6th October – stay at Tamboti Rest Camp

6^th October – stay at Tamboti Rest Camp

We woke up at 5am and headed out for a morning game drive when the gates opened at 5.30am. We drove along the H7 towards Satara before taking the S39 to Timbavati. This road is supposed to be very good for lions, although we didn’t have much luck when we visited in June. Our luck didn’t change much this time either. We did see quite a bit at the beginning of the road including a large herd of kudu, 2 ostriches, some warthogs, impalas, wildebeest and elephants. Unfortunately none of the sightings were worth stopping for.

At 8.30am we arrived at Timbavati Picnic Spot and we got out to have breakfast – coco pops! After a quick toilet break, we got back in the car and drove along the S127 and then down the H1-4 to Satara. The road to Satara was fairly quiet and nothing worth reporting – it was a bit disappointing really. We then drove back to camp along the H7 We did see 3 buffalo right next to the road side – this was the second of the big five we’d spotted. Although they were very close, they were busy eating and didn’t lift their heads so the photos weren’t great.

Just after 1pm my luggage arrived – YAY! I was so pleased. I had a shower and put on clean clothes ; it was so nice after having worn my jeans for the last 3 days; I didn’t even mind that I was hot and clammy after 5 minutes because it was so hot.

Wayne made stew for our supper that evening before we headed out for our afternoon game drive from 3-6pm. We drove along the H7 towards Satara and stopped at Nsemani dam. We didn’t see a great deal along the way. At the dam we did spot a rhino – 3^rd of the big five – as well as elephant, waterbuck, impala and a terrapin.

After 15 minutes we turned around to head back towards camp. Again it was fairly quiet along the road until we realised we were going to be late back to camp and had to speed up. Then we saw baboons and elephants; both which we stopped briefly for but further up the road we saw a hyena on the road as well as a large herd of giraffes. Unfortunately we could not stop for either of these or for the kudu, including a male with lovely large antlers as we would have been late back to camp. Luckily we made it back at exactly 6pm and treated ourselves again to a well-deserved Savannah cider (this becomes a regular ‘treat’ throughout the trip). That evening we had the stew Wayne had made earlier before heading in for an early night. Whilst in bed we heard something walk past our hut and when we shone the torch we saw a hyena. I guess it was one of the same clan from the night before but as we had no food on the braai it left pretty quickly.

At around 1am we were woken to the sound of 2 honey badgers rustling through our bin! It was great to see them and they are so powerful – their front limbs are as wide as they are long. They didn’t stay long once we’d noticed them because as soon as we shone the torch they scampered. We didn’t manage to get any photos either as Wayne forgot to remove the lens cap before taking them!