Vinkie and Apex Predator back in the bushveld*

[vinkie]

This will be the first time that we will be writing a Trip Report, this will be a trip report written by Vinkie and Apex Predator.


We are still planning the TR of our 2011 trip... But we will start with the July 2013


On the 4th of July we drove from the Netherlands to Frankfurt Airport in Germany.

First we had to pass the difficult customs, they wanted to check our big lens
They thought we could have hidden some explosives or drugs in the lens.....strange people those custom guys but just doing their job

We arrived at the gate and while waiting for boarding to start we spotted our plane





But after a pleasant flight we arrived at Oliver Tambo International Airport



Fetched our rental car and drove to our friends in the Jo'burg area.
We spotted some local wildlife




Did our shopping at the local supermarket and had a fantastic braai and enjoyed the rest of the evening with our wonderful friends.


The next morning we left early (at 5 am) to Paul Kruger Gate. There we arrived at 11 o'clock.

[vinkie]

Well all passengers fasten your seat belts, get those cameras ready for action we are about to enter KNP soon.

[vinkie]

The bus is ready to enter the park….off we go

The first wildlife we spotted in the park were Elephant and Impala.




On our way to Satara, Lake Panic was our first stop. We had heard wonderful things about this spot and were pleasantly welcomed by some Hippos having fun , we also saw sunbathing Terrapins, Kingfisher, African darter, Crocodile, Heron, Goliath Heron.









It was a very pleasant place to be.

We continued our route to Satara

Saw a pair of Giraffe.


Bushbuck



On our route to Tshokwane on the H1-2 we had our first Lion sighting of this trip(it’s a bit far away and we had to peak through the leaves to be able to make a far from “decent” picture)



tbc

[vinkie]

Thank you Richprins, Amoli, Heksie, nan, Flutterby, Mel, Bush Brat, Bushcraft and Bushveld Jock for your kind comments

We continued our route to Satara.



We spotted a lonely steenbok….wonder where it’s mate was?


yawning Hippo


group of Giraffes


Elephant with a little one


Our first toilets seats appeared






A couple of birds we saw

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill


lilac Breasted Roller


Starling



After we checked in at Satara, we quickly unpacked made a fast meal and got ready for the Night drive.
Apex Predator had had her doubts about doing a Night drive on the first day in the Park after having driven for such a long time….but it was worth it.

We saw lots of sightings like: Genet, Civet, AWC, Black Backed Jackal, Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Hyena but our driver didn’t find it necessary to stop and give the passengers the opportunity to make a photo…neither did the rest of the passengers seem to bother about it....

The only sighting he gave us time to be able to make a picture was this……..Serval….which was so cool seeing it “Live”.








to be continued...

[vinkie]

Start of our first full day in the park


We decided to take the Satara-Orpen road and travel to Timbavati Picnic spot(S40) to have our traditional breakfast, coffee and rusks.

On our way to the picnic spot we saw these courting Ostriches.






A roadblock, after a while we were surrounded by Elephants




Cute francolins


A Burchell’s Coucal enjoying the morning sun.


Later on we spotted this Giraffe with some passengers .


Vinkie enjoying his breakfast at Timbavati Picnic spot.



Just before lunch we spotted some Zebra bums


In the Restcamp Apex Predator took some nice bird photos

Crested Barbet




Black-Headed Oriole



to be continued...

[vinkie]

After a quick stop at Satara we planned to go in the direction of the S90, but once we left the gate we decided to visit Nsemani Dam first.


Our first sighting after the lunch break was this nice Impala next to the road




At the dam we saw lots of hippos and a group of Elephants coming to drink, we also saw an Elephant that didn’t like to share his bath.












We made a video of the Irritated Elephant

After this wonderful sighting we followed the Satara-Olifants road, and left this road at the S90 turnoff.

We saw this Steenbok


A little further on the S90 we had a special encounter with two Black-Backed Jackals hunting Guinea Fowls…this was very special…we also made a little video(quality isn’t very good…we didn’t have the cam very long and where very excited by the scene in front of us).
















A short video of the Black-Backed Jackals

The Sunset came and surprised us with the wonderful scene




We saw this Elephant just before we turned to return to Camp.


Once back we fired up our braai and had a nice cold Castle, and enjoyed a wonderful meal.
After diner we had a walk along the fence to stop at the Webcam waterhole and saw some critters.
We went to bed early because the next morning we would have our first of many morning drives.


Sorry for the long post....but we kept you waiting for a long time before we continued the Travel tale


to be continued...

[vinkie]

Thank you: steamtrainfan, Flutterby, harrys, Bushcraft, Bush Brat, Hawkeyes, nan, Amoli, Heksie, Toko for your kind words.

Amoli: Our Photo program makes a motion Photo of a sequence of taken photos

Heksie: the Elephant did take a mud bath before it went into the water chasing the Hippos away…we saw this on the 8th of July.

