Krugertripping this Summer...

[Twigga]

Heksie

Super Special sightings you had so far on this trip and still a looong way to go

To spot your own cat - priceless

Curious to see your 10 Jan sightings, we were in the vicinity, tooo bad we missed each other

[vinkie]

and on her second day she already saw a......Leopard WOW

I saw a leopard on my first day... it is the ingwe

You are right I should have written she saw her second Leopard hehe

Great sightings Heksie.....love the pictures and your storytelling.....

[Bush Brat]

Hi Heksie, just caught up!
I am so excited to have another TT by you...I just know it is gonna be good!

Pity about that hippo in the road!
Nice sightings and even better pics!

[Heksie]

wow reedbuck, Tawny pale form, Storks and Parrot and Fish Eagle
poor Ellie... bad chance with the tooth

and still lot of birds, wet and not

Thanks nan, I didn't take so many pics of birds it seems during this trip, but the ones I could take kiekies of were very special to me

Nice birdies Heksie

Pity you could not see more of the leopard, but you have a whole month

Thanks Duke, I need to invest in better camera equipment for the birdies, I saw the most beautiful bee eaters but wasn't close enough and when the swoop in the wind I get just blur...

At camp I got the ever present visitors that are actually not welcomed by anyone

RP they cause havoc wherever they go...

Beautiful blonde tawny

Thanks Lisbeth

[Heksie]

Great reedbuck sighting and you are correct; they do seem to be around more nowadays

It’s always awesome to find your “own” lions.

Some fantastic pics here

The thing is BC to find lions in the middle of the road is lekker, great pics but it doesn't take much to spot them, seeing one further away and 3 cars pass you... now that is lekker
The fantastic sightings are coming

Well done on spotting the lions!! And that's a lovely pale Tawny!

Thanks Flutts, when I took out my binocs to look at the beige blob across the river a few cars just whooshed past me so they missed out on some cats...

WOW Heksie, great start to Your TT , lovely photo's as well , a sad and strange sighting of the Hippo though
You had a variety of bird sightings and well done with the photos of the small ones they always seen to elude me

Thanks JN
I'm waiting for a response from SANParks, will let you guys know soon about the hippo-accident

[Heksie]

Thanks for the yellow arrow!

Okay, you don't only not start a holiday like normal people, you also don't spend your holiday like normal people - getting up at 3.30 am

( )

So enjoying this, Heks - lots of giggles and also enjoying the variety of sightings!

Hahahaha Mel, it took me a time to find it as well, Wendy was pointing and directing and I was like so I thought some help would be needed four you guys as well
What time do you get up in Kruger

Heksie

Super Special sightings you had so far on this trip and still a looong way to go

To spot your own cat - priceless

Curious to see your 10 Jan sightings, we were in the vicinity, tooo bad we missed each other

Did we miss each other?!? Aggenee man! We left for Sabie Park that day as they predicted heavy rain and packing up in rain and wetness didn't sit with me so well In
which area were you on the 10th?

Hi Heksie, just caught up!
I am so excited to have another TT by you...I just know it is gonna be good!

Pity about that hippo in the road!
Nice sightings and even better pics!

HI BB
Good? Nah! Don't expect too much, ne? the trip was very special for me but everyone differs so I hope not to disappoint too much...

[Heksie]

Day 4… one thing leads to another
14 Dec

Wendy and I decided to drive to Skukuza this morning, last year the S21 was very good to me so our planned route was the H4-1 then the S21->S114->H1-1 to Skuks and then Eloff street back to LS. Did we keep to our plans? Well you guys must find out…
Woke up very early again, and what is strange to me, every morning I would only see one guide in the bathroom… LS have been very chilled with no hurry in the bathroom or camp in the mornings. We packed our lunch and Wendy her MMC and off we went. We were not in the front but when the gate opened everybody was turning left towards CB so we followed only one car towards Skuks. The first thing that I saw this morning was the sun painting the clouds as it was coming over the horizon…



I fell behind and didn’t see Wendy or the other car, when I crept forward I just saw both of them with their red lights on, on the left hand side of the car and Wendy pointed to the right hand side. What would wait there was the closes I’ve ever seen a leopard so far in my life… she was about 3m from the front car.











She was very chilled, posing differently every few minutes and we were only 4 cars so nobody was bothered, we just enjoyed the sighting. After a while she started getting agitated and she hissed at something we didn’t see in front of the first car, then the francolins started showing and shouting all over this place. She soon lost interest.



