11th October – Stay at Lower Sabie Camp

11^th October – Stay at Lower Sabie Camp

On our morning drive, we drove north along the H4-1 towards Skukuza. Along here we spotted crocodile, impala, elephant and 2 hyenas running along the road.

We then stopped off at a view point to see if there was anything on the river and there were 2 giant kingfishers right next to us.

We then stopped on the bridge on the H12 to have some breakfast, before turning back onto the H1-4 and stopping at Skukuza for a quick toilet break. Along the way we spotted a hooded vulture and a fish eagle as well as 2 bush bucks.

After leaving Skukuza we drove along the H1-1 before turning onto the S114. We had heard that there was a leopard in a tree here, but it had been spotted over an hour previously and unfortunately we couldn’t see it. We did manage to spot some impala, steenbok and 2 klipspringers actually standing on rocks!

We then went on to see a few zebras which we were surprised to see here as the bush is so dense they would have no chance to run from a predator.

We also spotted some giraffes and 3 white rhinos. Unfortunately they were hard to photograph as the bush was so thick.

We turned off onto the S102 and spotted steenbok, a large herd of impala; including an albino impala.

At the Mpondo Dam we saw a large herd of waterbuck all lying down but little else. We then spotted 4 giraffes standing around Buffeldorings waterhole.

Along the S25 we spotted impala, kudu, giraffe and a vervet monkey just 100m before coming across a very large troop of baboons. We also saw warthogs, a herd of giraffes and lots and lots of impala. Nothing more exciting though and we were starting to feel a bit deflated after such a successful day yesterday.

We stopped off at the Hippo Pools where an armed ranger walked us out to have a look at the hippos and birds.

We then headed back up towards Lower Sabie and spotted little except wildebeest, impala and some warthogs. Similarly, the S128 brought us little to see, just some kudu, impala and warthogs – where are all the less common animals?! Clearly, hiding from us!

At this point we decided not to return to camp but go and sit at Duke’s dam and see if anything turned up. We spotted a very large herd of zebras, drinking and chasing each other around as well as some giraffes, cape vultures and a marsh terrapin. 

Once they had all had a drink and left we also left and headed back past Lower Sabie to sit at Sunset Dam to watch the hippos, storks, heron and a herd of elephants come for a drink and dust bath

By the time we went back to camp to have some lunch we were feeling pretty low regarding the poor sighting we were having – except for yesterday – so we tried to cheer each other up and decided to have a positive mental attitude and just have fun even if we don’t spot much.

We drove south down the H4-2 and spotted a saddle bill stork, 3 elephants and 2 fish eagles. Things were hopefully looking up for us! We turned off down the S28 and spotted a common duiker; this was a first for this trip; we didn’t know which antelope it was at first and laughed, suggesting it was a warthog as it ate like one – with its knees on the floor.

We then stopped off at the Nthandanyathi Hide which was pretty quiet except for a lone elephant bull that walked through. We then went to Duke’s Dam and on the way spotted 3 rhinos but there was nothing at the dam. On our way back to the H4-2 we saw another rhino and common duiker as well as some wildebeest. Once we reached the tar road (H4-2) we drove south towards Crocodile Bridge. Along the way we spotted impala, kudu and a rhino that disappeared so quickly Wayne didn’t get a chance to see it.

We then drove back up the S28 and spotted an elephant before seeing 2 leopard kills in 2 different trees. One was just 10 metres from the road, the other a further 50 metres. 

Unfortunately there was no leopard. We had heard from other people that a leopard had been spotted that morning but some hyenas had chased it away. We waited for around 20 minutes hoping he’d return but then decided to move on to ensure we got back to camp in time. Further along the S28 we spotted 5 rhinos together, then another one – clearly this is rhino country!

We also spotted some wildebeest, 2 lionesses and then another rhino. We then turned off towards Dukes Dam and saw elephant and a lone wildebeest. By this point we started to put our foot down now as we realised that we were cutting it quite fine to get back to camp before the gates closed.

10th October – stay at Lower Sabie Rest Camp (part 2)

10th October – stay at Lower Sabie Rest Camp (part 2)

We carried on driving south and about 3km north of Tshokwane Picnic Spot we saw 3 cars had pulled over. We looked to see what they were looking at and saw a large herd of zebras. We decided the light wasn’t very good to stop for zebras so were just pulling off when Wayne spotted 3 cheetahs lying less than 10m from the road completely in the open; we couldn’t believe it. We quickly pulled over and sat watching them for around 5 hours. 

During this time we saw a lot of zebras and wildebeest walk past, occasionally one would get too close; or on one occasion, a wildebeest literally sniffed the cheetahs heads so they chased after them.

