Browns in Kruger July 2014*

[Bushcraft]

15th Skukuza to Satara continued

I looked at the time as we pulled in to Lower Sabie and it was already nearly 9am, so we decided to scrap the Tshokwane breakfast plans and the Cow treated us to muffins and a chicken pot pie at the Mugg and Bean takeaway section before moving on. I have to admit that the chicken pot pie was definitely an improvement from the previous chow we have had there.

Just as we left Lower Sabie towards the H10 Bridge the Cow got rather excited about a Bateleur which landed next to the road as it seemed to be having breakfast also.



The H10 Bridge produced all the normal locals, so I won’t bore you with those, but there was an African Jacana cruising around as one of the new additions.



The H10 up to Tshokwane produced very little that was new and we only stopped twice for elephant and buffalo, so I was giving the Cow the hairy eyeball because it was her idea to drive this route, but we did find ostrich just before Nkumbe.



It was already nearly 12pm when we arrived at Tshokwane, so I was keen to hurry the loo stop along, but we recognised a familiar vehicle as we went to park. It was Scipio.

Scipio and I did some catching up in the car park while the Cow took the rats to the loo. When the Cow and clan returned he informed us about a cheetah on the H1-2 that we had missed by doing the H10, which gave me a minor pelican. He also informed us about a visitor who had flattened an impala while speeding. The guilty visitor was still in the car park with SANParks who had the dead impala in the back of their bakkie. The SANParks guys then drove up to chat to Scipio, so we said our goodbyes.

Before we left Tshokwane though the Cow went on a mission chasing what I think is a grey-headed bush shrike (I think )



Mazithi Dam produced all the normal waterbuck, wildebeest, hippo, zebra, etc locals, so we stopped off there for 10 minutes to enjoy the scene, but it was now around 1pm and I was starting to stress as we were potentially wasting time which could be spent having a beer on the veranda of Stanley guest house, so we all agreed to push on.

As I approached the little S86 loop I was in 2 minds on what to do as we normally take the little loop, but it was the middle of the day, so I didn’t have much hope, however I turned into the loop anyway which set the Cow off.

“Are you doing this loop now?”

“I’m not sure, but I have already turned, so let’s continue”

Around halfway into the loop I spotted something in the road, but had to blink as I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“LEOPARD!...........3 LEOPARDS!”

“Where’s the #$^*#*# camera! Rats, start shooting through the window”

I stopped a fair distance from them as I didn’t want to upset the situation. The female leopard is on the left, the male was sniffing around the bush in the middle and junior was parking off in the road.



I was now confused as leopard aren’t social, so I was trying to figure this threesome out. The junior seemed rather nervous about the male and I remember thinking “$%^* this male is going to take the junior out”



The male then wandered over and sat in the road in front of the junior who got up and started towards the male.



Junior then dropped to the ground and rolled onto its back showing submissive behaviour, but the male reacted instantly and bailed up into the air, which we unfortunately only have blurred pics of as it was so quick.



The male then started towards the junior, but suddenly stopped and pulled a face, which is when I turned my attention to the aunty who we hadn’t been concentrating on and it was clearly obvious that she didn’t want this chap near her junior as she was starting to threaten the male.



Junior put his ears flat and then started back to mom.





To be continued

[Bushcraft]

15th Skukuza to Satara continued

I have never felt so flustered at a leopard sighting in my life, because I had no idea which animal to photograph or whether I should be shooting all 3, which resulted in panic and confused camera settings, so I took a breath and continued focusing on junior who was running to mom for safety.



The male suddenly decided that he didn’t want to mess with this mother leopard and took off down the bank into the riverbed. The mother leopard and junior also moved towards the riverbed, but in the opposite direction, so I slowly moved the car forward until we could see them again.



The mischievous cub was on his own mission and started off up the riverbed without his mother who seemed to look to the sky for help.



