The rats must help themselves here -OBushcraft wrote:
The rats love your hyena "smilie" and now want to use it
Animated Animal Gifs
Birds
Elephant
Giraffe
Hippo
Lion
Browns in Kruger April 2013*
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2013
Animated Animal Gifs
Birds
Elephant
Giraffe
Hippo
Lion
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2013
Hello Toko 
,
We had a late school function tonight, so the Rats haven't been on the forum, but thank you for the smilies - they're going to love them
. BC's going to be pulling his hair out coz his internet cap is getting used 
,We had a late school function tonight, so the Rats haven't been on the forum, but thank you for the smilies - they're going to love them
. BC's going to be pulling his hair out coz his internet cap is getting used Re: Browns in Kruger April 2013
Hello BC - 
, still can't believe I missed another cheetah chase on video 
.
, still can't believe I missed another cheetah chase on video .
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2013
4th April Satara continued
The rest of the S100 back to the H1-3 was quiet and we weren’t ready to go back to camp, so decided to continue up the H1-4 for half an hour.
First up was a family of ostriches hiding out from the rain.
I was about to turn and go back to camp when the Cow shouted “porcupine quills!!” Something had taken out a porcupine on the road, which gave me a pelican as I initially thought that it had been hit by a car, but we later found out that a leopard was the culprit and that we had just missed it.
We stopped twice on the way back to camp for the Cow to take pics of some of her favourites.
Back in camp we cooked breakfast and did some restocking at the shop, but as the weather was still bad, the rats were stuck in the unit and driving me crazy, so at around 3:30pm we decided to leave camp and head down the H7 and up the S40 to Timbavati picnic site.
Fortunately halfway up the S40 the rain stopped, but it was still very quiet from a sighting point of view.
I had planned to do the S39 for 2 days now, but due to the weather and the fact that I didn’t have a 4x4 we had decided against it, but now was my opportunity to sell it to the Cow “The rain has stopped, let’s do a small section of the S39 down from Timbavati”. The Cow thought about it for awhile and then said “OK, but if it looks bad we turn”
My teeth were hanging out as we still had time and I had successfully conned the Cow, but 2km before Timbavati a big fat ellie walked into the road and refused to move, which got me highly excited as it was eating into our time.
After sitting behind him for 15 minutes, I decided to get a little closer with the hope that he would get the message and move along, but I only succeeded in getting a greasing from the Cow, so dropped back again.
Eventually the ellie wandered off and we were free to continue on.
I now realized that we wouldn’t be able to do much of the S39 as time was ticking, so stopped to check out the S127 as a possible shorter route back to camp if we got caught short for time, although it didn’t look doable without a 4x4, but decided to keep my mouth shut and not excite the Cow.
I turned and ducked down the S39.
The first little dip next to the generator just below the picnic site was completely flooded, so I started to get nervous as we hadn’t seen another car in half an hour, therefore if we got stuck we would have a major issue, so blurted out “windows up” as I knew that we wouldn’t make it through slowly.
This caused some serious eyeballing from the Cow, but we made it through easily, which caused me to flash a big cheesy, because I was having a jol. It was also very dark and misty, which was adding to the entire experience, as we really felt alone.
About 200m later something caught my eye through a small gap in the bush, but it was one of those moments when the brain takes time to process what it could have been, so I slammed on brakes “What was that in the riverbed” and all had blank faces, so I slowly reversed back to the small gap and there they were.
We were seriously battling to take pics as it was very dark, but stoked that we were alone with them.
There were 4 lionesses and 6 small cubs, but what was amazing for me was the fact that 2 lionesses were suckling the cubs, one on the bank and one in the riverbed.
The mother on the bank eventually decided it was enough and sat up, which caused some begging from one of the juniors.
The begging got ignored, so the junior bailed down the bank and joined his sister or brother at the 2nd lionesses, which had us all laughing.
The rats were having such fun watching this interaction and we were completely alone, so we decided to just park off and forget the rest of the S39.
Eventually one of the juniors spotted us and sat staring for 5 minutes
The Garmin was starting to moan, so we reluctantly turned and headed back down the S40 for camp.
I started the fire while the Cow went to do butternut in the oven, but just as I started to relax the Cow said “How do you get this oven to work”, so I was obligated to check it out as I was keen for butternut.
