Browns in Kruger October 2023

[Pumbaa]

Thanks so much, Bushcraft,

I also hate final nights in Kruger but somewhere in the furture there is always a first night in Kruger

Lovely "private" lion sighting with lots of shots and also love the birdies

[Richprins]

Quite a dance there between the snake and the fire, Bushy!

Must get to Biyamiti, maybe with Dadprins next year!

A gorgeous private lion sighting, I love the sand that has been stepped into little hollows!

And nice birdies.

Ja, the last night can be a bit trying, but I start planning the next trip!

BTW, when did you change your avatar?

[Lisbeth]

BTW, when did you change your avatar?

Has it been changed ?

[Bushcraft]

Thanks Lisbeth, Pumbaa & RP for reading and commenting

On the avatar, I changed it about 5 years ago

[Bushcraft]

8th October Biyamiti to Mpila Imfolozi

We woke this morning with the normal “leaving Kruger pelicans” so the car packing happened in silence and we were out of camp just after gate opening at 5:30am.

It was windy, cold and overcast due to the cold front that came through overnight and I had my “leaving Kruger” blinkers on, so we headed straight for Croc Bridge gate and only stopped once for pics of 2 secretary birds at the H4-2/S25 intersection.

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It’s never nice leaving Kruger, but we were out of the park and on route to the Swazi border by 7:30am.

One can’t take meat through Swaziland and it was a Sunday, so it was a mission to arrange meat, but we had pre-arranged meat on our way up with a new butchery at the entrance to the town of Mkuze and they were open, so we were in luck and at the Hluhluwe top entrance, Memorial gate, at around 1pm.

The weather was still stuffed and it was dark, cloudy and windy with the odd little rain shower around, so our plan was to head to Hilltop camp for a loo break and a leg stretch and then to head straight down to Mpila camp for an early afternoon braai and just relax. This is more of an overnight pitstop for us on the way home each year to break the long drive and we didn’t have much hope for good sightings since Hluhluwe/Imfolozi isn’t Kruger and it generally requires some hard work for sightings by comparison.

On the way from the gate to Hilltop camp we encountered the usual suspects, including a couple of rhinos, warties, buffalo and faulty Imfolozi ellies that the Cow makes me keep our distance from.

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Hilltop camp was rather quiet, probably due to the weather and the fact that it was a Sunday afternoon, so we checked the shop out, which didn’t have much as per normal, and the view wasn’t that great in the bad weather conditions, therefore we were soon back on the road to Mpila camp.

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[Bushcraft]

About 15km from Hilltop camp on the main tar road to Mpila we were shocked to find a teenage lion parking off casually next to the road. The teenager seemed to have a thing for Albert and kept checking her out.

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The teenager also kept on calling softly, so we hoped that others would appear, but about 15 minutes later, junior started yawning and then moved off deeper into the bush, so we moved on.

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[Bushcraft]

We stopped just after Nyalazi gate for a Nyala feeding and some giraffe parking off, but soon continued on as I was now tired of driving.

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Just after the Masinda Lodge turnoff, about 10km from Mpila camp, the Cow spotted something on a rock down in the valley, but in the dark gloomy conditions we were battling to see what it was, so I pulled over and the Cow did the binocular thing and calmly said

“I think we have a leopard”

We have never seen a leopard in Imfolozi, so I was immediately overexcited

“^&#$^& QUICK, take a pic!”

“I can’t focus $%&”

This proved harder than expected because the leopard was a long way off and I had to crank up a bunch of camera settings as it was dark, but we eventually got some proof pics.

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[Bushcraft]

About 5 minutes later a car stopped just up the road from us and the next thing a lady appeared next to the Cow’s window; she was walking around out of her car. Then the passenger also got out the car and started to walk over.

This immediately got me majorly excited because even though the leopard was a long way off, I could clearly see by its body language through the binoculars that it was already nervous and watching us, even before these clueless people started walking around.

The Gqoyeni bush camp head ranger informed us on our last trip that he had been working in the reserve for 15 years and had only seen leopard on 13 occasions. His take on it was that due to the traditions/culture of the area that leopard have been poached for their skins for many, many years, so they have evolved and developed an instinctive fear of man and vehicles.

The walking around new arrivals were foreigners that obviously didn’t have a clue about the rules and even English was a problem. They were trying to work out what we were looking at.

I was rude, as per normal in these tense situations, but the Cow tried to explain things calmly about the rules, however I was just focused on the leopard and what it was going to do.

Unfortunately, the leopard had noticed the people, it crouched lower and in seconds snuck off into the bush, so I drove off in temper, but soon calmed down because we had broken our Imfolozi leopard curse.

We booked into our chalet at Mpila, which wasn’t in the best condition, but I didn’t care as it was only a place to sleep, however it doesn’t look good for future trips unless they start to get their act together.

I started the fire after unpacking and we just relaxed in camp.

About half an hour after dark, while I was finishing the braai, a large bushpig came charging through camp and went straight for our neighbours who were all eating supper on their veranda, so there was plenty shrieking. I was going to wobble over to get pics of the hyped-up pig, but the Cow got excited with me and talked me out of it. (I have been chased by a Bushpig at Mpila camp before and had to dive over the bottom half of the split kitchen door to escape it).

We were up the next morning at 1st light and drove straight out the gate, only stopping once for a pic of a hyena at Nyalazi gate, as I had to work the next day and Albert had matric stuff to do.

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In conclusion, it was a good trip, but not in our top 10, however anytime in Kruger/Imfolozi or any other game reserve is special. It’s just more special when the entire family can attend.

We leave for Imfolozi for 2 nights on the 5th of July for the Cow’s 50th, hence the rush to finish this TT, and this time everybody, including Bushpig, Hawkeyes and their boyfriends, are able to attend, so we going to be a gang.

Lastly, thanks to all of you guys who took the time to read our trip report.

Bushcraft, the Cow and Kids.

[Pumbaa]

Thanks so much, Bushcraft,

as always an entertainment reading and lots of extraordinary pictures

WoW to your Imfolozi leopard Although far away but a leopard is a leopard a pity about the people out of the car

Enjoy Imfolozi with the whole family

Until the next time

[Lisbeth]

The pics will not win a price, but it's a leopard alright

A lovely view from Hilltop camp, but it must be much better on a sunny day.

Nice lion and no traffic jam

Hluhluwe/Imfolozi has been sliding downward for years and if they don't get a decent management it will continue in that direction.

It is always a great pleasure to read your TTs. Your ability with the pen or should that be "keyboard"? is remarkable