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Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 7:43 pm
by PJL
Lisbeth wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 7:26 pm What about telling SANParks to cut the grass more often? Lots of sightings ruined by long grass :yes:

I like the elephants and they show so well \O lol lol
Lis you’re onto an idea there ..0.. =O: =O:
Fortunately the long grass wasn’t an issue for some sightings to come ;-)

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:42 pm
by Mel
Superb photos of the ground hornbill. And I liked the hairdo of the heron too lol

Mongoose are always cute and it's great to see other species when you get away from your "home" park. :-)

But those predators... hiding... Not what you're used to from those Addo lions and hyenas 0*\

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 6:33 am
by Alf
Mongoose are always very cute ^Q^ ^Q^

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:01 am
by PJL
Mel wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:42 pm Superb photos of the ground hornbill. And I liked the hairdo of the heron too lol

Mongoose are always cute and it's great to see other species when you get away from your "home" park. :-)

But those predators... hiding... Not what you're used to from those Addo lions and hyenas 0*\
Thanks Mel O0
I guess in Addo the bush is so thick you either see the predators or they're totally hidden... none of this spots in the grass nonsense 0*\ lol
Alf wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 6:33 am Mongoose are always very cute ^Q^ ^Q^
They are! We looked out for them whenever we took the S130 but never saw them again -O-

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:28 am
by PJL
I'm going to loose track of days if I'm not careful, so....

Fri 21st June

We were up nice and early for our first full day in the park. By the time we got to Crocodile Bridge gate it was still very dark, but the queues were building. We had decided to see what it was like without a pre-booking, which in hindsight was a bad move. The big queue of cars with pre-bookings were let in first and we had to sit for quite some time. Fortunately we were one of the first non-pre-booking vehicles to be allowed in, and we were processed quickly at reception.

Our aim was to head up to Skukuza for lunch via Lower Sabie, so our first stop would be where the leopards had been seen the day before at the junction of the H4-2 and S130. The youngster was apparently being seen from time to time running between bushes, but despite there initially not being too many cars at the place we just couldn't get any kind of view O/
After waiting for too long the leopards moved totally out of sight which had me in a grumpy mood as we had wasted a fair amount of time at the non-sighting 0*\

Continuing on with our original plan we went up the S130, then across to Duke waterhole and up the last part of the S28 before re-joining the tar up to Lower Sabie. The S130 was quiet, but we found some zebra attempting to drink at the muddy waterhole at the northern end of the road

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There were a few usuals around Duke, but a lump in a tree turned out to be a Verreaux's eagle-owl O\/ O\/

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Along the S28 some vultures were warming up in the sunshine O:V

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One of them was a lappet-faced variety which I don't think we have seen before O/\

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On the H4-2 we found a vehicle reversing, and after chatting to the driver it seemed we had just missed out on another leopard sighting 0:
In fairness they had only seen it for a split second before it dashed into cover so we hadn't missed too much O**

Along the Sabie there was a big herd of buffalo drinking ^Q^

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We stopped at the Lower Sabie bridge and whilst watching some hippo realised this huge monitor was lying in the sun just below the car doors :shock:

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It made for some good close-ups \O

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In the distance we saw a martial eagle, but it was a long way off

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We stopped at Lower Sabie for some much needed coffee and hot chocolate. We found the service there to be very good most of the time despite the swell of visitors over the holidays. Our car had accumulated some serious dust already, so we decided to add some assistance in finding cats lol

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Little did we realise at the time how accurate the directions were O**

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:44 am
by Flutterby
Missed leopard sightings are always frustrating! :-( But you still had some nice sightings. \O

I love the directions on the window! lol

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 11:57 am
by Lisbeth
I cannot see the pics! there is only a "no entrance" sign -O-

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:34 pm
by PJL
Lisbeth wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 11:57 am I cannot see the pics! there is only a "no entrance" sign -O-
Hopefully fixed now Lis?

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:42 pm
by PJL
Flutterby wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:44 am Missed leopard sightings are always frustrating! :-( But you still had some nice sightings. \O

I love the directions on the window! lol
We did have some nice sightings :yes:
After a while we forgot about the window signs, and later in the day got a bit confused when random people drove up next to us and thanked us for the directions =O: =O:

Re: Lions On The Loose

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:00 pm
by Lisbeth
PJL wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:34 pm
Lisbeth wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 11:57 am I cannot see the pics! there is only a "no entrance" sign -O-
Hopefully fixed now Lis?
Thank you O/\ O/\