After 5 minutes, I was ready for a tantrum as I had turned every knob, put my lighter in every hole and had the Cow giving alternate ideas over my shoulder “I thought I was stupid, you seem more lost”, which pushes all the explosion buttons, but the rats were watching, so I bit my tongue
“There’s a hole down here that I can’t get a lighter into, maybe it’s where you light it” “How, if you can’t get in there!!”
Eventually I had a bright idea to light a sosatie stick and drop it in the hole, which I duly did, but the gas had been on for awhile, so all I heard was “whoosh” and ended up with a serious blow wave.
I will never forget how to light one of those ovens again.
To be continued
The rest of the S100 back to the H1-3 was quiet and we weren’t ready to go back to camp, so decided to continue up the H1-4 for half an hour.
First up was a family of ostriches hiding out from the rain.
I was about to turn and go back to camp when the Cow shouted “porcupine quills!!” Something had taken out a porcupine on the road, which gave me a pelican as I initially thought that it had been hit by a car, but we later found out that a leopard was the culprit and that we had just missed it.
We stopped twice on the way back to camp for the Cow to take pics of some of her favourites.
Back in camp we cooked breakfast and did some restocking at the shop, but as the weather was still bad, the rats were stuck in the unit and driving me crazy, so at around 3:30pm we decided to leave camp and head down the H7 and up the S40 to Timbavati picnic site.
Fortunately halfway up the S40 the rain stopped, but it was still very quiet from a sighting point of view.
I had planned to do the S39 for 2 days now, but due to the weather and the fact that I didn’t have a 4x4 we had decided against it, but now was my opportunity to sell it to the Cow “The rain has stopped, let’s do a small section of the S39 down from Timbavati”. The Cow thought about it for awhile and then said “OK, but if it looks bad we turn”
My teeth were hanging out as we still had time and I had successfully conned the Cow, but 2km before Timbavati a big fat ellie walked into the road and refused to move, which got me highly excited as it was eating into our time.
After sitting behind him for 15 minutes, I decided to get a little closer with the hope that he would get the message and move along, but I only succeeded in getting a greasing from the Cow, so dropped back again.
Eventually the ellie wandered off and we were free to continue on.
I now realized that we wouldn’t be able to do much of the S39 as time was ticking, so stopped to check out the S127 as a possible shorter route back to camp if we got caught short for time, although it didn’t look doable without a 4x4, but decided to keep my mouth shut and not excite the Cow.
I turned and ducked down the S39.
The first little dip next to the generator just below the picnic site was completely flooded, so I started to get nervous as we hadn’t seen another car in half an hour, therefore if we got stuck we would have a major issue, so blurted out “windows up” as I knew that we wouldn’t make it through slowly.
This caused some serious eyeballing from the Cow, but we made it through easily, which caused me to flash a big cheesy, because I was having a jol. It was also very dark and misty, which was adding to the entire experience, as we really felt alone.
About 200m later something caught my eye through a small gap in the bush, but it was one of those moments when the brain takes time to process what it could have been, so I slammed on brakes “What was that in the riverbed” and all had blank faces, so I slowly reversed back to the small gap and there they were.
We were seriously battling to take pics as it was very dark, but stoked that we were alone with them.
There were 4 lionesses and 6 small cubs, but what was amazing for me was the fact that 2 lionesses were suckling the cubs, one on the bank and one in the riverbed.
The mother on the bank eventually decided it was enough and sat up, which caused some begging from one of the juniors.
The begging got ignored, so the junior bailed down the bank and joined his sister or brother at the 2nd lionesses, which had us all laughing.
The rats were having such fun watching this interaction and we were completely alone, so we decided to just park off and forget the rest of the S39.
Eventually one of the juniors spotted us and sat staring for 5 minutes
The Garmin was starting to moan, so we reluctantly turned and headed back down the S40 for camp.
I started the fire while the Cow went to do butternut in the oven, but just as I started to relax the Cow said “How do you get this oven to work”, so I was obligated to check it out as I was keen for butternut.
After 5 minutes, I was ready for a tantrum as I had turned every knob, put my lighter in every hole and had the Cow giving alternate ideas over my shoulder “I thought I was stupid, you seem more lost”, which pushes all the explosion buttons, but the rats were watching, so I bit my tongue
“There’s a hole down here that I can’t get a lighter into, maybe it’s where you light it” “How, if you can’t get in there!!”
Eventually I had a bright idea to light a sosatie stick and drop it in the hole, which I duly did, but the gas had been on for awhile, so all I heard was “whoosh” and ended up with a serious blow wave.
