Flavour of the Month May & June 2018- S126 Sweni Drive

[Richprins]

From a 2014 PJL story:

We set off south towards the Sweni where the huge buffalo herd had been earlier in the day and at the S126 turnoff Clive stopped a couple of cars to find out if there was anything worth seeing. Someone had seen lion down that way, so we took a trip along to the Sweni waterhole to find them. We approached the waterhole at about the same time as a herd of elephant, who were quite happy to use the water container as their drinking trough







A little further along, the vultures gave away the lion position. This one seemed to be enjoying the sunset before giving us a beady eye





Quite a few of the gang on the vehicle were struggling to see the lion, as they were a fair way away from the road. They had obviously been feeding and with such full tummies would be in the area for quite a while, so Clive was keen to head back down the H1-3 to see what else we could find. If that proved to be quiet he promised he would head back to these lions later



Heading back towards the H1-3 the elephant herd had finished drinking and were meandering across the road. We had a good giggle at this one playing hide and seek



While another was busy dusting its underside



The sun really started sinking, and with it my anticipation was rising - we had cats already and Clive had seriously sharp eyes.

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[Richprins]

[Richprins]

Kruger Sightings
‏Verified account @LatestKruger
19h19 hours ago

05:10
Male Leopard walked in the road for 10mins and marked territory.
S126, 6km from H1-3
Near Satara
Vis 5/5
Tinged by Deon and Jacques

[Richprins]

Kruger Sightings
‏Verified account @LatestKruger
23h23 hours ago

07:51
Wild dog
S126, 1km W of H1-3
Near Satara
Tinged by Hegouws

[Richprins]

Some October pics of the waterhole:














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[Richprins]

[Richprins]

Kruger Sightings
‏Verified account @LatestKruger
May 12

10:40
4 male lions, including the white lion
S126, Sweni waterhole
Tinged by Alberto - Matimba Lodge

[Flutterby]

[Richprins]

A 2016 Bushcraft sighting near Welverdiend:

The male lion sat very still for about 3 minutes and then they both started on what seemed like a co-ordinated moment towards the buffalo.



I was now frantically trying to reverse straight and photograph at the same time past the Cow’s head, but the Cow was also rather excited.

“They are going! Reverse!”

“I’m trying too!”

“Watch the thorn bush!”

“Watch the #$^%& lions, I will watch the road, but tell me what’s happening”

“STOP”

I slammed on the brakes as the lions had stopped their mission, but now seemed in proper stalk mode so the adrenalin was pumping.



Seconds felt like minutes, so we started to relax a little, but suddenly both males jumped up and started off again, but this time they were moving faster.



I get fairly hyped up at sightings like this, but now the entire car exploded at once before I could even start squawking.

“They are going for it, reverse, hurry, move, stop, go forward, stop, reverse!”

I was trying to reverse at speed, so had to watch the road, but the commotion caused my brain to hit tilt, so I slammed on brakes.

“Shut up!”

“Where’s the buffalo”

“Right there!”

“It’s in thick bush, how are we going to see what’s going on?”

Suddenly both males charged and the hyped up Cow let rip

“They are going, they going, REVERSE!”

Both males attacked at exactly the same time, one went straight for the throat and the other jumped on the buffalo’s back.





It was close to us, but unfortunately in fairly thick bush, therefore to get a view was a mission and the car was in chaos, hence I kept getting pics of the back of the Cow’s head, so tensions increased.

Suddenly the buffalo started bellowing which changed the mood instantly and everybody went quiet.

Surprisingly the lions had the buffalo on the floor seconds later and the 1 male enforced his choke hold on the throat, which ended things.



We sat in silence for a few minutes just absorbing what we had witnessed and then the lions started to feed.

I looked around the car and there were some big eyes as although we have witnessed a cheetah and 2 leopard kills, we had never seen a lion kill because we always just missed it, or the lion failed each time, but this was certainly more intense.

Minutes later the first car arrived from the Satara area and seconds later more arrived, so I suggested that we move on to give others a gap and all agreed.

I later developed a pelican due to the quality of the pics above, but at least the Cow got most of it on video.

We travelled in silence for a few km and then Albert developed a big cheesy

“I chose the road”

This brought everybody out of their “little bubbles” and excited conversion continued until just past Sweni waterhole where something caught my eye and I hit brakes.

“There’s a leopard”

“WHERE!”

“Hold on, let me position the car. There”



A leopard was waking up and again we were the only car, so I was stoked, however minutes later another car arrived and they looked pleadingly at us, so the Cow called them over and pointed out the leopard through our window, which got them going on a frantic reversing then forward mission.

We knew that one could only see the leopard from where we were parked and the driving mission had got the leopard’s head up, so we took a few last pics and told them to pull into our spot.

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=7200&start=110

[Richprins]

Kruger Sightings
‏Verified account @LatestKruger
Aug 8

Update:
Photos of the lions at Sweni waterhole
Near Satara
Tinged by Nelson Cruz