Browns in Kruger October 2014 *

[Bushcraft]

Thanks all once again

I'm heading off to throw a few mielie bombs in the Vaal Dam shortly, so I need to finish

10th Lower Sabie

The weather had changed big time over night and we woke to a howling wind and very overcast conditions, but as it was our last full day in the park we decided to still put an effort in, so we were out the gate 15 minutes after opening and immediately found 3 lionesses cruising along the riverbed just up from Sunset Dam, however they were difficult to photograph through the twigs in the dark conditions, so we continued on.

Around 8km later we spotted a car stopped on the side of the road in the distance, however other cars were slowing and then overtaking, so we didn’t think much of it, but I still approached slowly until we were next to them. The driver checked us out and held up a cup of coffee and a rusk, so I continued on, but just by chance I looked back at Hawkeyes and spotted something out her window opposite the stopped car.

“What the.......there’s a leopard”

“Where!”

“In the bush next to that car we just past”

I then realised that these people were pulling a con so that they could have peace with the leopard and although I have pulled a similar con with lion cubs and OSV operators on the S100, I was still wild that we were now on the receiving end of a con.

I slammed on brakes, turned the car and drove back until our front bumper was opposite their car, but the con artist just grinned back and shrugged as if to say “I tried”.

We wondered how many people they had caught before we arrived as the leopard was in fairly difficult viewing spot and only really clearly visible from where they were parked, so I pushed a little closer to their vehicle until we had a view through the twigs.





I had now ruined this couples plot because it didn’t take long before other cars started to arrive and there’s no way the “coffee and rusk” con was going to work with 2 cars stopped, so in 10 minutes there were cars all over the place, even though the occupants couldn’t possibly see anything.

The leopard didn’t enjoy the added attention and soon walked deeper into the bush, so I can understand why they pulled their move.

The next few km produced a few birds which excited the Cow and as I had given up on charging around for game I stopped for each one, which definitely got my points up.









I wasn’t keen on spending a long time in the car as we had a long drive the next day, so we continued on until the S79 causeway which is around 12km from Lower Sabie and then turned to head back towards camp for an early breakfast.

The way back to camp produced a few new additions including a steenbok next to the road and a male lion chowing his breakfast far off in the riverbed.







We finished cooking and eating before 10am, the junior rats went on their own mission to the shop and back a number of times trying each time to con for something and the Cow and Hawkeyes retired with books, which left me irritated on the noisy veranda, so soon I was wandering around camp with the junior rats telling war stories to pass the time.

After lunch the drizzle started which forced us back to the unit and the junior rats started up their own game, so I was even more frustrated, which resulted in another “evening six pack” disappearing during the course of the afternoon.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

10th Lower Sabie continued

After a few late afternoon beers I was feeling rather lazy and even the deck noise no longer seemed an issue, so I let time pass with the hope others wouldn’t notice, but at around 4:30pm the Cow woke up and the car packing started.

The sighting board didn’t indicate much action down south and I always hate ducking that way in the late afternoon because one gets in amongst the day visitor traffic and the odd racing driver who is late for the gate, so we again decided to head up to the causeway and back.

The usual clan were around and we stopped a few times to check them out, but didn’t take pics until a lioness made a brief appearance and a few boons cruised past us.





About halfway down the causeway we came to an ellie roadblock and what you can’t see in the pic below is the massive queue of cars and little bridge just out of frame beyond the ellie. I know from past experiences to never mess with an ellie on a narrow bridge because if he wants to cross and you are on the bridge he loses it big time.



The Cow was already panicking because she thought I was going to try and get past the ellie, so when I said “Check how wet the inner back legs are, this could get exciting” the stress levels escalated, but I could clearly see that this wasn’t going to end well by the way he reacted to any movement from the cars on the other side and it was late already, so I turned and headed back towards camp.

A few km from Lubyelubye we spotted a car on the side of the road and a cool chap pointed out a leopard to us and then pointed out 2 lions on the other side of the road who were checking the leopard out.





The leopard flopped over and went to sleep, but time was up, so we couldn’t wait for a better pic.



My work mate and family had arrived for the night but were initially very confused as they couldn’t find us in the “FU5” and the rain really started to come down, so our evening social braai with my work mate who was on the opposite side of camp ended up being called off as it was just too much of a mission to cart rats backwards and forwards in the weather.