I will never forget how to light one of those ovens again.
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2013
5th April Satara to Lower Sabie
We woke to a freezing cold morning, but at least the rain and clouds had moved off overnight.
The rats had begged the previous evening to go and see if we could find the lion cubs again in the morning before going down to Lower Sabie, so we packed and headed down the H7 and up the S40, but the lions had moved on, so all had pelican’s as we had failed big time with our plan and were kilometres in the wrong direction.
We did however find a jackal and hyena on the way up.
We drove a few km further down the S39 hoping that they had just moved slightly, but the bush was so dense and we couldn’t see the riverbed, therefore turned and headed for Timbavati picnic spot for a loo break.
I wasn’t keen on doing the S40 again as it had been very quiet on the way up, so said “The sun has been out for awhile, let’s try the S127” and off we went.
A few km down the S127 it seemed ok, but in the distance I spotted a bakkie parked on the side of the road and as we got closer I noticed another bakkie also stopped about 50m further up but facing us.
This initially confused me until I spotted the patch of road between the 2 bakkies and realized that they were nervous to continue. I decided to keep this to myself, because there was no way that I was going to go all the way back, so grabbed the steering tight and accelerated.
The Cow suddenly realized what I was planning to do and the eyes grew in size, but the expected greasing never started, so I went for it.
Halfway through I didn’t think we were going to make it as the bakkie was starting to slide all over the road, but we did.
The other chaps spotted me make it, but still never went through, so maybe we were lucky.
I had a big grin on the other side, but the Cow was giving me the hairy eyeball, so I chirped “What”, “I hope you know that the only reason I kept quiet is because I thought that I may distract you and then we were stuffed”
The rest of the S127 had a few more dodgy spots, so I was glad when we finally hit the H1-4.
A few 100m meters after hitting the tar a buffalo herd made an appearance.
Halfway back to Satara we came across a few cars stopped on the side of the road and there was apparently a lone male lion 200m in on a kill, although one could only see tuffs of hair and the odd movement, but the Cow had spotted something else that was more interesting.
A Tawny had stolen a piece of the kill and landed in a tree next to us.
The rest of the drive to the little S86 loop produced a few of the normal locals including a lone ellie and a rather frisky kudu, who was trying his luck with a few aunties, but I lost patience with him and we moved on.
I always take the little S86 loop when in the area as it offers more than the H1-3 section, but today another darn tortoise and then a few boons relaxing.
Just before the end of the loop we found a few cars and a polite driver explained that 2 lionesses had just crossed the road and gone into the riverbed, so we fiddled around for 15 minutes trying to get a different view of the riverbed, but eventually gave up.
At Tshokwane we were informed that we had just missed mating lions 15km back towards Satara, so my lip shot out, but it was too far to go back in the wrong direction, so we ordered toasted sarmies and found a table to park off at.
The chow arrived and so did the vervets, which caused me to roar around the place chasing them, much to the amusement of the Cow and others, but I have seen them steal an entire family’s breakfast before, so wasn’t keen to have them sitting all around us.
The one vervet just ran circles around me, so I eventually gave up and sat down next to Albert to eat.
As mentioned before, I eat quickly, so in 1 minute the toasted sarmie was gone and I was impatiently waiting for the rest, who had only taken the first bite, so decided to take on the vervet guard patrol again.
Suddenly an Einstein vervet gave me the slip, charged our table, jumped up and grabbed Albert’s toasted sarmie out of her hand a few cm from her face, which caused a serious amount of howling from our table and me to charge off after the vervet who was to sharp for me.
I now realized that most of Tshokwane were watching me have a tantrum, so wobbled back to the table slightly embarrassed.
Albert was still moaning and ended up eating half of the Cow’s chow, but she informed me “The next vervet will get boxed on the nose!”
The rest of the drive to Lower Sabie produced all the normal gang, but it had been a long day already, so we didn’t stop much and pushed on through.
To be continued
We woke to a freezing cold morning, but at least the rain and clouds had moved off overnight.
The rats had begged the previous evening to go and see if we could find the lion cubs again in the morning before going down to Lower Sabie, so we packed and headed down the H7 and up the S40, but the lions had moved on, so all had pelican’s as we had failed big time with our plan and were kilometres in the wrong direction.
We did however find a jackal and hyena on the way up.
