Sneaking into KNP for a quickie 2014*

[RogerFraser]

Day 3 2 May 2014

We arived early at Croc Bridge .We were about 8th in line .

Getting in after a brief chat to the HR .We found a small group of cars on the S25 from Croc Bridge camp site had been watching the resident cheetah and cubs but we were too late .We caught a far off glimps ofspots and tails but no more sighting for us ,even with trolling up and down the road.



We traveled to Hippo pools and saw a fish eagle.


We found a Buff in the reeds


Some wierd alien species was on the rocks


Daniel was on duty as usual and regailed his stories of cycling past Lions and Leopards


After and enjoyable time spent on the rocks we left and found some Z's


A very relaxed buff.


And a relaxed socialble Ellie emerged from a bush


And moved off on his morning browsing


we carried on the S25 intending to reach Malelane...

[RogerFraser]

Day 3 2 May 2014 cont

We carried on the S25 intending to reach Malelane...

Some Impies were grazing on the side of the road




Further along we found a Marshal Eagle in a distant tree


And in the river a little croc was waiting .


Some vultures were close to the causeway ...


Now I knew that the causeway had been washed away in the floods and saw that there was some earthmoving equipment parked off but

no work was going on .We found the approach was extreemly steep and wondered how normal cars got through this as the Landy only

just made the gradient on the downward sloping section ...I hoped that they intended doing more work to slope it more gently....

Crossing over the river an Ellie and baby were in the riverbed ..





And as we drove up the other side we found a little red and white sign with a no entry on the other side of the bridge ...
Turns out the ellies had taken a liking to the signs and taken them down on one side of the bridge that we had arrived on (we only

found this out after discussing with the HR at the entry the next day) .Luckily we were the only vehicles about so we drove on to

Malelane Gate to use the ablutions...

[RogerFraser]

Day 3 2 May 2014 cont

We spotted a few more sightings in the river before Malelane...
A water buck near the water ..


Some storks still preening


A little crock on a little island...


After stopping in at the ablutions at Malelane Gate we carried on up the H3 and found this energetic little fellow




A toko was waiting for something to move.



We traveled S114 and down the H5 but did not have much luck apart from a mongoose



And a Super Squirel....



Further along we found a bathing Ellie




By the Vurhami Bridge we saw the mandatory traffic jam at the Dam lookout road .With no intention of joining the queue we snapped a quick pick from the Tar as one Lioness sat up.


We left the park at Croc Bridge to put the battery on Charge and meetup with my sister and her Hubby who were coming to use their house for the weekend .

[RogerFraser]

Day 4 3 May 2014

As it was our last day in the park we intended to spend the maximum time we could .We got up earlier and got to the 5th spot in

the queue at the gate .It was another misty morning .
A young Gnu was the first sighting of the day


A Toko was just waking up.




A glossy starling was searching for breakfast.


A gnu in the mist.


The mist had framed a spider web.


We found the tree of doom in the mist a rather eiry sight.


Some big guys were still in bed .


We found some rutting Impies looked like they had been at it for a while.


A Kudu was eating breakfast.



We carried on the S130

[RogerFraser]

Day 4 3 May 2014 cont

We found the morning crossing but there was no points-man on duty but we decided to let them cross anyway


We watched some of the Ellies grazing.




A crested barbet was searching the tree for food.

Our angry birds shot pity its not in focus on the bird but quite funny expression.

It flew to another tree to search there


We carried on the H4-2 towards Lower Sabie

[RogerFraser]

Day 4 3 May 2014 cont

We carried on the H4-2 towards Lower Sabie

An Ellie came out to cross the road so we stopped .


And then the rest of the herd appeared in front .


And more Ellies appeared


The babies seemed a bit tired so the herd made a Laager around them and stood in a circle while they rested .After about 5 mins the elders shoved the junior to carry on moving





We thoroughly enjoyed watching them cross over .We carried on towards Sunset dam.

[RogerFraser]

Day 4 3 May 2014 cont

At Sunset dam a one legged Grey Heron was on the drain.



The idea was to cross the river and drive the S128.There was nothing remarkable in the river beds.


On the S128 we found this little fellow.


Then I spotted movement far up on the ridge .Could it be we had found a Cheetah on our favoite Cheetah road...


And then pop pop pop three heads appeared




But they were very far away and disappeared behind the bushes again .We drove along the road catching a glimpse of movement far on the ridge every few minutes .Some cars came and we told them what we had seen but they lost interest quickly and left . After about 15 minutes a OSV arrived and joined our search with him having a bit more luck due to his height he seemed to have more sightings but then lost them again .Another car drove up a Toyota Prado and we explained our search while he sat in the middle of the road .As we finished explaining about us waiting for the Cheetah family there they walked into the road in front of us and him .He then proceeded to follow/chase the family down the road not allowing us to get next to him but deliberately blocked us and the OSV from drawing level .The pictures we managed to get were basically the first couple before he blocked our view .The family kept turning and seemed to feel the presence of the car following so they soon left the road and the Prado roared off in a cloud of dust ....the air in our cloud was not brown but very blue ....









We spent quite a bit more time waiting to see if they would come back to the road but alas they did not .

[RogerFraser]

Day 4 3 May 2014 cont

We spent about an hour to see if the Cheetah's would come back to the road but alas they did not so we left to drive the S29 loop . We found this group of Ellies




We found another Lilac Roller who was willing to be photographed.



Coming back onto the H10 across th Sabie we watched the herd of Ellies in the riverbed




A croc and a Terapin where the only ones on the Island with the Pillow


Further up the H4-1 we sat and watched a big herd of Bufs crossing the Sabie river.






There was another Ellie in the river by the Bufs

[RogerFraser]

Day 4 3 May 2014 cont

We turned arround and started to head slowly back towards the Gate.
We found nothing much visible in the lake on the S130


This five legged Ellie was resting in the shade .

We found some Impies practicing their skills



We found a snale eagle waiting for something to move.



And these two sharing a tree


A Zee was enjoying some late rays and green grass


We briefly metup with this big fellow on his way somewhere important


Our last sighting on the trip was a Couple of GNU feeding some Egrets



We left the park and early the next day drove back via Swaziland to KZN.