8th Lower Sabie to Biyamiti continued
The adrenalin from the morning leopard sighting started to fade as we neared Nkuhlu so we began paying attention again and stopped for some ellies having a morning drink.
Just after Nkuhlu we stopped again for lion warming up in the Sabie riverbed.
We got to the Golf Club just after 10am, so I thought it may be a little early for them, but they quickly put 2 large hot chips together and we cruised off to picnic at the nursery for a few hours. I found it fantastic just parking off in the peaceful environment, so it’s going to be part of all our future trips.
We left the nursery around 12:30pm for a slow trip down the H1-1/H3 towards the Biyamiti loop, but slowed next to a dry riverbed on the way and the Cow shouted “STOP, leopard!” which woke me up.
“He’s going to move, quick take pics!”
Another car suddenly stopped next to us and the driver chirped “lion!” which set me off “What? It’s a leopard!” which set the Cow off “Be polite!”
“Quiet, the leopard’s there, take pics”
The leopard slowly disappeared up the riverbed and we sat quietly for a few more seconds and I thought that my outburst had escaped detection, but then the “tone of your voice” greasing started but Hawkeyes interrupted with a pic of insects she had taken which distracted the Cow, so I quickly started up and continued on.
As we neared the Biyamiti weir we spotted a car parked at the view point above the weir and they all had their cameras out, so we crossed the weir and immediately identified what was causing the excitement.
To be continued
Browns in Kruger April 2017
- Flutterby
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Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
Gees, how many more leopard did you see on this trip where you "really battled for sightings"?
Nice to see dogs at the weir.
Nice to see dogs at the weir.
- PJL
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Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
Yet ANOTHER leopard
Seriously, I know you guys always seem to have leopard luck but given how tricky the grass made everything this is astounding
Great to see the dogs as well
Seriously, I know you guys always seem to have leopard luck but given how tricky the grass made everything this is astounding
Great to see the dogs as well
- nan
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Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
wow the chance to have Lycaons
and again Leopard
like too Butterflies
and your girls, all your girls are
and again Leopard
like too Butterflies
and your girls, all your girls are
Kgalagadi lover… for ever
https://safrounet.piwigo.com/
https://safrounet.piwigo.com/
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
We did battle this trip Flutts, but ended up spotting a few leopard , however it was a mission to find a few of them and 1 day we never got 1 which is a crisis for me The lion, well, lion in the road, is where we battled more than normal at times. First time we have seen dogs at the weir. We have had them a few times just up the road on the S114, but never at the weir.Flutterby wrote:Gees, how many more leopard did you see on this trip where you "really battled for sightings"?
Nice to see dogs at the weir.
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
Yes, we got a few leopard this trip PJL. No jokes though, I research their territories and movements a month before each trip and then the rest is luck, but knowing their "patterns" does help. I have never seen the 1 you found just south of the S127, so we hunted for him, but no luck.PJL wrote:Yet ANOTHER leopard
Seriously, I know you guys always seem to have leopard luck but given how tricky the grass made everything this is astounding
Great to see the dogs as well
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
Thanks again nan, Hawkeyes will be very happy that someone commented on her butterflies Dogs in April seem easier to find, but as soon as they den, it's a mission to find themnan wrote:wow the chance to have Lycaons
and again Leopard
like too Butterflies
and your girls, all your girls are
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
8th Lower Sabie to Biyamiti continued
We then decided to turn and go back over the weir to see if we could get a different view of the dogs. We also paid more attention to the other things hanging around the weir as the dogs weren’t going anywhere.
It was already past book in time, so we decided to continue down the S139 to Biyamiti. The faulty S139 ellies all kept a safe distance and all the normal locals popped up at different times, but we only took pics again while on Biyamiti viewpoint as a mother ellie was relaxing below the viewpoint, however she was getting hassled by her junior who wanted her up.
We asked the Sanparks staff while booking in about others booking in and that we were looking for a German couple that are with friends.
“What are their names?”
I scratched my head, looked at the Cow and then blurted out “Mel”
“Surname”
Now I felt like a plank “Sorry, we don’t know it”
We unpacked and decided to patrol the camp in our AW shirts but after prancing around in front of all the units 2 times and 1 time at the back, we reconvened at our unit to discuss potential candidates as we had no idea what Mel and SO looked like. We narrowed it down to 2; however we had modelled our AW shirts in front of both candidates twice without a bite, so I wasn’t convinced.
Albert and the Cow then went on a squirrel hunt and called me for some of our unit’s locals which instantly took off as the pic was taken which caused plenty shrieking from Albert as she roared into the unit.
