Browns in Kruger July 2015

[Bushcraft]

12th Skukuza continued

The clan’s need for the loo eventually overcame the fear of the bats and soon all were safely out the loo.

We wobbled around Mlondozi for 15 minutes taking pics of all the normal waterbuck, hippo, etc gang before planning our route back to Skukuza.

I was keen to do the S29/S30 back to the H12 Bridge, but that meant no toilets all the way until Skukuza day visitors section, so reluctantly we decided to drive back to Lower Sabie and up the H4-1.

Many of the previous animals were still around and it wasn’t until just before the causeway that we stopped again.

The Lubyelubye lion pride was slightly north of their normal hangout and they also had a few cubs which excited the rats big time.







The lions looked as if they were “set in” for the day so we continued on.

Just before the H12 Bridge we scored a luck in our timing as the lioness popped out next to the road in full hunting mode.





She was after some impala about 30m in front of her and the impala hadn’t picked up on anything out of the ordinary, so I was highly excited because it looked very positive for a kill.

Around a minute later though the situation changed as a group of large buffalo decided to arrive and cross the road just meters from the lioness.



She spotted them also and went to hide out in a bush just behind us and although she was only meters from us it was very difficult to see her. The buffalo also picked up on something and started snorting and behaving nervously, but she definitely had no intentions of taking them on by herself.

Eventually the buffalo moved on and the hunt could continue, but the lioness now seemed nervous wto come out the bush and the traffic jam had started to grow

“What do you see; I don’t see anything, what is it, etc”

I’m not the best at this

“Lion in the bush”

“Where, what bush, how close”

“The bush right in front of you”

The Cow stepped in again which is the norm “Hey, be polite!”

I normally get reprimanded by the Cow for lack of patience in these situations, but I had a good laugh later in the trip when the Cow tried to explain the position of a sighting to someone and after 10 minutes of explanation she understood why I can lack in the patience department at sightings.

Suddenly the “blind” got a big skrik as the lioness burst from the bush and charged past us after the impala.

I fiddled with the ignition in panic and soon we were roaring up the road after the lioness, but she duffed the initial target and then charged off after other impala down into the riverbed and out of sight.

The last sighting which provided major entertainment was just before Skukuza. The boon troop was out and scrapping all over the place, but 1 sneaky chap used this distraction as an opportunity to score an aunty away from the gang.



I found it highly amusing, as did Albert who is too young to understand, but Bushpig and Hawkeyes are both “up to speed” and sat very quietly with red pips.

Back in camp the Cow started sorting out breakfast/lunch and I took Bushpig and Albert on the promised tour to the museum, but this “revamped” museum has no soul and is more of a political statement, so the rats were disappointed and in 5 minutes we were walking back to our unit. At least I won’t get nagged to go back to the museum again.

On the walk back we bumped into 2 warties and one was highly excited, but kept getting it completely wrong which resulted in me crawling on the floor with laughter, but I soon pulled myself together when I realized that an elderly granny was giving me the hairy eyeball.





Just before our unit we walked past the same hole in the fence I photographed last year July. I wasn’t surprised it was still there and I’m certainly not surprised that people report hyena in Skukuza camp as a lion could fit through this hole.



To be continued

[Bushcraft]

12th Skukuza continued

My “out of it” feeling kicked in again after breakfast/lunch, even though I hardly ate anything, so I collapsed in bed, which definitely isn’t normal for me even if sick, the rats came up with some game to entertain themselves and the Cow went on a mission to snap pics of a few birds around our unit.





The bed thing doesn’t work for me as my hamster attitude clashes with it, so I was soon back outside sitting on a chair staring into space while the Cow continued her bird stalking.

At around 3pm the Cow started to hassle me for an evening drive, but I wasn’t keen on a big mission, so said she must chose the route as long as it was close to camp.

She, for some reason, loves the S114, Renosterkoppies area and as it was only around 15km from Skukuza I agreed.

Around 3km down the S114 we found the below sleeping in a bush, which resulted in the Cow having a massive cheesy as it was “her route”



Another guy from the opposite direction pulled up next to us a few minutes later, checked the dogs out and then told us about cheetah 4km down the S21, which got me interested in travelling past Renosterkoppies.

After a small conference we decided that it was too early for the “wild dog greeting ritual” and as we were only 2km from the S21 turnoff we should take a chance and go and see if the cheetah were still around.