A couple of times the cheetahs saw a wildebeest calf or zebra foal that took their fancy and they would crouch down ready to chase it, but they never managed to catch anything. We were amazed by the sheer large amount of game walking straight past them. If the wind was in the favour of the herbivores then they would get a sniff of the cheetahs and stop, change direction before soon forgetting and walking past them again. There were hundreds and hundreds of zebras and wildebeest, as there was almost a constant procession of them walking past all day – I’ve never seen anything like it. Vultures and jackals also arrived, probably hoping for a snack!

 One of the cheetahs kept calling, as if they were missing a fourth member, but he didn’t turn up. After about 5 hours of watching them my bladder couldn’t hold on anymore so we left to go to the picnic spot to relieve ourselves just 3kn away. We then returned to the cheetahs and thankfully there were only a couple of cars there so we managed to park and view them without any problems. After about 10 minutes and very large troop of baboons came through and as soon as they spotted the cheetahs they chased them away, over the road and down towards the river. 

Thankfully, they stopped just in front of a tree and when the baboons didn’t follow them they rested. We watched them for a further 15 minutes or so before they walked off down to the river and out of sight.

We were so pleased with our sightings today – around 30 lions and 3 cheetahs – not bad! We now didn’t have time to drive to Skukuza before heading to Lower Sabie as originally planned so we just drove straight down the H10 to Lower Sabie. Along the way we spotted giraffes, steenbok, impala, and a large herd of buffalo which included lots of calves. We also saw them fighting with each other and slipping and falling on the road when they ran across it too fast. 

We saw several very large herds of elephants, totalling around 30 members each. It was funny seeing them amongst all the dried grass which is typically what you think about when describing the African savannah.

We also passed a large herd of 20+ kudu beside the road and then another of 10+, as well as one lone waterbuck.

We crossed the river by Lower Sabie Dam and saw elephant, hippos and impala. We had now arrived at Lower Sabie. As there was still over 1 hour before we had to be in camp we decided to sit at Sunset Dam, just 30 seconds from camp before heading in for the evening. Here we watched the animals interact as many hippos fought each other; I assume they were just practise fights,

We also watched a large group of storks sleeping and 2 different herds of elephants came to drink and the second herd also took it in turns to have a mud bath.

There was also a troop of baboons causing mayhem as they jumped on the cars, fought one another and general caused trouble as baboons usually do.

10th October – stay at Lower Sabie Rest Camp (part 1)

10^th October – stay at Lower Sabie Rest Camp - Part 1

At 5.30am we left Satara and drove south down the H1-3. Our plan for today was to drive along this road, stop off at Tshokwane Picnic Spot then drive to Skukuza before heading onto Lower Sabie. As we should have learnt by now, our planned routes rarely happen as planned.

Along the H1-3 we spotted impala, elephant, giraffes, warthogs, as well as kudu. We took a lovely photo of a male kudu at sunrise.

Not much further along we spotted 7+ lionesses and cubs walking along the road. We followed them for a few minutes before they stopped in the road. We watched as the cubs played and sat in front of the cars preventing them from moving.

They then changed their direction and headed off into the bush. Luckily, there was a road (S126) that followed along where they were walking so we continued to follow them. Two lionesses then appeared that they were going to hunt by Sweni Waterhole as they went into crouched hunting positions and watched as 50+ zebras came into drink.

Unfortunately they never made it any further than this. They soon wondered off so were no longer visible.

We stopped at Kumana dam to see if there was anything there – nothing but a hippo with a heron on his back

As we drove off we both looked to the opposite side of the dam and spotted 3 lionesses lying just 10m from the road. Blimey, it was definitely lion day! Quite a few cars had just left the dam as we had arrived and we wondered if they had even spotted them; they were clearly visible from the road but because everyone looks at the dam on the other side of the road we wondered if they had not been spotted.

Continuing our drive south we spotted white rhino, baboons and wildebeest.

It wasn’t long before we hit a road block as cars were blocking it on both sides of the road and from both ways. As some cars moved we spotted a male and female lion just sitting in the middle of the road. We assumed they were a mating couple. They didn’t look very healthy and if the male stood up, he really struggled to lie back down; as if his rear legs were very stiff. 

We eventually managed to pass them as they moved off the road and 2km further south we spotted another pride of lions, this time approximately 6 lionesses and the prides male. The male got up and walked over to sleep with his females and we left soon after as we didn’t think they would be going anywhere anytime soon – we’ve learnt that once a lion is asleep it will only move if it needs more shade otherwise they usually stay put all day. We were surprised at how close the 2 lions in the road were to this pride, but perhaps they were both near where their boundaries lie. The male in the road looked so old that had he come up against this male he would most certainly have lost.

