Lions On The Loose

[Bushcraft]

The Marloth accommodation looks fantastic

The warties visiting is cool; it reminds me of Mpila camp in Imfolozi.

Nice start in the park

A green back heron isn’t hanging around Lower Sabie low level bridge often

Not the best leopard & cub sighting due to all the bush, but you still got them.

A frustrating start with the leopard on your first full day in the park. I would have developed a pelican also

A nice lion sighting on the causeway, but a fantastic leopard sighting on the H1-2

Your pics are brilliant as per normal

[Mel]

You're way ahead of me... I still marvel at those stunning bee-eater shots, and the monitor that is.
And you already come up with a leopard

(And also that fantastic kingfisher sighting, and the the horned one, and the spottie... )

[RogerFraser]

Love the Kingfisher shots

I do hope the Leopard followed your directions on the sign and appeared on the correct side .

Good spot of the Hyena

[Pumbaa]

And now a fantastic lepoard sighting, PJL,

love also the shots of the rhino and pied kingfisher

[Alf]

I would also drive some detour to avoid any traffic jam

[Flutterby]

Great leopard sighting!! And always nice to see hyena...I love them!

[PJL]

Superb planning and luck, Peej!

Always nicer to spot something on one's own....

Healthy leopard that!

Thanks RP... there was a bit of planning involved with that leopard as we had noticed one being seen in that area and long the S83 quite regularly. Just pure timing luck that we found it

The Marloth accommodation looks fantastic

The warties visiting is cool; it reminds me of Mpila camp in Imfolozi.

Nice start in the park

A green back heron isn’t hanging around Lower Sabie low level bridge often

Not the best leopard & cub sighting due to all the bush, but you still got them.

A frustrating start with the leopard on your first full day in the park. I would have developed a pelican also

A nice lion sighting on the causeway, but a fantastic leopard sighting on the H1-2

Your pics are brilliant as per normal

Thanks BC
We borrowed one of your tricks and did a bit of leopard 'research' before this trip... certainly helped in working out roads with a higher probability of finding them, but I've come to realise a lot of it is pure luck

You're way ahead of me... I still marvel at those stunning bee-eater shots, and the monitor that is.
And you already come up with a leopard

(And also that fantastic kingfisher sighting, and the the horned one, and the spottie... )

Thanks Mel... it was a very decent start to the trip for sure

[PJL]

Love the Kingfisher shots

I do hope the Leopard followed your directions on the sign and appeared on the correct side .

Good spot of the Hyena

The leopard did indeed follow directions!! We couldn't quite believe it

And now a fantastic lepoard sighting, PJL,

love also the shots of the rhino and pied kingfisher

Thank you Pumbaa... that leopard had us very much on a high

I would also drive some detour to avoid any traffic jam

You'll see shortly Alf that the detour perhaps wasn't necessary after all... but it had been totally worth it

Great leopard sighting!! And always nice to see hyena...I love them!

Thanks Flutts. Yep the hyena was a decent spot. As we didn't know of any particular den sites with little ones around the Croc Bridge side, every hyena sighting this trip felt like a good sighting as we had to hunt for them

[PJL]

Fri 21st June contd

After re-joining the H4-1 we were surprised not to see a huge traffic jam near the giraffe carcass - in fact there were no cars at all
We wondered whether the lion had disappeared, but he was still there fast asleep...



Heading down the H4-1 we had several herds of elephant come across the road quite close to us including this one with a youngster in tow



We took the S79 and found some fluffy young waterbuck and a big herd of buffalo with this chap whose horns were virtually complete circles





Further south this old chap had lost his horns entirely



There was a sighting of lions in the Sabie river bed and we caught a glimpse of a big male wandering along towards the rest of his gang, but it was all too quick for a photo. The bulk of the lions were below a viewing loop which was totally packed with cars so we gave it a skip as we had already had some good lion sightings earlier in the day.

At sunset dam this yellow billed stork was nice and close, and further south we found a young bateleur





Along the H4-2 we found a big traffic jam as a big male lion was fast asleep in the road. We wondered how long the queue would take and whether it might be better to go back on ourselves and down the S130 when he decided to get up and walk in our direction

With cameras at the ready he stopped at the car in front of us and looked like he would head off into the bush but thankfully he changed his mind and came past us, stopping for a quick pee outside our window











With the lion walking away, the traffic quickly cleared and we made good time down to the gate, stopping for this nice scene along the way



We had been treated to some brilliant sightings during the day, and amazingly this was the first time where we had seen the Big 5 in one day

[Richprins]

Lovely and lucky sightings for one trip, Peej!

No crowd at the carcass, on Eloff street??

And a grand male indeed!

Amazing the difference in buff horns!