Africa Wild

Hey Guys,

It’s time to start our October 2015 TT.

This was the 2nd trip to KNP this year for Bushcraft, The Cow, Hawkeyes, Bushpig and Albert.

Things went south big time for us as a family during the latter part of the year, which is one of the reasons it’s taken me much longer than normal to start this trip report. A few on the forum are already aware of the below, but there’s no reason for it to remain confidential.

On Friday 11th of September Hawkeyes had her first seizure which took us all by surprise and by the Sunday she was admitted to Parklands Hospital. I’m sure all are aware that she’s had leukemia and 3 years chemo already, so in panic we went back to her oncologist. By the Monday the seizures had escalated to “full body type” seizures of around 4 or 5 a day and varying in length from a few minutes to 45 minutes. The oncologist advised that all the symptoms pointed towards a brain tumour and an emergency MRI scan was booked for the next day.

The scan came back and no issues could be found, so they then mentioned leukemic meningitis which is even worse, so panic set in and we cancelled our KNP trip, however these tests were also negative.

The seizures were still escalating, so they then said it could be epilepsy and started her on 2 different drugs, which reduced the seizures to 1 a day and after 7 days she was released from hospital.

The doctors advised that she could still go to Kruger as it would do her good, provided we were organised. RP helped out massively with emergency contacts and the Cow chatted to the Skukuza doctor who provided his personal contact numbers which relaxed the nerves a little, so we decided to rebook the trip and fortunately secured most of our original accommodation.

The trip ended up as below:

2nd, 3rd and 4th Lower Sabie
5th and 6th Satara
7th Talamati
8th and 9th Lower Sabie
10th Mpila Imfolozi

The days leading up to the trip were nerve racking for me personally as Hawkeyes was still having seizures every 2nd day, but we decided to go anyway and just do drives close to camp where possible.

The rats saved the day many times on the sighting front and we would have missed plenty sightings if it wasn’t for their beady eyes.

The temperatures we experienced for the duration of the trip were crazy and one particular day broke all our previous records for Kruger.

Any Kruger trip produces the odd beer can along the road and people out their cars, but we have never seen so many before which wasn’t great.

I’m going to omit 95% of the rhino sightings as most locations are obvious, but there are a few rhino sightings of the “special” variety that I’m going to include.

I’m finding it difficult to summarize this trip as it had a few high points, but there were massive lows due to various medical dramas that popped up towards the middle of the trip which resulted in us spending most of the remaining days in camp and then abandoning our last night at Mpila. The Cow was forced to drive my bakkie for the first time in Kruger and probably saved my skin, but I will get to those details later in the report.

In summary, a large portion of this trip was a disaster and I vaguely remember the last few days in the park, however there were a few major sightings including probably our best “night” ever in a Kruger camp, so I hope all ride the wave, hang around during the drama times and still enjoy the TT.

Things are rather busy at work, so I’m going to slap this together quickly, so catch up when you have time

To be continued

2nd October Home to Lower Sabie

The original plan was to stop at Jozini Dam again as per normal, but as we had cancelled and rebooked, we decided to drive straight through on the Friday instead of stopping over on the Thursday night.

The border post “politics” always irritates me big time and in places the road in Swaziland is still suspect, but we were soon through and on the home stretch to Komatipoort.

In the past we have had a problem in Komatipoort on Friday mornings with meat availability, but as we only arrived at around 1pm, the “weekend meat” was on the shelves, so we were done with all the shopping in less than an hour and soon arrived at Croc Bridge gate.

It had been a long day already, so we decided to head straight up the H4-2 to Lower Sabie. All the normal locals popped up including a few birds for the Cow.











It’s become a habit and I’m not sure why, but we always take a small 2km detour down the S130 off the H4-2 when first entering the park as there are 2 unnamed pans which we like to visit, but both pans were dry, however as I turned the car the Cow spotted our first lion of the trip.

It was 2 male lions, but they were in thick bush, so the first camera drama started as I couldn’t focus on them. The only time I take a camera out is in Imfolozi and KNP, so it takes me awhile to figure the thing out each trip and there weren’t any other cars around, so my first mini tantrum didn’t cause too much embarrassment.

Eventually the Cow with her less temperamental super zoom managed a few pics.







