcupine kill that
morning. Unbelievably he was still there. He was eating on the kill when we
arrived but shortly went back into the bush to clean himself. I didn’t think
that he’d come back out but Wayne said he would. We waited for about 2 hours
before he did decide to come down from the bush and eat again. We couldn’t
believe our luck, just 10 minutes before we had to leave to head back to camp
and he sat in the open only metres from us eating on his kill. Thankfully the
rain wasn’t so heavy but it was very dark and without the flash on the photos
didn’t come out great. Thankfully for us, and the other 4 cars still there we
had brought our spot light which allowed everyone
to take some photos.
With 6 minutes
to go before camp closed, we left him to eat in peace and drove back to camp,
we made it with seconds to spare, but it was worth it. I was so pleased at being
able to spot him throughout the day at the same place; normally leopard
sighting are quick flashes as it crosses the road or hides in the bushes but to
be able to see him for at least 10 hours in the same place was incredible;
truly special.
