Browns in Kruger October 2023

[Bushcraft]

Thanks so much, Bushcraft,

and again lions, wild dogs and a leopard

Although it was a long drive you had some incredible sightings and simply love the view from the Biyamiti view point - It is always so peaceful there

Thanks Pumbaa

Biyamiti view point is almost always peaceful which is why I love it so much

[Bushcraft]

Two of your stunning females

I do not know what the pied wagtail was doing, but I am not a birder and have not found anything on the Internet.

The leopard whisperer

The Cow and Albert will hang their teeth

That wagtail was behaving very strangely

Lucky with leopard

[Bushcraft]

I really enjoyed this installment, Bushy, so many interesting things!

Lion on a rock!

Normal morning hyena...

Crazy wagtail!

And I never knew one could get out at that viewpoint, it looks lovely!

Ja, our AW meets were quite long...

A leopard a day keeps the doctor away!

That viewpoint is an awesome spot to get out and relax, it's also normally very quiet people wise and there's often ellies and buffalo in the riverbed

Our AW meets used to be a good jol

[Bushcraft]

7th October Biyamiti continued


I was stoked at our luck because I was secretly hoping for 1 more leopard sighting before we had to leave the next morning, so I was my usual hyped-up self.

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After about 10 minutes the traffic jam started to build up as more cars arrived and the leopard started yawning so we knew he was going to move and about a minute later he stood up, checked everybody out and wandered off into the bush and out of sight.

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[Bushcraft]

The rest of the drive to Nkuhlu produced more of the usual locals, including 2 giraffes scraping in the road which caused a traffic jam for 20 minutes.


As it was still fairly early, we decided to continue on 2km further to where we had seen 2 leopards previously and found some cars and then a leopard snoozing on a rock below the road.

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We had a fairly descent view and I hoped that the leopard would eventually wake up, however the longer we sat, the more the sighting deteriorated traffic wise. It was also one of those still roasting hot Kruger days, so after 20 minutes we decided to turn and head back to Biyamiti for some peaceful time in camp. Our only stop for pics on the way back was for a giraffe that gave us a bum view.

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The Cow and I cooked breakfast and after chowing, Albert and I decided to do a midday walk around all the bush paths in camp.

1st up was an Oriole that required some stalking to obtain a pic and then the local riverbed Biyamiti ellies provided some viewing entertainment as they dug for clean water.

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[Bushcraft]

Albert and I then decided to walk up to the sighting board to see if there had been any updates, but it was unchanged, so we then decided to cruise down one of the bush paths close to reception.

A few meters down the path we bumped into 3 female nyala so we slowly snuck past them to ensure we didn’t give them a fright, but my eyes and focus were on the bush when suddenly Albert left rip

“SNAKE!”

I instantly looked down, spotted a snake in the path about 15cm from where I had placed my foot, and squawked “Cobra!”. I was about to enter into a sudden highland fling dance when the Mozambique put its hood out, so I froze, but fortunately it didn’t spit, and chose to rather duck off with pace into the thick bush.

I normally don’t wear shoes, but I had slops on this time because of the numerous thorns, however I could easily have stood on the snake, so I was lucky.

Albert now wasn’t so keen on the bush paths and we slowly proceeded but with eyes on the path this time.

After Albert and I had described our “near death” experience loudly to the Cow a few times, we slowly packed the car for our final afternoon drive and left camp at around 3:30pm.

It was pushing 39 degrees Celsius and I wasn’t keen on crowds or the current S25 4x4 course, so the plan was to head down the S139 private road to Biyamiti weir and to do about 5km of the S23 Biyamiti loop before returning to camp the same way.

The private road didn’t produce much in the heat, but the local weir bird gang were still around, however a Tawny that was feeding on a kill got our attention.

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After a few minutes with the Tawny and some negotiation time, we decided to continue up the S23 as planned and about 3km later we spotted movement in the riverbed.

“There! Lion!”

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I then noticed that there was only 1 other vehicle, an OSV up the road, which left minutes later, so we were alone with the lions and I knew due to where we were and the time of day, that we probably weren’t going to see another car which was cool, so I repositioned just up the road in the shade, switched off, and we just sat and enjoyed the lions until the Garmin indicated that we should start to take a slow drive back to camp.

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[Bushcraft]

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[Bushcraft]

The drive back to camp produced a Kingfisher at the weir, psycho Biyamiti ellies that the Cow is afraid of, some waterbuck, a tortoise in the road, dwarf mongoose amongst a dead tree and another Tawny posing just before the view point.

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[Bushcraft]

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We still had time when arriving at the turn into camp, so I was considering the short section of private road to the S25, but we eventually decided to rather go back to our unit and start an early braai and start packing the car for our trip back to KZN.

It was still 35 degrees at 5:30pm when I switched off the car at our unit, but I already had my massive final night wood castle constructed in the braai so lit it and moved the chairs back a little to avoid some of the heat.

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Half an hour later, just after dark, a howling wind came blasting through which caused me some panic with my now burning wood castle, so I had to quickly attack the fire like a mad swordman with long potato tongs to squash the height of my castle and remove some logs.

The weather continued to worsen by the minute as a large cold front had arrived, so we finished braaing, chowed, and went to bed early as we had a long drive the next day.

I hate going to bed on the final night in Kruger because that’s when it starts to set in that it’s over.

To be continued

[Lisbeth]

....... however I could easily have stood on the snake, so I was lucky.

A Lucky escape Even Nature tells you to put on some kind of shoes

The tawny has some extraordinary colours

Great lion sighting with the animals moving around and nobody to ruin the quiet of the bush

Cute mini mongoose

35° at 6:30