We drove a few km further down the S39 hoping that they had just moved slightly, but the bush was so dense and we couldn’t see the riverbed, therefore turned and headed for Timbavati picnic spot for a loo break.
I wasn’t keen on doing the S40 again as it had been very quiet on the way up, so said “The sun has been out for awhile, let’s try the S127” and off we went.
A few km down the S127 it seemed ok, but in the distance I spotted a bakkie parked on the side of the road and as we got closer I noticed another bakkie also stopped about 50m further up but facing us.
This initially confused me until I spotted the patch of road between the 2 bakkies and realized that they were nervous to continue. I decided to keep this to myself, because there was no way that I was going to go all the way back, so grabbed the steering tight and accelerated.
The Cow suddenly realized what I was planning to do and the eyes grew in size, but the expected greasing never started, so I went for it.
Halfway through I didn’t think we were going to make it as the bakkie was starting to slide all over the road, but we did.
The other chaps spotted me make it, but still never went through, so maybe we were lucky.
I had a big grin on the other side, but the Cow was giving me the hairy eyeball, so I chirped “What”, “I hope you know that the only reason I kept quiet is because I thought that I may distract you and then we were stuffed”
The rest of the S127 had a few more dodgy spots, so I was glad when we finally hit the H1-4.
A few 100m meters after hitting the tar a buffalo herd made an appearance.
Halfway back to Satara we came across a few cars stopped on the side of the road and there was apparently a lone male lion 200m in on a kill, although one could only see tuffs of hair and the odd movement, but the Cow had spotted something else that was more interesting.
A Tawny had stolen a piece of the kill and landed in a tree next to us.
The rest of the drive to the little S86 loop produced a few of the normal locals including a lone ellie and a rather frisky kudu, who was trying his luck with a few aunties, but I lost patience with him and we moved on.
I always take the little S86 loop when in the area as it offers more than the H1-3 section, but today another darn tortoise and then a few boons relaxing.
Just before the end of the loop we found a few cars and a polite driver explained that 2 lionesses had just crossed the road and gone into the riverbed, so we fiddled around for 15 minutes trying to get a different view of the riverbed, but eventually gave up.
At Tshokwane we were informed that we had just missed mating lions 15km back towards Satara, so my lip shot out, but it was too far to go back in the wrong direction, so we ordered toasted sarmies and found a table to park off at.
The chow arrived and so did the vervets, which caused me to roar around the place chasing them, much to the amusement of the Cow and others, but I have seen them steal an entire family’s breakfast before, so wasn’t keen to have them sitting all around us.
The one vervet just ran circles around me, so I eventually gave up and sat down next to Albert to eat.
As mentioned before, I eat quickly, so in 1 minute the toasted sarmie was gone and I was impatiently waiting for the rest, who had only taken the first bite, so decided to take on the vervet guard patrol again.
Suddenly an Einstein vervet gave me the slip, charged our table, jumped up and grabbed Albert’s toasted sarmie out of her hand a few cm from her face, which caused a serious amount of howling from our table and me to charge off after the vervet who was to sharp for me.
I now realized that most of Tshokwane were watching me have a tantrum, so wobbled back to the table slightly embarrassed.
Albert was still moaning and ended up eating half of the Cow’s chow, but she informed me “The next vervet will get boxed on the nose!”
The rest of the drive to Lower Sabie produced all the normal gang, but it had been a long day already, so we didn’t stop much and pushed on through.
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2013
5th April Satara to Lower Sabie continued
We originally had an EH5 for the last 2 nights, but were informed of a cancellation for the same 2 nights at an FU4V, which I have been keen to stay in since they were built and I wasn’t keen to end our trip with more movies and bats, so we changed.
I was even more shocked to see that the staff had moved an additional bed in, which was a first for me in Kruger, even though I had paid for one every time for 7 years, so I made a massive point of thanking the staff
What I hadn’t counted on was a full scale scrap between the rats as to who was going to sleep there.
What looks like a window above the bed in the pic is actually just chicken mesh and there’s no window. There are sliding doors to the 2 separate rooms, which enables one to listen to all the outside sounds, which is super cool considering the location of the unit, but I tried to use this to scare the rats, unfortunately it only made them all want to sleep there more.
Eventually Albert was howling, Bushpig was in attack mode, Hawkeyes was sulking and I was wildly confused at the commotion, so ducked outside quickly and left it for the Cow to sort out.
I found out later that Hawkeyes won the scrap for the bed.