The mother leopard then decided she better catch up with her cub and they cruised along the riverbed until they found a cool exit spot, stopped to check us out one last time and then disappeared into the bush.





Many will know that I have a thing for leopard and our previous record for a day in Kruger was 6 sightings, but 2 were the same leopards which we spotted in the morning and then again in the afternoon so that made it 4 different animals and we were sitting on 4 for the day today which we had managed only 3 times before, so my teeth were hanging out big time and looking around the car all had cheesy’s, so the jabbering started, but stopped when I said “What happened to the male?”

The mission was now on to find the male, so we went to where we had last seen the male and drove very slowly along, stopped, reversed and tried again, but no luck, so I switched off to formulate a new game plan, but seconds later Bushpig screamed “LEOPARD!” which caused me to jump in my chair.

The leopard was sitting in a bush right next to Bushpig’s window, but got the same fright as me when Bushpig howled, so was now on the move again. The bush was just too thick though to keep track and we had soon lost him again, so the reverse/forward mission started again.

Eventually we gave up and continued down the S86 but at the northern end of the dirt before the road turns back towards the tar there’s a small little loop off the main road, so I pulled into the loop and as I turned the Cow squawked “leopard!”.

The leopard was parking off on a rock, but very difficult to see through the bush and I’m not sure how the Cow spotted him.



We now weren’t sure if it was the same male from earlier, so we thought that we had hit the jackpot, but when I look carefully at the patterns now, it’s the same male.

Just as the S86 joins the tar again we spotted a hippo relaxing in the dry riverbed and we couldn’t help but wonder where he cooled off.



Kumana Dam produced the usual gang including a giraffe having a drink. The green algae is a worry though.



We found a few more locals on the way up to Marheya, but we didn’t stop again until just before the Nkaya Pan turnoff.

A kind chap waved at us so I pulled up next to him and he indicated that he was sure that he had seen a glimpse of a leopard in the long grass. I was seriously hanging for Stanley, but this was our chance to hit 5 for the day, so the binocular search mission started.

After a few minutes the kind chap moved on, so we now weren’t sure, but I repositioned the car for one last search and then something looked suspect in the grass.



“There. I got it!”

“What, where?”

“Another leopard sleeping”

It was a mission to explain to all where the leopard was, but eventually all could see it. I just wanted 1 pic to confirm that it definitely was a leopard and minutes later he put his pip up for a second and we got the confirmation.



We could have sat around and eventually got a better pic and the leopard may have even cruised around, but it was already 2:30pm and we still had around 15km to drive before Satara and we were wasting Stanley time, so we all decided to move on.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

15th Skukuza to Satara continued

We eventually got to Stanley at around 3:20pm and as we drove in the Cow spotted a giant ellie at the waterhole so bailed out the car while I was still trying to park, but I caught up to her eventually.



After unpacking, a few smaller ellies pulled in, so the Cow and rats were back on the fence line.



The little waterhole had plenty action so we didn’t really need to go on another drive, but Hawkeyes started looking at her watch and prancing around, so we made our way to the car, however we only had 45 minutes, so decided to pop in quickly at Nsemani Dam.

First up was a mother giraffe with her junior.



We never made it to the dam though as just before the S40/H7 intersection some spots appeared in the grass and then disappeared. It was definitely a leopard, so we pulled over with another vehicle to wait.

A few minutes later the SANParks sunset drive arrived and due to their height the guests could see the leopard. The SANParks dude then got on his phone and 5 minutes later another SANParks OSV arrived. They then decided to block the entire road, but the crowd was starting to grow, so the hooting started and then people were driving in the bush to get past them, which was stuffing up the entire scene.

It was now 5:10pm, so we only had 20 minutes to get to camp, therefore we would have to leave in 5 minutes, which was causing me stress because this was our 6th leopard for the day and I wanted a proof pic at least.

Fortunately just as I was about to duck the leopard got up.