9th October – stay at Satara Rest Camp

9^th October – stay at Satara Rest Camp

At 5.30am we left camp and drove along the S100 where we saw some baboons, impala, warthogs, waterbuck and a lone spotted hyena just 15m from the road sniffing around in the long grass. After our good sightings the previous day we didn’t stay long. We then drove along the S41 and spotted a saddle bill stork, crocodile, waterbuck and 4 individual sightings of steenbok. We then drove along the H6 and saw warthogs, wildebeest, impala and a herd of 10+ giraffes. We also saw kudu, steenbok and a tawny eagle. Along the H1-3 towards Satara we came across a herd of buffalo right next to the road and hopefully got some good photos.

We then drove along the H7 just to the Nsemani Dam to see if there was anything there. Along the way we saw wildebeest, elephant, impala and zebras. Bizarrely, we did not see any animals at the dam.

After making a quick toilet stop at Satara we then drove north along the H1-4 and spotted giraffes, warthogs and a juvenile tawny eagle.

About 5km north of Satara we came across a lot of cars and saw 2 males lions and a collared female only metres from the road. Surprisingly for late morning they appeared active and walked parallel to the road before crossing it and walking along the other side. Due to the high number of cars we just took a few photos before driving on. 

Further along we saw steenbok, 5 ostriches and some wildebeest.

Further along the road we saw some impala before stopping as Wayne spotted a white headed vulture about 5m from the road. He appeared to be eating something although he never picked it up for us to see what it was, probably a small mammal or snake. Not long after we arrived 2 tawny eagles flew in and just watched the vulture eating. It was interesting that they didn’t try and wrestle him for the food. Obviously there is a pecking order and the vulture is higher up it than the eagle! 

Eventually one of the tawny eagles got bored waiting and left, then when the vulture had finished he flew off and the remaining tawny eagle got to eat. However, he only managed to grab a few bites before 2 white headed vultures came in and stole the food off him so he flew away too. It was nice to see some animal interaction as it was our first time on this trip.

 After watching them for 30 minutes or so we headed back down the H1-4 south towards Satara. On the way back to camp we spotted zebras, giraffes, elephant, ostrich, warthogs, wildebeest, impala and an African wild cat! We could not believe our luck. Just passed where we had seen the lions on the way up – people were still watching them on our way down – we pulled over as there were a few cars looking at something. We never found out what they were looking at as shortly after we arrived an African wild cat jumped out of the bushes and ran across to hide in the thicket further away. It was around 11am at this point so the cat had probably been sleeping and been awoken.

We returned to camp where we sat by the pool for 30 minutes, had some lunch, rested etc before heading back out around 2pm.  In camp we saw some Vervet monkeys, birds and mongoose mating!

Before we left camp we went to the shop to buy an ice lolly and a gentleman stopped us by the ‘sightings board’ to advise us of a leopard kill he’d just seen on the impala loop. We quickly jumped in the car and headed to the loop – just off the H7. Unfortunately we didn’t see a leopard but we did see elephant, zebras and impala on the H7 and then elephant, impala, wildebeest and quite a few steenbok on the S40 and S12.

 After this we drove along the H6 and spotted buffalo, giraffe, kudu and steenbok before stopping at Sweni Hide on the S37. Here we saw lots of storks, ducks, hippos, impalas and a crocodile. It was very peaceful as nobody else was there. I’m not sure why we hadn’t stopped at the hide before as we’ve driven almost past it numerous times before.

We then had to head back to camp so we drove along the S41 seeing absolutely nothing, not even a lone impala. We stopped briefly at Guazani Dam and saw hippos, crocodiles and a very old turtle shell – the turtle was long gone! The S100 was similar to the S41, quiet, spotting only impalas, baboons and kudu. 

We arrived back at Satara with 15 minutes to spare so we decided to head up past it and see if the lions spotted this morning were still there. It took as a couple of minutes to get past Satara as a herd of elephants had taken up the road.

Once we had passed them we drove quickly to the lion sighting (this was easy to find as we’d marked it in our Sat Nav earlier) but they were no longer there so we turned around and headed back to Satara with only seconds to spare before the gate closed!

We were both feeling a bit deflated as such a poor afternoon of game spotting. We made supper, and spotted a hyena walking along the perimeter fence – probably the same one as last night before packing up our stuff as we’re moving camp tomorrow and having an early night. 

8th October – stay at Rest Camp

8^th October – stay at Rest Camp

We left Tamboti at 5.30am and drove along the H7 towards Satara. It was still very cloudy and windy and much cooler. We did see a hyena again at a similar location to yesterday so their den must be close by. Along the road we also saw zebra, waterbuck, wildebeest, baboons, giraffe, impala and kudu. When we arrived at Nsemani Dam there were no animals around, so we had a bowl of coco pops before setting off down the H1-3.

