A Fantarantulatastic Trip To Kruger - April 2017

[Bushcraft]

Our last sunset drive at Satara was incredible - hyena, lion, elephant, genet, 3x leopard and a serval for good measure.... I don't think that drive will ever be topped

Was that this trip or your previous visit to KNP. I ask because Heksie was on a Satara sunset drive a few years ago and hit exactly the same luck, so maybe you were on the same drive without knowing it

[PJL]

Our last sunset drive at Satara was incredible - hyena, lion, elephant, genet, 3x leopard and a serval for good measure.... I don't think that drive will ever be topped

Was that this trip or your previous visit to KNP. I ask because Heksie was on a Satara sunset drive a few years ago and hit exactly the same luck, so maybe you were on the same drive without knowing it

It was on our previous trip. I can't remember who else was on board that evening, but here's some of it... https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.p ... 5&start=30

[nan]

unusual to see a Cheetah's kill during the night/dark... well done

I often have a night/Sunset drive, sometime a bit but most time was very interesting

never saw Miss Satara... maybe she was not born yet
but the Ratel

[Lisbeth]

Great cheetah sighting with a follow up with kill

The scrub hares are so sweet, but always look scared to death

Nice to be visited by miss Satara she is such a pretty lady

[Richprins]

Incredible luck and pics in the dark, Peej. Very difficult indeed.

Ja, the airstrip is often the site for the actual sundowner, I think? Did they stop so people could have tea at some stage?

The cheetah are scared yes, I think, especially after dark?

My favourite is the rabbit, because small and rarely taken...but my fave is the cheetah, and the giraffe...!

[Pumbaa]

Incredible night drive photography, PJL,

and what sightings you had - The shots of the cheetahs and from Miss Satara are magnificent. Great that you found the cheetah even at a kill

[Twigga]

Are you and Bushcraft related??????

You tend to draw the same crowds





Cheetah sightings more frequent nowadays

FOR SOME THAT IS

Thank you for sharing this super sightings

[Bushcraft]

Our last sunset drive at Satara was incredible - hyena, lion, elephant, genet, 3x leopard and a serval for good measure.... I don't think that drive will ever be topped

Was that this trip or your previous visit to KNP. I ask because Heksie was on a Satara sunset drive a few years ago and hit exactly the same luck, so maybe you were on the same drive without knowing it

It was on our previous trip. I can't remember who else was on board that evening, but here's some of it... https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.p ... 5&start=30

Fantastic drive that, I remember now Heksie also hit it with the same list, but she got the 3 leopard separately on the S12/S40 loop It looks like 1 can score on sunset drives while at Satara

[PJL]

unusual to see a Cheetah's kill during the night/dark... well done

I often have a night/Sunset drive, sometime a bit but most time was very interesting

never saw Miss Satara... maybe she was not born yet
but the Ratel

Thanks nan. We were surprised not to see the honey badgers around, but apparently they have been removing them from the camp

Great cheetah sighting with a follow up with kill

The scrub hares are so sweet, but always look scared to death

Nice to be visited by miss Satara she is such a pretty lady

That scrub hare had a death wish Lis - it ran in front of the vehicle in the headlights for ages before finally realising it could get away off to the side

Incredible luck and pics in the dark, Peej. Very difficult indeed.

Ja, the airstrip is often the site for the actual sundowner, I think? Did they stop so people could have tea at some stage?

The cheetah are scared yes, I think, especially after dark?

My favourite is the rabbit, because small and rarely taken...but my fave is the cheetah, and the giraffe...!

Thanks RP
No sundowners on these trips these days unfortunately

Incredible night drive photography, PJL,

and what sightings you had - The shots of the cheetahs and from Miss Satara are magnificent. Great that you found the cheetah even at a kill

Thanks Pumbaa! Night photography isn't the easiest and the shots are a bit hit and miss. I've got plenty which were nice and blurred or totally dark

Are you and Bushcraft related??????

You tend to draw the same crowds





Cheetah sightings more frequent nowadays

FOR SOME THAT IS

Thank you for sharing this super sightings

Thankfully we're not related (for his sake )
Yep we were surprised by the cheetah visibility this time considering the tall grass. On our last visit we didn't see any at all

[PJL]

April 4th

Whilst checking out the AWC the night before, we got chatting to our neighbours and they were kind enough to fill me with envy by showing us photos of a leopard mom and 2 cubs that they had found on the S39 fairly close to Timbavati. So we decided to go check out that area for our morning drive, particularly as the routes to the north and west had been good to us so far

Up the H1-4 we came across a lone male lion who looked to have sat in a puddle or something



The road was quite raised which at least allowed us to see him, but the grass was doing a great job at obscuring the view somewhat



He spent a bit of time sniffing around some bushes and then eventually settled down





We carried on and on the S127 had a good laugh at the funny face of an impala doing its flehmen thing



Once onto the S39 the search began and we even sat at a few places which we thought would be good crossing points for leopard, but they never appeared
At one such stop we found some grey hornbill and magpie shrikes







The S39 is quite a long winding road and after giving up on the leopard area we only really stopped a couple of times for a tawny and some kudu





Heading back along the H7 we found some buffalo nice and close to the road



Close enough for some boss inspection



Their eating manners left a little to be desired



We took a brief detour off the H7 round to Girivana where we found a brown snake eagle, plenty of impala and a purple roller



That feeling when you know someone is watching you....





Things were quiet after that with just a few baboon outside camp directing the traffic



The kids and I took a bit of a wander round the camp to see what we could find which turned out to be just a few birds and plenty of devil thorns

Brown hooded kingfisher


One of the many quelea


I think this is a Meves's Starling... it had plenty to talk about