The rest of the drive to Lower Sabie didn’t produce much except for a tortoise having a chow and a tawny.





We booked in at Lower Sabie and headed straight for the unit to unwind. Hawkeyes had made it through the day without incident, so I was more relaxed and our first Kruger braai of the trip started early.



Later in the evening a civet came cruising past on the fence line, but we didn’t get any pics as all the cameras were charging and I was feeling too lazy to run around.
We were all stuffed so crashed early.

To be continued

3rd October Lower Sabie

We woke to an overcast morning and it was fairly cool, so I got my hopes up that we wouldn’t get roasted this trip like we did the previous October. What I didn’t know at the time was that this would be our “coolest” day of the trip and it reached 37 degrees.

The plan was to head up the H4-1 towards the H12 Bridge before returning to camp for breakfast.

Our first sighting that we stopped to take pics of was a Lower Sabie local nyala and then just before the causeway a few lion popped up.







The normal debate started at the H4-1/S79 intersection as to which route we should take and eventually the S79 won which was fortunate, as just as we turned onto the road, two badgers came charging across the road. There was the normal camera panic, but no pictures as they were just too quick. We soon found the reason for the rush, as around 50m down the road more lion appeared. The lion were just parking off, so we spent about 10 minutes with them before moving on.





Things were then rather quiet until the H12 where the normal boons were still hanging around and a little further up the road some ellies crossed





Hawkeyes was feeling ok and the seizure warning signs weren’t around, so we decided to continue on up the H1-2 to Mantimahle Dam which produced a male lion that was slowly waking up.



I knew that this was the territory of 4 male lions, so suggested that we scout around a little more as the others must be in the area and 1km up the S36 from Mantimahle Dam a male and female appeared on the side of the road.





To be continued

3rd October Lower Sabie continued

The only other vehicle on the scene was the SANParks Skukuza morning drive and the lions seemed very focused on them, so we decided to slowly drive around the SANParks vehicle and park on the other side of the lions for a different angle.



The SANParks guide and his guests couldn’t shut up and this was making the lion rather uneasy, so I knew our time was limited with them.

A few minutes later the first OSV arrived and parked behind the SANParks crowd, but almost immediately started waving at us and holding his finger against his mouth for us to shut up. I now knew that we were in for a drama if the Cow spotted it and when he did it a second time the Cow clicked.

“What’s that #$^& doing”

“Don’t stress, he’s got us confused with the SANParks crowd”

The OSV driver did it again and he was now starting to piss me off as we were all sitting in silence, so I indicated with my hands at him “What’s the issue” and he pointed to his mouth again with his finger, so I thumbed at the SANParks crowd which got him chirping them also, so the SANParks guide started the car and pulled off.

The OSV driver then started up and pulled right in front of the lion, which gave them a fright and they moved off into the bush.

In the past I would have thrown my toys out of the cot, but I have come to accept this kind of behaviour in the south, so just started up and slowly continued on, but made sure to stop next to the OSV driver and ask him what his problem was which seemed to cause him some embarrassment.

It took a few km to calm down from our OSV encounter which had put a damper on our morning drive, but soon all was forgotten.

It was around 8am now so the clan was getting hungry, therefore we decided to head back down the H1-2 towards Lower Sabie.

More male lion made an appearance at Mantimahle Dam which must have been the other 2 of the coalition of 4 males.

The 1 chap seemed to get excited about something and started a stalk type mission, but it took us awhile to spot the rock monitor cruising along in front of him. The excitement was short lived though because the lion soon lost interest and ducked back down to the dam.





The rest of the drive back towards Lower Sabie didn’t produce much different besides another tortoise and an ellie having a morning snooze.





We decided to drive past Lower Sabie and hang out a little on the H10 Bridge to enjoy those locals that are always around.





We were back in camp earlier than normal for us, so a leisurely breakfast took up the rest of the morning.

To be continued

3rd October Lower Sabie continued

The sun came out later in the day and the temperature started to rise big time, so the rats began hassling to swim, which normally wouldn’t be an issue, but with the seizure problem the Cow or I would have to be present at all times. I hate crowds of people in a confided space like a public pool, therefore I tried everything to con my way out of guard duty, so the Cow took the first shift while I relaxed on the veranda.

