A Spotty Flutter

[Flutterby]

Thanks so much, Flutterby,

really love the masses of elephants you saw and also the night visitor and the view from the tent

We had some great elephant sightings!

What an astounding view from the tent, Flutts!

Must get there!

And Brat looks pensive indeed, as one always does watching the fire...

More lions!

The view is lovely, just a pity that the tent is not so nice!

Howzit Flutts & Brat

It sounds like you guys scored with leopard sightings

Hey BC, great to see you here! We took some pointers from you re. leopard sightings, as we were determined to up our leopard tally!

A lovely view At first glance I thought that it was asphalt, but then realized that it was water

Cute genet

Sweet lion cubs despite the twigs

It was lovely to see the cubs, just a pity we couldn't see them properly.

We saw lots of tiny ellies!!

Every single herd of elephants we saw had some tiny babies.
Even the small family groups of 5 or 6 cows had assorted sized youngsters plus one or two new borns
As discussed elsewhere on the Forum, there is an elephant population problem

Yes, they are becoming a big problem. We were talking to a guy in the park who said that in the 80s it was agreed that Kruger could hold about 8000 ellies, and now there are over 30 000 of them!!

[Flutterby]

The next morning we decided to head down the H4-1, across the high-level bridge, onto the S30, the S29, and back down the H10.

It was overcast and drizzling, with very few animals around. In the place where we had seen the lion cubs the previous evening, we spotted a male lion in the riverbed.

Suddenly the three cubs appeared and started climbing on him! Unfortunately we battled to get any good pics with the low light.

Just before the first detour on the H4-1, we spotted a single hyena pup, and then realised there was a den there, but no more appeared.

[Flutterby]

On the high-level bridge, a Giant Kingfisher let us stop right next to him to get some pics.

The S30 was also very quiet, but we did find a giraffe, and a carcass in a riverbed.

[Lisbeth]

It was really dark

[Pumbaa]

Thanks Flutterby,

simply love it when handsome male lions are playing with the cubs Great sighting.

Also love the waterbuck portrait and the giant kingfisher

[Richprins]

Weather looks a bit dodgy, Flutts, but better than

Ja, the S30 can be hit and miss...

[Bushcraft]

Great sighting of the male lion and cubs

[Flutterby]

It was really dark

Yes, which makes photography quite tricky.

Thanks Flutterby,

simply love it when handsome male lions are playing with the cubs Great sighting.

Also love the waterbuck portrait and the giant kingfisher

I also love to see male lions with cubs.

Weather looks a bit dodgy, Flutts, but better than

Ja, the S30 can be hit and miss...

The weather was very strange...we had some quite cold spells, storms, and really hot weather, around 37 degrees!

Great sighting of the male lion and cubs

Thanks BC....second leopard coming up next!

[Flutterby]

We got onto the S29 and soon afterwards, a jeep jockey stopped us and told us there was a leopard in a tree on the H10 going back towards Lower Sabie. He gave us an approximate kilometre reading and said it was about 100 metres in and not too easy to spot, and that there were no other cars around.

At around the designated spot we slowed down and scanned the trees. I finally found him, but don't think I would have seen it if we did not know it was there. He looks quite clear in the pics, but when I first pointed it out to the Brat he said it wasn't the right tree...so definitely not easy to spot.

[Flutterby]

Then he jumped down from the tree.

He started to walk to the left of the tree. By now a bit of a crowd had gathered, so everyone was jockeying for position trying to keep up with him.
He would walk then stop, and we realised he was in hunting mode! I was driving and the Brat was trying to video so these are some screenshots, but the video came out terribly as we were constantly moving! He was eyeing some impala close to the road, but when he came out into the open they spotted him and ran off.

We then noticed some warthog ahead which hadn't been alerted to his presence. He slowly made his way closer to them, keeping himself well-hidden now, making it difficult to keep track of him, so the Brat kept the video camera on the warthog. Next thing he ran out from a bush toward the warthogs but they were too quick for him and charged off! You can sort of see the leopard in the red circle.