Short and Sweet *

[Moggiedog]

The rain had made dramatic changes to the scenery. For the first time in my many years of visiting Tamboti there was water flowing down the sand river. The foam islands bobbed and swayed as the water carried them out of sight

Our route had changed due to the rain. Having a comparatively long drive we decided to stick to the tar. One never knows the state of the dirt roads after some rain.

We were watched by a beady eye as we crawled along enjoying the overcast morning.


Once again animal life was widely dispersed and not too much action was happening close to the road. We did have a predator sighting - but off under a distant tree. We didn't spend too much time waiting around as these cats had one thing on their minds - sleep!

A worthwhile sighting non-the-less.

Then a scene that can only be seen in Africa. Wall to wall animals. Wildebeest, Giraffe and zebra. Something was happening as they were all looking in the same direction. Alarm calls and sudden dashes with abrupt stops. We watched for sometime but whatever was happening outside our human vision was not to be revealed. The creatures soon settled and went back to grazing calmly on the luscious grass.




These two youngster certainly did not have a bee in their bonnet and had one thing on their mind. A morning drink.
A quick pit stop and leg stretch. Something to eat and drink and we were on the road once again.

Then two creatures that may no longer grace our parks in the not too distant future. Neither of them were particular co-operative about having a picture taken. Hiding under the trees - for one - was a much safer option.




What is a trip to any game park without warthog. Although we had seen plenty of these ugly but fascinating creatures this was the first one photographed. Soon his family appeared and they all scuttled into the bush with tails waving high in the air.


There was no short supply of these brightly colored birds on this trip. A final scornful gaze as the gates loomed closer and closer.



Back in civilization it was a mad dash to re-fuel. Running only on the sniff of an oil rag we were cutting it fine to arrive at our destination rather than coming to an abrupt halt in the middle of the road.

A thirsty car refueled and it was onward to the lodge in Marloth park for seven nights. Although we were out the park it did not mean our visit to Kruger was over..............

[Moggiedog]

Thanks again for taking time to read.

'cause this is under Kruger will give a brief run down of the lodge.
Had warthogs and zebra visiting every day. The zebra were very entertaining and gave us some good laughs. A couple of people deserved to be kicked but weren't - but there you have it.






From my perspective the lodge was very nice - except for the people!! Not the staff - but the other guests. It is sad to see older woman who should know better suffering from Khaki fever....Why do people have to get louder and louder round the dinner table and try and out talk, out argue and out drink everyone else? Not my scene. Fortunately I can be extremely rude when it suites me and almost every night I left the table and went and sat either on my own or with one or two others who had had enough of the BS................
The staff from the lodge were awesome people. Enjoyed their company. Down to earth friendly day to day people.
The one good thing about it - every night the lion could be heard very clearly. The lodge was one road away from where the lion were and it was they where next to the lodge.

We arrived on my birthday and both our rooms had a bottle of champagne and that night at dinner we were given another two bottles - which was very nice of them.
Early hours of the next morning we went out for the meteor shower - it was a fizzle rather than a dazzle. You win some you lose some
We did a walk with one of the guides which was very informative and relaxing. Did manage to see a parrot and a purple crested turaco




The sun downers overlooking the Oliphants River was fine - but once again too noisy for my liking. I know, I know - Then again I never said I was a very social person - inclined
towards the anti-social!


A full moon was beautiful - but my thoughts did head in the direction of a "poachers moon"

Jill, Alan and mother went to ride an elephant. I refused to go as I believe these creatures should be wild and free and not used to make money from being tamed and used (my opinion only and I have no fight with anyone who disagrees. I believe these elephants are well looked after and loved - but.........)
They then went to the Swazi Cultural center where I believe my mom was queen of the dance -O Unfortunately Jill had no space on her camera so no pictures.



I took the opportunity to spend a day on my own driving through Lionspruit - a good few hours of "me" time.

With that short interlude its back to Kruger.......

[Jillinflorida]

Love the Purple Crested Turaco - where did you see that? I don't remember it.

Think we would have seen more of the meteor shower had we not escaped the loud mouths when they appeared...ah well. Maybe we should have walked down to the 'main' road to get an open and QUIET viewing.

As for the elephant ride. I totally agree with wishing they were wild and free but it was still an awesome experience - regardless of never wanting to do it again. I did enjoy seeing them up close & getting to feel their skin.

[Moggiedog]

Jill - I did point it out to you -

Included in the cost of the lodge were two game drives to Kruger. Our first drive - Jill, mom and I went whilst Alan did a bush walk in Kruger. Jill will have to tell us about that as he did not have much to say. We arrived just before the gates opened and were greated by two buffalo. The sunrise was pretty spectacular. Not driving - gave me a chance to sit back, relax and not worry about hephalumps or cars!

