Africa Wild

5:00 – It was a dark, stormy morning.Birds usually starts to sing this time of the morning, but nothing. Dead, eerie silence.The smell of rain filled the air. The wind was howling at me, cold & dark. We still had a lot to do, and pack. I decided to bring the car around, it would just make the packing process easier, since the whole family is still trying to wake up.

I don’t like garages. They are smelly and dusty. Ugly objects are hidden in garages, long forgotten. Garages - the perfect hide – away for creepy creatures. I was far too excited to worry about that now. The “ginormous” spider long forgotten that I saw in the corner the day before.

I opened the door, the cold air hit me unexpectedly. I was trying to remember where the light is again, but dare not to point my finger until I was sure…AHHA there!

I gasped! The sight before my eyes, unbearable! Someone broke into the garage and stole all 4 tyres!

I tried to scream but nothing. And then, I heard a sound behind, It was right next to me, I quickly turned around, now louder, AND THEN…….

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone….I can see all obstacles in my way…..(how typical)
“Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind”
“It’s gonna be a bright……….bright……….bright sun shiny day”

My wake up tune!

WHAT!*%$ ALARM!!!!

Thank goodness, just a nightmare! I don’t usually have bad, cliché “Murder she wrote nightmares” My nightmares usually involves, the taxman or fuel price increases

My July trip to Kruger got off to a rocky start with our car issues, but nothing would stop us now
Let’s get this bus rolling

So we were of to Kruger, had a smooth ride to Malelane gate, (if we enter Kruger before 9 then I consider it a successful trip)

I just love the Genesis route, took this pic on the R38 between Badplaas & Barberton



Our first animal.......................surprise, surprise

No, not impi



Dagha - boys





Yap - still on track. We had a "Historic Hester" with us on "Safari" so we had to stop at all the Historic markers. Double to Sanparks for restoring the copper - plates at the sites



And then - for a few km on route to Pretoriuskop a huge rain storm that brought visibility to 0 but no complaints. These 2 crossed the road infront of us

We finally reached PKop a few minutes after 2.

I visited this camp numerous times as a child, favored by my parents, so as an adult I am more keen to explore other camps that Kruger has to offer.

It was definitely very special to return again,my only other overnight visit as an adult was in 2010 so the memories flooded back

Our afternoon drive produced no excitement but we didn't care, I am back in paradise

These Gf's are quite photogenic, too bad they are begging for scraps







Day 1 - concluded

Thank you Greenville for the comments


Pretoriuskop area is a HUGE gamble regarding sightings, the long grass makes it soooo difficult and you have to work extra hard to spot (no pun intended )animals

Next up: Tango with a cheetah

Day 2 - Morning drive

We decided to go to Skukuza via S3 gravel road - Phabeni Gate

I battled to keep my eyes open for almost the entire S3, a combination of fresh air, wobbly dirt road and lack of animals

My little brother (our designated driver) stopped for every track and trace on the road



It was this track that shook me up

And then....................................he spotted something way of in the road

We all went lio...........NO............leo................and then finally CHEETAH!!!

We kept our distance, we didn't want to spook this beautiful creature, I just clicked away. Excuse some of the blurry pics as I took through the window

We were so gratefull, cannot remember the last time I had a decent cheetah sighting. In the road!!

He was on a mission, went on and of the road to mark it's territory

We followed him for almost 2 km, then he got devoured by the long grass

The best part: we were the only car!! I felt almost guilty

Thank you Kruger!!!!

Twigga, your tortoise is Kinixys spekii Speke's hinged-back tortoise It is not very rare, but still a cool find

There are only two hinge back ones in Kruger, the other one is Kinixys natalensis

After all the cheetah-excitement the sugar levels were at an ultimate low and the water levels at an ultimate high!

Phabeni Gate felt light years away Happiness! Time for a break...



We proceeded towards Skukuza for brunch, but could not pass the turn off to Albasini Ruines. "Historic Hester" made sure of that.She thoroughly enjoyed this pitstop,her last visit there as a child. Her enthusiasm was heart warming. I on the other hand was on predator duty

Then my favorite bird these days the korhaan, which I still can’t tell the difference, between the red & black bellied, Dewi



At the low level bridge near Skukuza day visitors these marabou storks caused a bit of a traffic jam, interesting birds

You found a Black-bellied Bustard Cool