Browns in Kruger July 2016

[Pumbaa]

Once again leopard, lion and cheetah overloading, Bushcraft (nothing new )

I have never seen such fat lion cubs and that many leopards

Although must say would have loved to also watch that macarena dance - At least it worked and you found the leopard

[Bushcraft]

Superb!

I love the "Macarenha" story!

And leopard sleeping with buffalo!

What is your fuel budget on these trips?

Ja, the dancing aunty was cool

Fuel budget Not sure, just drive, but it's a big car, so I'm sure around R2500 while in the park.

[Bushcraft]

Two leopards in a few hours ....and a cheetah

Incredible the "no reaction" of the leopard when the buff passed

Lovely eagle owl and bushbuck

We hunt for those leopards Lisbeth Not sure why that leopard just parked off with the buffalo so close

[Bushcraft]

With five sets of eyes you certainly don't miss much!

Thanks for popping in and commenting Puff Addy Yes, those beady eyes in the back seat pick up on plenty

[Bushcraft]

More great sightings! Still haven't seen a cheetah on the H4-1, or a leopard on the S79!! You guys certainly have the right stuff!

H4-1 for cheetah can be hit and miss due to the terrain, but there's been 1 hanging around in that area for a few months now and 2 just south of LS that often pop up near Sunset Dam.

You will get lucky with the causeway leopard at some stage

[Bushcraft]

Once again leopard, lion and cheetah overloading, Bushcraft (nothing new )

I have never seen such fat lion cubs and that many leopards

Although must say would have loved to also watch that macarena dance - At least it worked and you found the leopard

Thanks Pumbaa The dance was a hoot

[Bushcraft]

10th Skukuza continued

The leopard continued along, but unfortunately the OSV driver had pulled in next to us and was immediately on his radio, so I didn’t expect the peace to last.





I again started up and moved to the next opening and the OSV full of spikey haired individuals which looked like they had squirrels mating on their heads followed.

The leopard was out of sight for a few seconds and I started to panic that we had missed something while moving, but then he appeared again and sat down.



The darn OSV guy was back on the radio again and within 10 minutes an army of OSV’s, followed by other cars, pulled in and took over. I was now totally parked in so the tolerance levels were taking massive strain.

The leopard took one look at this chaos and ducked, which was fortunate as the gang started to move off also thereby enabling us to get out before my cylinder head blew.

As I switched off in camp we could hear music and a subwoofer going, which immediately irritated me, but all were hungry so we had to get breakfast on the go.

The noise continued though and it was coming from the old ABSA/new Wild Fig guest house area, so I went to investigate and to my surprise it was coming from the staff side of the fence and it was a live singer wailing into a microphone with big speakers and subwoofers set up against the fence, so it must have been a staff jol. This blows my mind as it was a Sunday and this is Kruger, which certainly isn’t the spot for a live singer who could be heard throughout camp. Another guest wasn’t impressed at all and was loudly saying to all “So I can let off fireworks now. How are they going to stop me when they make this noise all day” and when I thought about it, he had a point.

The one good thing is at least the singer was playing good old music, however I still maintain that the current Sanparks management needs to understand that the attraction to Kruger and the entertainment is the wildlife, the peace, etc. The very few who want to be entertained in another way have other options besides Kruger, so I hope Sanparks eventually grasps this before the majority stop visiting.

The music continued the rest of the morning and it was still going when we left for our afternoon drive at around 3:30pm.

The H4-1 had been the most productive road in the area, but the morning chaos had put us off and I guessed it would still be busy, so we decided to rather head down the S1 for our afternoon drive.

The normal locals appeared but we didn’t take pics until we found a hyena den around 8km down the S1 and luckily “mom” was out with a junior suckling.



A few minutes later another junior came out and then started to irritate its mother.





We couldn’t spend long with the hyenas as a few more cars had stopped and obviously wanted a chance to check them out, so we turned and headed back towards Skukuza.

We arrived back in the Skukuza area at 4:30pm, so still had an hour before gate closing, therefore decided to venture down the H4-1 for half an hour as hopefully the day visitors would have left already.

First up were some lion in the riverbed, but it was a mission to photograph them through the bush, so we didn’t hang around.



We turned at the H12 Bridge to head back and around 500m later a civet cruised out the bush in front of us. I initially got very excited as it’s strange to see a civet walking around in the day, but then it walked up towards another car and almost looked as if it was begging.





Fortunately it then left the road and started to walk along in the bush next to us, so I followed along, but seconds later a car stopped next to us with only an old ballie in it “Move, give me a chance!”

I first thought “You rude old #$&*” but the Cow got in before me “There’s plenty space, just move in” I then moved beyond the Civet to give the pelican old timer a view and stopped a long way ahead of the civet who was walking towards us and photographed backwards, but the rocket scientist old toss drove along next to us, however didn’t have enough IQ to realize that the civet was 20m back, so his frustration grew “How I’m I meant to see!” and he started waving his hands in the air like a mad man while shouting profanities.

This was the final straw in my patience armour “Listen you #^&* you are on the wrong side of the sighting and the civet is now behind you, so why don’t you just #$^$#&^” He took the advice and charged off. The excessively polite Cow had also lost it and shouted after the car as it sped away.

I was now boiling and wanted to chase the old timer down and “nicely” explain things to him, but didn’t want to miss the civet opportunity, so quickly took a few more pics as it walked towards us.



5 seconds later I started up and headed after the old timer at 50km/h, but after 5km there was still no sign of him, but I knew his car as did the rats so all were on the lookout in front of us, so we nearly missed a scrub hare next to the road.



We never found the old timer and even looked around Skukuza camp, so gave up on it and started a fire. Fortunately the live band/singer had shut up, however the Cattle Baron jungle gym shrieking continued until after 9pm and was pissing on my battery, however this seems to be the new Kruger, but it’s not my scene. (If you like the Lion Cottage, don’t book it again unless you are ok with shrieking kids until after 9pm every night)

To be continued

[Alf]

Just more and more and more luck

Bad luck with that singer making noise in camp

[Lisbeth]

Those hyena cubs look very new

Also a civet

Leave the old ballies alone and let them loose the sightings by themselves Hey, you almost lost a spring hare

Staff singing in the morning with loudspeakers Better in the morning than in the evening Still a bit out-of-bounds

[Richprins]

Welcome to Skukuza!

Ah, love the smell of Road Rage in the evening!