Fortunately the cold howling wind and rain also keep many away from the Mugg and Bean veranda, so besides the odd staff members talking to each other at 120 decibels, it was a more peaceful evening.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

11th Lower Sabie to Imfolozi

Today was our wedding anniversary so we had booked a bush camp in Imfolozi called Nselweni and as we had never stayed there before we were keen to get going early, so packing started at 5am.

We still had a long way to go and I was rather nervous that we would have to drive the entire way in the pouring rain, because the weather had got even worse over night.

The first sighting was a rather cold looking duiker that didn’t seem keen to charge off like they normally do.



We stopped on the H10 Bridge to look for the elusive otters which Hawkeyes was going on about, but ended up saying goodbye to the kingfisher locals and a buffalo who was wandering rather close to the edge.





I turned at the end of the bridge and headed down the H4-2 for Croc Bridge gate, but didn’t have much hope for excitement in the pouring rain so when the word “cheetah!” popped up I was really surprised.

2 bothers were hiding out in the grass just past the S28 turnoff and I’m sure that the sighting would have got better, but the cars started to pile up and it was a mission taking pics in the rain, so we didn’t hang around long.





A few km later the Cow got excited about a bird which I think is a lizard buzzard of some sort and then the local Vurhami Bridge kingfishers were still around.





We left the park just after 7:30am and we all had the long pelicans which result when one leaves Kruger, however we normally manage by discussing the next trip, but this time we didn’t have that option because we hadn’t booked anything for 2015 due to the fact Kruger isn’t affordable for us anymore unless we camp and the jury is still out on that one, so it ended up a quiet drive to the Swazi border.

It rained until just before Memorial Gate in the Hluhluwe section and the one section of road in Swaziland could hardly be called a tar road as there were more potholes than road, so I was tired of concentrated driving, therefore we ducked into the park at Memorial Gate rather than driving to Nyalazi Gate.

The normal game all popped up initially and we were informed of lion just down from Sivivaneni, but we had seen enough of them, so the rats decided to take the odd general pic and I headed straight for Hilltop camp to restock on a few things.







To be continued

[Bushcraft]

11th Lower Sabie to Imfolozi continued

The tar road in Hluhluwe/Imfolozi is completely stuffed, so driving was becoming a pain as I couldn’t relax and enjoy it, therefore Bushpig had to take control of sightings on my side because I couldn’t take my eyes off the road.

We found plenty large buffalo herds driving down from Hilltop, but only stopped near 7H due to an ellie roadblock. The ellies in this park are nutty, so we kept our distance until they wobbled off into the bush.



Just past Nyalazi Gate entrance we found plenty cars stopped and all occupants said “You just missed a leopard”, so I developed major pelican because we probably would have got the leopard if we had entered there, but I suppose things go that way in game parks.

The one noticeable thing we had found on the drive down from Memorial Gate was the number of rhino in the park as we spotted over 25 in around 2 hours, which is more than we had spotted in Kruger over that last 8 days.

To get to Nselweni one turns off the tar road 2.5km before Mpila camp and head down a private dirt road for 4km which is where the road meets up with the Black Imfolozi River.

I was relieved to pull into the car park as it was now around 4pm and it had been a long day in the car, but then I spotted the distance from the car park to the units and nearly had a tantrum because it would take us a long time to carry all our stuff down to the units, but suddenly a chap arrived with a massive trolley device and said “Load up”.

The concrete pathways lead to the units and a ramp continues up to the unit entrance, so it’s been designed to accommodate this trolley device, therefore we wobbled down after the trolley driver with only a few items in hand.

There are only 8 units and all face the Imfolozi River, so it was a magic peaceful setting, therefore we decided to just park off in camp for the rest of the day.











The units have the bedroom in the middle, a kitchen attached on the right and a bathroom attached on the left. The bathroom has a mother shower and one can open a “sliding” type door and shower “open to the bush” if one feels the need, so I made a mental note to test this out later.

I started our traditional last night wood only fire and the Cow and I relaxed watching the normal river front locals, which included nyala and 2 rhino.

The rats had their own unit and the camp staff had organized an additional mattress, so they initially went on their own mission, but as the sun started setting they decided to pull in and trash our unit.



Nselweni, like Mpila, only has a single strand “fence” to keep ellies out and as it was so quiet in camp one could hear plenty movement in the bush, so after dark we all parked off outside.





The Cow didn’t last long on my lap though as shortly after this pic was taken Bushpig shrieked “Hyena!! No PIG!!”

