Flutts, the Brat and Mommo go South*

[Flutterby]

Before the Brat started high school, our favourite time of the year to visit Kruger was during the September/October break. Now that he has different holidays we've had to change things around a bit. We were in the park for 6 nights in April, so decided to take a quick 4 night break during his mid-term in October, although he still had to miss a day at school.

We were booked at Tamboti for one night and at Lower Sabie for 3 nights so the Brat was happy that we weren't venturing north this time! As you know, we always drive through the night to arrive when the gates open and we had planned on leaving at 1am, but the Brat nagged and cajoled, and we ended up leaving at midnight! We decided to change our normal route (via Belfast and Long Tom) in favour of Machadodorp/Nelspruit this time. By the time we reached the turn-off to Belfast we could see we were going to get there way too early so I dropped our speed and took a very easy drive. We still arrived at Phabeni an hour early!! But at least we were first in the queue, as it wasn't long before we had about 20 jeep jockeys behind us!!



We got all the cameras ready, Mommo took over the driving seat and we sat and listened to hyenas calling in the dark! At last the gates were opened and after a sprint to the office to do the paperwork we were in the park! It was overcast and drizzling which didn't make photography very easy but it wasn't long before we found our first giraffe and impala, and a Redcrested Korhaan. ()Dewi tells me this a Black-bellied Bustard. )



Not sure what model this is? (A Steppe Buzzard - thanks Dewi. )



At Nyamundwa the resident fish eagle was in it's normal tree.



A steenbok looking very unimpressed with the weather.



Somewhere along the route we came across a rhino with a tiny calf. Unfortunately most of the jeep jockeys were there too! You would think that they would know the park rules, but obviously they are too clever for that! It clearly states that you should park on the side of the road closest to the sighting which is what we did, but we still got comments that we were on the wrong side of the road....my dad set them straight very quickly!



It was raining harder now, so the little one decided to have a drink and get some shelter from mom.



As mom moved off with the little one behind, she decided to do her morning ablutions...on baba's head!! Unfortunately I didn't get a pic!

These birds caught my eye...

Wahlbergs? (Yellow-billed Kite - thanks Lis and Dewi. )



Steppe Buzzard?



We gave Skukuza a miss and headed for the H1-2. This impie looked like she'd had a rough night!

[Bushcraft]

bush taxis

I'm going to use this description

[Flutterby]

Day 1 cont.

The rain definitely seemed to affect the animals. A pair of duikers (normally so skittish) posed beautifully for us.





A rather damp nyala.



A Lesser-striped Swallow with some serious backlighting!



This fellow looks like he could be a future big tusker!





The rain had finally stopped and the sun had found its way out from behind the clouds. We stopped at Tshokwane to stretch our legs and watched the vervets running amok on the thatch!







Not far from Tshokwane this beauty was perched on the side of the road!

[Bush Brat]

Hi everyone

Things are hectic at school at the moment but just taking a quick break to post some of my pics.

A cute Brat.



A very calm ellie...didn't worry me at all!



More Brats.



Mmm...that looks good...wonder if they'll notice if I grab it?





Female Bateleur - getting good at this birding thing!!



Just got it in the frame!!



A BBJ that stood still for 1 minute!!



A kudu taking the time to smell (and eat) the flowers!

[Flutterby]

Day 1 cont.

Mazithi was quiet but Kumana Dam had a bit of activity.

A Greenshank?



Saddle-billed Stork



A Hamerkop buzzing the water.



These warties were enjoying a spa day.





We decided to get to Tamboti via the Sweni Road and the S36 and first up was a jackal running around. I think this is the first time I've managed fairly decent pics of a jackal in Kruger!



A toko for Toko.



An impie posing for us.



The Sweni road and S36 didn't produce much more. On the H7, this kudu kept us entertained for a while, munching on flowers.





An ellie was drinking at the Orpen waterhole.



We checked in quickly and with no fuss. We had asked for tent no. 22 but unfortunately it had already been allocated to someone else so were given no. 19. I think it has a nicer view than no. 22 but it is a bit further away from the ablutions. We also discovered there was no kettle. Tent 22 always had a kettle , so I don't know if we just got lucky or if this one had been stolen. Anyway, luckily for the first time in ages, we had brought gas and pots with us. We had now been in the car for 14 hours so it was great to just relax on the deck.

[Flutterby]

Some wonderful sightings and photos Flutts and BB

Thanks harrys.

Great photos Bush Brat & Flutt's.

Really love the feeding Kudu ones.

That kudu gave us a good giggle...it was devouring those flowers like there was no tomorrow and couldn't decide which ones to eat next!!

[Flutterby]

Day One cont.

After relaxing for a while we decided to head down to Nsemani to see if we could find the resident lions. Sadly the H7 was very quiet and there were no lions at Nsemani but we did find a large breeding herd of ellies.





The matriarch had a nice pair of tusks (for a female).