We started to plot an afternoon drive at around 4pm and I was shocked at the temperature when getting in the car, but unbeknown to us at the time this would be the coolest afternoon.



I won’t mention our direction of travel for this afternoon drive as I want to include our first black rhino sighting of the trip and what made it even better was the fact that there were no other cars around. I was impressed with the rats as they also immediately knew it was a black rhino. I have met many adults who still can’t tell the difference.





Time was limited so we were soon heading back for camp and only stopped once for a pic of some ellies on the road.



We again decided to hang out on the H10 Bridge for sunset rather than spending the time at Sunset Dam and it turned out to be a good decision as the first leopard of our trip made an appearance. The light was fading so it was a mission to take pics, but after a few dramas we managed to get something on record.







Just after sunset lions started roaring in front of our unit which got us rather excited but our torch lacked the power required, so we ended up just relaxing around the fire and had another early night.

To be continued

4th October Lower Sabie

We woke this morning to bright sunshine and decided to stop at the H10 Bridge first to look for the elusive otter that Hawkeyes was desperate to see again, however instead found a side stripped jackal drinking which caused panic as the cameras weren’t ready, but the Cow eventually managed a proof pic of what looks like a jackal a km away under a tree as she forgot to zoom.



I’m not a major fan of the H10 early in the morning, primarily as it’s not really a leopard area once one is a few km out of Lower Sabie, so we turned at the end of the H10 Bridge and headed up the H4-1 towards the H12 Bridge again.

Next up was a gymnogene catching some morning sun and then a few km out of Lower Sabie a leopard made an appearance, but it was hiding out in a donga.





The leopard could only be vaguely seen from 1 spot and we were in the spot; however the cars continued to pile up, so I immediately got irritated and moved on.

The causeway debate then started and the S79 won, but it didn’t produce, so as I have a fear of missing out we decided to turn and drive the tar section of the H4-1 and found a lioness poking her head up in the N’watimhiri riverbed.

Minutes later more lionesses popped up and they continued on towards the road which got the Cow and I into a tense debate as to where I should park, but we eventually got the correct spot.









The lion parked off next to us for around 10 minutes before starting their march down the road. I don’t have a problem reversing at a sighting like this as one can keep the sighting in front of you, but I didn’t cater on the excited tonsil who arrived behind us and decided to park against our bumper, so we couldn’t keep ahead of the lead lions.

I initially got very wild with the chap behind us, but the Cow was chirping enough for both of us, therefore I tried to mentally switch off and just enjoy the other lions that had decided to relax on the road next to us.

The lions weren’t on my side of the car and the Cow was taking video, so we left the pics to the rats.









To be continued

4th October Lower Sabie continued

The traffic started to build up at the lion sighting as they were still in the road, so we decided to move on.

The rest of the drive towards the H12 Bridge produced all the locals including a few bush buck that popped up along the road every few km and the normal Sabie river visitors.







There’s a small dirt loop (I think it’s called echo loop) just before the H12 Bridge and we could see 3 cars parked next to the road, so drove in to check things out and it was more lion relaxing. We only stopped long enough to take a pic before turning to head back towards Lower Sabie.



The drive back again produced ellies having a snooze in almost the same place as the previous day and this time a junior was sleeping rather close to its mother’s legs.



About 1km after the S79 causeway we spotted plenty cars next to the road and it soon became clear that it was a leopard who was causing the excitement.



I can’t handle crowds very well, so we stopped only to get the above pic before moving on, but as I pulled off the leopard stood up and started to walk south, so the plotting started.

“That leopard is getting pelican with all the cars.” “He’s had his morning drink and is going to cross the road.”

This got the Cow huffing and puffing “Why are you driving off then!!”

“Because it’s not going to cross amongst all the cars as it would have already! Relax, it’s under control!!”

We stopped around 50m from the crowd who were all moving in different directions now, switched off and waited.

Minutes, which felt like hours, passed and then a leopard’s head poked around the corner from behind a bush.

I then pulled a sneaky move which maybe I shouldn’t have, but I knew it would be chaos otherwise

“Don’t let the crowd see you taking pictures or they will speed in and stuff this up!”

The leopard parked off looking at us for a few minutes before moving on in the southerly direction, so we slowly continued on next to it for about another 50m.

