The Great Escape

[PJL]

Sunday July 11th

After our move to Lower Sabie, and the comparative comfort of staying in a hut rather than a tent, we enjoyed a bit of a lie in and didn’t set off on our morning drive until it was already light. Our plan for the drive was very simple - head up the H4-1 to the H12 bridge and then back on the S30/S128 gravel roads.

We started out the morning with a nice herd of elephant and a bushbuck grazing





As we neared the S79 turnoff I caught a glimpse of something worth investigating. Reversing back it turned out to be a handsome male lion



I really impressed the rest of the family with spotting him… the photos make him look clearer and nearer that he was - looking into the morning sun he was hard to see and only if you were looking slightly backwards. Another car pulled up and they were equally impressed with the spotting skills





As he didn’t seem to be anywhere near moving we carried on. There were some buffalo at the waterhole near Nwatimhiri, but after that things got quiet all the way round to the S30.



We’ve had mixed sightings in the past along the S30 and today was one of the quiet ones. Some impala were drinking at one of the pools, but other than that and some giraffe there was nothing of note all the way back to Lower Sabie.





At the low level bridge before Lower Sabie there was a really huge crocodile sunning itself.



Without too many sightings it was still early so we decided to head up to the Nwatimhiri causeway and back to round off the morning. A few km past Lubyelubye there were a couple of cars stopped and we were in luck - it was a male leopard that had just caught a porcupine





Within seconds, sightings like this are normally mayhem on the H4-1 in school holidays, but with fewer people around due to lockdowns it was quite a relaxed sighting for a while so we didn’t have trouble following him when he decided to take a walk with his prize











One last look at him before the road finally got a bit blocked and we decided to head back in the direction of Lower Sabie

[Lisbeth]

Beautiful photo of the impalas

Just one leopard? Oh well, having caught a porcupine makes it raise to a higher level It looks as if he knows how to handle the porcupine without getting stung by the quills

[RogerFraser]

Sometimes its just nice to relax a bit and slow down

Well spotted with the Lion

Another spotted one with a Porcupine what luck

[Richprins]

Leopard 9!

Love the scenes at the river on the S30 as well, Peej!

[Mel]

Now really... now many leopard sightings can one have in a, what... 10-day trip?
And another brilliant encounter on top of it. Incredible!

You got better leopard sightings than lions

Talking of lions: one must wonder how it is that the leos manage to kill a porcupine without umpteen quills getting stuck in it while a lion usually looks worse for wear afterwards.

[Lisbeth]

We need a little help, please viewtopic.php?p=543169#p543169

[PJL]

Beautiful photo of the impalas

Just one leopard? Oh well, having caught a porcupine makes it raise to a higher level It looks as if he knows how to handle the porcupine without getting stung by the quills

Sorry Lis... just the one leopard
There were a couple of quills on his tummy, but very few considering how prickly his prize was

Sometimes its just nice to relax a bit and slow down

Well spotted with the Lion

Another spotted one with a Porcupine what luck

Thanks Roger - yes it's good to have some more chilled days

Leopard 9!

Love the scenes at the river on the S30 as well, Peej!

Number 9 indeed!

Now really... now many leopard sightings can one have in a, what... 10-day trip?
And another brilliant encounter on top of it. Incredible!

You got better leopard sightings than lions

Talking of lions: one must wonder how it is that the leos manage to kill a porcupine without umpteen quills getting stuck in it while a lion usually looks worse for wear afterwards.

We had 13 nights this time Mel, but with the travelling our arrival and departure days never get to include much time in the park. So yeah... we were amazed at our leopard luck
As for the porcupine quills, apparently leopards learn from their moms how to take them on... basically be patient until you can flip it on its back and make sure you don't follow the porcupine too closely... I think the lions are just impatient and don't know the tricks, so end up getting spiked a lot

[PJL]

Sunday July 11th contd

On our way back to Lower Sabie, the kids somehow spotted a lioness flat out on the Lubyelubye rocks



There was also a herd of elephant crossing the river



H wanted to continue with more of a drive, so we dropped off S & D to chill out at camp, and took in some of the gravel roads to the south of Lower Sabie. There were a couple of big elephant bulls having a play fight









We then got held up for quite a long time as a huge herd of buffalo crossed the road. Photos simply don’t do it justice - the herd must have been over 1000, and it stretched as far as you could see







Other sightings included some zebra drinking, an intelligent looking baboon and a blue headed agama as we arrived back at camp.

[Richprins]

That is a lovely area of the park, Peej! We were there at the pan on Monday and it was buzzing!

Sharp eyes from the kids!

Nice ellies indeed.

And a huge buff herd!

Stunning baboon!

No leopard?

[Lisbeth]

The buffalo herds are always enormous.......when they are crossing the road