JUNE IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER

[Lisbeth]

Yet another leopard. Very smart to expect it at the right place

Elephants that close happens all the time in Addo, but then again Kruger is not Addo

Cute tinyphant

Lovely pics of the ellies passing the river

You even got the doggies

[steamtrainfan]

Love all the bathing ellies, steamtrainfan,

plus leopard and doggies

Thank you very much Pumbaa.

What a great morning...leopard, ellies and wild dogs!

I can only imagine how scared you must have been with the ellies so close!! I think the Brat would have crawled through the floor!! But keeping quiet and still was the best way to handle it!! I'm sure that now you love the fact you've had ellies so close to you!!

Yip Flutterby, it was THE most scary moment we have experienced in Kruger. This tale certainly is a topic of conversation here at home.

Well handled, stf!

Yes, quite a fright they can give, hey!

Lovely sightings and the winter colours emerging are brilliant!

Thanks R.P... The only reason we kept still is that my brain was frozen.
Thanks so much for the compliment.

Yet another leopard. Very smart to expect it at the right place

Elephants that close happens all the time in Addo, but then again Kruger is not Addo

Cute tinyphant

Lovely pics of the ellies passing the river

You even got the doggies

I am learning from reading other listees travel tales.

Addos elephant are just sooo friendly.

[steamtrainfan]

08 June 2018 - Part 2/2.

We turned off the H1-4 to the S147 - Ngotso Loop. For some strange reason the S147 is a one way road.

The reason we did this was to look for the leopard with three cubs that we had heard was hanging out on this road.

We did a very slow drive and popping in at all the loops trying to see her. But no luck.

We then joined the H1-4 again and travelled down to the S127 - Ntomeni Road to go to Timbavati Picnic spot.

Close to the picnic spot we saw this, which I think is a Temmincks Courser that had just made a kill.



After leaving the picnic spot it took us just over 3 and half hours to travel the S39 and reach the H7.

The reason ------- the S39 is in shocking condition. There are corrugations almost all the way and they are deep and frequent. How my little sedan survived this road I will never know. The noise we made travelling this road at no more than 20 kph was enough to scare any animal within two kilometres off. We were bitterly disappointed as this road is one of the most promising in Kruger and one of the roads we were most looking forward to travelling on.

I did mention this in the questionnaire we were sent after our visit.

We saw a few elephant, kudu, giraffe, water buck and impala.

Strangely enough these two guys hardly batted an eyelid when we came across them chowing off opposite sides of the tree.





This guy made quite a nice picture on the S39.



We were never so relieved to reach the smooth tar of the H7.

We were now running a bit late so we had to do a no stops journey to check in at Orpen.

That night we were woken with a noise outside to find a mommy and child honey badger going through our rubbish bin.
After our last experience with a honey badger at Tamboti I tried to take a photograph through the window but only got a very serious flash back.

So Joan then slid the door open very slightly, just enough for me to push the camera through, and take a photo. I took the first photo and immediately pulled the camera back while Joan slammed the door closed as we expected some kind of reaction from the badgers due to the flash.
However, the flash did not worry them in the slightest so we slid the door open a fraction once more and I could take as many photos as I liked as they carried scrummaging through the dust bin.







Eventually they had had enough and went off to the next hut and went off to bed.

[Richprins]

Nice bird pic there, stf!

Bad news about the S-39, but it has always been at least a bit corrugated. Don't hold your breath regarding the feedback form.

Naughty ratels!

[Lisbeth]

Your "courser" is a black-crowned tchagra

Very bad when a road is so corrugated, especially for small cars. We have had to turn back more than once

Nice pics of the badgers, even if I prefer to see them in the wild

Lovely nyala shots

[steamtrainfan]

Nice bird pic there, stf!

Bad news about the S-39, but it has always been at least a bit corrugated. Don't hold your breath regarding the feedback form.

Naughty ratels!

Thanks R.P..

I agree but at least I told them.

Your "courser" is a black-crowned tchagra

Very bad when a road is so corrugated, especially for small cars. We have had to turn back more than once

Nice pics of the badgers, even if I prefer to see them in the wild

Lovely nyala shots

Thank you for the bird ID Lisbeth.

We also thought about turning back but then we were not sure what the road was like ahead. We held the hope that it would improve.

I agree about the badgers.

[Flutterby]

What a pity about the S39!

Nice pic of the Tchagra. Honey badgers are always fun to watch!

[steamtrainfan]

What a pity about the S39!

Nice pic of the Tchagra. Honey badgers are always fun to watch!

It sure was Flutterby.

Those badgers were quite comical to watch but Joan and I were very wary of them.

[steamtrainfan]

09 June 2018 - Part 1/2.

We were really looking forward to today as we were going to out and search for sable on the S140 and S145 where we had heard that were often seen.

I am sorry to sound like a cracked record but again the S140 and S145 were in shocking condition. We had booked 3 nights at Orpen so that we could explore the S140 and S145 at least twice or three times.

After travelling at about 15 kph for a while I decided to speed up and find out if we got a bit of a smoother ride. Some of the corrugations were so bad that the car would actually slide sideways especially sloping bends. I found that 40 kph had its pros and cons. The pros were that it was still bumpy but not nearly as much as at the slower speed and the cons were that animal spotting was reduced to a minimum.

Our first sighting was on the S145 with this most unusual collection of predators in a tree, 1 bataleur, 2 white backed vultures and 1 what looked like a hooded vulture.
Unfortunately we were looking into the sun so the pic is not so good.





Just after we took the above pic 4x4 came roaring up and past us. We looked into the tree and all the birds had flown off.

That was it for the S140 and S145.

Then and there we decided it was not worth it to do these two roads again in the hope of seeing some sable.

At the Shimangwaneni Dam we saw this duck that we could not find in Roberts.



We popped in at Mazandzeni for a late breakfast.

We then took the S126 to the H1-3.

Female double banded sandgrouse.



At Sweni waterhole we saw these two youngsters practicing their fighting skills.





We had seen a lot of smoke in the air as we travelled the S126. When we reached the H1-3:



We were told that it was controlled burning.

Just before Satara we spotted this Purple Roller nicely poised for a photo.



We popped into Satara for a comfort break and then made our way back to Orpen via the H7.

Another Purple Roller posed for us.



Our first lion sighting was on the H7. They were all just lazing around and not showing any interest in moving around. As this was our first lion sighting we had to take some pics.







A few impala approached which only made one of the lions raise its head ever so slightly and look at them through sleepy eyes. Maybe we would see some action now. Not to be as the impala saw that slight movement which them sent the impala scattering off.





To be continued.

[steamtrainfan]

09 June 2018 - Part 2/2

Not much else to be seen on the H7 back to Orpen.

This guy looked like he had a serious abscess?





Arrived back at camp at about 14:00 so we decided to stay in, relax and maybe do a bit of local photography.



A hooded vulture flying overhead.



I then saw a few sunbirds flying around the aloes and managed a few shots. Very tricky little birds to photograph.

Marico Sunbird.







Mrs Marico.



And Mr Marico.