Browns in Kruger September 2019

[Mel]

R 13000 is quite some damage

So the second lion doesn't only look faulty, he's also the least handsome one...

When we met at Satara, I had already thought the place was extremely busy.
Don't wanna imagine Skukuza on a public holiday

[Pumbaa]

Awesome lion males shots, Bushcraft,

and besides more leopards also a couple of birdies

I know when we are in the park the grass and bushes are far too high and thick for that number of cat sightings but overall we really cannot complain especially with all the birdies around

[Richprins]

Let's have a poll about whether the rock should be removed or not!

(I suspect is the tip of an iceberg... )

[Mel]

(I suspect is the tip of an iceberg... )

[Bushcraft]

Thanks Roger, Mel, RP, Alf, Flutts, Lisbeth, Klipspringer & Pumbaa for checking out this episode and posting

That rock, definitely remove

WORLD CUP


24th Lower Sabie to Skukuza continued

Skukuza on Heritage Day is just too busy for us, so we all sat in the car for 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do next because it was just before 11am and we could only book in at 2pm, however we were very nervous as to what Skukuza would look like at 2pm, so we had to come up with a plan.

Nhlanguleni picnic site was mentioned as an option, but we eventually decided to head south down towards the Biyamiti weir area because one can duck from the crowds on the dirt roads in that area and then to only return to Skukuza at around 4:30pm when the crowds had hopefully left.

The intersection of H1-1 and H3 produced a few cars stopped and it was clear what the people were looking at as a leopard was balancing on a branch in the thick bush.

24.jpg (164.41 KiB) Viewed 262 times

It wasn’t a great sighting due to all the bush and twigs and it was clear that if the leopard moved or jumped down it would disappear as there was very dense bush around the tree, so after sitting for 10 minutes we continued on.

The rest of the H3 towards Afsaal produced the normal gang and a few birds.

25.jpg (170.08 KiB) Viewed 262 times

26.jpg (121.55 KiB) Viewed 262 times

What we hadn’t planned properly was the chow situation and the Rats were starting to hit a moan as they were hungry, especially Albert who is as skinny as a snake, but eats like a horse. We fortunately had braai meat left over which kept them quiet for a time period, however it wasn’t enough, so I agreed to check out Afsaal.

Afsaal was relatively quiet and the howling cold wind may have had something to do with that, but when the Rats spotted waffles and ice cream on the menu it was game over, so we ended up sitting in the freezing cold waiting for a waffles.

I’m not particularly patient which may be obvious by now, so when half an hour had gone by and there were still no waffles I hit a wobble and had to walk around the picnic site to pass the time, however I eventually chirped the kitchen, much to the Cow’s horror, and the waffles arrived in minutes.

Bushpig and Albert were like vacuum cleaners with the waffles and they even chowed half the Cow’s food. I must say, they were worth the wait because they were excellent.

The sighting board at Afsaal indicated a leopard dot on the S118 and another on the H2-2 section back to the H3, so we agreed to do that loop slowly before taking a drive back towards Skukuza.

Some people don’t like the S118, but we enjoy it because it’s generally a fairly quiet road people wise, however it was fairly active today and it became obvious why at around the halfway point as a little female leopard in a tree came into view right next to the road.

27.jpg (86.34 KiB) Viewed 262 times

[Bushcraft]

2 OSV’s were parked off in the main viewing spot and after waiting for 15 minutes for them to move on it became clear that they were in this for the long haul and weren’t going anywhere, so I drove around them and spotted that the leopard also had a kill which we hadn’t seen earlier.

28.jpg (83.73 KiB) Viewed 260 times

29.jpg (104.12 KiB) Viewed 260 times

30.jpg (88.25 KiB) Viewed 260 times

31.jpg (83.37 KiB) Viewed 260 times

[Bushcraft]

It was a fantastic leopard sighting and very close, but it was now after 2pm so the clock was ticking on us and more OSVs were arriving, so after around 25 minutes we headed up the S114 to the H2-2.

The H2-2 was very corrugated so after 5 minutes nobody was interested in looking for game and we were just counting down the km to the H3 on the Garmin.

Just after the S113 turn off we found 2 cars parked with their noses pointing into the bush which was strange and then we spotted a dead impala in the grass next to the road, but no other animal was around, so I initially thought the impala had been hit by a car, however we stopped to find out what was happening anyway.

The aunty in the 1 car started telling us that she had seen a leopard head pop up from behind a log in the bush, but then a guy in the other car starting shouting at the top of his voice that he had seen a cheetah, then the aunty said leopard again and the two of them started arguing.

While this was going on a few more cars arrived and due to the way the 1st two cars had parked, half the road was blocked, so it was quickly getting tense. The aunty seemed to be the most knowledgeable; hence we took her word as being the most correct and drove forward 15m until we had a side angle on the log which once again, was in thick bush.

We fiddled around trying to see something in the vicinity of the log, but initially we couldn’t see anything, however eventually a movement caught our eye below the log and a tiny leopard head popped up.

32.jpg (131.78 KiB) Viewed 259 times

The leopard was only around 10m from the road edge, however the impala was 1m from the road, so I suggested that if the cars back off slightly that the leopard would come out, however it was a waste of time suggestion because it was soon clear that nobody was going to move an inch.

We parked off another 10 minutes slightly up the road from the log so that we were out of the gang and waited. I also couldn’t understand why everybody was crowding the dead impala because you couldn’t see the leopard from there and the log with the leopard under it was only visible from where we had parked.

I was about to duck, as the traffic jam chaos was spreading our direction, when the little leopards head popped up again but soon disappeared as the impala was now surrounded by cars, so we snapped the last few pics and moved on.

33.jpg (129.49 KiB) Viewed 259 times

Just before Mathekenyane turn off we found another dead impala and this one had definitely been hit by a car, however a martial had found it.

34.jpg (183.11 KiB) Viewed 259 times

35.jpg (179.37 KiB) Viewed 259 times

We arrived at Skukuza just before 5pm and it was relatively quiet which was a relief and we were unpacking at our GC6 unit 10 minutes later.

The GC6 is next to Moni guest house and it has its own little boma in the bush down by the fence, so it’s a fairly cool spot to park off and braai, but I ended up down there by myself for most of the evening because the darn wind was still pumping which made it freezing cold.

To be continued

[Richprins]

Bushy!

How on earth did you think you were going to Nhlanguleni and back in a few hours!

But seriously, leopard in unexpected places!

Very unusual the martial on roadkill...


Albert who is as skinny as a snake, but eats like a horse.

A rare mix of similes, and well done. No grammatical problem.

[harrys]

From now on you will be known as the Leopard whisperer ,I drove the roads you drove and I found zero Leopards, only some Lions and 20000000 Elephants

Again awesome sightings and very well told....great humour

[Pumbaa]

Once again a leopard trip, Bushcraft,

that was indeed a brilliant one Also a fantastic martial eagle sighting

Hopefully it was a bit quieter in the evening there but must say although Skukuza is a busy area by day we cannot complain about the nights or evenings