The unit we had was next to Keartland and it had an awesome view.
We ducked out just before 4pm for our afternoon drive and chose to drive down the H4-2 towards Croc Bridge, but things were initially fairly quiet and we only stopped for a herd of ellies, who were long way off, then a Brown Snake Eagle and then some warties having a chow.
I had a small beak by the time we reached the southern S130/H4-2 turn off, so we decided to duck up the S130 as the route back to camp rather than the planned S28.
About a 1km up the road we had to squeeze past another car coming from the other direction, so I used that opportunity “Is there any action” and the driver replied “It’s been rather quiet, a few ellies, warties, etc, oh and a leopard in a tree just up the road, you can’t miss it” “What!!”
I driver was still talking, but I was already moving and about 1km later we found him.
It looked like one could get closer further up the road, so I moved up, but although closer it was a bum view.
Some idiot had arrived during this process and parked sideways in the road, thereby blocking my return to the more favourable spot, which caused an outburst from me and if I had money I would have just pushed his big VX into the bush with my bull bar.
The Cow had got excited with me due to my impatient tantrum and was also giving me gears, so money or no money, I started for the VX as red was the only colour that I could see by that stage.
Fortunately my “hand signals” produced the required result, the VX moved to allow free access on the road and peace returned to our car.
We sat with the leopard until the Garmin suggested it was time to move, but he only looked at us a few times during that time.
On the way back to camp we only had time to stop for a large ellie who was causing a hassle on the road.
I was highly excited about having a braai at our unit with the great view, but once again one can’t pick the neighbours and we noticed 5 cars at Keartland as we pulled in to our unit. The damn cars didn’t all fit, so some were parked outside and I immediately got an uneasy feeling.
It didn’t take long to work out what was happening as they were all shouting at the top of their lungs. It turned out to be a family get together, the old folks had hired Keartland and all the rest of the family were staying around the camp, but Keartland was the jol spot.
I couldn’t believe my lack of neighbour luck and maybe it’s why I keep going on that it wasn’t a great trip, because I have had the odd night of noise in KNP, but never anything close to this trip and this crowd even caused the Cow to chirp which takes a fair push with strangers.
There were 4 families, consisting of 10 adults, because of granny and gramps and 7 children in a guest house that’s hired out for 6. This wouldn’t be an issue if they respected their neighbours, but the shouting and screaming was driving me mad, so I started passing comments and to my surprise the Cow joined in, so I now expected a scrap, because when the Cow chirps it’s big, but then runs, so I’m left with the drama, but the message seemed to get through after half an hour and they all moved inside and closed all the doors and windows.
We could still hear them screaming and performing, but at least I could sit outside without blowing a fuse.
Hawkeyes kept the junior rats out of our hair by reading them a story, so the Cow and I could finally relax by the fire.
To be continued
We originally had an EH5 for the last 2 nights, but were informed of a cancellation for the same 2 nights at an FU4V, which I have been keen to stay in since they were built and I wasn’t keen to end our trip with more movies and bats, so we changed.
I was even more shocked to see that the staff had moved an additional bed in, which was a first for me in Kruger, even though I had paid for one every time for 7 years, so I made a massive point of thanking the staff
What I hadn’t counted on was a full scale scrap between the rats as to who was going to sleep there.
What looks like a window above the bed in the pic is actually just chicken mesh and there’s no window. There are sliding doors to the 2 separate rooms, which enables one to listen to all the outside sounds, which is super cool considering the location of the unit, but I tried to use this to scare the rats, unfortunately it only made them all want to sleep there more.
Eventually Albert was howling, Bushpig was in attack mode, Hawkeyes was sulking and I was wildly confused at the commotion, so ducked outside quickly and left it for the Cow to sort out.
I found out later that Hawkeyes won the scrap for the bed.
The unit we had was next to Keartland and it had an awesome view.
We ducked out just before 4pm for our afternoon drive and chose to drive down the H4-2 towards Croc Bridge, but things were initially fairly quiet and we only stopped for a herd of ellies, who were long way off, then a Brown Snake Eagle and then some warties having a chow.
I had a small beak by the time we reached the southern S130/H4-2 turn off, so we decided to duck up the S130 as the route back to camp rather than the planned S28.
About a 1km up the road we had to squeeze past another car coming from the other direction, so I used that opportunity “Is there any action” and the driver replied “It’s been rather quiet, a few ellies, warties, etc, oh and a leopard in a tree just up the road, you can’t miss it” “What!!”