And decided it was time to stand up, stretch a bit and then se walked right next to the front car, I couldn’t see what happened there but after a while she came towards us and walked right next to me, now we were 6 cars but everyone behaved well, she stretched in the bushes next to me and then walked further into the bushes…









We decided that because we had already a great sighting that we aren’t going to reverse and search for her, we are going to give the other people a chance, we were 20 minutes with her and it was magical. We moved on and as we approached the S21 I informed Wendy that a refreshment break is in order so we decided to go to Nkuhlu and then come back to do the S21. We got a Wartie at the dam just past the S21,



And the hippo carcass was stinking whilst hyenas were slurping up the last bit of juices… it was a vomiting experience but we survived…



We also saw a juvenile fish eagle just a few metres from the hyenas



Then just before Nkuhlu I saw a purple crested Turaco, again I wasn’t allowed to take a nice kiekie, but hey this is proof



We got to Nkuhlu and did the necessary things, then as we got to our cars the people that arrived just after us stopped at the picnic spot, we had a quick chat and was informed that the leopard was still visible for 20 minutes and then went down the riverbed. After saying our goodbyes we were on our way to the S21. The road was fairly quiet and we had a few small sightings.
What I believe is the excretion of a predator…



Then we had a close encounter with dwarf mongoose… (look at the eety beety baba)



Blue headed Agama



And we were almost finished with the road, abut 5km before the S114 you get a loop towards a small dam on the left hand side so Wendy drove straight and I took the loop, I got the biggest skrik when I saw this…



They were walking towards the main road and I didn’t know how to wave Wendy down to look to her left, I was jumping up and down in my car of excitement and then when I was finished with the loop I turned right going back towards Wendy. There were 3 males and 4 female lions lying in and around the road… what kind of luck did we have today and it was only 9:00. We sat with them alone for an hour and then 3 cars arrived; we all had a great view and even moved so they could sit basically next to the lions and after another 20 minutes we moved on towards Skuks…

















When we got to Skuks we saw that there was a HR display outside the restaurant. There were animal fur coats and teeth and skulls all over, they were educating people about poaching and selling those rhino cookies, we both bought one for the cause and then it was time to get back on the road as it was getting hotter by the minute and it was only 12:00. We got to th3 H4-1/H11 T-junction and heard a vervet barking, people drove past us and said that a leopard just walked past them in the bushes so I said I’m going to search for the leppie and Wendy moved on to LS. I saw nothing and remembered that the Alfa loop can let you see from the other side so I went back and turned unto the loop, unfortunately I saw nothing but to my surprise Wendy came from the from the opposite side. From there we went on the bravo loop and saw nothing as it was getting scorching hot. Wendy waved me down at the end of the loop and said that she would rather go back to Skuks and stay there the afternoon, work from her laptop and do the late drive from Skuks to LS. I was in a bit of a predicament as I didn’t have anything to do with myself for 4 hours. After putting our heads together we decided to go visit the nursery, then stay at Lake Panic. On our way to the nursery we saw some banded mongoose.



It was my first time at the nursery, and definitely something I would recommend for the botanist, there is even a wetlands information walk with benches to enjoy the view and birdies if you are lucky. It was getting unbearably hot and when I saw the golf club all I could think about was ice cold KPA… it didn’t take a lot to get Wendy on the KPA-train so off we went to our next stop: Skukuza Gold club. There was a wedding taking place but at least the bar was open for day visitors. We had our first one in the bar area which is equipped with a HUGE fan, it definitely did the job and we were cooled down instantly but we didn’t want to be surrounded by walls so we opted for the shade underneath a huge tree on the golf course. So another round was ordered and we moved into the open air. We sat there on the grass the whole afternoon, enjoying our ice cold KPA’s, one after the other and the traditional African music from the wedding, with players driving past us in the summer heat and fish eagles swooping down with the occasional kingfisher for some fish in the dam. Now this was heaven but by 16:00 it had to come to an end and we had to make our way down to LS again.
Our route was just straight H4-1 and the S79 loop. Nothing much was seen except…
Hyena den



And then my bird sighting of the trip, a lifer as well…
The grey headed kingfisher on the S79 causeway



We got to camp with exhausted but happy as it was a great day. That night I only made a tuna salad that went well with yet another KPA, as it was too hot to struggle over a scorching fire. We sat in the dark enjoying the light breeze blowing past us every now and then and then it was time to go to bed again.

To be continued…

[nan]

nice diversity
magnificent Leopard and Francolins a bit
disgusting rest of the Hippo with a Fish Eagle ready to eat too
cute banded Mongooses and colorful Blue Agama
then a troup of Lion
not so bad

[Bushcraft]

Fantastic sightings still to come

You are tormenting me with that leopard sighting Brilliant You didn’t reverse

Did the hippo carcass stink

Hey and then an awesome lion sighting

Great day

[Amoli]

Super Leppie pics Heksie - wow! what a sighting