Hawkeyes and Bushpig then started to nag to go back to the dogs at the weir as they wanted to watch the “greeting ritual”, so I checked the time and ducked off back down the S139.
The dogs had moved and one could only see them now while crossing the weir, but some gave the impression that any greeting ritual was a long time away. The Garmin was indicating that it was time to move, so the Cow took a few pics of a plover that was cruising around and we continued back to camp.
The drive back to camp on the narrow little overgrown Biyamiti road produced the usual and soon I had my traditional “all wood while at Biyamiti” fire going.
After supper we sat in the dark listening to the night sounds and the hyena chorus from just outside camp, but suddenly the peace was interrupted by loud Afrikaans rugby commentary. It took me around a minute to figure out what was potting and it seemed to be a sevens rugby match on the go and 2 rather large men were hanging on their bakkie with beers in hand a few units down from us.
I couldn’t understand all the commentary but the radical change in tone of the commenter and the antics of the listeners allowed me to follow.
Eventually my temper overpowered my fear of getting thrown over the Biyamiti fence and I shone my high powered spotlight on them and then readied for a “Bulls” charge, but instead they mumbled at each other, climbed in the car and closed the doors, so peace returned.
To be continued
We then decided to turn and go back over the weir to see if we could get a different view of the dogs. We also paid more attention to the other things hanging around the weir as the dogs weren’t going anywhere.
It was already past book in time, so we decided to continue down the S139 to Biyamiti. The faulty S139 ellies all kept a safe distance and all the normal locals popped up at different times, but we only took pics again while on Biyamiti viewpoint as a mother ellie was relaxing below the viewpoint, however she was getting hassled by her junior who wanted her up.
We asked the Sanparks staff while booking in about others booking in and that we were looking for a German couple that are with friends.
“What are their names?”
I scratched my head, looked at the Cow and then blurted out “Mel”
“Surname”
Now I felt like a plank “Sorry, we don’t know it”
We unpacked and decided to patrol the camp in our AW shirts but after prancing around in front of all the units 2 times and 1 time at the back, we reconvened at our unit to discuss potential candidates as we had no idea what Mel and SO looked like. We narrowed it down to 2; however we had modelled our AW shirts in front of both candidates twice without a bite, so I wasn’t convinced.
Albert and the Cow then went on a squirrel hunt and called me for some of our unit’s locals which instantly took off as the pic was taken which caused plenty shrieking from Albert as she roared into the unit.
Hawkeyes and Bushpig then started to nag to go back to the dogs at the weir as they wanted to watch the “greeting ritual”, so I checked the time and ducked off back down the S139.
The dogs had moved and one could only see them now while crossing the weir, but some gave the impression that any greeting ritual was a long time away. The Garmin was indicating that it was time to move, so the Cow took a few pics of a plover that was cruising around and we continued back to camp.
The drive back to camp on the narrow little overgrown Biyamiti road produced the usual and soon I had my traditional “all wood while at Biyamiti” fire going.
After supper we sat in the dark listening to the night sounds and the hyena chorus from just outside camp, but suddenly the peace was interrupted by loud Afrikaans rugby commentary. It took me around a minute to figure out what was potting and it seemed to be a sevens rugby match on the go and 2 rather large men were hanging on their bakkie with beers in hand a few units down from us.
I couldn’t understand all the commentary but the radical change in tone of the commenter and the antics of the listeners allowed me to follow.
Eventually my temper overpowered my fear of getting thrown over the Biyamiti fence and I shone my high powered spotlight on them and then readied for a “Bulls” charge, but instead they mumbled at each other, climbed in the car and closed the doors, so peace returned.
To be continued
- Richprins
- Committee Member
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Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
The dogs had moved and one could only see them now while crossing the weir, but some gave the impression that any greeting ritual was a long time away.
Nice prancing about and advertising! Hilarious too!
Astounding doggies, much better than leopard! Put them up here? https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.p ... 5&start=40
Very good this, but I don't know why it is relevant that the rugby lovers were Afrikaans? You are just as prejudiced as leachy...
Nice prancing about and advertising! Hilarious too!
Astounding doggies, much better than leopard! Put them up here? https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.p ... 5&start=40
Very good this, but I don't know why it is relevant that the rugby lovers were Afrikaans? You are just as prejudiced as leachy...
Please check Needs Attention pre-booking: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=322&t=596
- nan
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- Country: Switzerland
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Re: Browns in Kruger April 2017
it seems the Fish Eagle is a local there or I made a mistake... superb
like the Hooded Vulture
love the little Elephant
and the cute Squirrel
like the Hooded Vulture
love the little Elephant
and the cute Squirrel
Kgalagadi lover… for ever
https://safrounet.piwigo.com/
https://safrounet.piwigo.com/