Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

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Richprins
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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

From a 2012 ossendryver report:

ossendryver wrote: Mon May 28, 2012 9:51 am
Now it is getting dark and we have 1 hour to get to the gate.

We quickly turn on to the H1-1 and drive straight towards camp.


We didn't have time to pop into Transport Dam sadly.
We saw on the GPS that we have 20kms to spot all the nocturnal animals starting to wake up in the early evening. This seemed like so much time to have to spot eveything. It wasn't.

We saw basically nothing!

The GPS now said 2kms to get to the camp. This was now it for us for our first drive. Or so we thought!

We reach 1km to go and what do we see at 5:52pm.
A car stopped! Means only 1 thing at this time! CATS or DOGS!

We drive to where the car was stopped and we couldn't believe our eyes!
There it was, walking in the road!
A LEOPARD!
(They seem to know the exact time that the gates close so that we can't watch them for long)

Here are some pics:

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From my phone:
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And no, that wasn't enough!
I suddenly hear my dad say excitedly: "There's another one! There's another one!"
The whole car looked forward in time to see the second one walk quickly into the bush.

We all had decided to wait for the second one to meet up with the one still in the road. We made this decision with out even discussing it, no one wanted to leave!
It was so worth the wait!

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From my phone:

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phpBB [video]


After the 2 walked into the bush we had to leave straight to the camp, no exceptions!

We got in and we all still felt the adrenaline of seeing such an incredible sighting!
The first day had gone with a kicker!

Not only did we have an unbelievable sighting but that ticked off number 1 on our wishlist!!
On the first drive!

https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... f=46&t=609


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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

ossendryver wrote: Mon May 28, 2012 9:53 am

Rise and shine time to wake up for our first full day in Kruger!

I woke up at 4:30 to get to the gates at 6:00, I know way too early but I get excited! I love that feeling being the only one awake in camp, it's always amazing.

So we get the the gate and there is already a line of about 4 cars! So we wouldn't be the first ones out but it didn't make a difference in the end!

Finally the gates opened!

We wanted to go straight to Transport Dam as there is a hyena den there and we wanted to see the pups.

We got a bit distracted on the way there by 4 figures running in the road.
We were on the H1-1 about 1km from Pretoriuskop, so not too far!

We looked and we couldn't believe our eyes when we realized what were in the road.
WILD DOGS!

It's incredible!
Day 1 - last sighting - leopard (Item 1)
Day 2 - first sighting - Wild Dogs (Item 2)

So we quickly did a U-turn and followed them back to Pretoriuskop.

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After we followed them for 1km, then stopped at the T Junction for some photos.
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The one dog picked up a piece of paper lying around and started eating it. I wanted to take it from him as I felt so bad, but there was nothing I could do.
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After a few minutes they started walking and we continued to follow them.

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Then at the turnoff to the Pretoriuskop picnic center the leader suddenly stopped and had that stance that everyone knew what was going on. They spotted prey.

He looked at the other 3 dogs and gave them a sign. It was more like a "Let's go for it".
As he did it, the other 3 dogs started looking carefully.
We went forward and there was an impala standing in the middle of the picnic area next to all the tables where you are allowed to get out!!

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After a few silent moments we all knew the hunt was on.
All 4 started walking together and cramped next to each other.

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When they realized that the impala knew they were there the dogs started the chase.

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They chased and ran but the impala sadly got away.
All the cars following the dogs started to fill up the picnic area.
When the dogs disappeared after chasing the impala, about 3 seconds later all the cars disappeared too.

We never...
I said to the rest of the family "Let's wait, they might come back."

We did wait.

5 minutes later we look and there they were again! Just to ourselves!
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They quickly disappeared afterwards, we waited again but they never returned.

This whole experience was a first for us. We have never seen a wild dog so close!
And what they did for us was amazing!



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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

ossendryver wrote: Tue May 29, 2012 10:34 am

We turned on to the H1-1 and we got hit by the beautiful sunrise covered by major mist that was everywhere.

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Due to the mist our sightings up until then were pretty slow.

But we turned onto the turnoff to transport dam and finally saw a car stopped.
First predator for the day!
And first hyena for the trip! (we were discussing that morning how we wanted to see them as they are my dads favourite!)

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How fast that hyena did actually disappear


We got to transport dam and it was quiet but beautiful!
The mist made it seem so special.

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Finally some animals arrived.

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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

From a JustN@ture report: https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... f=46&t=758


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JustN@ture wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:46 pm These two had a bit of a scuff at Transport dam //\0-- 0= (0)

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and the winner returns to take his place of basking in the sun ^0^

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A special sighting for the day on our way through was this family of 6

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and them heading off into the bush…or giving the usual pose for photos [O] =O: =O: =O:

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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

A couple of pics by Mposthumus:


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viewtopic.php?f=35&t=284&start=20


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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

An Egyptian Vulture at Transport Dam this week! :shock:


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Pic by Johan van Rensburg



https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... 0&start=10


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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Flutterby »

:shock: ^Q^


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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

This road is not famous for tuskers, but I saw one there once. aat says it is not, but ^0^

h.jpg
h1.jpg


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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

Transport Dam leopard by vinkie, 3013:

vinkie wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2014 11:37 pm After having spend some time at the dam we took the road that lead to the far side near the dam..when we took the road there was a little roadblock of 3 cars.

We saw our second Leopard of the day….due to the grass it seems a bit blurry..
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And it lay down to sleep a little more
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We drove back to the H1-1, just before the H3 intersection we saw this wonderful Klipspringer.
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https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... 2&start=20


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Re: Flavour of the Month - March/April 2018 : H1-1 and Transport Dam

Post by Richprins »

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Kruger Sightings
‏Verified account @LatestKruger
21h21 hours ago

09:36
Leopard stationary below the dam wall
S66, Transport dam
Near Skukuza
Tinged by Stefan


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