Africa Wild

29th Skukuza

We woke to a change in weather conditions, the wind was howling, which is never a good sign for game viewing, and it was very gloomy.

Our plan this morning was to head back to the leopard kill on the S3 2km from Kruger Gate and then to duck down the H4-1 to Lower Sabie for Mugg and Bean pot pies.

It was clear that the news of the leopard kill had spread because the little dirt loop was full of OSV’s, but the majority of the kill was gone and the junior teenage leopard from the previous day had been replaced by a larger female, maybe the mom, that was moving around in the bush next to the riverbed.

It was a mission to get a view through the dense undergrowth, but eventually we got a semi-view through a gap in the bush as she lay down.





There were too many OSV’s and noise for the leopard to return to the minimal remains of the kill, so after 5 mins we turned and headed back towards the H4-1 but stopped again for a pic of a jackal charging around at the H11/S1 intersection.




Besides the normal locals, there were some lion in the riverbed few km down the H4-1 and then another lone lioness visible from the H12 bridge, but they weren’t great sightings, so we moved on fairly quickly.

We stopped a few more times for the usual crowd on route to Lower Sabie, however we didn’t take pics until right outside Lower Sabie where a kind lady pointed out a leopard in a distance tree.


The leopard was fast asleep so after a few pics we ducked for the pot pies.


It was now around 9am, Lower Sabie was filling up rapidly with day visitors and I have learnt to stay away from the H4-1 between 10am and 3pm unless you want to be jammed in hectic traffic, so we decided to head back towards Skukuza with the pot pies.

There’s a little dirt loop a few km outside Lower Sabie, but before Lubyelubye and as we approached a guy, who was stopped in the loop, started waving his hand at us, so I pulled into the loop.

A large buffalo herd was coming up the bank, but the guy was pointing at a distance lion.



The buffalo herd was now close to us and as Albert turned in her seat to position for another pic of the lion, the 1 buffalo lost its pip and charged at us, but fortunately stopped it’s charge as I moved. We have never been charged by a buffalo while in a car, so this faulty dude definitely didn’t like the look of Albert.

Around 2km north of Nkuhlu something caught my eye on a rock, and I hit the brakes.

“There, leopard! Quickly pass the camera”

The leopard was checking around in the riverbed, and it was clearly obvious that it was about to move.

“Keep your eyes on the leopard! It’s going to move!”

A few seconds later a car stopped next to us

“What do you see!”

The Cow started rattling off about a rock in the riverbed, so I turned quickly and said “Leopard!”, but as I turned back the leopard started to move

“S@*t, it’s moving!”



“Where’s it now, WTF………THERE!”

Now the mission to follow the leopard was on and the other car pulled in behind us. The leopard was moving north through the bush next to the road, so we pulled over to the side and slowly drove along parallel to it.

Minutes later a fancy car started to approach from the north and continued forward until they were 5m in front of us, stopped and started waving their hands. I started to point towards the leopard so that they could understand why we were trying to move slowly along next to the sighting, but they suddenly sped forward and as they went around us the 4 occupants started screaming at us.

“Learn how to drive you F@%*”

I was in shock for a second and then the penny dropped and the rush of blood to the head took over. I forgot about the leopard, slammed the car in reverse and took off backwards down the road as fast as our car could go because we were now about to have a major incident.

The larnies in the fancy car spotted me coming at full speed, so they floored it down the road. I realised that I couldn’t catch them in reverse so turned the car around.

“They will stop at Lower Sabie, so I will get them in the car park!”

The Cow was jabbering nonstop in my ear fortunately and eventually convinced me to give up on trying to catch them, so I turned and went back towards where we had last seen the leopard, but the leopard was gone, which only made my agro pelican larger.

We drove in silence for a few more minutes and then Albert chirped “Dad, you lost it hey”, which got us laughing again.

We only stopped for pics twice more on the way back to Skukuza as Bushpig found an Eagle owl and I spotted a lion in the riverbed.


We arrived back at Skukuza after 11am, so it had been a long morning for us. I had some work to do, the Cow decided to dump a few days’ worth of camera pics, and the kids had schoolwork to catch up on, so we ended up staying in camp until around 3:30pm.

For our afternoon drive we decided to cruise up the H1-2 from Skukuza until the H12 and found all the normal suspects, but it was still very dark and gloomy, so we didn’t take pics.

We stopped on the H12 bridge and looked around, but the area was very quiet, so I mumbled that we should just head back to camp and call it a day even though we still had plenty of time, but after some negotiation we decided to go down the H4-1 until the S79 causeway and then return to camp.

It was still very quiet, until just before the end of the causeway where there’s a little dead-end loop which we had been exploring each time when in the area because the leopard cubs we had seen for a few seconds earlier on the trip were in that area.

There was a car stopped in the loop already, so I approached slowly because there isn’t much room and as I stopped Bushpig squawked

“LEOPARD CUB!”

I instantly got over excited because I couldn’t see anything and then the Cow spotted it which made me even more excited, but after some explanation from Bushpig I spotted it in a tree, however then more squawking as a 2nd leopard cub was spotted in the same tree.

In the pic below, the 1st leopard is at the bottom of image just left of centre and the 2nd leopard is at the top of the image just right of centre through the branches.

Both juniors were asleep, and it was a mission to photograph them in the gloomy conditions which was frustrating me, so I played with camera settings that I don’t really understand and screwed up more pics, so ended up power cycling the camera and just sitting back to watch.

The junior at the bottom of the tree started to stir after around 15 minutes which got us going again with a few more pic attempts, but we were running out of time, so we had to leave them and head back towards Skukuza.


We stopped 1 last time for quick pics of lion sleeping on a rock in the riverbed just past Nkuhlu.

To be continued

Thanks Bushcraft,

lots of episodes full of cats Great interaction betwen the lions and the wild dogs and in fact looooooots of leopards.

Strange that you never see any impalas

Again some awesome sightings and photos thank you for making me

BC!

Endless great sightings!

Ja, the weather often turns gloomy after a few hot days!

You must take some in the car...you'll get less aggro!

Wow two Leopards together . And Lions and and Owl you did have some good sightings .

The incident with the car does make you wonder why some people go to the Park