Imfolozi Browns March 2023

[Bushcraft]

Day 2

Very interesting and entertaining all this, Bushy!

Lovely to see rhino with horns!

I would use "N" endlessly for all meal needs,sounds like a gem!

Shot RP

Agreed, horns are going to become a thing of the past, but most in Imfolozi still have them

"N" is awesome to have around

[Bushcraft]

Sunday 26th March


We woke on Sunday to a fairly decent day and as per Murphy’s law we had to head home.

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We had to be out of camp by 10am, so our plan was to do a short morning drive before returning at 8am for another breakfast prepared by “N”.

Sontuli loop is close to Gqoyeni, so even though it’s very overgrown in the summer months, we still decided to give it a go.

The drive was fairly quiet sighting wise until just after the picnic site where a movement in the thick bush caught my eye.

“There, lion! 2 males”

There was suddenly commotion and hand signals to inform Hawkeyes and Sasquatch in the back of the bakkie as we remembered that he had never seen a lion.

It soon became apparent that these guys weren’t just on a territory patrol and the one male entered the road in front of us, paused, and then immediately went into stalking mode.

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[Bushcraft]

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This had now developed into a tense moment, but suddenly the lion, while in the crouching position, let one rip.

“WT.. was that!”

The Cow captured it all on video, but the fart broke the tense moment instantly and the video has the Cow cackling for 10 seconds and the camera shaking, however the lion then snuck around the bush next to the road and out of sight, so we quickly pulled ourselves together and I slowly inched forward while the other male crossed the road behind us.

10m later the bush cleared and the stalk was still on, so I quickly switched off and we quietly waited.

In the pic below you can see the blurred warties in the grass either side of the tree on the left.

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We couldn’t see the 2nd male that had entered the bush behind us and the 1st male was frozen in position, but the one wartie was looking straight at him, however neither party moved an inch.

“That wartie has spotted him, but seems confused as to what he’s looking at”

I was getting impatient with this staring match and holding the camera against my pip, so I dropped the camera

“Why doesn’t the chop burst forward!”

More staring...................

About a minute later the warties had a facial recognition moment , squealed, and took off into the bush. The male lion made a feeble attempt at moving forward and then checked us out and almost seemed embarrassed by his pathetic attempt.

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[Bushcraft]

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[Bushcraft]

The male in front of us then started to move off and seconds later the 2nd male cruised out of the bush and followed along behind him.

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We followed along parallel to the lions for around 50m and then they disappeared into thick bush, so we continued on with the loop, however around 2km later came across an ellie road block, so I switched off and waited, but after 10 minutes the ellies were still blocking the road and any small forward movement triggered the aunties.

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Time was ticking on us, so we decided to do another 100-point U-turn and head back for the breakfast that “N” had prepared and to spend some time enjoying Gqoyeni before we had head home.

We found the lions again in the riverbed through a gap in the bush on our return, so stopped for a few pics.

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The 1st of the Mpila camp cars then arrived so I advised them that we would move and that there were 2 lions in the riverbed.

“N” had set the table again and breakfast was ready. I have to admit that although we aren’t used to this type of thing, it’s an awesome addition/service to offer.

After breakfast we all returned to our rooms, packed up, loaded the cars and then returned for one last veranda view visit and Sasquatch took a family pic for us. You can see that Bushpig and Albert had pelicans by this stage, so we maybe should have taken the family pic the day before we were about to leave.

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We spotted the usual locals on the drive out, but never took any pics.

Gqoyeni is an awesome bush camp, but very expensive by comparison to Mpila camp, however if we hit a financial luck again, we would return in a heartbeat.

Lastly, thanks to all of you guys who took the time to read our travel tale.

Bushcraft, Cow, Hawkeyes, Bushpig, Albert and Sasquatch

[Richprins]

Brilliant last day, Bushy!

Those are some well-conditioned lions indeed, with some excitement, so glad you saw them!

Thanks for the food pic too!

Thanks for this report, it is something to whet the appetite indeed!

I miss the Clan, but all seems well.

[RogerFraser]

BC

Been a bit hectic of late but managed to catch up .A great TR as usual .Sounds like a really great camp just need the lotto As I said before so much potential in Kzn parks but such poor management they actually make SANPARKS look good .You had a great set of sightings the Lion letting rip would have killed us

[Lisbeth]

Lastly, thanks to all of you guys who took the time to read our travel tale.

Bushcraft, Cow, Hawkeyes, Bushpig, Albert and Sasquatch

Holiday season and lots of other excuses, but I'll get there

[Bushcraft]

Brilliant last day, Bushy!

Those are some well-conditioned lions indeed, with some excitement, so glad you saw them!

Thanks for the food pic too!

Thanks for this report, it is something to whet the appetite indeed!

I miss the Clan, but all seems well.

Ja, glad we could find lions for Sasquatch

All is good RP, I assume all good your side

It's the Cow's 50th next year and I need to match this

[Bushcraft]

BC

Been a bit hectic of late but managed to catch up .A great TR as usual .Sounds like a really great camp just need the lotto As I said before so much potential in Kzn parks but such poor management they actually make SANPARKS look good .You had a great set of sightings the Lion letting rip would have killed us

Roger, no stress, life is crazy busy nowadays

Ezemvelo/KZN parks need a serious wake up call