13th October – stay at Lower Sabie Rest Camp

13^th October – stay at Lower Sabie Rest Camp

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!