The ones I don't have photos of - our only Kruger Caracal, our first Kruger Blackie, Wild Dogs and Cheetah on the kill. We've seen more Cheetahs on these roads than anywhere else in the Park.
Two sightings on this road were responsible for my entry into digital photograpy. I've had a SLR camera since about 1974 and for a time made a living selling slides of aircraft to collectors. I had pretty much stopped taking wildlife pictures because of the expense and my camera gear was completely obsolete.
The first sighting was on the approach road to Nthandanyathi hide, a Cheetah had just taken an Impala and was still recovering from the effort. We had a completely unobstructed view of the cat which was about 30 metres from us. Pretty soon, he started to eat and the Vultures got wind of the kill. After about 20 minutes, she had finished a rear haunch and was starting on the front leg and about 60-70 Vultures were looking on, arrayed as if in an amphitheater on the far side of the cat. More and more Vultures started to get bold and were nipping in to steal a bit of flesh from the end the cat wasn't defending and after a few attempts at leaps and snarls the Vultures would move back about half a metre and then continued to encroach. The Cheetah finally gave up and walked away and within 5 seconds, the carcass was completely invisible under a heaving pile of Vultures. I dearly wished that I'd had a camera.
The Wild Dog kill was on the S130, we were heading south and getting worried because it was getting near gate-closing time when we were suddenly surrounded by white tails - don't great sightings always seem to happen at times like these? They had taken an Impala right next to the road and were still feeding! We stopped and watched for as long as we could and when I tried to take pictures with my cell phone, Stargazer said "Why don't you get yourself a new camera?", so I did and there started my love of wildlife photography.
Let's start with some Leopards!
somewhere around 1995.
March 2011.
November 2013.
All three of the above Leopards were seen in this tree which is on the S130 about 50 metres south of the S137 junction (the signpost is visible in the background).
Another Leopard, a few kilometres southerer on the S130 in April 2010.
TBC....