After a short night, filled with roaring Lions we walked to the reception to get ready for the Morning Drive. We have had good experiences on the previous Morning Drives during our last trip that we were so excited. What would we see…?
Because we had heard the roaring Lions in the S100 area we asked the driver to go in that direction….luckily the driver took the H1-3 and turned of at the S100 turnoff.

The first animal we saw was a scrub hare, it was gone before we could take a photo…..but a few minutes later we could take lots of photos.
We saw our first Lion of the day, but wait no it wasn’t one Lion it were 5 male Lions playing in the early morning…one of the Lions had one eye but seemed to be the group leader, we called him Nelson.


















We stayed with the Lions for 20 minutes, in the meantime a lot of cars had arrived and were trying to pass the truck the drive blocked the road a bit so we could take some photos, while the Lions went down to the river bed we drove on…we wondered what would be next…after such a fantastic start of the morning.

At the next turn I suddenly yelled STOP, our next sighting appeared, it was just as wonderful as the previous one: two Cheetahs sitting next to the road.
In some way the pictures didn’t turn out being of good quality…I was a bit disappointed once I saw them again when we returned home and watched them on the pc.















After the two Cheetahs disappeared into the bushes we drove on….cars passing us…there goes our advantage of a head start.

[vinkie]

We saw this Dagga Boy



Some Monkeys in the tree

We left the S100 and took the S41, at the little river crossing we saw some Hippos and lots of birds.



A big Elephant appeared and then we saw our first daytime Honey Badger….it was so cool seeing this animal in real life. The Driver said it was very special seeing a Honey Badger during the day.











After leaving the S41 we took the H6 back to camp.
A Bateleur and this Juvenile Harrier Hawk





Two Hyenas and a Tusker, wonder if someone knows its name?


We returned back to Satara, boiled some water, had a quick toilet break and left the camp taking the H1-4 towards Olifants
The first thing we saw where lots of Vultures in the Trees and near the waterhole just after we passed the S90.



We saw three Kori Bustards and an Ostrich
We stopped at Ngotso Dam and had our breakfast(Coffee and Rusks…ohh I miss them)

We took the S127 and the S39 and stopped at Ratelpan Hide
We were welcomed by Hippo, Crocs, Hamerkop, Fish Eagle, Kingfischer, a Great Egret and a couple of Egyptian Goose.









On the S39 we saw some common game and continued to Nsemani Dam.
Here we saw some playing Elephants and on the other side of the road we saw this…….a LEOPARD our first daytime Leopard sighting….



It didn’t move and we drove of after we had tried to take some photos and drove of to the S100.

Once we arrived on the S100 and we thought that our day couldn’t get better Apex Predator spotted……

to be continued...

[Apex Predator]

Once we arrived on the S100 and we thought that our day couldn’t get better I(Apex Predator) spotted……these female Lions






After taking some photos of these lazy ladies someone told us to drive to the next loop, because there had been some cubs playing on a dead tree earlier that day.
We drove to the spot and could only see some tails, so we decided to drive to N’wanesti Picnic stop for a short break and maybe we would be able to see them on our way back.
On the way back we only saw some common game and when we returned to the spot, we spotted a young shabby looking older Cub.

[Apex Predator]

We took too many photos and all of a sudden Vinkie saw two younger cubs climbing the dead tree…..you can’t imagine how thrilled we were.






After a while the older cub started calling his mother whom we had seen earlier, and she answered his call. He started walking onto the road and passed our car…calling his mother and the two little ones started to follow.








Suddenly more little cubs appeared from the bushes and walked onto the road and sat down, we had to peek around the parked cars to get some photos.










We left the scene happy about being able to witness these wonderful little creatures, and drove to the spot where we had last seen the mothers, hoping for the little cub to arrive….unlucky the cubs where still on their way over….

Suddenly a car parked next to us and a friendly guy asked us who we were, it was Bushcraft and The Cow and all their kids. He had recognized our yellow ribbon….
We had a chat and we told him about the cubs and the Leopard we had seen in the beginning of the afternoon at Nsemani Dam.

Bushcraft rushed to the Dam to see the Leopard….at that point we didn’t know that Bushcraft was a Leopard spotter and a Leopard magnet.
We also left in the direction of the dam to see if we could get a better photo of the Leopard.

We saw these on our way…






Arriving at the dam it was already getting dark and the Leopard seemed to have left the scene….we did see this bathing Elephant and wondered if it was the same one we had seen earlier.




We returned to camp, and met Bushcraft near the reception, they invited us to come over later that evening to have a drink.
We went to our bungalow and had a wonderful Braai, after diner we went for a walk and arrived at Bushcraft and The Cows bungalow.
We chatted and had some drinks, laughed, Bushcraft gave us some Great tips for the other part of our Trip(Hluhluwe-Imfolozi) and we all had a wonderful evening.

to be continued...