Once again there seemed to be a drought of animals. I always feel sorry for the guides when they battle to "please" the tourists. We had some spectacular sighting of rutting impala - but I was in lazy mode and didn't bother to even pick up my camera. I can only reiterate - you can never go to Kruger and see nothing.
Two mongoose/mongeese/mongooses in a tree stump watched us as we watched them!

A hyena darted out of the long grass, walked down the road directly towards us before heading back into the grass - almost immediately hidden from sight. We did catch brief glimpses of him as he made his way alon some hidden pathway. His destination appeared to be a heard of wildebeest in the distance.

A troupe of baboon kept us entertained for a time before we moved on. Crossing the low bridge at Lower Sabie my heart started beating double time. I am almost positive an otter was swimming in the river. Unfortunately it was too fleet a sighting to say yay or nay - so I will just say it was wishful thinking.

All too soon it was time to stop for breakfast and a leg stretch. Belly's full and bladders empty we were back on the road. Finally a huge elephant. Now I have no idea what happened but the one picture I took was green - not just the leaves - the sky - the tree trunks - the leaves and the elephant. I did manage to get one pic that wasn't all green

A few more ellies meandered down the road giving the vehicle a beady eye.
There had been sighting of lion so once again we were on the hunt for the big cats.
En route we did see a beautiful Kudu
and some waterbuck



Then off to side of the road the lion. Don't hold your breath for photo's. They were so far away and well camouflaged I didn't even consider it a sighting!

It was time to head back to the lodge. All in all we had had a pretty good morning outing.

[Jillinflorida]

Alan is a man of few words. He went for a walk in the park. When pressed for details (just now I might add) he said he felt you saw more on a drive. They saw a wart hog, two white rhino (in distance) and a hippo in a 'pond'. The walk was not for the faint hearted (thank goodness I didn't go) and it was more about birds, trees and landscape.. He said he had to look down a lot to make sure he didn't trip. The grasses were very high and needed to watch for roots or holes to trip over.

Basically that was it. Like pulling teeth getting info from him. He said it was interesting and he was glad he did it.

SS - aka MD - don't forget you've got my photos on your hard drive if you want to use them.

[Moggiedog]

Jill and Alan were booked on a night drive so mother and I headed for Kruger alone. It always feels odd not staying in the park but going in as a day visitor. Fortunately there was no long lines of cars and people and we were soon on a slow hunt for whatever was in store for us.
The usual giraffe, wildebeest, zebra and impala decorated the landscape. We mooched along with no set direction in mind.
We did come across a rather bedraggled burchell's coucal

Just after this we were stopped by the jeep jokey from RKL and he told us there were lion five kilometers towards Dukes. Debating whether to go have a look c or not we decided as we had no fixed route in mind we would head in the general direction. We did not find the lion but we did find a few elephant.
We meandered off following any whim that entered our heads on what roads to take. This can be rather daunting as we had no idea where we were or where we were going. We just followed the road.
Our next sighting was a huge herd of buffalo. We stopped and watched them cross the road. It seemed as if the numbers were endless. There was a break in the buffalo so I decided to take the gap and carry on up the road. I stopped to watch a buff in the water

when I happened to glimpse in the rear view mirror. One big, ugly and angry buffalo - head down was charging the car. Deciding I like the shape of my car as it is gave me no choice but to get out of the way of his selected path. This was the last move we could make for some time. We were surrounded. Whichever way we looked there were buffalo. Nothing for it but sit back and enjoy the moment.


We had one problem with our haphazard driving - no picnic spots i.e no pit stops. Sometimes my mother amazes me! Her only comment at any stage was - when we get a chance she needs the loo. It was a good five hours before this happened!!

This was a day to see Rhino. In total we saw fifteen of them. The biggest group was four of them under a tree. Towards evening it looked like a blackie in the distance - but this will have to be recorded as a rhino as too far to be able to be sure.

As we made our way towards the gates we were joined by two lion marching next to the car. This couple had me fascinated. One was an old, old man that looked like he had a broken leg - the other a young male.

The old man lagged behind as the youngster loped ahead - but when he turned into the bushes - he stopped and waited for the old man to catch up. Each time the youngster turned or came to a bush - he stopped and waited - never letting the old man lose sight of him. We watched this protective behavior until the two disappeared into thick bush.