I driver was still talking, but I was already moving and about 1km later we found him.
It looked like one could get closer further up the road, so I moved up, but although closer it was a bum view.
Some idiot had arrived during this process and parked sideways in the road, thereby blocking my return to the more favourable spot, which caused an outburst from me and if I had money I would have just pushed his big VX into the bush with my bull bar.
The Cow had got excited with me due to my impatient tantrum and was also giving me gears, so money or no money, I started for the VX as red was the only colour that I could see by that stage.
Fortunately my “hand signals” produced the required result, the VX moved to allow free access on the road and peace returned to our car.
We sat with the leopard until the Garmin suggested it was time to move, but he only looked at us a few times during that time.
On the way back to camp we only had time to stop for a large ellie who was causing a hassle on the road.
I was highly excited about having a braai at our unit with the great view, but once again one can’t pick the neighbours and we noticed 5 cars at Keartland as we pulled in to our unit. The damn cars didn’t all fit, so some were parked outside and I immediately got an uneasy feeling.
It didn’t take long to work out what was happening as they were all shouting at the top of their lungs. It turned out to be a family get together, the old folks had hired Keartland and all the rest of the family were staying around the camp, but Keartland was the jol spot.
I couldn’t believe my lack of neighbour luck and maybe it’s why I keep going on that it wasn’t a great trip, because I have had the odd night of noise in KNP, but never anything close to this trip and this crowd even caused the Cow to chirp which takes a fair push with strangers.
There were 4 families, consisting of 10 adults, because of granny and gramps and 7 children in a guest house that’s hired out for 6. This wouldn’t be an issue if they respected their neighbours, but the shouting and screaming was driving me mad, so I started passing comments and to my surprise the Cow joined in, so I now expected a scrap, because when the Cow chirps it’s big, but then runs, so I’m left with the drama, but the message seemed to get through after half an hour and they all moved inside and closed all the doors and windows.
We could still hear them screaming and performing, but at least I could sit outside without blowing a fuse.
Hawkeyes kept the junior rats out of our hair by reading them a story, so the Cow and I could finally relax by the fire.
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2013
6th April Lower Sabie
During the night I had opened our sliding door to get in on the outside sounds that Hawkeyes was able to hear, but as luck would have it a bat pulled in and started chirping above our unit.
I had been working on this theory that bats are territorial and was prepared, so I roared outside to do my “pweet, pweet” bat noise with the hope he would duck, but after a few minutes the bat was shouting louder and the neighbours light came on, which is about when I realized that I was in my underpants, so I high tailed it inside to escape detection.
I had to close the door again and put the pillow over my head, therefore I wasn’t friendly when the Cow’s bat impersonating alarm went off.
The plan this morning was to head up to Mlondozi early before the crowds to enjoy the view and peace it offered. The hunt for game was now taking a back seat and I was more interested in trying to relax as it was our last day.
We left camp at 6am and ducked down the H10 towards the Mlondozi turnoff.
First on the scene was a jackal, then another, then 2 more, then a howler, which had us all laughing.
In total we found 6 in the area.
We were the first people at Mlondozi, so it was awesome to sit there in peace and watch.
We took a few pics of the hippos still out and about and then one last pic of the river leaving the dam before moving on.
It was still very early, so we went back to check out the jackal gang and then decided to continue down towards Croc Bridge via the S82, which produced an ellie, a giraffe in the road who didn’t want to move to let us past and the normal locals.
The H4-2 produced a few buffalo and at some stage during the morning a tank decided that the road was for him.
As we arrived at the S25 turnoff the Cow mentioned that she would love to duck down it to the bridge over the Biyamiti River before going back to camp as we had all enjoyed it so much and I agreed.
4km later we found these guys warming up in the morning sun.
There were about 10 dogs scattered around in the grass and every few minutes another one that was hidden would pop his head up and cruise around. After about 15 minutes the traffic jam started to build, which made the dogs uneasy, so one by one they cruised off into the bush.
To be continued
During the night I had opened our sliding door to get in on the outside sounds that Hawkeyes was able to hear, but as luck would have it a bat pulled in and started chirping above our unit.
I had been working on this theory that bats are territorial and was prepared, so I roared outside to do my “pweet, pweet” bat noise with the hope he would duck, but after a few minutes the bat was shouting louder and the neighbours light came on, which is about when I realized that I was in my underpants, so I high tailed it inside to escape detection.