The Cow then started shrieking “There are 2 leopards” and another set of spots joined the first.



The leopards were cruising towards the S40 rather quickly, so it was obvious that they were going to cross, so I quickly started the car and shot a 100m up the tar and onto the S40.

The darn SANParks sunset gang also realized this and soon they were also on the scene which halted the leopards in their tracks. The smaller leopard lay flat in the grass, but the large male didn’t seem that concerned.



My Garmin now said that we were going to be 1 minute late for camp, so we had no choice but to leave the leopards for the SANParks sunset drive gang.

I immediately started the fire while all gathered along the fence line to watch ellies and buffalo who were having a drink.

We had broken our number of leopard in a day record, so my teeth were hanging out, which resulted in a steady flow of Oros mixes, therefore when a movement caught my eye next to the braai, I had to blink twice to confirm what it was.

“Cow, an AWC has pulled in!”

I charged off to get the camera, while the Cow and rats took over the braai duties. Please forgive the Cow’s outfit as it was still rather cold for a KZN family.



When we finished cooking, the AWC cruised closer to the braai, but soon lost interest and entered into a staring match with a hyena who was sniffing around along the fence line.





After chow we refreshed our drinks, got the fire going again and started the waterhole stakeout. A jackal appeared on and off and plenty hyena stopped for a drink, so the excitement and action continued until late.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

16th Satara

Today is one of those days that one would rather forget as far as sightings are concerned.

I didn’t feel fresh when the alarm went off and it’s probably due to the previous evening’s leopard celebration, Stanley guest house fever, the little waterhole action throughout the night and way too many Oros mixes.

We eventually hit the road just after 7am and had no clue where to go, so we decided on the S100 which immediately produced a mini road block and 2 cheetah on a log, but we were rather slow and they bailed into the long grass before we could get a pic, so my irritation hit an all time high early.

We fiddled around for 15 minutes trying to find them again, but didn’t come right. (Katja and family got the 1 crossing the road later).

Next up was what I think is a woolly necked stork, 2 bateleurs, a S100 waterbuck local, what may be a green wood hoopoe and then a SBS.











I wasn’t feeling healthy and needed some breakfast, so just before the end of the S100 we turned around headed back to camp, only stopping once to take a pic of a large ellie who was hanging around on the H1-3.



After breakfast/lunch we decided to just relax on the bench in front the little waterhole and watch the wildebeest, wartie, zebra and ellie gang who arrived at different times for a drink.

The Cow and Albert went on the hunt around the house for locals and found a crested barbet, a squirrel playing hind and seek, an African hoopoe and a pair of YBH.









To be continued

[Bushcraft]

I have to get rid of this day

16th Satara continued

Later that afternoon the Cow and Katja had to sort out some drama happening at the office with different reservation numbers and the transfer of credit which was too much for me, so I cooled off with some of the rats, but Albert was bored and looking for entertainment, so her toy wild dog got placed in the garden and much to my amusement a “fake” stalk with the camera started to unfold.



The drama at the office took longer than expected to sort out, so we only left for our afternoon drive at around 4pm.

Katja and family had been more successful with their morning adventures, so we decided to travel in convoy up the H1-4, but our luck didn’t change much with only buffalo, ellies and the normal H1-4 Kori bustards making an appearance.







At the H1-4/S127 intersection we had a small conference and decided to cruise back and pop in at Nsemani Dam, but it was already late, so we only had time to snap a quick shot of ellies before heading back to camp.



I got the fire going and soon the scallywag patrol gang appeared. Katja loves these chaps so I offered to snap a few pics of her and Mr M with them as they cruised past.





Things were quieter tonight at the waterhole and the AWC never returned, so we headed for bed.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

17th Satara

I woke refreshed this morning, so the searching mission kicked off again and we left camp just after 6am.

Katja planned to do the S100 and we decided to do the same as it had to produce for us at some stage.

First up was another pearl spotted owlet for the Cow.



