Africa Wild

Hey Guys,

It’s time to start our October 2016 TT.

This was only the 2nd trip to KNP this year for Bushcraft, The Cow, Hawkeyes, Bushpig and Albert, which is primarily due to the cost of visiting Kruger nowadays.

As it was the October school holidays we battled for accommodation as per normal even though we were phoning and in queues on the “day bookings open”, but eventually managed to put something together, however it involved moving around a little which can be draining with the 2pm book in story.

The trip ended up as below:
29th and 30th Skukuza
1st and 2nd Talamati
3rd and 4th Lower Sabie
5th Biyamiti
6th and 7th Lower Sabie

The park was busy in the south which is expected in school holidays especially with the suspect day visitor gate quotas, so we ducked a few sightings due to the crowd.

We parked off in camp and at picnic sites more than any previous Kruger trip and actually skipped evening drives around 4 times which is a first, however I personally found the trip more relaxing due to this. The Cow and I also did a short drive on our own for the first time ever while Hawkeyes acted as baby sitter; however I’m still not comfortable with this just yet.

There were no medical issues this trip which was a nice change and the stomach even played the game, so there were no emergency “toilet” episodes which had become a part of our Kruger trips.

The weather was very weird in our opinion to any previous October visits and the expected 40 degree days never materialized and in fact the first 6 days produced probably the worst weather conditions we have ever experienced in Kruger between March and October with howling winds, a little drizzle every now and then and plenty dust devils in certain areas.

We stuffed up more photo opportunities than previous trips which had a lot to do with the dark overcast conditions, old camera kit, lack of skill with the kit, etc, but generally we tend to get over excited at certain sightings and make a balls up with the capturing of it.

I completed my personal “kill” tick list also, but as stated above, we really stuffed up the pics which was unfortunate as we may wait many years before witnessing something similar again.

We missed our “RP visit” this trip as he was up north, but did meet Penny and Heksie a few times which was cool.

We had a major “camp disappointment” which has resulted in me personally never wanting to book the camp again, however things may be different in the future once the reasons for the disappointment have been resolved.

We found plenty rhino, but I’m going to omit 90% of the rhino sightings as most routes are obvious, not that I think it makes a difference and if I make a major balls up with the birds then please step in and help with the correct ID. I’m also going to omit many “general” sightings as between us we took thousands of pics, so this TT, like previous TT’s, will be more of a “day summary”.

In summary, the trip was fairly good sighting wise, but it did feel like a battle during the first few days; however things picked up towards the end of the trip.

To be continued

29th Home to Skukuza

The Cow and I decided to pull the rats out of school for 2 days and duck up before school holidays officially started so that the Swazi border posts would be quieter and so that we could at least experience a day in the park before the major gang started to arrive.

Our 3am car packing mission took longer as per normal, but for the first time I managed to remain calm so the mood was fairly good in the car even though we only left home at around 4:30am, but that changed a little as we hit the 7am Richards Bay morning rush hour, so my hair was standing up by the time we arrived at the Swazi border as it had taken much longer than expected.

The border post was quiet and I thought we would be back on the road quickly, but then a faulty Swazi border official arrived.

“Where are your shoes?”

“I don’t have any” and I tried to continue as if nothing was going on, but soon got irritated again.

“You can’t enter Swaziland with no shoes, it’s against the law”

“WT$%&^”

The Cow then immediately stepped in with a calmer approach

“He doesn’t wear shoes unless at work and we are on holiday”

The faulty official wasn’t changing his tune though, so I was now getting stressed as this tonsil wasn’t going to allow us in unless I could produce a pair of shoes and I didn’t have any in my bag.

I was plotting how to squeeze my size 10 foot into the Cow’s size 5 shoes and remembered an old pair of fishing shoes/slops that stay permanently under one of the car seats, so I dug those out and put them on which caused the official’s nose to touch his chin, but he eventually let us through.

We arrived much later than normal in Komatipoort, hence all were under pressure to get the shopping over with and I see that the cost of living has also gone through the roof in that side of the country, so our menu changed a little out of financial necessity.

We arrived at Croc Bridge gate at around 2pm, fuelled up and headed straight for Skukuza up the H4-2.

