Browns in Kruger October 2016

[Bushcraft]

I think RP has contacted photobucket and told them to ban me until I slow down as the darn thing is offline more than on

[Alf]

I think RP has contacted photobucket and told them to ban me until I slow down as the darn thing is offline more than on

I struggled the whole morning to get into photobucket

[Lisbeth]

and it is terribly slow WHEN it works

[Bushcraft]

1st Skukuza to Talamati continued

The hyena den on the H10 produced again but this time we seemed to give them a fright which gave us a chuckle. They were chowing something at the den entrance but cars started to pull in all over so we just snapped a pic and moved on towards Tshokwane stopping for some of the usual suspects and for some slightly different ones.











Just before the H10 joins the H1-2 the faulty electric window from July, “Roberta”, started its revenge rubbish again and went down on its own and then refused to go up.

Minutes later Bushpig’s window would only go down, but not up, so I was wild as I had just paid to have it fixed and the weather forecast was suspect with rain expected.

I attacked the windows at Tshokwane and eventually we got both working from the driver’s master controls, so I had to look after 3 windows for the rest of the trip.

We purchased some sarmies out of the fridge for the Cow and I, but the rats eyed them suspiciously so got stuck into the leftover meat from the previous evenings braai.

The drive up the H1-3 produced more of the usual crowd, a lone lioness and then mating lions, but they were a fair distance away and it was very dark, so after some proof pics we moved on down the S125 towards Talamati only stopping once for pics of a buffalo in a puddle a few km from camp.







I had noticed on the way up the S36 that there were plenty puddles of water all over the place on the western side of the road, so that area must have had a fair amount of rain, but the Kumana Dam in the east was dry which I found amazing. This is good for this area of Kruger, but not so good for Talamati guests who want those animals to come to the waterhole in front of camp.

We arrived at Talamati to find it looked more like a construction site and the large generator right at the camp entrance was going and making a massive noise, so I was immediately irritated, but thought it was just a power failure and soon things would be ok.

We booked in as normal and nobody said anything about the construction or the generator, so we thought it was just a temporary situation and went to unit 3 to unpack.

We hadn’t charged any of our camera kit so decided to sort that out, but none of the plug points in the unit worked, so the Cow went to reception to report it, but after an hour and no action I started to get excited and went to reception for some more definite answers.

It turns out that the main incoming power feed had an issue and they were busy trenching from Talamati all the way to wherever to link in a new feed, hence the generator running permanently until this was complete. The generator couldn’t handle the load of the plug points and lights for all the units, hence the plug points had been bypassed in every unit.

I was now wild as this wasn’t communicated to us prior to arrival and I certainly wouldn’t have payed nearly R5000 for 5 for 2 nights in this camp for a “bush” experience when all I could hear from anywhere in the camp was the thumping generator and construction vehicles driving up and down through the camp to the staff quarters.

I then plotted for signal to see if we could get in elsewhere for the 2nd, but no luck, so the resultant pelican caused us to just abandon our evening drive and we opted to braai early and duck the next morning for most of the day.

The Cow caused a distraction as she first shrieked at a spider and then got excited as a wasp thing and the spider had a scrap. It certainly looked as if the wasp drilled the spider and dragged it down a hole, but we weren’t sure whose hole it was, but one definitely ate the other.



The junior rats got involved in the fire making exercise on the faulty collapsing braai stand and a ninja type squirrel added more distraction.





Our phones were now all dying also and we had to check in with the house sitters daily, so I went on a mission behind the fridge which was still working and tapped one of our multi-plugs into that circuit so at least we could now charge things in shifts and we had to move all our food from our freezer into the fridge freezer.

The generator noise only seemed to intensify at night and the hide light wasn’t working, so it was a complete waste of time, but it had become a ritual for the rats, so we still ventured on our tour after dark.



I see others weren’t happy either if the post below from the SPF is anything to go by. I’m not going to even bother because the usual response from Sanparks or a deleted post is all that will happen.

amecullen wrote on the 14th Oct on the SPF

Stayed at Talamati for the first time last night
have to agree that the access roads are a real issue, heavily corrugated and really not suitable for a normal sedan
But more importantly, there is very significant construction going on in camp and on the S140 road into camp, a ditch is being dug, looks like cables or pipes being laid, for several kilometres, continues onto the private access road, into the camp itself between the fence and the waterhole, across the Boma, into the services area in the centre of the camp
Construction vehicles behind units 1-2, continuous construction noise during the day and lots of construction staff and vehicles coming and going,
Very disappointed with our visit, as we planned to stay in camp and enjoy the ' remote bush' atmosphere, saw only two elephants in the area, very little game otherwise
Really surprised Sanparks did not notified us in advance and no notices were visible in camp either
Also a police vehicle arrived just after us and it wasn’t clear why they were in camp?

To be continued

[Flutterby]

Jees, I would also have been furious about the construction and noise at Talamati!! Definitely not what you want there!

At least the family still looks in good spirits.

[Alf]

Typical SP for not letting anyone know.

We booked a unit(requested no 12) in Mopani in 2009, before they allocated units with a view. On arrival they gave me no 7 and I asked them why can't I get no 12. Oh the unit burned down two weeks ago And nobody bothered letting us know or even allocated us a unit also with a view.

Stunning buffalo horns

[Lisbeth]

What a disillusion

Remember to ask the money back, you might get a discount for your next trip Mel got it for the same reason when they stayed in Mountain Zebra NP

Lovely squirrel

[Mel]

That terrapin looks crumbed and ready to be served with some garlic butter!!

I was thinking something similar

Love the goliath heron. Long time no see, so high on my wish list too. (I wonder how many things you can ask for if you only got four full days )

But the leopard... wow, what a beau

Off to the next epside. Can only cope with one at a time. Am a blonde after all

[Mel]

Remember to ask the money back, you might get a discount for your next trip Mel got it for the same reason when they stayed in Mountain Zebra NP

I couldn't agree more! Not sure if the responsible staff at Kruger is as capable as Megan at Mountain Zebra, but a nice letter of complaint with your demands and some hint about taking it further if you don't get any reaction should do the trick. You cannot be expected that amount of money and having all the disadvantages that came with the construction going on. Especially not, if you weren't offered any alternatives.

[Richprins]

You seem to use different cameras, BC? The leopard shots are stunning in the bad light!

Stop blaming the Prozac for bad mood...you are getting old and had a babelaas!

My favourite is that nyala shot, seems to be wide-angledish?

Talamati runs on solar power as far as I know? It is terribly far from any eskom line..Tell you what, I'll forward it to find out what is going on!

What did heksie have to say?