In Search of Some Good "Spots"

[Ratel]

Thanks everyone for your compliments on the Waterbuck shot. It was posing so nicely beside the car that i couldn't possibly just drive by. I like their woolly necks!

I would have had a meltdown.

Haha! I can imagine your pelican face would have been out, especially at a Leopard sighting! Stay tuned for the next installment - no need for pelicans there.

[Richprins]

Whaahaahhhaa! Timer on camera!

I suspect you may have seen more leopard?

Ja, you say "if" you return...but one inevitably does. I've been hundreds of times and still have lots of things to do and places to visit. Kruger has scores of areas to investigate, each unique, and then the season changes, so unique again.

I like the waterbuck for the interesting view of the eye!

[Lisbeth]

RP, it's about time that you visit some other park

[Ratel]

Wednesday 23rd August (continued)

Turning onto the H1-4 we soon spotted the local Martial again. It was kind enough to fly over to a closer tree so I positioned the car and Lyca captured the beauty and power of this massive eagle. Check out those talons!

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Further up the road a juvenile Bateleur was demolishing a snake of some description. We weren't sure if the snake was bird-kill or road-kill.

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We hung around for a little while since there were a number of other raptors in the area, including other Bateleurs, and we thought for sure someone else would drop in and show some interest. Unfortunately they seemed too polite and all passed by. Since time was ticking we made a plan to duck out to Timbavati for breakfast before pressing on for Olifants.

The S127 was uneventful so we were soon at the picnic site. Breakfast on-the-road is a simple affair for us consisting of toast cooked on a portable gas burner (the tiny variety used by hikers). It is quick and easy, but almost impossible to cook toast on in windy conditions. Guess what? It was very windy at Timbavati! Rather than persevere with futility I wandered over to the shelter occupied by the attendants and politely asked if I could cook up next to their shelter. They were most obliging. The one particular attendant was very quiet so I was friendly but also made sure I didn't bother him in any way. I just went about my business quietly and respectfully, smiling at him a few times without annoying him with idle chit-chat. As I was cooking my final piece of toast the attendant engaged in a brief conversation with a passing guide. It was in language so I couldn't understand any of it but I got a sense it was about something interesting. After the guide left, as I was still concentrating on making sure the toast didn't burn, the attendant quietly and casually said to me;

"That guy just saw a Leopard. In a tree not far from here."

I was in the car before he could finish his sentence! No, just kidding. I smiled a big smile and expressed my keen interest with;

"Oh, how fantastic!"

My plan worked and he proceeded to give me directions. There were actually two Leopards - a mother and cub. I thanked him genuinely, for both the cooking spot and the information, then returned to Lyca to share the good news. We polished off breakfast in record time, packed the car and away we went. The spot was about 2km west on the S39. As expected the gathering of cars indicated the exact tree, but the viewing was limited so we identified a car which was actually viewing something and positioned ourselves in line and out of the "fast lane". They soon left and we moved into position. Through a tiny window in the vegetation we could see the cub laying on a branch. Its face wasn't visible so I set up the camera and we waited patiently for it to move. It seemed pretty restless so soon re-positioned its head.

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Not long after this it again lifted its head and gave us the BC "hairy eyeball".

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While maneuvering the car I had identified that the mother was at about the same height but further back in the tree. All you could see from this spot were a few spots! So we moved out to make way for others, giving the next car directions so they could get into position correctly. 20m further west another car was parked, obviously watching the female, so we cruised past, pulled a u-turn and parked up behind them. We could see her ok, but once the other car left we got prime position. Lyca was shooting this time.

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It wasn't a very clear view and there was not much action, so since we were now well behind schedule we decided to hit the road. What a morning: 3 Leopards!

[Richprins]

Very good raptor shots, Ratel!

And interesting picnic spot drama there!

[Ratel]

The next story is hard to believe, but is absolutely true! As we left a new car arrived so we stopped to describe exactly where to view the Leopards from. They thanked us and then said:

"There are 5 Cheetahs feeding on a kill about a kilometre along this road."

What?? How could this be? We must have driven right past them!

About 300m west of Timbavati there was a cat-jam. We parked off clear of the melee but couldn't see anything. Then some nice ladies in a car directed us into their position and stayed with us until we had a visual on the sleek cat family. The sighting was very distant and in fact the cats were not visible when lying down, so we took a couple of proof pics but mostly just watched in binoculars. It was now quite apparent why we had missed them earlier!

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If there had been a kill they had now finished feeding as the mother started walking off followed by the large cubs. The bush was fairly open so it was great to watch her lead her family off into the distance. In the end we confirmed that there were in fact 5 cubs. I wondered if this was the Cheetah family that had been popping up around Satara on a regular basis earlier in the year? I was not aware of any recent sightings near Satara so perhaps it was them and they had wandered to the north-west?

We left the sighting absolutely beaming! 9 spotted ones in the same day. While it had not been a great Cheetah sighting we were confidant we would find the species again during our 5-night stay at Lower Sabie as the S28 was producing most days. Sadly that would not eventuate and if it had not been for this fortuitous encounter we would have missed out completely on the slender speedsters.

[Lisbeth]

You were very lucky, cheetahs are not that easy to find in Kruger Also lucky with the leopards

You have got lots of spots now

[Richprins]

Spoiler alert there, Ratel!

Ja, looks like the faces have blood on!

[Flutterby]

Love the pic of the surprised Bateleur.

Great leopard sighting...cubs are not easy to see!

At least you can say you saw cheetah!

[nan]

5 Cheetahs... five