The sun was sinking lower and lower and we had to get to the gate - and back to the lodge before dark. It was very tempting to spend a bit longer in the park but knowing how shocking my night vision is - we headed for the gate instead of the extra detour we were tempted to do.

Jill and Alan were arriving for their night drive as we left. Mad waving as we each headed in opposite directions.

[Moggiedog]

Second included early morning drive. Jill was not too keen on another sparrow F awakening - but needed to change some items she had bought. Having no choice but to get up and get ready she managed it in good humor. The morning started as a bit of a disaster. An additional two people appeared - as if by magic - had not booked or if they had - someone had slipped up with numbers. Only one guide was available - and he had left even earlier to take some guests to KNP for a morning walk. WIth a quick packing of additional food we were soon on our way with one of the employees of the lodge - the expectation of meeting our guide in Kruger. Doing things this way the paper work should have been taken care of and no delays in entering the park. With the additional passengers the permit reflected two people short! This did give Jill time to go and make her exchanges whilst the rest of us waited for the guide to sort out the permit.
All the delays caused us to be a bit later than expected - but this was soon forgotten as we watched a Giraffe munching on a bone - strange faces these creatures can pull when their jaws are filled with hard dried out old bones!
Next creature was a hyena running through the long grass - every know and again bouncing up to look out into the distance. We followed him for a while but he disappeared over a distant hill.

A couple of elephant were doing what elephant do best - destroying trees and filling their belly's with the plentiful food. On the opposite side of the elephant were some interesting trees.



We had gone a bit out of the way of our selected route - so turned and headed back the way we had come. This was certainly a good choice!
Two hyena. One so fat it looked pregnant. In her mouth was her prized catch.

The younger one was intent on taking this away but the vulture were even more persistent!

Finally the weight became too much too carry and the bloody burden was dropped.

This gave the vultures and the remaining hyena a chance to snatch at the pickings. The vultures persistence soon won the day and the younger hyena turned his back on breakfast and left it to the birds. He was a lot thinner than he hoped to have been at that point and a lot more hungry than expected.
.

A lot of time was spent watching this interaction and with the hyena headed for the hills we headed on our way.
A water monitor peered at us with beady eyes from the safety of a grass cover. A couple of Kudu watched us make our way towards our - now much needed - breakfast stop.


Breakfast was soon consumed. Legs stretched and back into the sardine can. The hunt (as usual) was on for the cats. A few Kilometers up the road some cats were hunting - but once again little matchbox toys without presenting themselves in all their glory. We spent a bit of time watching them on the off chance they would head in our direction. At one stage it looked as if they would be heading for the road - but they changed direction and disappeared in a valley.

Back on the road - and every one hopeful at seeing some form of predator. From what we had heard - lion and wild dog were being seen on a regular basis - in the road. Either luck was going to be on our side or it wasn't.

Our driver was on a mission but as so often happens the cats were being very elusive.

[Jillinflorida]

For me this one of the highlights of our trip. I haven't seen a kill - and really don't wish to - but seeing this was amazing. Was also the first time I'd seen Hyena - my first trip didn't see one.

[Moggiedog]

There are times in life when I wish a was a little taller - no - a lot taller. Bushes can be a totally pain - especially when you cannot see over them too well.

These two seemed to be firmly attached but the bushes did a good job of censoring the action.

One thing was apparent - it was definitely exhausting work for the male of the species.

Time to leave these two lovebirds to do the best they could in ensuring the increase in numbers of the lion species.

On to sunset dam - where If I didn't know better - would have thought I had had one too many. Oh yes - forgot - that's pink elephant not pink hippos. While this one lay oblivious to the world and its brother a few more had competition in mind. Another one seemed to be waiting for manna from heaven.


Sometimes you get that dreadful feeling you a being looked down on. This was one of those times. Not one but many peered down their haughty noses at this road block where they wanted to cross the road.


In the far distance a young bird surveyed the surrounds and a couple of youngsters enjoyed nudging each other around.


All in all it had been a good morning. - a long one but worth it. The day was not over - but I did wish I could change places with some elephant that were enjoying a siesta under a tree. The late nights and early mornings were definitely catching up on my eyelids. Fortunately not being the driver I did not have to concentrate - I could sit back and enjoy the sights as they flowed past.



One creature obviously had a favorite rock. He headed from a fair distance away without any hesitation to enjoy a rub. Top and tail was going to be well massaged. A family of warthog watched from a distance - probably their eyes more focused on us than their larger neighbour.



With a final goodbye from an inquisitive Rhino we were soon out the gate and back to reality.


So back to where we started.............

Went to Kruger
Saw some animals
Took some pictures
Came home.

Next stop - Botswana........................