Browns in Kruger October 2018

[Bushcraft]

Hey Guys,

Time for a new TT and I’m going to push it out rather fast as usual because things just aren’t slowing down at work, so I need to get it dusted.

This was our only family Kruger trip of the year due to rising costs in SA, so we were hanging to go and Kruger didn’t disappoint sighting wise, however like any Kruger holiday, it seemed to be over too quickly.

We initially tried for the July holidays, but came short with the faulty booking story again and due to the rats, October school holidays were our only other option and the final trip was as per below, but I had to work at Skukuza on the 28th for around 5 hours, however this didn’t damper the start of the trip much.

27th, 28th, 29th and 30th Lower Sabie
1st Talamati
2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Skukuza
6th Biyamiti

Bushpig hit a medical speed wobble with some badly timed flu which stuffed up portions of her trip but for a change the rest of us never got it.

The weather was very weird with a mixed bag, however it wasn’t nearly as hot as we have learnt to expect during the month of October with only 2 really hot days to deal with.

As usual we stuffed up plenty photo opportunities which bothered me this trip because we had a few great sightings and we just aren’t capturing them as well as we should be. I think my old Canon 550d is tired and our mixed bag of minor photographic knowledge doesn’t help either.

We caught up with some familiar friends/wildies a few times during the trip, Penny and Bobby, but unfortunately never managed to fit in a breakfast or lunch as we were in different sections of the park at times, we also travelled up to the Tshokwane area a fair bit to avoid some of the southern crowds and time just ran away from us, but it’s always awesome catching up with them.

The rhino population is again a concern for me and they were missing from many of the usual spots.

The poaching isn’t under control, the local communities are using sections of the park as a grocery store, the Sabie river smells like turd when it rains, some southern sections of the park are way too overcrowded and day visitor numbers should be reduced at gates in those areas, there’s a lack of maintenance and management in certain camps, etc, etc and improvement on all fronts is desperately needed for longevity, however Kruger is still a special place and the trip was one of our better Kruger family holidays.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

27th Home to Lower Sabie

I had to push many hours of overtime for a few months prior to this trip, so I left everything to the Cow, but that’s never easy for a neurotic planner like me, however the Cow got it all hundreds this trip, including the unabridged birth certificates for the kids, so I didn’t turn into Chucky at the border post this year and it all went smoothly and we were into Swaziland just after 9am.

The section of road between Big Bend and Siteki is anything but smooth though which soon caused pelicans to grow. Penny and Bobby had done the 38km section a few days earlier and had warned me that it was bad, but it was worse than I expected and this section took us 55 minutes. This piece of road in Swaziland has always been bad, but now it’s dangerous and it’s going to cost Hlane National Park and other areas in Swaziland business as most would chose to not take that route north now. I later found out that section took Penny and Bobby nearly 1.5 hours.

The Komatipoort shopping was painful after such a long drive, however I instantly started to relax as we approached Croc Bridge gate just after 2pm.

The normal loo stop/camera unpacking mission started at the Gate but the clan was taking too long as usual so I wondered around to calm my hypoactive nature and managed to sneak a listen in on a conversion outside the male loo. The word “leopard” and the “S25/S26 junction” came up so I charged back to the car to hurry the clan up.

The Cow didn’t seem that keen to do the short detour down the S25 to see if the leopard was still around as the chance was slim, it was 36 degrees and it had been a long day, but I promised to turn back towards the H4-2 via the S26/S108/H5.

All the usual suspects, including giraffe and the odd ellie, made an appearance on the way to the S25/S26 junction.

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There was a car stopped on the bridge at the junction and a pattern on the sand told a story, so I started chirping.

“Something has been taken out there and dragged!”

We slowly moved forward and next to the stopped car and our first leopard of the trip was hiding out with its kill. We parked off for around 20 minutes with the hope that she would start eating or drag the kill up a tree, but the time was ticking and she went to sleep, so we moved on back towards the H4-2.

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[Pumbaa]

Great start, Bushcraft,

and as nearly always with a leopard sighting

[Bushcraft]

Thanks Pumbaa

I got booted out by my internet connection, more coming

[Bushcraft]

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There’s a little no name waterhole just down the S130 and we always take this short detour before turning back towards Lower Sabie, but there was no water, just a hole, so we decided to travel a little further and turn at the S130/S137 junction, however stopped just beyond the junction as I spotted some spots in a bush right next to the road.

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This was an exceptionally frustrating sighting for me in particular because the leopard was 1m from the road, but no matter how much I went backwards and forwards we couldn’t get a better view so decided to switch off and wait quietly.

Minutes later a swarm of bees arrived and invaded the car which instantly broke the silence

“DAD, bees, HELP!”

I’m no help with insects as they give me the creeps and I feel those who make monster movies only need to look at insects under a microscope for ideas.

“I’m allergic, get them out!”

Chaos followed and I drove off rapidly as the shrieking escalated because there were just too many bees. I turned down the road and snuck back towards the leopard who hadn’t moved an inch.

The bees were still bomb diving the cans of cool drink and we were cooking in the sun so decided to continue on to camp and return later, if there was time, as we were only 12km from Lower Sabie.

We did the ritual “drive and turn” over the H10 bridge before turning into Lower Sabie and this produced the normal hippo, tiger fish, croc, kingfisher and fish eagle gang, but some luck also, as lion were sleeping on the bank.

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To be continued

[Bushcraft]

27th Home to Lower Sabie continued

I ducked off to buy ice with the rats while the Cow booked us into our huts and we were both done quickly.

I’m no fan of the EH huts, which are built more like dormitory style accommodation in a U, as the chance of faulty neighbours is high and those public ablutions can be a horror to the senses in the morning, but they are certainly good value for money when compared to other forms of accommodation and they are the only way we could afford to spend extra days in the park as a family of 5.

It was around 4pm when we finished unpacking, so decided to have a “timeout” for 45 minutes before driving the 12km back to where we had seen the leopard sleeping in the bush at the start of the S130, stopping once for a large ellie checking us out.

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We had taken plenty landmarks and soon identified the “leopard bush”, but it was now just a bush and the leopard was missing, so I huffed and puffed while driving along a little further down the road, but Bushpig, who was a leopard spotting champion this trip, shouted

“There! She’s walking”

Nobody else could see her initially and I get overexcited when following a moving leopard and I lack patience with unclear explanations, so I was soon chirping which resulted in the normal “tone” greasing from the Cow to shut me up.

The scrap was short lived as she started towards us and went to lie down in the open so we all spotted her.

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She seemed relaxed, so I repositioned the car for a better view between the bushes.

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Around 10 minutes later something got her attention and she was up and walked off into the bush, so we turned and ducked back towards Lower Sabie.

[Pumbaa]

And your Leopard luck is going on - Cute shot the last one

[Flutterby]

Wow, what a great start to your trip!!

[Lisbeth]

You have spoilt us with a TT every six months so it was about time to write another one

Your TTs have the ability to make me run out of breath

That is a very beautiful leopard lady and you were lucky to reach her at the right time.....or is it practise?

Poor Bushpig , but luckily her flu/cold did not attack the rest of you

[Bushcraft]

And your Leopard luck is going on - Cute shot the last one

Thanks Pumbaa A fair amount of leopard on this trip