S.K.P. EXPLORER WITH S.T.F. AND J.R. TOURS.*

[steamtrainfan]

It is with great pleasure that S.T.F. and J.R. Tours announce that the S.K.P. Explorer bus will be leaving Equestria Estate in Pretoria at 04:30 on Monday 12 May 2014.

HOWEVER, being South African time,the departure could leave as early as 00:00 or as late as 08:00.

Maybe this bus is too big??????


OK - lets try something smaller.


Looks like there are already some passengers on board.

Our itinerary will be as follows:

12 and 13 May Lower Sabie.
14 and 15 May Berg en Dal.
16 and 17 May Skukuza - still hoping to upgrade our accommodation to a hut with utensils etc..
18 and 19 May Pretoriuskop.

As will be seen we will be crisscrossing the southern parts of The Kruger so hopefully we will be able to catch some of the more rare species unawares with our devious round about drives.

We are taking our laptop and a 3G with so hopefully this rather technically disadvantaged tour operator will be able to post photos every evening.

We will also continue the caracal hunt on behalf of Mommo, Flutterby and Bush Brat.

Please feel free to jump on board and enjoy the tour with us.

If we don't see you through the week we will see you through the window.

[steamtrainfan]

Just to keep your interest in this trip and as there are only 5 nights left before we leave lets go back 5 years to our 2009 trip and look at one of the best sightings taken just south of Satara.



Tomorrow we will look at the best sighting 4 years ago and so on until Sunday night when we will look at our best sighting for 2013.

[steamtrainfan]

Our best photo from our 2010 tour.

"My Mommy told me to wait here for her."

[steamtrainfan]

Our best photo of our 2011 tour.

Very difficult to choose - we had quite a few favourite photos.

Eventually decided on this one.

Thirteen wild dog puppies.

[steamtrainfan]

Have just had the most amazing belated Mothers Day dinner at Lower Sabie restaurant aka Mugg and Bean. Service and food excellent and amazing surroundings.

The bus left Pretoria on the dot at 05:00 and arrived at Phabeni Gate at 10:00 after 30 minute stop at Millys for their wonderful breakfast. Schoemans Kloof is a dream.

Lots of heavy coal trucks on the R40 to Hazyview - no idea what is going on as we have never seen so many on this road before. Fortunately they were all travelling in the opposite direction to us.

Straight along S1 to Skukuza for light lunch - cheese and tomato sandwich. Service at Wooden Banana terrible - sold out of most items pies etc.. so settled for a sandwich. Slow drive down H4-1 to Lower Sabie. Allocated hut number 92 overlooking the river. Very nice inside.

You are most probably wondering why I have not mentioned any sightings.

The reason being is that we did not really see anything really good besides the usual game - ellies, buffalo, wildebeest, waterbuck etc etc.

Flickr is acting up so I am unable to post the few photos we did take - will try again tomorrow.

Will chat again tomorrow.

[steamtrainfan]

Thanks nan, BC and Flutterby.

Still unable to upload pics.

Sightings did pick up today:

Elephant ++++++++
Buffalo - about 8 different dagga boys around.
Rhino - 7
Cheetah - 5 - not very good sighting as we had to peer between two cars. We were told that it was a female with four cubs. Cannot confirm this.
Lion: 10 lioness walking right past our car, 2 males, another male, lioness crossing road and finally lioness under tree. 5 different sightings between 10:00 and 11:30.

Then there was all the usual game to be seen.

A very successful day.

Tomorrow we move to Berg en Dal.

[steamtrainfan]

Thanks very much everybody.

Todays started off quietly with a drive down to Crocodile Bridge for breakfast. Still love CB - with their Brasso shiny taps, green lawns etc etc. Such a neat and peaceful camp. A few ellies, rhino and buffalo and a lovely juvenile martial eagle sitting atop a tree in the full morning sun.

Got some pics of , what another person told me, were Yellow Eyed Canarys playing in water. A first for us.

Then an extra quiet drive from C.B. to Malelane Gate for lunch. Three hours, 10:00 to 13:00, on dirt road and only seeing a chameleon crossing the road.

After lunch we mozied on to Berg en Dal to check in at 14:00. I was busy checking in and Joan went to the shop. She heard a lady telling someone else about a leopard with a kill in a tree near Afsaal.

After unpacking we set off for Afsaal to see if we could find the LITWK.

On our way up we came across a hyena den right on the side of the road with two adult hyenas and a youngster enjoying the afternoon sun. After taking a few photos we moved on as we were on a mission.

A couple of kms north of Afsaal we turned around as it was time to head back and we had not seen the roadblock that we thought the LITWK would cause. Heading south again and just past Afsaal where a dirt road turns left off to somewhere there is a lonely tree and Joan said slow down. Binoculars out and she said " Stop, here we have it." Sure enough about 50 metres into the veld was this lonely tree with a leopard and its kill and not another car in sight. Not such a good view due to the branches and leaves but Joan did get some good photos. Unfortunately time was not on our side and we had to head back to Berg en Dal.

Darn, how I wish I could post some photos to share with all of you.

We will head back that way tomorrow morning again.

[steamtrainfan]

Today started off with a bang with a brief leopard sighting right outside camp on the Matsulu Road. Unfortunately there were 5 other cars in front of us so we only managed a quick view when he sat up to move off.

Other sightings were elephant, rhino, one far off lion and more dagga boys.

Stopped at Afsaal for a delicious full house breakfast. No sign of the leopard in the tree with a kill.

We went on a sunset drive which for the first 2.5 hours was very quiet with only scrub hares, a few giraffe and a rhino being seen.

However, on the last 9 kilos from the turn off to Malelane camp back to Berg en Dal we saw - white tailed mongoose, elephant, hyena, spotted genet and the just before the camp gate a leopard. He was walking in the road towards us but when he saw he lay down in the grass so pulled up right next to him. Joan got some pics.

Amazing how things can change in a matter of minutes.

Off to Skukuza tomorrow so until then ----- chow for now.

[steamtrainfan]

Thank you everybody for all your comments.

Four nights down and four nights to go. Here we sit on the verandah of our hut at Skukuza having just finished our braai. Now sitting and listening to the sounds of the night with the occasional elephant trumpet down by the river and old scallywag (thanks to B.C.) howling every now and again.

Got up at sparrow this morning and were first at the gate as we wanted to see if the leopard from last night was still around. No such luck. Did a circular trip via Matsulu drive and then down the tar road back to Berg en Dal for a lovely home made breakfast on the verandah under the trees. Saw elephant, a lone dagga boy who posed very nicely for us and some rhino.

After brekkies took the tar road up to the turn off to Renosterkoppies dam. At Kwaggaspan we saw a leopard come walking in from the river bed, have a drink of water and then disappear into the bush. All over in 5 minutes. Joan got some nice shots of him. If we had not stopped at Afsaal for a comfort break we would have missed him. Saw 4 of the BIG 5 again today - lion were once again in short supply.

After checking in at Skukuza we went and sat at Lake Panic for the 1.5 hours. Fantastic way to spend a late afternoon.

Going to head up to Tshokwane for breakfast tomorrow and will decide what route to take to come back.

Until tomorrow evening - stay safe and " Don't worry , be happy".

[steamtrainfan]

Thank you everybody for staying on board.

Best sighting of today was a male and female lion right on the side of the road in brilliant sunlight on the access road to Mathimahle Dam. Sat with them for 30 minutes before another car arrived. After another thirty minutes and two more cars they got up and walked off into the bush.

Also a lovely saddlebill sighting on the Orpen Dam loop.

No leopard or rhino seen today.

Cannot wait to start uploading photos.