Browns in Kruger October 2016

[Richprins]

Nice to see the sable herd still there!






Ironically, in exactly that same area many years ago, I realised male lions look at humans VERY differently than the others..as in "Is it worth eating these things?"

[Mel]

Now I will slow down RP

Really?! For once I want you to be the hamster

[Pumbaa]

In fact that herd of sable compensated a bit the Talamati experience although must say those Units are still extreme expensive compared to other Bungalows or bush camps in the park so I can very well understand your disappointment

That lion is also brilliantly captured

[Flutterby]

Those lions are in beautiful condition!

Hawkeyes doesn't have that name for nothing!

[Mel]

Keep the boring custard and the ostrich, but please let me have the harrier-hawk and the green-backed heron

Now that was quite a feat... messing up even two bird names from the time of reading your episode to the time of writing my comment

[Bushcraft]

Thanks Lisbeth, leachy, STF, Alf, RP, Mel, Pumbaa and Flutts for checking this out and commenting

[Bushcraft]

3rd Talamati to Lower Sabie continued

The male lion sat very still for about 3 minutes and then they both started on what seemed like a co-ordinated moment towards the buffalo.



I was now frantically trying to reverse straight and photograph at the same time past the Cow’s head, but the Cow was also rather excited.

“They are going! Reverse!”

“I’m trying too!”

“Watch the thorn bush!”

“Watch the #$^%& lions, I will watch the road, but tell me what’s happening”

“STOP”

I slammed on the brakes as the lions had stopped their mission, but now seemed in proper stalk mode so the adrenalin was pumping.



Seconds felt like minutes, so we started to relax a little, but suddenly both males jumped up and started off again, but this time they were moving faster.



I get fairly hyped up at sightings like this, but now the entire car exploded at once before I could even start squawking.

“They are going for it, reverse, hurry, move, stop, go forward, stop, reverse!”

I was trying to reverse at speed, so had to watch the road, but the commotion caused my brain to hit tilt, so I slammed on brakes.

“Shut up!”

“Where’s the buffalo”

“Right there!”

“It’s in thick bush, how are we going to see what’s going on?”

Suddenly both males charged and the hyped up Cow let rip

“They are going, they going, REVERSE!”

Both males attacked at exactly the same time, one went straight for the throat and the other jumped on the buffalo’s back.





It was close to us, but unfortunately in fairly thick bush, therefore to get a view was a mission and the car was in chaos, hence I kept getting pics of the back of the Cow’s head, so tensions increased.

Suddenly the buffalo started bellowing which changed the mood instantly and everybody went quiet.

Surprisingly the lions had the buffalo on the floor seconds later and the 1 male enforced his choke hold on the throat, which ended things.



We sat in silence for a few minutes just absorbing what we had witnessed and then the lions started to feed.

I looked around the car and there were some big eyes as although we have witnessed a cheetah and 2 leopard kills, we had never seen a lion kill because we always just missed it, or the lion failed each time, but this was certainly more intense.

Minutes later the first car arrived from the Satara area and seconds later more arrived, so I suggested that we move on to give others a gap and all agreed.

I later developed a pelican due to the quality of the pics above, but at least the Cow got most of it on video.

We travelled in silence for a few km and then Albert developed a big cheesy

“I chose the road”

This brought everybody out of their “little bubbles” and excited conversion continued until just past Sweni waterhole where something caught my eye and I hit brakes.

“There’s a leopard”

“WHERE!”

“Hold on, let me position the car. There”



A leopard was waking up and again we were the only car, so I was stoked, however minutes later another car arrived and they looked pleadingly at us, so the Cow called them over and pointed out the leopard through our window, which got them going on a frantic reversing then forward mission.

We knew that one could only see the leopard from where we were parked and the driving mission had got the leopard’s head up, so we took a few last pics and told them to pull into our spot.



Our next stop was Mazithi Dam as there were supposedly lions approaching from the other side of the dam, but the wind was so intense it felt like we were in a dust storm and one couldn’t really even see the other side of the dam, so we continued on.



The dead elephant just prior to Tshokwane had brought in a gang of vultures and I’m surprised they even managed to maintain in the howling wind and then halfway down the H10 more lions having a snooze far in the distance appeared.





It was only around 10am by the time we reached the S29/H10 intersection, so it was way too early for us to be near Lower Sabie; therefore we decided to duck down the S29/S30 towards the H12 Bridge.

A few km down the S29 we bumped into Penny and Bobby who shared information about some action on the S30, however I was afraid that things would have moved on, but we decided to continue on anyway.

A few km down the S30 we bumped into Heksie and mates who shared similar information but this included dogs just off the H12. We planned to link up with Heksie at some stage at Lower Sabie for a dop and then continued on.

To be continued

[Lisbeth]

A lion kill is not for everybody to see Add a leopard and the Browns' luck during a few hours appears clearly

How did the rats react to the kill?

[Richprins]

What an incredible experience, as you say, BC!

Ja, a lion kill is different...

That leopard is also faulty...busted eye...seems leopard struggle in that area!

[ExFmem]

Re: your wasp vs. spider pic a few pgs. back - here's a link to spider hunting wasps in Sabi Sabi: http://www.sabisabi.com/wildfacts/spider-hunting-wasp/