I had to close the door again and put the pillow over my head, therefore I wasn’t friendly when the Cow’s bat impersonating alarm went off.
The plan this morning was to head up to Mlondozi early before the crowds to enjoy the view and peace it offered. The hunt for game was now taking a back seat and I was more interested in trying to relax as it was our last day.
We left camp at 6am and ducked down the H10 towards the Mlondozi turnoff.
First on the scene was a jackal, then another, then 2 more, then a howler, which had us all laughing.
In total we found 6 in the area.
We were the first people at Mlondozi, so it was awesome to sit there in peace and watch.
We took a few pics of the hippos still out and about and then one last pic of the river leaving the dam before moving on.
It was still very early, so we went back to check out the jackal gang and then decided to continue down towards Croc Bridge via the S82, which produced an ellie, a giraffe in the road who didn’t want to move to let us past and the normal locals.
The H4-2 produced a few buffalo and at some stage during the morning a tank decided that the road was for him.
As we arrived at the S25 turnoff the Cow mentioned that she would love to duck down it to the bridge over the Biyamiti River before going back to camp as we had all enjoyed it so much and I agreed.
4km later we found these guys warming up in the morning sun.
There were about 10 dogs scattered around in the grass and every few minutes another one that was hidden would pop his head up and cruise around. After about 15 minutes the traffic jam started to build, which made the dogs uneasy, so one by one they cruised off into the bush.
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2013
6th April Lower Sabie continued
We turned as soon as the last dog disappeared and headed back for camp stopping only twice, 1st for a family of warties and then, you guessed it, another tortoise. We had taken a pic of a tortoise everyday on this trip and it was becoming a mission for the Cow to complete this task, but it was driving me crazy as all were looking for them now.
Back in camp our faulty Keartland neighbours were having a lunch time meet next to us, so I watered down my late bacon and eggs with a G&T to relax and numb the noise.
Then the unthinkable happened, a few of their screeching young clan spotted the rats through the fence and started shrieking for them, which had me looking for something to throw, but I watched horrified as Bushpig and Albert charged off to meet them and then ducked off into Keartland.
Then it got worse as they returned “They have ice creams and want to meet you”
“Cow, there’s no way!!!” and I went to hide inside leaving the Cow to deal with things.
Fortunately the Cow had a plan and pulled out some of the rabbit stash and sent them back with gifts, which distracted the potential meet.
After half an hour it seemed safe to return outside as all had gone into Keartland, but as I started to relax something above me started “Wheeee, wheeee”, which confused me as it sounded like a drunk bat. “Cow, there’s another darn bat here that’s lost the plot and is squawking in the middle of the day”.
The Cow investigated and found the culprit, then also started making excited noises and charged off for the camera.
(Please help with an ID)
The neighbour’s screeching clan came back outside just before 3pm followed by our young rats and a few aunties who based on the volume thought their kids were deaf, so I quickly packed our car for the afternoon drive and sent Hawkeyes to fetch the rest of our clan.
Bushpig returned with a message as she got in the car “They are doing a sunset drive, so we unfortunately won’t see them again”, which caused my teeth to hang out.
The plan this afternoon was to just have fun as it was our last evening drive, so we decided to duck down the S28 as it normally has plenty general game and then return on the H4-2.
A few km into the S28 we found a massive buffalo herd and they stretched from the road to as far as we could see, so we started taking a few pics of the young ones
After 15 minutes the herd had caused a massive traffic jam and my beak was starting to stick out “They look like Cows, let’s go”, which got the Cow going “Behave!!”
5 minutes later I spotted a gap in the herd and slowly started moving towards it “What are you doing!!”,” I’m taking the gap, what does it look like!”
I made it politely through the buffalo, but others seemed nervous to follow, so we were completely alone on the other side which was a bonus because a few hundred meters later we found this chap with his kill.
The rest of the drive down to the tar produced all the usual gang, which kept us entertained, so we chugged along at a snail’s pace.
When we hit the tar I checked the time and suggested that we did a little of the S25 to see if the dogs were mobile and a few hundred meters down the road we found them.
They were highly mobile and I couldn’t believe our timing luck because a few minutes later and we would have missed them.
They definitely seemed to be on the hunt, so I was wild with excitement, although they were heading towards the H4-2, but across a section of ground that you can’t see from either road, so I did the maths as to how long it would take for them to hit the tar and we turned to head that direction.
