The Flutterlings of Africa

[Pumbaa]

A pity that you did not see that much, Flutterby, the S90 was extreme high this year and for us also extreme quiet

Love the scoopsy and the loo with a view shot

[Flutterby]

Sounds like an extremely quiet afternoon
And not helpful when your friends find the big 5 and your neighbours also get some serious luck
But I suppose some days are just like that... Nice camp visitors - we had heard that they had removed the badgers and we didn't see them at all much to the kids disappointment

I think we have just got too spoilt...I suppose not everyday in Kruger can be a Big 5 day!

I like the "one eye" Owl

it must be to see nothing, while friends have a lot

... and the loo

Yes nan, not nice when everyone else is having great sightings!

Great to link up with mates while in the park

What’s up with the “loo with a view”

Eish, the H1-4/S90/S41 didn’t produce

“Flock off” I felt the same eventually

Nope, no luck on the roads where you had such luck! We just had a giggle at the loo, as Talia & Andrea were washing their hands and everyone had a view of them.

Hmmm Not a very lucky day

Not at all.

Catching up, Flutts!

Hello, Mike Goss! What a coincidence! Nice ink...

You look very sexy as always, Flutts! But the boy is going to look like Mr Bean when he's older!

Bacon and pork sausages at a Jewish meet?

Bet the old coots had a lot of stories to tell...

That boring drive is when you get out some tea and listen to Mr Clegg or Mr Simon...

Mr Bean? You are mean! The old coot's do have lots of stories, they just take so long to tell them!

A pity that you did not see that much, Flutterby, the S90 was extreme high this year and for us also extreme quiet

Love the scoopsy and the loo with a view shot

Thanks Pumbaa. I suppose you can't have great sightings everyday otherwise we wouldn't appreciate it when we do have them!

[Flutterby]

Day 4, 24 April 2017, Satara - Lower Sabie

We were quite relieved to be leaving Satara as it hadn't been great to us. We had planned on heading straight down the tar but Mommo and Darryl had made some tentative arrangement to meet up somewhere on the S37 Trichardt Road, so it was back down the S100 and S41. This was now the 4th time we were doing these roads, and true to form we saw nothing!! Later on I got a message from Andrea - they had taken the same roads and seen two male lions on a kill on the S100, and the megapride with the white lion on the S41!!

Driving along the S37 we saw a little all-terrain vehicle heading towards us. I commented that it could be Rob Bryden (Darryl's son-in-law & N'wanetsi section ranger) so we waved him down. It was Rob, and he was patrolling with his dog. He told us that Darryl was just a bit further on watching something nice. We carried on and soon saw Darryl's car parked on the side of the road. We approached slowly but couldn't see what he was looking at. We came up alongside him and he pointed into the distance, where were finally saw a cheetah sitting on a mound. It was quite far away and it was overcast so not great for pics but we were happy just to see it!



We had now had more cheetah sightings that lion sightings...not something that I think has ever happened to us before!



We chatted with Darryl while watching the cheetah, but after a while decided to move on as we could see it wasn't going anywhere. A bit further on we came across two jackals. We actually had some really good jackal sightings this trip compared to previous trips.



© Bush Brat

While we were watching the jackals, the Brat piped up from the back, "hang on, what's that...it's lions!" This is what he'd seen (the pic is obviously zoomed in).



It was a great spot as they were quite far away and very flat! We settled down to wait and they obliged us by moving around a bit.





While scanning the area with his binocs the Brat then found another lion much further back. It got up and moved and we assumed it would join the other two but it never arrived. We stayed with the lions for quite a while and not one other car joined us.



We eventually left the lions and got back onto the tar. At the new loops near Tshokwane we wondered if we would see the lioness and cubs which we'd seen on our first day. No cubs today...but there were two lionesses and big black-maned male, with an ellie! Again, they were not close, so not great pics.





The ellie refused to move to allow us to see the other lioness properly.

© Bush Brat

We had now come to the conclusion that Satara was jinxed for us, because as soon as we moved away our sightings improved!

[nan]

wow Cheetahs too
all of you saw Cheetahs

then Lions and Elephants

[Lisbeth]

At least you saw something even if from afar Not even birds around Satara

[Bushcraft]

Jezz, your timing was out each day on the S100/S41

A cheetah sighting and 2 male lion though and then lions parking off behind an ellie which is a cool pic to get

[Pumbaa]

In fact the sightings of cats increased drastically whilst leaving Satara, Flutterby

That day was quite good although the sightings were far but nevertheless brilliant lion and cheetah sightings - Also love the flat lions with the ellie in the foreground

[PJL]

We also saw quite a lot of jackal this time round
I wonder if their numbers have increased due to the better availability of food in the drought?

Great cheetah sighting and even better that you had lions all to yourself

[Flutterby]

wow Cheetahs too
all of you saw Cheetahs

then Lions and Elephants

It's obviously a good time for cheetahs!

At least you saw something even if from afar Not even birds around Satara

Well, we did see a billion queleas!!

Jezz, your timing was out each day on the S100/S41

A cheetah sighting and 2 male lion though and then lions parking off behind an ellie which is a cool pic to get

Tell me about it BC, we were constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time! But things got better at Lower Sabie.

In fact the sightings of cats increased drastically whilst leaving Satara, Flutterby

That day was quite good although the sightings were far but nevertheless brilliant lion and cheetah sightings - Also love the flat lions with the ellie in the foreground

Yes Pumbaa, we didn't mind that the sightings were far, we were just happy to be having sightings!

We also saw quite a lot of jackal this time round
I wonder if their numbers have increased due to the better availability of food in the drought?

Great cheetah sighting and even better that you had lions all to yourself

Not sure about the jackal but good to see them properly. Always nice to have sightings oneself.

[Twigga]

How did I miss this TT

Those 2 brothers - soooo handsome!!



And the cheeth.....so relaxed

I have never seen the queleas - must be a humbling experience I'm sure

Awesome -