The bonus about the S21 is that it’s fairly quiet when compared to other roads in the south, so even though the cheetahs were still parked off and close to the road, there was no traffic jam.



The one cheetah suddenly jumped up and seemed interested in hunting something, so I thought our timing was perfect, but he soon lost interest





The smaller cheetah didn’t seem interested in moving at all.



We were now getting rather confused and maybe the “cheetah experts” can help out here. This was 2 males and I understand males form coalitions, especially brothers, but as can be seen in the pic below there’s a big age difference between these 2 males, so we couldn’t work out how they linked up.



Hawkeyes and Bushpig are very aware now about the “birds and the bees” so when the larger cheetah male started licking, in their eyes kissing the other cheetah male, our car erupted

“Man lady cheetah, gross!!”

“Dad, what’s up with that?”

I understand “re-enforcing bonds” but I was now stuttering to control my laughter and come up with an explanation, so decided it would be safer to just shut my mouth with the hope the “Man ladies” stopped








To be continued

[Bushcraft]

12th Skukuza continued

While the cheetah continued their suspect licking mission a Korhaan and then a Lapwing pulled in, but it was the Korhaan sneaking around the cheetah which had us all laughing.





The cheetah adjusted their positions with the larger deciding to use the smaller as a pillow, but showed no interest in tormenting the jumpy Korhaan.



We were all enjoying this peaceful sighting away from the massive traffic but time was ticking and we were getting nervous about missing the wild dog “greeting ritual” so decided to start heading back that direction.

We arrived with minutes to spare before the ritual started.



I have given up over the years to photograph this ritual properly as it involves dogs running all over the place, yapping, whining, etc and I always end up getting myself in a massive flap photographing everything, without actually capturing the moment, so it’s probably better to just video it.

Other cars had arrived at the sighting and 1 in particular was seriously pissing on my battery, because the aunty driver was roaring backwards and forwards trying to follow the dogs without understanding the ritual and the fact it stops, there’s calm for minutes and then the dogs choose a direction of travel.

Eventually the ritual stopped and the dogs calmed down, which also calmed the over excited aunty.







The 1 dog was seriously injured and we just hoped it wasn’t a snare, but we couldn’t see any evidence of a snare, so it must have been from another predator.



The dogs then chose a direction of travel and unfortunately it was into the bush, so we continued on back to Skukuza.

We arrived back at camp at around 5:15pm, so we still had a little light, therefore decided to walk down to the fence, find a bench and park off.

Some ellies pulled in and started chowing, but it was a battle in the low light to get a pic, however I decided to rest my camera on the Cow’s pip for stability and managed a strange shot with the left and right ellies stretching for a chow. The one on the left was up on its hind legs briefly, but unfortunately I duffed that pic.



My old lady had given Hawkeyes some money for us to go out 1 night as a treat and because we were all stuffed, we chose tonight and headed off for Cattle Baron.

We don’t chow out at all really as it’s just too much to pay for 5, so I nearly fell off my chair when I spotted the prices, but I believe it’s more or less the going rate.

Hamburgers were in our price range and we were pleasantly surprised at the prompt service and good chow. If I had the money I would chow there more often.



I did get a few skew looks though because I didn’t have shoes on and worried that due to my faulty stomach the hamburger would return later with vengeance.

I had felt “out of it” for most of the day, but it had been a good day sighting wise.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

13th Skukuza to Tamboti

The hamburger from the previous evening came back to haunt me as I feared, so I was up very early doing the “morning runs”. The cramps were the major killer though, but fortunately the Cow had packed all the correct medicine, so I chowed whatever pills were available.

The advantage of the screwed stomach was the fact we were up early, so the packing of the car was complete at around 6am and we were on the road for Tamboti just after 6am.

Just as the H11 meets the H4-1, around 2.3km from Skukuza gate, we found some very dirty lions on a morning cruise.





The lions ducked off into the bush, but it looked as if they were heading to come back out the bush just up the H11, so we turned and headed around 200m up the H11, turned, switched off and waited.

All the other cars at the initial sighting had moved on, except for 1 car and they had the same plot as us.

Minutes later the lions popped out the bush and crossed the road.





The drive up the H1-2 produced a few GHB’s, kudu, nyala females and buffalo.









