I was getting concerned as it was already after 8am and we hadn’t even got to Croc Bridge yet due to the lion delays, but things thereafter were fairly quiet with only a few locals and the odd ellie making an appearance until just before Nkuhlu where we met the “under pants required” boon gang.

A few Ground Horn Bills and a Klippie were the only things we stopped to take pics of on the way up the H1-2 to Tshokwane.


We stopped at Tshokwane for a late breakfast and loo break, but I think that something went wrong with me at birth, because I had finished my chow, gone to the loo and was waiting at the car before the clan was halfway through their breakfast, so the pacing around the car park and to and from the sighting board continued until all were ready.
We only left Tshokwane at around midday, so we didn’t expect much to be cruising around in the heat, therefore we weren’t actively searching the bush, but something caught my eye in a tree across the riverbed, so I stopped and asked the Cow to lean back so that I could check something with the binoculars, but the Cow, who had a small pelican because of my impatience at Tshokwane, just snapped “What!!”
As I focused the binoculars I shouted “Leopard”, this got the Cow more social “Where, where!!”
The leopard was a long way off, but still a leopard and again, nobody else had spotted him yet, so for now we were the only car.
The 1st pic below was taken at around 500mm, so the rats were fighting over the binoculars in the back seat while the Cow and I squabbled over pictures or video, therefore we didn’t notice that a couple of cars had stopped around us and were watching us, so “Wat sien jy!” caught me by surprise.

I did the whole “tree, bush to the left” explanation to help others spot him while the Cow fiddled with digital zoom on her camera.

The gang was building and the leopard was a long way off, so we decided to continue on. It may not have been walking in the road, but it was still a leopard so all had a cheesy for the next few km.
We decided to take the little S86 loop and found a kingfisher parking off in the road.

A few km later I started to feel rather suspect and the sweat beads returned, so I quietly checked out the Garmin, 20km to Satara for the nearest loo and gradually pushed it up to 50km/h. A few minutes later the Cow started “I can’t see anything, slow down, why the rush” I was already in serious trouble and just blurted out “No stopping for anything, Tshokwane’s breakfast is coming back to bite” and the Cow realized that I wasn’t joking.
It was a very long 20km, but I have never been so happy to see Satara in my life and bailed for the bog before the car had even stopped.
Unfortunately Satara had a power failure and a staff member was trying to make a plan in the doorway of the bog for more light, but I didn’t care and just pushed past him into the darkish loo.
As I sat down in the dark I felt something pinch my bum, so jumped up again and fondled around the area in question only to feel something strange, so fired up my lighter to see what was happening.
I had sat on a fat spider and if there’s one thing that I can’t handle its spiders, but the brain took a few seconds to cope and then I must have sounded like a fire engine as I charged out the loo clutching my pants and into the one next to it.
I waited in the loo until I couldn’t hear any other occupants and then made a break for the car park with the hope of escaping detection.


To be continued