We guessed the spot on the tar where they would appear based on their general angle of travel from the S25 and switched off to wait.
2 minutes later I looked at the clock in the car and it showed 5pm, which caused a frantic input of Lower Sabie into the Garmin which said 5:50pm arrival, so the panic started because we had to leave for camp quickly and the dogs were on their way.
I tried all types of plots in my mind, but with a pelican started the car and left for camp.
A few km later we found one of Flutts’s “lion in hedge”, but didn’t have time to wait for a better pic, so just snapped one of his pip and continued on.
The rest of the drive back to camp didn’t produce much and we wouldn’t have had time to stop anyway.
I started our final KNP braai of the trip and the Cow snapped some pics of the rats for memories.
To be continued
We turned as soon as the last dog disappeared and headed back for camp stopping only twice, 1st for a family of warties and then, you guessed it, another tortoise. We had taken a pic of a tortoise everyday on this trip and it was becoming a mission for the Cow to complete this task, but it was driving me crazy as all were looking for them now.
Back in camp our faulty Keartland neighbours were having a lunch time meet next to us, so I watered down my late bacon and eggs with a G&T to relax and numb the noise.
Then the unthinkable happened, a few of their screeching young clan spotted the rats through the fence and started shrieking for them, which had me looking for something to throw, but I watched horrified as Bushpig and Albert charged off to meet them and then ducked off into Keartland.
Then it got worse as they returned “They have ice creams and want to meet you”
“Cow, there’s no way!!!” and I went to hide inside leaving the Cow to deal with things.
Fortunately the Cow had a plan and pulled out some of the rabbit stash and sent them back with gifts, which distracted the potential meet.
After half an hour it seemed safe to return outside as all had gone into Keartland, but as I started to relax something above me started “Wheeee, wheeee”, which confused me as it sounded like a drunk bat. “Cow, there’s another darn bat here that’s lost the plot and is squawking in the middle of the day”.
The Cow investigated and found the culprit, then also started making excited noises and charged off for the camera.
(Please help with an ID)
The neighbour’s screeching clan came back outside just before 3pm followed by our young rats and a few aunties who based on the volume thought their kids were deaf, so I quickly packed our car for the afternoon drive and sent Hawkeyes to fetch the rest of our clan.
Bushpig returned with a message as she got in the car “They are doing a sunset drive, so we unfortunately won’t see them again”, which caused my teeth to hang out.
The plan this afternoon was to just have fun as it was our last evening drive, so we decided to duck down the S28 as it normally has plenty general game and then return on the H4-2.
A few km into the S28 we found a massive buffalo herd and they stretched from the road to as far as we could see, so we started taking a few pics of the young ones
After 15 minutes the herd had caused a massive traffic jam and my beak was starting to stick out “They look like Cows, let’s go”, which got the Cow going “Behave!!”
5 minutes later I spotted a gap in the herd and slowly started moving towards it “What are you doing!!”,” I’m taking the gap, what does it look like!”
I made it politely through the buffalo, but others seemed nervous to follow, so we were completely alone on the other side which was a bonus because a few hundred meters later we found this chap with his kill.
The rest of the drive down to the tar produced all the usual gang, which kept us entertained, so we chugged along at a snail’s pace.
When we hit the tar I checked the time and suggested that we did a little of the S25 to see if the dogs were mobile and a few hundred meters down the road we found them.
They were highly mobile and I couldn’t believe our timing luck because a few minutes later and we would have missed them.
They definitely seemed to be on the hunt, so I was wild with excitement, although they were heading towards the H4-2, but across a section of ground that you can’t see from either road, so I did the maths as to how long it would take for them to hit the tar and we turned to head that direction.
We guessed the spot on the tar where they would appear based on their general angle of travel from the S25 and switched off to wait.
2 minutes later I looked at the clock in the car and it showed 5pm, which caused a frantic input of Lower Sabie into the Garmin which said 5:50pm arrival, so the panic started because we had to leave for camp quickly and the dogs were on their way.
I tried all types of plots in my mind, but with a pelican started the car and left for camp.
A few km later we found one of Flutts’s “lion in hedge”, but didn’t have time to wait for a better pic, so just snapped one of his pip and continued on.
The rest of the drive back to camp didn’t produce much and we wouldn’t have had time to stop anyway.
I started our final KNP braai of the trip and the Cow snapped some pics of the rats for memories.
To be continued