At the S36/H1-2 intersection we had a small conference and decided to go and check Jones-se-Dam out as it’s not too far off the H1-2.

The dam had a fair amount of activity including a buffalo enjoying a mud bath.





We had a long way still to go, so in minutes we were heading back towards the H1-2, but just before we hit the tar the Cow chirped “Stop!” and seemed rather excited.

A bird of prey was parking off next to the road; I think it’s maybe an African Hawk Eagle, but please help out if I have the ID wrong.





To be continued

[Bushcraft]

13th Skukuza to Tamboti continued

The rest of the drive up the H1-2 was relatively quiet and we only stopped for an ellie herd that was cruising towards the N’waswitsontso riverbed just outside Tshokwane.



We have learnt numerous lessons at Tshokwane when ordering chow, so as a family we have decided that the safest bet is hot chips as one can’t possibly get food poisoning from that, so the Cow ordered 2 large hot chips while the rest of us wobbled around the sighting board, etc.

We learnt a new lesson today though, even if you order a simple thing like hot chips, you still have to stay in the shop and “manage” the process as the manager of Tshokwane certainly doesn’t.

Half an hour later and still no chips, so the Cow got back into the queue with her slip to ask where our chips were, but the queue was very long, so I watched 40 minutes go past.

There was 1 staff member at the till and 3 in the back stuffing around at a snail’s pace, which resulted in me losing my marbles.

I stormed into the shop and shouted “Where are our chips that were ordered 40 minutes ago”

This embarrassed the Cow big time and she started trying to get me out the shop, but the blank faces looking back at me indicated that they had “lost the order”, so that only escalated my frustration

“They are useless here, just give our money back”

The Cow was now highly embarrassed, which then turned into a greasing from her, so I high tailed it out the shop with many confused customers watching. Tshokwane had stuffed up for the 10th time with us and the Cow greased me.

A further 15 minutes went past before the Cow returned to the car with our chips, so nearly 1 hour for 2 packets of hot chips.

Picture and sound only returned to our car about 1km before Mazithi Dam, but it was short lived because as we pulled up next to the dam I spotted a leopard walking into the bush on the other side of the dam wall through the Cow’s passenger window.

“Leopard! There! Take pics!”

The rest of the family unfortunately couldn’t see it which resulted in my normal over the top uncontrolled “leopard explosion”

“It’s moving! Quickly! Are you all blind?”

I couldn’t get to it with my camera without jumping on top of the Cow, but just as I was about to do that, the leopard disappeared into the bush, which in hindsight is probably fortunate because the Cow would have gone into attack mode.

I had seen the “direction of travel” though, so roared forward 50m and pulled over.

5 minutes later the leopard cruised out again and started sneaking towards us.









Others had also spotted the leopard, so the crowd was growing, which resulted in the leopard hitting the brakes. He parked off for 2 minutes checking the scene out and then turned and ducked back into the bush.



We had a plot though as the clan were tracking the leopard through the bush and it became clear it was moving north, so we drove another 50m up the road and switched off at the far northern end of the dam, which was away from the crowd that had gathered.

Some waterbuck provided a distraction while we sat waiting.



Suddenly the Cow shrieked “it’s coming out”, which reminded me of Bushpig’s birth, so I got the shivers first and then went into “leopard hypo mode” again.

“Take pics!”



The leopard hit the brakes again though and then ran off towards the riverbed and out of sight.



Most of the crowd was still gathered at the original spot around 50m away waiting for the leopard. I suppose it’s easy to get caught if one takes one’s eyes off a leopard for a second; hopefully they soon realized it was gone.

Our teeth were hanging out again as it had been a cool sighting, so we chatted along as we continued towards Satara without paying too much attention to our surroundings until just before the S100/H7 intersection where we found 1 car stopped and a male lion sleeping in the grass.



To be continued

[Bushcraft]

13th Skukuza to Tamboti continued

We left the sleeping male lion after 2 minutes as it was boring and around 1km later found 2 cars stopped and another male lion, but this chap was at least awake.



We pulled into Satara at around 1pm for a pit stop and leg stretch. Time was ticking though and I was keen to get to Tamboti, so after half an hour we hit the road again.

Nsemani Dam produced all the locals, so we stopped there for around 10 minutes to get pics and absorb the scene. The dam was lower than we have seen it in many years and I feel it will be totally dry before September if there isn’t rain in the area.