The highly excited rats were also part of the sneaky plan now and Bushpig even came up with a name for the leopard.

“Dad, is Steve going to cross”

I was now badly confused and tense

“Who the heck is Steve?”

“The leopard is a male Dad and he looks like a Steve”

Any leopard in this area in the future will be known as “Steve” by my clan.

“Dad!! Steve is coming up to the road!”

I knew the leopard would eventually walk up to the road, but even so I was still caught by surprise with my 500mm lens still attached, so the camera flapping started in a big way.

“Steve” had now made his mind up that this was the spot to cross and headed straight for us, but even though we were the only car next to him at this stage he still wasn’t impressed with us and started hissing big time before settling down next to the road to check us out.









To be continued

4th October Lower Sabie continued

I realised that it would now be impossible to continue with our sneaky plan as soon the crowds would realize what was happening, but we still had a few minutes alone with Steve before the gang started to arrive.

Steve continued to hiss as 2 more cars arrived and soon ducked back into the bush, but he was still moving in a southerly direction, so we continued on another 50m and stopped to wait. It wasn’t long before Steve reappeared and headed straight for us again, but this time some of the gang had realized what was going on, so I had a train of cars building up behind me.



It wasn’t long before an over excited twit came charging in and almost drove into Steve as can be seen in the pic below.



Steve backed off from the road a little and continued on his march south, but cars were now cutting in front of us and the blood pressure was rising at a rapid rate, so we took a few more pics and moved on.







Just before Lower Sabie we found a male lion snoozing in the riverbed and a fish eagle for the Cow.





It was just after 9am when we arrived at camp, nobody was hungry yet and Hawkeyes was doing fine, so we decided to drive up the H10 until the S29 north, but it was very quiet so we decided to head west down the S29 until it joined the S128, but that was also quiet, so after a debate decided to check out a little of the S30 and about 100m down the S30 we found a car next to the road and another leopard.



We initially thought it was only one leopard but in looking carefully we could see 2 tails (look left in the pic above), therefore decided to switch off and wait it out with the hope there would be some movement, but it was starting to get roasting hot and it didn’t look as if the leopards were going to move in a hurry, so we headed back towards Lower Sabie for breakfast only stopping once on the H10 Bridge to get pics of a few ellies and a giant kingfisher





We had found 3 leopard and a leopard tail in the morning, therefore I had my “fix” for the day and it was unpleasantly hot, so we decided to just park off in camp for most of the day and I was eventually forced into doing my share of the pool guard duty.

Just after 5pm we decided to drive down to the H10 Bridge and relax there for sunset, but it was still boiling so I had my doubts as to how long we would be able to sit there.



As luck would have it, the bridge cleared as we arrived and literally 10 seconds later a male lion walked up the riverbed towards us.



The lion found the only bush near the bridge and ducked into it. The only thing visible was his 1 paw sticking out and if one hadn’t seen him walk into the bush one would never know he was there, so cars were stopping and just driving off. I had a plot to wait it out as we knew he would move again, but the heat got the better of us after 15 minutes and we headed back to camp.

Just outside Lower Sabie we found 2 tawny’s and I have no idea what was happening but the one was squawking it’s head off and I can only assume that it was a large juvenile crying for a hand out.



To be continued

5th October Lower Sabie to Satara

We had a long run up to Satara today, so I was nervous about Hawkeye’s condition as the tell tale headaches which are the prelude to a seizure had started before we could finish packing the car, so we initially decided to just stick around the Lower Sabie area until she felt better.

Just outside camp we found a male lion cruising along next to the road, so we hung around with him a little until the traffic started to build up.





Next up was a herd of nyala and the 1 in particular had the rats laughing because it’s “mohawk” was up on its back and then a little further on a blackie crossed the road in front of us.







We turned just after the blackie and headed back towards Lower Sabie stopping for a martial, some ellies and a few ground horn bills.







We arrived back in camp at around 7:30am, finished packing and left to head up towards Tshokwane via the H10, S29, S30 and H1-2.

The H10 and S29 were quiet again and the 2 leopards we had seen the previous day on the rocks at the start of the S30 weren’t around either, so pelicans were starting to form, but a few km later I spotted a few lion right next to the road and there were no other cars around, so this lifted the mood.