After around 6km of the S100 we had lost Katja, so I was stressing that we had missed something, but I couldn’t get cell signal to call her, therefore we decided to just cruise along slowly.

About 1km later a car stopped in front of us and the Cow thought that she had discovered the reason.

“Nice buffalo herd there in the distance”

I was also initially confused as the people in the car in front of us weren’t looking that direction, so I moved slowly forward until I could see past their car.

The Cow was still looking at the buffalo when I spotted them.

“CHEETAH!” and the camera flapping started.

A mother and junior were relaxing in the road.





Miss D, Katja’s oldest, spotted her first cheetah the day before and was very keen to see a few more, therefore the Cow tried frantically to get a message through to them, but we still couldn’t get signal, so I decided to drive back up the road to see if we could find them.

I hadn’t driven more than a 100m and we spotted their car approaching, so I turned and got back into position.

Unfortunately the cheetah had now left the road, but it was still a great sighting as they hadn’t moved off that far.





After around 10 minutes the mother cheetah and junior decided to head deeper in and park off looking at the riverbed, so I snapped one last pic and moved on, but Katja decided to stay with the cheetah.



The rest of the S100 produced the normal locals, but no lion, so I was on a mission to find some and pulled my normal fake sighting manoeuvre, which drives the Cow wild with embarrassment, but I was desperate and didn’t know if we should go left or right on the S41.

I turned left onto the S41 and pulled over to wait for the first people to con. The first car didn’t take the bait, but the 2nd car stopped.

“Do you have something?”

“No, anything from your direction”

“Yes, lion about 3km up the road”

“Sharp, cheetah on the S100”

The Cow had a red pip, but we both scored information, so I didn’t feel that guilty.

Luckily the gentleman was correct with his 3km estimate as surprisingly there weren’t any other cars around and we could have easily driven past them.

There was 1 adult lioness lying deeper in with 2 teenagers and 4 teenagers were parking off closer to the road.





The 4 teenagers close to the road started to get a little nervous after 5 minutes and one at a time they cruised off towards their mother.



A Burchell’s landed between the lions and us, so the Cow started snapping away.



We had been with the lions for around 15 minutes and still there were no other cars around. They were fairly difficult to see, so I wanted to wait and at least help another person see them, but we all needed the loo, therefore N’wanetsi picnic site got the vote.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

Thanks Flutts, Tina, nan, BB, RP, BJ and Amoli for checking things out and commenting

17th Satara continued

The drive down the S41 to N’wanetsi produced more locals, including kudu, zebra, ellies, etc, but nothing to get really excited about, so I started flapping my ears in the loo and instructed the rats and Cow to do the same.

The general feedback was that the H6 was very quiet, so we decided to drive back down the S100 towards camp with the hope that the cheetah from earlier were still around.

Around halfway back to the S100 turnoff we met up with Katja and family who stated that the cheetahs were still around when they left and we told them about the lion up the road from the turnoff, so they turned.

Our plan failed however as the cheetah had ducked by the time we reached the area, so we just enjoyed the normal locals and continued slowly towards camp stopping once for a pic of a slender mongoose next to the road.



When we reached the S100/H7/H1-3 intersection we decided to take a short trip down the H7 to check out Nsemani Dam.

There were a few cars parked on the dam wall and a number of locals hanging around the dam, but we were keen to keep away from everyone and just relax and watch in peace, so I stopped closer to the S40 just as one drives onto the wall.

After a few minutes of checking the locals out I noticed something opposite us move and it looked suspect so the binoculars came out. A lioness had sat down in the shade of a bush and was watching the locals.



Nobody else seemed to have noticed this lioness, but I doubt they could see her from where they were parked and I certainly wasn’t going to signal to anyone as we were enjoying the peace.

The zebra drinking below her didn’t pick up on her presence, so I thought that there may be some action.



