Browns in Kruger October 2023

[Bushcraft]

Hey Guys

I haven’t been around for a while due to hectic work commitments, life just seems so busy, but it’s time for a new TT and to capture some history, although it’s nearly a year late, but we have another Kruger trip coming up in September, so I need to catch up with trip reports.

I’m going to push this out fairly fast and in “bulk” when I get a gap each day/week from work.

School holidays governed our annual trip timeframe again since Albert was writing matric. Hawkeyes and Bushpig had Varsity commitments so they stayed and looked after the house, Granny, dogs, cat, fish and hamsters.

We could afford to spend more time in bush camps this year because there were only 3 of us, but we had the normal school holiday juggle to get a booking and the final trip ended up as per the below.

27th September Nkonkoni Fishing Camp, Jozini Dam
28th, 29th and 30th Lower Sabie
1st & 2nd Talamati
3rd, 4th and 5th Skukuza
6th & 7th Biyamiti
8th Mpila Camp, Imfolozi

The rhino population is again a concern as they were missing from many of the usual spots, however I’m going to omit all Kruger rhino sightings even though I don’t believe it makes much of a difference nearly a year later.

We still found the condition of the accommodation rather sketchy for the price in some camps, but we prefer staying in the park than putting up with the entrance gate chaos each morning.

In summary, the trip wasn’t one of our better trips sighting wise and it was again a little different without Hawkeyes & Bushpig, but Kruger is still a special place.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

27th September Home to Nkonkoni Fishing Camp Jozini

I sometimes work half day when we are stopping over at Jozini Dam on route to Kruger, but decided to take the entire day off to eliminate the pressure I put on the Cow to have everything ready and waiting in the driveway, however Albert had an exam to write, so I was pacing impatiently around the house and ended up still putting pressure on the Cow & Albert after she arrived home from the exam. We eventually left for Jozini at around 12:30pm and arrived just after 4pm.

My hair was standing up on arrival at Nkonkoni and my pelican was out because it had been a nightmare drive, especially the section just outside Richard Bay as the coal trucks had completely taken over the road for more than 10km and the rules of the road had been thrown out the window. The 1st large cut off low pressure for the year had also arrived so it was raining on and off the entire way from Toti which made it even worse, but I calmed as we pulled into reception and parked next to the large impala lily that we take a pic of each year.

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Nkonkoni is actually marketed as a tiger fishing camp with direct access to the dam and it’s largely unfenced on the northern side, but it has plenty general game, including the odd mental elephant and hippo, however no land predators, so it’s generally safe to walk around which is cool.

The huts are simply 1 room with 4 beds, a bathroom with outside shower attached and a private braai boma. They also charge per head, not per unit, so the Cow and I had our own unit and Albert was in her own unit next door.

After unpacking Albert pulled in to our unit which had a small view of sections of Jozini Dam.

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It was drizzling lightly on and off and daylight was fading fast, so we decided to just do our traditional quick 1.5km drive down to the dam and stopped briefly to take pics of some of the locals before turning back to our unit.

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[Bushcraft]

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I started a raging fire to compensate for the drizzle and then just wobbled around exploring while waiting for it to get ready.

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[Bushcraft]

Just before we started braaing another car arrived at the unit behind us with 4 young males and I could see by the beers in hand and the vocals that this had the potential to turn into a long night, however after unpacking they left for the main common boma so peace returned and my teeth were hanging out again.

The gentle rain started to increase in volume so I quickly tossed the homemade sosaties on the braai and just managed to finish cooking them before the rain put the fire out.

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The rain put a damper on our normal boma park off time, so we sat chatting on the veranda for around an hour after supper, but it had been a long day, so Albert cruised off to her unit and I conned the Cow to try the outside shower even though it was raining. I don’t think I will be successful with this con in the future as one side of your body is freezing while the other side is roasting hot, so I found it rather amusing, but the Cow didn’t appreciate the experience the same way.

It was still raining by the time we went bed and I had some reservations about the dirt road out in the morning as we no longer had a 4x4, however decided to keep my concerns to myself at this stage.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

28th September Nkonkoni Fishing Camp Jozini Dam to Lower Sabie

We were up and about at around 5:30am, the rain had finally stopped and there were small breaks in the cloud cover, so we quickly packed the car and hit the road.

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The dirt road felt like I was driving on soap, but I decided to keep it to myself initially as I know from past history how the Cow reacts to a proper off-road experience, however about 1km up the road I could no longer hide the situation from the Cow.

“We are sliding all over the road!”

I still kept quiet, but I was battling to stay on the road even at a slow pace and knew the kak was going to hit the fan.

“Hold on, I need a little momentum for this section”

The Cow’s intensity increased

“Wait, we sliding again! Go back, they must bring a tractor to tow us out!”

Seconds later we were stuck to the chassis and going nowhere.

The Cow was now properly excited

“*@#$, reverse!”

