Talamati Bushveld Camp

[Twigga]

Nice one RP

This gem will always hold a special place in my heart

[Philip1]

Richprins.

[stefan9]

Our favorite camp. Will be back there July.

[nan]

Our favorite camp. Will be back there July.

enjoy

[Richprins]

Some more from a Bushcraft story, 2013:


https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... 5&start=20



We were 1 km from camp and never expected to find these guys parking off.



One other car arrived from camp, but turned and ducked back to camp a few minutes later, so we were all alone with them.

The chap that was sitting up then decided to flop down, which caused the other chap to quickly sit up. This got Albert excited “Maybe the one farted, so the other sat up”, which resulted in silence and then howls of laughter.



15 minutes later we were still alone with them, which was a welcome surprise, but it was boiling hot, so we were roasting; therefore I started the car to duck towards camp, which got them both sitting up for a final pic.



There were ellies at the Talamati waterhole as we arrived, so the rats and I ducked into the hide, while the Cow booked us in.

A few minutes later the ellies ducked, so we joined the Cow and found out that we had been allocated unit 1, which is the corner unit and the closest to the hide, so all were stoked, but I did remember certain warnings about this unit and the baboon population, so told all my story, which didn’t seem to bother anyone, so I left it at that.

We quickly unpacked and I went on a small patrol around our unit with Albert and Bushpig.

We instantly noticed plenty fresh boon turd, so I issued my warnings again, but nobody seemed concerned.

Just before 4pm I wobbled off to the hide with the rats and found that another gang of ellies had arrived for a drink.





At around 4:15pm the ellies had all ducked, so we went back to our unit to get things ready for the late afternoon drive.

As we drove out the gate the Cow shrieked “STOP!! There’s a sable”



This is when the confusion started “The sable is coming for a drink, let’s wait”

“What about our leopard record Cow!! Time is running out for us to find one”

After 10 minutes I was starting to stress as the sable was a nervous drip and only took 2 steps every 5 minutes, but as it had the potential to be a great sighting, the leopard got put on the back burner and we turned to drive back into camp.

We quietly bailed into the hide and found that the sable was definitely approaching, but seemed nervous of a lone ellie who had pulled in.



Eventually the sable moved in closer and finally had a drink.





Then more ellies pulled in and a few minutes later a Marshall landed close by.



Time was ticking as it was already after 5pm, so we took a short drive to where the male lions had been earlier, but they had moved deeper into the bush, although closer to camp, so we hoped that they may also be heading for a drink; therefore ducked back to the hide, but no such luck, so reluctantly called it a day. I had a major pelican because it was the end of our consecutive leopard/big 5 run.

We gave up on the hide just before 6pm and cruised to our unit to start the fire.

A major surprise waited for us though as a boon army had pulled in and they were all around our unit, which gave the rats a massive fright.

I chased the rats inside and went to start the fire, but after a few minutes a large boon decided that I shouldn’t be around and started mock charging me, which sent the rats who were peering through the door at the time, shrieking around the house.

One after the other the boons bailed into camp and all were climbing a tree which hung over our unit. The noise and stink was enough to drive the most patient person crazy, so for an overexcited individual like me, this was unbearable.

At around 8pm we had finished eating and the boons were still going mad above us, so my pelican out was big time “Let’s grab the torch and go to the hide for some peace”.

There was nobody in the hide, so we spread out and got comfortable. After 10 minutes another aunty pulled in to join us and I was fairly surprised that she had cruised over in the dark by herself.

Another 5 minutes passed and still nothing, so we got chatting quietly with the aunty, she was a super cool visitor from Germany and had already been in the park for 3 weeks. We were halfway through telling her about our leopard failure today when the Cow grabbed my leg “THERE, THERE, What is.......LEOPARD!!”

A leopard cruised out the bush in front of us, checked around and then started to drink.

It took me a while to react and I was just sitting there with my mouth wide open “CAMERA, where’s the #^%#^ camera, shine the torch on the camera!!” “I’m shining on the leopard!!” “Shine on the darn camera, I can’t see how to switch it on”.

I eventually popped the flash up and shot, but just black “The flash doesn’t go that far, #@^$#^ camera”

I then looked around in a panic as the brain wasn’t functioning “That funny slow shutter thing may work, shine back on the camera, hurry up” “Don’t you talk to me like that!!!” “Shine on the camera!!”

I set the shutter to its slowest speed, 30 seconds and fired, but then realized that I was holding the camera, so in a panic tried to sit like a statue for 30 seconds, but just ended up with a blurred stuff up.

I was now in a major flap “I need to balance the camera somewhere; the hide railing is too low!!!”

Eventually we made a tower out of cigarette boxes on the railing of the hide and had the leopard, who was still casually drinking, in the view finder, so pushed the button.

Those 30 seconds felt like hours, but I got the proof pic.



The leopard parked off for another few minutes and then cruised across in front of us, stopped twice to check something out and then moved off towards the road in front of the camp gate.

I didn’t try again to take a pic, because the chaos was ruining the sighting and I knew that the leopard wasn’t going to sit still for 30 seconds again.

I now understand why some own tripods and things.

As soon as the leopard was completely out of sight the rats all started jabbering “Dad, how cool was that” “We broke our record, 7 days of leopard and the big 5”. This is about the time I noticed the rather shocked aunty checking us out as if we were the Adams family, so I chirped “I got a pic!”, which got her social again and she rushed off to get a pen and paper to write down her email address.

We charged back to our unit for a drink refill and minutes later were back in the hide along with the excited cool aunty who had brought a brilliant torch and “night vision” binoculars which were seriously impressive (I wouldn’t like to guess the price)

The next hour produced one of the most exciting times that we have had together as a family in KNP as one animal after another pulled in for a drink. We got 4 of the big 5 in 45 minutes, including genet and hyena.

I didn’t flap about pics and just enjoyed the sightings, but next time a tripod will be part of my kit.

We eventually ducked back to our unit at around 9:30pm as the rats were stuffed.

At around 10pm lion started roaring close to camp and the boons started going crazy. The boons continued on and off until the sun came up, so I think that we got around 2 hours sleep, therefore never stay in unit 1 or 2 at Talamati. I got up about 5 times and attempted to chase the boons, but this only excited them more. They need to do something about it.

[Richprins]

[Richprins]

A 2016 Bushcraft trip:


https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic. ... 0&start=60



Commentary by leachy:


i think your wasp is a hemipepsis tamisieri.. it's favoured prey is the baboon spider

[Richprins]

A night shot by PRWIN, at the main hide:

[Peter Betts]

I have just started Milky way photography and cant wait to hit Tsendze next Sept ..Trading in an F4 ultrawide zoom for the just announced Nikon 14-24 f2.8 ..twice as much light catching ability ..Lovely shot Pete

[krugerbru]

Hello all you fantastic people. I am off to join my mom at her timeshare at Kruger Park Lodge in September, as my dad sadly succumbed to this damn CoViD, and will definitely be swiping my Wild Card daily, but I've also booked 2 nights at Talamati to treat her to one of Krugers finest establishments.

I'm happy to search around and be astonished when I bump into some special sightings, but does anyone have any tips for the Talamati area. For example, does the resident leopard still visit the waterhole regularly in the evenings? I've been lucky with dogs there a long time ago, are there any favourite roads for them there?

Stay safe!