6 Days On The Letaba River *

[ossendryver]

Mon Dec 12, 2011

DAY 1 Part 1
On Tuesday morning I woke up and got the coffee, hot chocolate and tea ready to wake my parents and sister up at 4:00am, which is quite a business, in joburg to leave to Phalaborwa Gate.

On the way we stopped off at a resturaunt to have a toasted cheese before we got to the gate.
Once we were done with the meal we were off to Phalaborwa Gate to see some animals!!

When we finally arrived at Phalaborwa Gate, after quiet a lot of traffic on the way, we tried to use our wildcard to get into the park but the check in worker told us that there is something wrong. y0 We were all so upset and scared that we wouldn't be able to get in. She told us the we had the wrong person's card!! Ei
She gave the card to us and it wasn't ours it was our cousin's card who we went to the Kruger with last February. This was a huge bummer because we just wanted to get in already, but we had to wait for them to issue us a paper saying that out card was on the way.

This is how we got to the park...

To Be Continued...

[ossendryver]

Day 1 Part 2

So.....
We entered the park FINALLY after that whole wildcard episode.
At the gate the ranger said that on the Sable Hide loop there were a pair of mating lions and a resident leopard that was often seen.
This got us all excited, I mean imagine that on the first day you see mating lions and a leopard.

When we were driving around looking for animals I felt like I was in a paradise and that I had arrived home after a hard days work.

This was our first animal: Obviously -O -O


We had a pretty nice drive towards the turn off to Sable Hide with general game and spectacular scenery.

We drove and next to the road there was a small ditch in the ground where water had collected during the rain.
That day it was very hot so I looked to see if anything was taking a swim there. I looked carefully and I didn't see anything because the bush was quite thick from the angle I was looking from. But I still kept on looking and I suddenly saw water being sprayed, only one word came to mind. STOP!!
There was a lonely elephant busy cooling off in the water on a hot day.




I thought that it was pretty odd that there was only one, because this elephant looked still to be a young one, so we all looked around and we saw more movement. That movement was the rest of the herd coming.

Once they all disappeared into the bush we drove on towards the hide.

This was just a perfect male Kudu that when ever I look at it it reminds me of the park!



Then while I was looking in all the trees for that "resident" leopard I saw this beautiful vulture. I think a White-backed vulture. Please correct me if I'm wrong.



We continued to Sable Hide...

Hope you enjoyed Part 2

To Be Continued...

[ossendryver]

Day 1 Part 3

When we continued to Sable Hide we went on the side road that takes you to the dam on the opposite side of the hide.
We decided to sit there for a bit.
We didn't see much but we did see a cute nursery of 5 baby impalas sleeping on each other.

So then we drove to the hide itself, we scanned and we saw a hooded vulture drinking but it was too far to take a picture of.

But this beautiful eagle made a great picture.



Then when I was scanning to the right, where we just were a few minutes ago, I saw movement.
I looked through the binos and there was a herd of dagga boys coming down to drink.
It's amazing how quickly things change, I mean we were just there with impala only and a few minutes later there's is a herd of buffalo.





We continued to Letaba...

Hope you enjoyed Part 3

To Be Continued...

[ossendryver]

Day 1 Part 4

After Sable Hide we headed straight towards Letaba to unpack and relax.

We didn't see much for the rest of the drive besides for a tsessebe sprinting across the road in a hurry with no predator following it sadly.
Another weird thing that happened was when we were driving and we hadn't seen anything for a while and my mom asked "with these short trees are there a lot of gir"
Me " STOP Giraffe"

Turns out that there are still giraffes in that area. :lol: :lol:
Put it this way that conversation was repeated about lions and leopards but it didn't work again. :(

The sun was setting and I wanted to experiment with the beautiful scenery.

Here are some sunset pictures:






After the gates closed on our first day in the park we had a first Kruger Braai of the trip which of course tasted theeee best!!
Chops chops chops chops!
oh my mouth is watering just writing about it.

Lets change the subject...

All types of animals seen on day 1:
1. Banded Mongoose
2. Buffalo
3. Burchell's Zebra
4. Bushbuck
5. Chacma Baboon
6. Crocodile
7. Elephant
8. Giraffe
9. Hippo
10. Impala
11. Kudu
12. Steenbok
13. Tree Squirell
14. Tsessebe
15. Waterbuck

Hope you enjoyed Day 1

Stay tuned for Day 2...

[ossendryver]

Day 2 Part 1

In this TR I will be uploading videos to show our sightings as well, because they really tell the story of the sightings better.
--
I finally heard the alarm of my phone to wake me up to get ready before the gates open.

I've learned that being the first ones out the gate is the best because there is more of a chance of seeing animals in the road because no one has disturbed them yet.

We were at the gates 20 minutes before they opened because we didn't want to wait inline.
There were no cars near the gate...
If that was skukuza or satara 20 minutes early is too late.

Anyway our theory worked for us.
As we took the turn off to towards Olifants we all saw those famous yellow blobs in the road.
LIONS!!

But these lions ran away which is unusual because lions are always calm around cars.
So we didn't take any photos because they were quick but I did manage to take a horrible video, but at least it proves we saw lions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrpCdvz29io

We then carried on and saw this beautiful bateleur sitting in the tree.



After the bateleur flew off we met a close family of baboons.




Isn't he just cute


We then cam across another close family, of ostriches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5UsmMbqUhI

Then this ellie was hungry for some roots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXxCiPq-Q08&feature=youtube_gdata

After a wonderful drive from Letaba to Olifants we decided to go and have breakfast in the camp.
While we were eating we were watching the spectacular horizon.



Then a herd of "Olifants" came to have a swim.


Hope you enjoyed day 2 part 1

To Be Continued...