A few minutes later one zebra picked up on something and they all charged off, which caused a herd of impala to scatter in all directions, so I thought that they would be the next on the menu, but the lioness just got up and went for a stroll around the back of the dam and then disappeared into the bush.



We were now all a little hungry, so turned and headed back to Satara for breakfast, but I did stop once to watch 2 giraffe having a scrap.



Katja and family were already at Stanley when we arrived, so we all settled into an afternoon of enjoying the little waterhole, which produced a consistent stream of different visitors.







The Cow loves stalking birds around Satara camp and Albert has become a fairly proficient predator with her little camera, so both of them went on patrol.





Mr M cracked an early beer, so I joined in with a few “tonic” mixes; therefore it turned into a great afternoon with mates.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

17th Satara continued

The afternoon drive planning started at around 3pm and we mentioned the lone lioness that was cruising around Nsemani Dam, so we both decided to head that direction at around 3:45pm.

Nsemani Dam failed to produce anything to get excited about, besides a few ellies that were running riot in the bush, so we decided to head up the S12 and check out Girivana Dam.



Girivana Dam produced a few locals and a massive herd of buffalo which obviously included a clan of juniors also.





The one buffalo came right up to Katja’s car and was giving her the hairy eyeball, which was amusing for us to watch and I think we were laughing more watching Katja than the buffalo.

We then had a small conference and decided as we couldn’t cross the dam wall because there were just too many buffalo on it that we would head back down the S12 to the H7 and then cruise to camp.

The S12 produced the same locals on the way down, but as we hit the H7 we found a few cars stopped and immediately the Cow shouted “cheetah!”

The cheetah had killed something which we couldn’t see and was busy feeding on it, but she was in a tricky spot and the light was rapidly fading, so it was rather difficult to get good pics.





We unfortunately couldn’t spend more than 10 minutes with her as time was ticking, so we reluctantly returned to camp.

As we pulled into Stanley we were greeted by a gang of banded mongoose who had decided to take over the Stanley garden, so Katja bailed out the car and ran one way around the house, while the rats and Cow charged off the other direction.

The Cow managed to capture one checking them out.



A herd of ellies had also pulled in at the little waterhole and the one junior ellie got pushed into the water, so the trumpeting started big time, which added to the experience.



A jackal suddenly made an appearance and he was chasing guinea fowls all over the place, which was hilarious to watch but as it was nearly dark almost impossible to photograph. The Cow eventually managed to capture a proof pic of the jackal and the fowls to the left and right of him.



A few minutes after I started the fire the first of the hyena made an appearance and around half an hour later the entire clan pulled in at the waterhole including 2 juniors who must have just left the den.

Then a little scops owl pulled in and the camera mission started again as we could walk right up to him.



The action at the small waterhole was continuous and every few minutes someone was running off with a torch, so the vibe was awesome, which set the tone for Mr M and I to do some taste testing.

Mr M had never tasted a Gin and Tonic before and liked it, so we had a few of those as starters and then he was keen to try some Cane, but with Coke, so a few of those were next on the menu. Mr M also had a bottle of Amarula, but my taste buds were already numb, so when we moved onto those it was a little like feeding strawberries to pigs; however it still went rapidly down the hatch.

It was much later than normal when all finally decided to cruise off to bed, but I decided to do my “alone in the dark next to the fire” thing, but my senses were a little numb, so I soon became paranoid for any moment at the waterhole or along the fence line, therefore when a little mouse ran across my foot I jumped up and started a Flattery tap dance, which I’m glad others weren’t around to see.

The Cow came to check on me when she heard the commotion and fortunately couldn’t see my red pip in the dark.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

18th Satara

The previous evenings taste testing came back to bite me this morning, so the enthusiasm wasn’t that high for an early start and we eventually left camp at around 6:45am.

Katja and family were heading down the H1-3 to Tshokwane and as I was starting to get “leopard” fever again, I was keen to check out the S86 loop, so we decided to head the same direction.