The H7 is a cooker road for many, but for us it only “works” for around 5km past Nsemani and today was no different, therefore the rats started getting bored and Albert’s “lion” got put in charge of finding sightings.



We stopped for all the normal gang fairly often but only really pulled out the camera for a Pearl Spotted Owlet.



The waterhole at Orpen camp had some ellie action, so we parked off there for 5 minutes before going to Orpen reception.



We had tried to get tent number 40 months ago, but were initially told it was booked, so we were very surprised to find when booking in that we now had number 40, which is supposedly the best tent in Tamboti.

I have to mention the reception staff at Orpen as they were friendly and fantastic, which makes the entire book in procedure a pleasure. I wish other camps would learn a little from Orpen.

We eventually pulled into Tamboti after 3pm.



A surprise waited for us at tent number 40 though. There was a hole in the tent next to the loo outflow and a family of mongoose had moved into the tent, the green algae was growing thick up the sides and the entire condition of everything was rather disappointing, especially when one considers it costs R200 more than any 3 sleeper chalets in Kruger.







We managed to get the mongoose out and plugged the hole with a bath towel. The electric fence was shorting out next to the tent also and it was driving me crazy, so I went on a small mission with a water bottle to clean the insulators, but ended up nearly frying myself, therefore gave up in a huff.

I was now feeling green again and the rest of the clan were tired, so we decided to give the evening drive a miss and rather just walk around camp.



I then started the fire early and caught the Cow on camera trying to dry her hair next to the heat.



Just as we were getting into the “Tamboti feeling” the darn weather changed and a howling wind came blasting through, which put a damper on the evening.

A hyena cruised past just after dark and the rats took over the bed to get out of the wind.





A nervous genet ran past later that evening and a badger came scratching during the night which got the rats highly excited, but nobody opened the door to check. I had chowed a sleeping tablet because the electric fence shorting out every 2 seconds was driving me crazy, so I never heard a thing.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

14th Tamboti to Satara

I had chowed hardly anything the previous day as I was nervous about the long drive from Tamboti without loo stops, but I woke refreshed and felt human again.

It was a freezing cold overcast day and the wind was still howling, so it wasn’t pleasant loading the car in the dark. A scallywag pulled in to check the process out, but ducked as soon as I switched the torch on.



We left camp at around 6:30am and found all the normal H7 locals, but it was very dark and miserable, so we only stopped to get pics of an ellie herd which came charging across the road and then an ostrich made an appearance next to the road.





Nsemani Dam locals were out and about, but nothing to get excited about, so we continued on.

Around 1km the Cow shouted “Stop, badger” which had us all scrambling for cameras as we know how difficult they are to photograph when on the move.







We stopped at Satara for a loo break, but then the rats conned for a Mug and Bean muffin, however we got carrots again as they were sold out, so the plot changed to toasted sandwiches and hot chocolate.

I was in no real rush to leave as the weather was putting a damper on things, so we wobbled around to the shop and the sighting board a few times before jumping back in the car an hour later.

We had to do another drive as it was only about 9:30am and we couldn’t sit until the 2pm book in, but the sighting board updates were very slow, therefore we weren’t sure where to go, but eventually decided to duck down the H1-3 towards Mazithi Dam.

The drive down to Mazithi Dam didn’t produce much though; however we stopped a few times for pics.









We sat at Mazithi Dam for around 15 minutes trying to work out a new plan. I love the S33, but it would take us further away from Satara, so we decided to do the first 5km of the S33 as part of our route back.

Halfway to the S33 turn off the Cow shrieked again.

“There! Stop, Reverse!”

I didn’t know what was potting, but based on the Cow’s excitement I decided to just follow instructions without questioning.

“Go! You are going skew!”

“#$^* How far?!”

“Stop! There!”

2 Badgers were next to the road, but took off at pace when they spotted all our teeth hanging out.







We for some strange reason seemed to now be on a badger role. The Cow had a massive cheesy as she had found all 3.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

14th Tamboti to Satara continued

I was plotting for the Cow to find more badger because that seemed to be the best of what was out this morning, but 2km down the S33 we found a small puddle of water in the riverbed and some orange/yellow pips appeared in the distance.

Four male lion where parking off, two about 5m apart and 15m further, another two.





I wasn’t sure which two to check out, so some backwards and forwards stuff started and we eventually stopped next to the one checking us out.