We stopped off at the Nkaya Pan but there was nothing there, although there was a herd of zebras, impala and wildebeest nearby. Not long after this we saw a leopard lying in the road. It was heart breaking; she was still breathing but had clearly been severely hurt, presumably by a car, and so was unable to move. We did not have any phone signal to call and advise the rangers and the road was completely blocked by cars so we could not get out to drive along to get signal. Eventually we managed to drive past but after an hour we still didn’t have any signal.

We arrived at Tshokwane Picnic Spot to go to the loo. We debated trying to find someone to report the leopard to, but guessed someone would have already done it by now. We headed further along the H1-2 towards Leeupan. Here we sat for a while watching the animals come and go. At first there was just a large herd of impalas, many males were practise fighting, and then a large herd of around 30+ elephants arrived with lots of young. They stopped briefly for a drink. 

Once they had left a giraffe arrived, checked all the surrounding trees, presumably for lions etc before heading back the way she came. She shortly returned with her calf and they came to drink. A male giraffe also arrived and drank from the opposite side. Once they left it was pretty quiet for a while.

After around 20 minutes we decided to leave and head back up to Satara. We soon got stopped by a herd of 30+ elephants – I assume the same herd as at Leeupan – as they were all crossing the road. We waited patiently for them to cross but did burst into hysterics as one juvenile stepped on his own trunk whilst crossing the road and nearly fell face down! Very funny!

After passing Tshokwane Picnic Spot we came across a large herd of wildebeest as well as zebra, impala and kudu.

Further along the road we came across a group of 4 ground hornbills, they stayed by the road, clearly hoping to be fed. Unfortunately for them we didn’t offer any food.

At Kumana Dam there was a lone large hippo bull flinging dung around in an act of dominance – we’re not sure who he was trying in impress as the only other animals present (except us humans) were waterbuck and a large family (of around 10) warthogs.

Not much further along the road we came across a tortoise, we stopped in the road preventing anyone else from crossing before it had moved safely onto the verge as we didn’t want it to be run over. We’d seen enough road kill for one day after seeing the leopard and then a dead ground squirrel. 

We turned off the H1-3 onto the H6. Along this road we saw 3 giraffes before coming across 2 lions. There were so many cars and we were unable to see the lions very well so we decided to move on. We then came across another tortoise in the road. This one was so small that I thought it was some elephant dung. Luckily Wayne told me to stop and again we waited until it was safely on the verge and off the road.

The S41 was the next road we took. This was fairly quiet except for kudu, waterbuck and impala. Similarly the S100 was also quiet, just spotting the same; waterbuck, impala and kudu.

We decided to head to Satara now as it was past 2pm so we could check in. Once we’d checked in and unpacked our car we headed straight back out for our afternoon game drive. We decided to go along the H6 to have another look at the lion sighting and see if we could see them. Luckily, as we arrived someone was leaving so we parked in their spot – what we think was the ‘prime position’! We were parked directly in front of a male lion with a beautiful dark mane. Unfortunately, except for waking up to clean himself occasionally he was fast asleep. We watched him for around 2hours and 20 minutes with him just rolling over once as the only movement. During this time we did notice another lion next to him. He was a juvenile male and he sat up, yawned before falling back to sleep. After the 2 hours and 20 minutes we decided it was time to leave and head back to camp. We pulled out of our spot, turned around and then looked back at the lions to see them all up and greeting each other and walking about. We couldn’t believe it! We stopped to take some photos and actually decided it was a good thing that we moved as now that we were on the other side of the road and not stuck between other cars it meant we could move forward or reverse as necessary to keep the lions in view. Whilst we were photographing them it became apparent that there were actually 4 male lions in this group – they were so well hidden all sleeping in the grass that we didn’t see them. It was only a minute or two later that the lions had turned their backs to us and were moving off so we headed off too towards camp.

We had to keep up our speed to ensure we weren’t late back. We drove swiftly past a small herd of giraffes before turning off the H6 and onto the H1-3 towards Satara. After a minute or so we were stopped by two large bull elephants in the middle of the road clearly having a moment to decide who was more dominant.  We took photos to show as evidence to camp in case we were late back and they wanted to fine us.

We managed to pass them and swiftly headed back to camp. We made it with minutes to spare. Once back at camp the sun quickly went down and we got ourselves a drink and sat on a bench by the perimeter fence. After only around 5 minutes a spotted hyena walked past. It walked along the fence line and then went and smelt a nearby bush. Something jumped out and I said to Wayne that it was steenbok or hare. He shone our torch onto it to find out it was a wild cat. Blimey, how exciting! We couldn’t believe it. The hyena and wild cat did not seem to mind each other as the hyena carried on walking along the fence line whilst the wild cat just sat near to the bush it was originally hiding in. I ran back to our room to grab the camera – our room was only 50m away – so we could take some photos.