We ducked onto the H7 first though to check out a large ellie, which was a mistake as Katja got lion crossing the road on the H1-3 which we just missed, however the 2 ellies created some amusement amongst the rats.

“Why is that one hiding his head dad?”

“I don’t know!”



After 5 minutes there was still no change which got Albert dreaming up ellie ideas and she excitably announced

“He’s playing hide and seek with the other one dad!”



We all had a good laugh at Albert’s theory.

The H1-3 down towards Tshokwane was rather quiet and the S86 didn’t live up to the leopard expectations, but it did produce a journey of giraffe.



When we caught up to Katja and clan we found out that we had missed lion crossing the road, which gave me a mild pelican as our timing seemed off once again and it was turning into “one of those drives”.

The rest of the way to Tshokwane produced the normal gang at the dams, but we only took pics of Bateleur next to the next.





The way back to Satara produced the same set of locals, but this time a SBS and GHB made an appearance.





Just before Satara we found a few vultures hanging around and then spotted a lioness hiding in the shade a long way off.



To be continued

[Bushcraft]

I have just been handed another large project which kicks off next week, so I need to hurry this up

18th Satara continued

After breakfast I settled in on the veranda to enjoy the little waterhole locals while the Cow and Albert when on a mission around the garden again, which produced a few brown headed parrots and what I think is an orange breasted bush shrike.





The Cow eventually settled in to watch the waterhole with the rest of us, but Albert continued on her mission around the garden and started stalking a squirrel which ended abruptly when the squirrel decided he was sick of the game and stood up to Albert who snapped a pic and then took off like a fire engine.



As the morning had been a flop we decided to start planning our afternoon drive a little earlier than normal, but I wasn’t scoring support for my route as the Cow wanted to drive the S90, which I don’t mind first thing in the morning, however I find it relatively quiet in the afternoon, so my pelican was out immediately as I didn’t have much hope in saving the day.

The plan ended up the S90, S41, S100 loop, so I at least hoped that the S100 would deliver later, but we normally don’t drive it in the afternoon as it can look like the Dakar Rally.

We left camp at around 3:30pm, which is very early for us in the afternoon, but we needed the time to make it round the loop.

First up were few giraffe and then a jackal on the S90, which caused major frustration as we had to take pics directly into the setting sun.





By the time we reached the S90/S41 intersection the Cow had developed a massive beak because my negative comments about the S90 were starting to work on her nerves, so the tension was high in the car and it only increased as we turned onto the S41 because we immediately got stuck behind a car doing 10km/h and they wouldn’t create a gap for us to pass.

“Look at this chop, why doesn’t he let us past”.

“Maybe he’s enjoying the tranquillity of the road unlike you!”

“Only a tonsil drives at 10km/h and expects all behind him to enjoy driving at the same speed”

“Stop moaning all the time!”

I could feel that I was seconds away from blowing a gasket and as the Cow was already primed it would have been a full on scrap if I continued commenting about the idiot driver, so I decided to rather accept 10km/h until the tonsil decided to give us a gap.

Around a km later I went into brain dead mode and just stared into the bush without registering much, but a blonde tuff in the air caught my attention.

“What’s that?”, but the Cow had gone into “ignore” mode, so I stopped and reversed.

“There’s a lion there, wait 3 lion”





I now had to admit that there was merit in the Cow’s route, which wasn’t going to come out of my mouth easily, so I initially decided to just take pics in silence.

The tonsil who had been holding us up hadn’t seen the lion and was disappearing up the road, so we were completely alone with them, which for 3 male lions is a novelty experience in Kruger, so I was feeling more pressure to acknowledge the Cow’s route choice.

Around 5 minutes later the one chap got up and they started towards us and we were still the only car around, so I had to force the words out...

“Cow, your route has produced”, but I wasn’t escaping that easily and the silence continued.



To be continued