I obeyed the instruction and tried to reverse, but that wasn’t happening either, so I got out the car to check how bad it was and to think.

It was going to be a long wait for help, the tractor, etc, and Kruger was on the horizon, so I thought stuff this, we had to make a plan, therefore I pushed some random branches and rocks under the tyres, engaged diff lock, and with some foot flat backwards and forwards we got out.

By now the Cow was clinging wide-eyed to the dashboard and I’m no 4x4 expert, but I wasn’t going to get stuck again, so we had some serious “momentum” for the rest of the way out, however we nearly ended up in the bush twice on corners because even though I was full lock on the steering, the car was still sliding straight.

We stopped at the exit gate to check if everything was still ok with the car as I was worried that the side rails had been bent because we were stuck up to them, but all looked fine. I think we only made it because my bakkie bin was loaded so we had large weight over the rear wheels.

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I then had fun for the next 10km trying to hit every puddle in the road to clean my tyres and car, however soon stopped that after an extended hairy eyeball from the Cow.

We got to the Swazi border later than normal due to the morning antics, but all went smoothly and in 15 minutes we were in Swaziland.

I don’t think anybody actually knows what’s potting in Swaziland with the speed limits as they range from 60km/h to 120km/h on the same road and it changes for no apparent reason that I can see, but we have learnt over the years to slow down whenever there’s a 60km/h sign as the police wait in ambush about 100m from the sign.

As one exits the top end of Swaziland, the Mananga border post, it feels like KNP is just around the corner, however it’s still around 65km to Komatipoort and some sections are dodgy. I think in the future we may all need a bakkie for the roads in SA.

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[Bushcraft]

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We got to Komatipoort just before midday and our dreaded shopping mission started at the Spar, which I hate because the Cow likes to “look” and I like to “grab and move”, so we normally have a scrap, but with difficulty I managed to semi behave this time and we arrived in a peaceful mood at Croc Bridge just after 1pm.

The Cow went to sort out the paperwork while Albert and I got the cameras ready.

Our first animal sightings, besides impala, were some giraffes and then the normal crocs that hang out at Gasanftombi dam.

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It was apparent that Kruger had also received a fair amount of rain, so I wasn’t stoked as I knew that the bush would be full of water and therefore sightings would be more difficult, however as the S28 was open, we decided check out the 1st few km to see how much water there was on the dirt to provide an indication.

A few km down the S28, we quickly realised that KNP had received as much rain as Jozini, but at least the wildebeest were enjoying it.

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[Bushcraft]

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I turned at the wildebeest and we headed up the H4-2 towards Lower Sabie which produced the normal gang and we stopped for pics every now and then.

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[Bushcraft]

We had a small negotiation at the H4-2/S82 southern intersection and decided to take the dirt to Lower Sabie and it was rather quiet until around the middle of the S82 where a hyena appeared next to the road, then we spotted some vultures and quickly picked up on a foetus/baby impala in a tree right next to the road, but there was no leopard around.

The hyena moved in closer and suddenly there was movement on the other side of the road and the hyena took off as a male lion stood up.

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Vultures continued to arrive and the male lion just stood still while checking them out, but never moved in to chase them. The lion then calmed and lay down flat in the grass again, so our focus turned to the vulture gang as one was chowing something suspect.

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[Bushcraft]

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We waited around for half an hour and the odd hyena appeared in the bush every now and then, but the lion never moved again and there was no sign of the leopard, so we moved on.

Next up where some GHB’s, a hyena crossing the road and at the H4-2/S82 northern intersection an unexpected hippo appeared next to the road and seemed to be drinking from a puddle of water.

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[Bushcraft]

When the hippo moved off into the bush, we continued on past Lower Sabie to quickly check out Sunset dam before booking in and unpacking.

All the locals where around but the Cow was focused on a Dikkop as it was close to the road and then minutes later an African Hawk Eagle made an appearance to steal the limelight from the Dikkop.

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We were staying in the cheap EH2 huts again, which isn’t my scene due to the proximity to neighbours, but it’s at least affordable and it allows us to fit a few bush camp nights in as we prefer that camp environment.

Albert’s hut on previous trips had a massive bat invasion, much to her horror, therefore she wanted me to conduct an inspection. In 2021 I climbed up on a table and stuffed black bins bags into the holes between the thatch and the wall, so I climbed up on the table again and found that amazingly our bins bags were still in place, so Albert could relax.

We created our own little table space slightly away from the EH2 gang, I started the fire and we just parked off chatting.

Later while braaing we picked up on a movement in the sausage tree above us, so I grabbed the Cow’s toilet torch and we found the cause of the movement. The bushbaby was chowing/drinking something from the sausage tree flowers and we have noticed this many times over the years, but I’m not sure what it is that they love, possibly the nectar?

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It had been a long day, so we ducked off to the old suspect bat poo infested ablutions for a shower and then all went to bed.

To be continued