We decided to turn at the lions and do no more of the S33 as it was already around 11:30am and we wanted to get to Satara for some time out of the car before book in.

The rest of the drive back produced the normal crowd and some birds for the Cow.







The rats had their own 3 sleeper unit at Satara and the two juniors had a vicious scrap over who was sleeping where, so there were a few pelicans around at first.

The Cow solved it by cooking sausages and feeding their faces.

This 2pm book in thing when one is forced to move camp everyday is a mission, because by the time you have unpacked the car and relaxed for half an hour it is already 4:30pm and gates close at 5:30pm, so evening drives if taken are short.

I was tempted to just give it a miss, but we eventually decided to simply head to Nsemani Dam and back.

We got elephants on the way to the dam and the locals were still at the dam, but during the course of the drive our highlight was the chap below who had the sun setting behind him.

[Bushcraft]

15th Satara to Skukuza

It was still very overcast, windy and cool, so I didn’t get overexcited about moving with pace, but we were eventually packed at around 6:15am.

I had taken a mental note of the unit making all the noise the previous evening, so made a point of driving past and blowing my hooter to make sure they were all awake, which resulted in scowls from the Cow, but it made me feel better.

We were on our way to meet RP and Gump at Skukuza, but we were out of wood and many other things, so I wanted to get down that side rather early to get organised, however the Cow conned me to do the S100/S41/H6 loop first before heading down.

The S100 immediately produced lion still sleeping in the riverbed and a hyena, but nothing much else.





On the S41 the Cow found two raptors, I have no idea what they are and then some Kori Bustards, kudu and ellies appeared.









We stopped for a quick loo break at N’wanetsi before heading down the H6, which never gets me excited as for some reason I find it one of the most boring roads in Kruger.

The H6 was once again boring, but we did stop for a little BBJ and a few giraffe.





The drive down to the Baobab on the H1-3 also wasn’t that exciting so my spoonbill was hanging on the steering wheel, but as we pulled out of the Baobab loop we bumped into Heksie and her mom.

We chatted briefly about sightings and my pelican increased as they had found leopard already this morning.

Heksie did mention that the 1 leopard was still in a tree a few km from Tshokwane and she thought it would still be around when we past there, so we said our goodbyes and continued on.

The leopard was still there, but a fair way off the road as Heksie had mentioned.



It was a strange location for a leopard to be hanging out in my opinion because it was on the opposite side of the road to the riverbed and in a more “open” environment.

After 15 minutes it didn’t look as if the leopard was going to move in a hurry, but the traffic jam continued to increase in size, which seemed to make the leopard uncomfortable.

Around 10 minutes later the leopard jumped up, causing chaos in our car because it was unexpected and then it bailed out the tree.









Was the leopard gone?

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

15th Satara to Skukuza continued

I have to start this episode saying that the Cow’s patience resulted in the entire sequence of events which followed and sorry if I post too many pics of one animal, but I’m battling to leave things out because it unfolded over close to an hour.

As the leopard hit the deck it disappeared, so after 5 minutes cars started leaving and after another 5 minutes we were alone.

“Let’s duck”

The Cow shook her head “Nope wait another 5 minutes”

Waiting isn’t one of my strong points, so after another 5 minutes my hamster brain was about to explode.

“I’m going!”

“No, wait!”

I was about to turn the ignition key when Hawkeyes shrieked “There, there, she’s coming out!”



She then looked straight at us and almost went into stalk mode which got my blood pumping which is what I need at a sighting and it happens big time with leopard, so I was “going off”.

“Watch out! Take pics! Your head is in the way, %^*#”

She seemed to be focused on the vibrating Hawkeyes who took the pic below with her super-zoom.



Hawkeyes then got skrik, started fiddling with her window and the leopard stopped to park off, but never stopped checking us out.



After a few minutes the leopard seemed to relax on the rock, but then suddenly started off again but still diagonally towards us.





Our car was now in full chaos mode, each enjoying it in their own way. I was still hyped up, the Cow, Hawkeyes and Bushpig were scraping for space to take video and pics, while Albert was rapping her head off “Gorgeous kitty, pretty kitty, etc”

Suddenly she jumped up a tree right next to us which caught me by surprise because I was so focused on the leopard I hadn’t even seen the tree.



She then climbed up to check the scene out again.









To be continued