After spending some time with the ellies we had to start heading back to camp. This Wahlberg's Eagle was hopping from branch to branch and calling away. For such a majestic bird it makes a very small noise!



Then we came across Dumpie! This ellie was very well built but seemed to have very short legs, but I thought he was so cute and gave him his new name!!



His right tusk was quite worn down and his left was broken, but you can see they are very thick. The above pic was taken with the muk 'n druk, and the below was all I could get with my lens!



Some of RP's cousins were grooming in the middle of the road...no manners!!



When we arrived back at camp, we saw two hyenas in the riverbed in front of our tent. The weather had cleared up nicely during the afternoon so my dad lit the fire. Within half an hour we were huddled on the deck watching our fire die in a huge thunderstorm!! It didn't last long so my dad went to get the fire started but as soon as he did, it started to rain again! We decided to give up on the fire and cook our meal on gas. We sat on the deck as long as we could bear the rain dripping down our necks but eventually conceded defeat and moved everything inside.





Just before the food was ready it seemed as if the rain had finally ended, so the Brat dried off the chairs and table and we moved outside. Murphy's law...as soon as we sat down to eat the heavens opened once again, and once again we moved everything back inside!! We all had a good laugh at our musical chairs game and the lemon and herb chicken was delicious!!

[Bush Brat]

Ok, just found a gap in between all the school work!

Day One Cont.

After we had finished our dinner, we decided to venture out the tent and see if any of our usual night friends were around. No badgers or civets this time but we did find 2, very wet genets.





We stayed up a bit longer hoping for some more action but after being in the car the whole day, we hit the hay.

Day Two

The next morning we were up before the crack of dawn so we could be at the gates first. The weather seemed better and it looked like it would clear up.
Today we were heading down to Lower Sabie, our favourite area of the park, so there were smiles all around as we headed down the H7.

First up was a hare on the side of the road.



The rest of the drive was relatively quiet until we reached the end of the H7 where we saw loads of vultures milling around. A jackal even appeared, which made us think there was a kill. So we waited and searched the area, but to no avail.

The route we had planned to do was down the S100, onto the H6 and then down the tar to LS, but the plans changed a bit. We never have luck on the S100 but still do it because we almost feel like we have to! We knew the south would be good for us, so decided to go down the tar and onto the H10 to get to LS as quickly as possible.

Down the H1-3 it started raining again and our spirits were feeling a little damp, but on the H10 it started clearing up. On the Low-Level bridge we scanned the rapids to see if we could find our otter from 2010, but again, nothing?!

As we were about to drive off, a man stopped us and told us to do the S28. So off we went, and about 2km's down the road, saw all the cars stopped.
There she was, in the tree, right next to the road!

This was our first view.



We quickly got closer until we were almost right next to the tree. She was very restless and kept on trying to get comfy.













She finally found a nice place to lie down, and started to doze off.





We had been with her for almost 2 and a half hours, and I think I took almost a 100 pics, so we decided to make our way to LS and check in.

One last goodbye pic.

[Flutterby]

Day 2

I am going to backtrack to the beginning of Day 2.

The wind howled all night, and at one stage I thought we were in danger of losing our tent! We were up at 4am to ablute and pack up for our move to LS, and we could hear lions in the distance. We managed to get to the gate before 5.30 but it wasn't long before it was open.



The wind started to die down and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. On the H7 a jackal crossed the road in front of us.



We then noticed some vultures coming into land and the jackal joined them. We had to watch them through binocs and we scanned the area convinced there was something going on, but after about half an hour we decided to move on.



For the first time ever while in the Satara area we decided the give the S100 a miss and headed straight down the tar. The H1-3 is now a sand road!



The H10 was relatively quiet but we did find our first klipspringer near Nkumbe.



The water-level at the low-level bridge was the lowest we'd seen it in a long time, but 2 days later all these sandbanks were under water.



As the Brat has already told you, someone directed us to the S28...not a road we've ever had much luck on, but this time we scored big-time!! About 2kms from the northern entrance we came across a traffic jam and found this lovely young lady.



There were a lot of cars here and most people were following the rules by leaving a lane open for cars to get through, but of course there are always one or two idiots who have to mess things up. We were parked on the right side of the road and slowly made our way closer to the leopard as cars in front of us moved on.



When the traffic jam had sorted itself out we decided to try another spot, so we drove further down the road, turned around and found a spot almost right in front of her! Her kill was lower down in the tree but she didn't seem too interested in it.



She gave us a bum view at first, but she didn't stay like that for long.

[Flutterby]

Day 2 cont.

I hope you will indulge me a little more, and enjoy some more pics of the leopard! She was such a beautiful model!







The Brat was so desperate to see her jump down from the tree, and everytime she moved we got our cameras ready, but she would just settle into another position!

I borrowed Dewi's tongue filter for these pics!







I'm a very sweet girl!





On the move again!





OK...no more.