Looking over the wall about 1m from the Cow and I was a massive Bushpig.

A pig isn’t afraid of approaching like a hyena and the Cow and I know this from many past experiences, so I started to whisper to the Cow that she should rapidly head for higher ground, but I didn’t complete my sentence as the Cow turned into Flash Gordon and was already breaking land speed records, but then she became a springbok and leaped onto the spare chair and then dived on the high wall like Spiderman, however this is where the wheels fell off because she didn’t have enough strength to pull herself up the wall.

“HELP!!”

I was laughing so much I forgot about the pig for a second, therefore I had a quick glance behind me and the pig seemed frozen in shock also, but quickly recovered and continued to approach, so I did a “frog jump” onto the ramp and walked up the where the Cow was hanging off the wall.

“HELP!!”

The rats were all hanging on the Cow’s arms and legs now and they were trying to pull her over the wall, but I was still battling to control myself as her butt was hanging above the confused pig.

“The pig’s going to chow your bum!”

“HELP you S*#&”

We ended up rolling around on the veranda laughing, but our commotion had caused a stir in the quiet camp and soon we were getting illuminated by other guest’s torches, so I eventually composed myself enough to lean over the wall and get a pic of the pig, while the Cow threatened me to never tell anyone about her rock climbing skills.



We had smuggled 8 large sosaties from Komatipoort through Swaziland so I armed myself with a large set of tongs to defend against another pig attack and started braaing while others stood watch on the veranda.

A few minutes later there was commotion in a heavy British accent from another unit in camp.

“WILD PIG!! WILD PIG!!”

This continued on and off for the next hour, so I gathered that the pig was doing its rounds between units.

At around 9pm I had to march the rats to their unit before returning to test the shower, but the cold breeze ruined the experience.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

Nselweni looks great, the river view is cool

A really mean looking pig

All the units face the river Toko, so it's a magic setting We found the place very peaceful, so I will return when I hit the lotto

[Bushcraft]

Looks like a lovely place. Nice cabin, nice view, nice bridge/hide or whatever it is The pig does not look very dangerous

It's a cool spot Lisbeth

Bushpig not dangerous They are vicious and highly intelligent which makes them more dangerous. I have personally been chased twice by an angry pig and have a family member who had to climb a tree to escape. I would rather face 2 or 3 hyena around my fire than 1 pig That pig was twice the size of a hyena

[Bushcraft]

Hi BC
What an unbelievable experience it was to read your TR... How can you guys have so much luck with the cats? And even have such amazing sightings before even leaving the camp
I don't think that any one has the luck that the Browns have when visiting the Park...
I mean otters? Agamas catching birds? Lions on hippos? Cheetah on a kill? Lions feasting numerously? Leopards by the handful? Snake eating rodents?
Even though you had the gagga bungalow at Lower Sabie it still seemed that you got a bit of rest and enjoyed yet another trip in KNP...

Howzit Heksie Great to see you around again

We are lucky at times, but so are you

The Lubyelubye pride freaked me out as they were around or on the road every day which is unusual. We ended up just driving past them the last 2 days of our trip

We may need to do a camping trip next year

[Bushcraft]

Had a good laugh about the Wild pig story, Bushcraft

and you not only saw many lions but also a lot of leopards and even cheetahs

Great shots as well from the kingfisher buzzard

That pig caused commotion Pumbaa, but I love surprises like that when in a camp and the fact Nselweni and Mpila have no fence makes the night times exciting and special I would be very upset if they ever fenced either camp

"kingfisher buzzard"

[Bushcraft]

A short post to end. Thanks all


12th Imfolozi to Home
The Cow and I didn’t get up early this morning, so I was very surprised to see the rats dressed and on our veranda with their teeth hanging out just after 6am.
The nice trolley device may help in getting things to the unit, however at this time of the morning there was no sign of it, so we had to mission multiple loads up to the car park, but we did it slowly and stopped to take a few pics of things in camp.





I hate arriving home late on the last day and I had work and the rats had school the next day, so we decided to not waste time and headed for the gate, but did stop a few times for pics, however we were out the park and on the road home just after 8am.









Lastly, thanks to all of you guys that have shared our adventure with us and for allowing us the opportunity to relive our trip.

Bushcraft, the Cow and the Rats

[Toko]

Lovely Blood lilies and a close-up Oriole are a good finale

Bushcraft