[ossendryver]

Day 2 Part 2

Once we were done with the delicious breakfast we set back towards Letaba to have an afternoon rest.

Now for you that remember my last trip I filmed this video on the S44 just outside Olifants:

Battle at Kruger- Crocodile vs Tortoises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvBvUiIRSPc
Which now has over 300,000 views /

I promised my self I will film a sequel to this video and show the same place a year later.
Here it is:
Battle at Kruger- Crocodile vs Tortoises - Continuation!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kz1Mk2pTu0

Sadly the crocodile has left and isn't there. He was probably bullied out :lol: :lol:

Anyway, after that "episode" we continued on the S44 along the river to get back to the camp.

We saw this Natal Francolin posing perfectly for us.


This is a beautiful road scenery picture of my favorite tree, the Baobab.


We drove on those dips in the road that cuts through a dry river bed. We had never really seen anything in those dips, this was finally a nice sighting in one.




When we drove off our luck continued with this giraffe sitting down chewing the cud.




We then reached another one of those dips in the road and we saw this awesome elephant skull.


After the elephant skull we drove on to a miracle, coincidence that I don't think I will ever see again.
This probably has never been seen before...

It was very special.

Hope you enjoyed day 2 part 2

To Be Continued... 8)

[ossendryver]

Day 2 Part 3

So as I said I came across a miracle or coincidence, what ever you want to call it, that I have never seen before.

So what happened was, we were driving and we saw a tortoise crossing the road so we stopped and watched it. Suddenly we look forward and what do we see?
Another but different tortoise crossing the road but to the other direction.
Everyone in the car was thinking, this incredible place is bigger than Israel and this small meeting with two tortoises happened to happen on the road at the same time that we were there.
It's not a huge incredible sighting like a kill but it was very special to us.






We then carried on driving towards the Olifants lookout and we saw this footprint.
As a picture it looks like a cat footprint but in real life it was huge so I thought it could be another animal. Just in case I'm not mentioning anymore.



We finally arrived in the camp and the rest of my family were tired and went to have a snooz.
Me, no I was still going so I went to the river an just looked out for animals hoping a leopard would come down.
This isn't a leopard but it was a great sighting none the less, right at the fence. hey that rhymes. :lol: :lol:



When all the sleepy heads woke up we decided to go north to the "get out bridge" and spend the rest of the day there.
So we did.
We saw this on the way.
A mother and a scared Impala lamb


The best bird pic so far I think.
Woodland Kingfisher


The get out bridge was very beautiful and relaxing.
These are the photos taken on the bridge:
Scenic photo


Meet my family


Saddle-Billed Stork




Crocodile swimming under us.


Then hippos came wondering around grazing for food. Or sand.



That was the rest of the day for us.

We had booked a night drive for that night so stay tuned for more!

Hope you enjoyed day 2 part 3

To Be Continued...

[ossendryver]

Day 2 Part 4

After a great afternoon on the Letaba River we went back to the camp to get ready for our night drive.

It was finally time to leave the camp and start the drive.

We made a right turn to the H1-6 to go towards Mopani. This road was along the river so it could be great for animals.

We saw lots of night jars but this one finally let us photograph it.


Same thing with this Spring Hare.


The drive which was pretty uneventful, but it was still awesome being out there at night.
We saw some hippos walking around, lots of scrub hares, Genets, and impalas sleeping

But at the end the ranger took us on the road towards Phalaborwa and about 1km down the road we saw a clan of hyenas.








Hope you enjoyed Day 2
To Be Continued...

[ossendryver]

Day 3 Part 1

Day 3 was to be our best day so far on this trip!
It was my parent's anniversary! :dance: :dance:

In the morning we woke up, had coffee and were at the gates waiting for them to open.
The day before we woke up early and went south towards Olifants so today we decided to go north.

Finally the gates opened and we started the drive.

For the first time in the dark early morning we didn't see much.
We got to the waterhole on the H15 and decided to take some sunrise pics! :dance: :dance:
Again I experimented with all angles!






Then we got to middelvlei and we saw a couple of jackals running off. We finally saw something interesting. but when we tuned back to go to Letaba our luck changed.

As we drove off from middelvlei we saw ears walking next to the road.
it was another hyena!




After the hyena disappeared into the long bush we drove onto a plain feild and there I spotted our first ever secretary bird in the Kruger Park!





Here is a picture of the long grass with the sun shining on it.


When we drove off we saw another raptor in the tree.
This time it was a Martial Eagle



Here are more birds on the drive:

White-Fronted Bee-eater


Then we crossed the river again and this just reminded me of a desert pathway.
with nothing around


This beautiful fish eagle was also from the river.


That concluded the morning drive.
We then went back to the camp to relax.

Hope you enjoyed Day 3 Part 1

To Be Continued...

[ossendryver]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments
Day 3 Part 2

I just thought I'll post a short entry before everyone starts celebrating.
Merry Christmas Everyone


We went on a midday drive not expecting much in the heat of the day so we decided to visit Sable Dam Hide again.

We arrived and we were the only ones there.
We were just relaxing and waiting when we saw a elephant coming down to cool off.

He was scratching its self on the tree in the middle.
He was scratching all over.
And then put its trunk over its tusk which I have never seen an elephant do before.



Afterwards Ground Hornbills came and started digging for food.


At around 1:30pm we headed back to the camp to get an afternoon rest.
We took a low maintenance road on the way:


This was the closest we got to a lion. Try and find it...


We saw this elephant having fun in the water.


Then it was like his friend had come to call him, then they both got out and walked of together like best friends.

Once we got back to the camp my parents organized a walk for themselves for their anniversary at 3:pm

While they were off me and my sister went for a drive that we would never forget.

Hope you enjoyed Day 3 Part 2
To Be Continued...