The weather was already suspect and we were running out of time to make Skukuza so we stopped briefly a few times for the normal locals, but didn’t see much to get overexcited about.

















Our Skukuza book in went smoothly and we arrived at our unit just after 5pm to start the unpack mission. We were staying in the only GC6 unit at Skukuza for the first time as we managed to book it due to a cancellation. My boet has stayed in it a couple of times so we had been through the unit a few years ago, but the rooms seemed even bigger than I remembered and it has its own little “boma thing” down by the fence, so I immediately started a fire and pulled up a chair.

The Cow was in her normal “first day in Kruger” zebra crossed with a tiger dress which drives me mad, so I had to take the traditional photo.



Later that evening the ellies pulled in right next to the fence so I sneaked a shot with Alberts little camera as it was available, but soon realised that they didn’t fancy the little flash, so packed the camera away and just enjoyed being in Kruger.



To be continued

Nice start with some great photos

Don't stress BC we(I mean me) generally mess up the photos as I get over excited and don't look what I do when I relax and cool down the photos usually come out ok

I know you don't like wearing shoes in Kruger but I didn't realise that you don't even pack any!!

Glad to hear everyone was healthy this trip!

Lovely pic of the family ...the girls are getting so big!

harrys wrote:Nice start with some great photos

Don't stress BC we(I mean me) generally mess up the photos as I get over excited and don't look what I do when I relax and cool down the photos usually come out ok

Thanks harrys It's those sightings you wait many years for and then panic and stuff up the pics

A shoeless border crossing

Yeah the weather were very strange indeed

Flutterby wrote:I know you don't like wearing shoes in Kruger but I didn't realise that you don't even pack any!!

Glad to hear everyone was healthy this trip!

Lovely pic of the family ...the girls are getting so big!

Sharp Flutts Nope, I don't take shoes ever

Alf wrote:A shoeless border crossing

Yeah the weather were very strange indeed

Thanks for popping in Alf Yeah, crazy weather

30th Skukuza

We woke to a cool, windy, overcast day which was expected due to the weather forecast, but I still caught a few by surprise with the “open window principle”.

Penny and her husband, Bobby, had already been in the park for around a week and they were arriving at Skukuza today, so were pulling in for a braai in the evening, therefore our plan was to be back in camp early enough to sort things out for the braai before doing an afternoon drive.

Penny had informed us about the De Laporte local female leopard and her latest hang out, so we headed straight there first with the hope she was going to appear again and as luck would have it, she was on the same rock.



It was a photographic mission due to the dark conditions and the fact she was behind so many twigs, but soon there was a movement in the tree above her as a junior made a daredevil appearance which really got me overexcited as the darn camera wouldn’t focus through the twigs, so it nearly got smashed as I had a temper tantrum.



The junior then slipped and fell out the tree which had us more concerned than it’s mother, however it was soon charging around the place again which only increased the photographic tension as it was moving like a badger on steroids so it was impossible to get a clear pic.

Eventually the cub got hungry and pulled in for a chow and then a snuggle with mom before trying the tree climbing thing again, but at a lower level.







Initially there were only 2 cars at the sighting but the crowd had started to grow by now and half were clueless so voices and explanations loudly started up all over the place, which gave the mother leopard a pelican, so she ducked with her junior into thick cover, therefore we turned and headed down the H4-1 towards Lower Sabie which only produced more of the usual gang and some birds for the Cow.







Due to the fact it had been so quiet down to Lower Sabie we arrived earlier than expected so decided to do the H10 up towards Tshokwane and return on the H1-2 to Skukuza.

The local hyena den 5km up the H10 is still very active, but we have spent so much time with them over the years, hence just snapped a quick pic of 1 sleeping away from the den/cars and moved on.



Next up were a few ellies and then a herd of reedbuck but stupidly we only took pics of the ram and then some ostrich came charging towards the road and crossed with speed which had us all laughing as they looked like size uncles with thin legs trying to do the 100m sprint.







To be continued

Awesome leopard sighting! That cub is adorable!

Nice reedbuck sighting too and funny ostrich.