3 Weeks of Sheer Bliss at Tsendze Sept 2018

[Flutterby]

Welcome back Peter! Lovely camp setup. I love the pics with the dust.

[Mel]

Looks like you made yourself at home there.

Great photos - particularly those with the dust in them

[Peter Betts]

Peter!

Glad you made it safely!

Great sightings to begin - it really is the best time of year...

Where exactly was the roan?

Nice camp setup as always, although how do we know it is yours?

Trees do make a BIG difference when tent camping.

The Roan here was with 2 females drinking on the Tsendze small loop just south of Mopani camp 5 kms north of Tsendze ..There was another group of 11 at the confluence 3 kms south of camp ....saw them twice but again at Midday You will know the rig is mine as the Beauty in the Background is Jane the most beautiful Lady to come out of the Free State

[Peter Betts]

Being a prime Big 5 area around Tsendze means that there are many large herds of Buffalo which in turn attracts large prides of lion ..A herd of 1000 buffalo on Tsendze Loop en route to Letaba (most of them are out of the picture left and right ). The trick in finding lion in thick Mopani is to spend time in the area and know the routes the various herds take in a weekly cycle ..Lions are not far behind ..That's how I found and had all to myself for 3 mornings in a row for over an hour at a time (NO PASSING traffic = BLISS) this pride of 13 lions at Grootvlei Dam while initially looking for / following large herds of Buff

Click on images for true colours

[Peter Betts]

Its not only the big and hairies that attract me to the bush , but the little critters are good value always

[Flutterby]

Well done on finding the lions.

[Peter Betts]

Well done on finding the lions.

Meanwhile on the following EARLY morning I arrived at Grootvlei dam and found 17 and not 13 lions on the dam wall and a huge male unsighted about 500m into the bush roaring his head off...It wasnt overcast this morning just heavy mist as the sun appeared ..creating LOVELY bright SOFT light which didnt even cast a shadow as they let me (Familiar with my vehicle now) approach them as these 2 youngsters beat the hell out of each other in a mock fight (Sickening thuds)

AGAIN please click on image to get true sunrise colours

[Lisbeth]

Great looking holiday "house"

The lions look very well fed, but with all those buffalos around it is no wonder

Great "dusty" photos

[Peter Betts]

This 2008 SA (Stellenbosch) Shiraz from Hartenberg Wine Estate recently WON the No 1 spot out of 2000 original international entries of Shiraz where after round 1 in Chile 1000 remained and then in France in round (2) 500 remained and so on until in Spain 10 remained with this Gravel Hill still in the running it won and pushed up the normal bottle price only available to a very few in the know from about R 3500 per Bottle to over R 10 000 after the win per bottle. My GP from PE has connections and was the only buyer of a case of 4 from S Africa ..The other few cases went overseas ..Their standard Shiraz one can order from the estate at about R 190 per Bottle apparently and their special version known as 'Sprout Shiraz ' goes for about R 900 per bottle IF you can get a case of 4 from the estate. This Gravel Hill is very unique ..a few vines are planted on a gravel koppie on the estate where the grapes really struggle in a bad minimum soil environment. The few grapes that are picked as sort of raisens once every 2-3 years if there are any and are are hand peeled and gently squeezed for a bit of the available juice ..the rest is thrown away/not used. Enzymes and yeast is natural and comes from the skins and not as chemicals in lesser wines ..It is stored for 5 years in fresh imported French handmade wine barrels and a few bottles worth are then bottled and allowed to rest for 2 years before sold .......My Doctor camping next to us at Tsendze and I had this bottle one perfect evening to accompany Eland Fillets from his farm. WOW what a privalege ...Shame my Groot Constantia Shiraz Less than R 100 a bottle that I normally drink in Kruger seems PUNY by comparison

[Richprins]

Astounding pic of the lion there, Peter!

Very clever tactics you have.

The wine stuff is interesting, but most AW members are poor and won't understand...

Just kidding! Well done!