15th October – fly home

15^th October – fly home

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

-          A serious Giraffe fight, not just a practise one

-          Leopard and/or Cheetah cubs

-          A photograph of a bird of prey making a kill

-          Lion and Hyena interaction

-          Large animal giving birth, eg Giraffe, Elephant etc

-          The Big 5 spotted in 1 day