The 2nd male that was slightly deeper into the bush had claimed an aunty for himself and put his one paw on her every time she moved which had us all laughing. The male close to the road also started pulling strange faces at us which got the rats going even more. There were a few other lionesses hanging around under different bushes also.







To be continued

I know I'm breaking the forum rules, but I need to continue posting before the next project starts at work

5th October Lower Sabie to Satara continued

We spent around half an hour with the lions next to the road so that we could point out the sighting to others, but no other cars arrived, which was strange, so we eventually continued on but stopped twice to inform oncoming cars.

Just before the end of the S30 there’s a little dirt loop that one can drive down and we often spot lion there and today was no exception.

There were 5 lion in the riverbed drinking and about 100m from them a massive herd of buffalo, but there were already 2 cars parked at the end of the little dirt loop, so we pulled in slowly.

As we drove into the loop the driver of one of the cars seemed to get very excited and immediately started hanging out his car signalling rudely for us to switch off, which is what I did as soon as the car had stopped moving.

I was now vaguely interested in the lion, but more interested in the signalling tonsil as he had pissed me off. The lion were 50m away and probably couldn’t even hear my car above the wind, besides they are habituated to vehicles anyway.

The tonsil then started chirping the other car about the fact that these lion were definitely going to kill a buffalo, so I strained to see what was happening beyond his car which was blocking our view of the buffalo. The body language of the lion indicated to me that they weren’t interested in hunting the buffalo and minutes later started to move off.



The lion moved out of our view and in the opposite direction to the buffalo, so I started our car to move also, but again the tonsil immediately dived out his window with hand signals which resulted in my gasket blowing.

“Relax, you #$^&*…..#$#**”

This got the rats all going which didn’t improve my mood

“DAD! Language!”

I was now no longer interested in the lion at all and only wanted to “hit a speech” with this clueless wannabe Varty, however my outburst seemed to shut him up.

The lion moved further down the river and out of sight, so we moved on, but I was fuming for many km thereafter as I just can’t stand loud mouth idiots who think they are experts and unfortunately there are many in the south.

The H1-2 North was quiet until Mantimahle Dam where more lion made an appearance, including a mating couple.







We only stopped once more before Tshokwane as the Cow started to nag for a pic of a klippie which was miles away at the Kruger Tablets



It was nearly 11am and around 40 degrees when we arrived at Tshokwane, so I wasn’t keen on the normal order confusion, but the rats wanted hot chips, so we tried, but they changed their minds after watching multiple birds drop their load on the pre cut chips while standing in the queue.

Just north of Tshokwane we found 3 more lion cooling off in the shade of a tree.



Mazithi Dam still had water at this stage, but smelt like a rotten bait box, so we briefly stopped just to get a pic of 2 ellies having a standoff in the water.



At the S33/H1-3 intersection we spotted 3 more male lions in the riverbed, which nobody else seemed to pick up on, but they were a very long way off and in the heat it was impossible to focus on them, so we took a proof pic and moved on.



We ducked down the H7 to check out Nsemani Dam before going to Satara as I like to head that way in the evenings, but unfortunately it was bone dry, so we made a mental note to avoid that area.

We couldn’t get a family unit at Satara this trip and they got faulty about us squeezing into a 3 bed unit, so I was forced to take 2 x 3 bed units, therefore the rats had their own spot, but that immediately caused a lengthy patience testing scrap between them over who was sleeping where.

It was already around 4pm by the time we finished unpacking and it was still over 40 degrees, so we canned the afternoon drive and just relaxed in camp for the rest of the day.

The Cow and Albert went on their normal squirrel mission and later that evening while I was in the shower Miss Satara pulled in, but the Cow couldn’t figure out my camera, so eventually got a proof pic with her point and shoot.





RP phoned at some stage during the evening and we finalized our plans to meet on the 7th. I remember warning him to bring sun block, but I don’t think either of us expected temperatures to reach the levels they did.

It was still boiling at around 10pm and our aircon was one of those SANParks maintenance projects, so I ended up half stripping the darn thing until I got it to work properly, but it still sounded like an airbus with a large stone stuck in the engine, therefore a sleeping tablet chased with whiskey was the only solution.

To be continued