March 2005
The planning all started when I had an operation on my leg in February 2005 and was on crutches of 3 months (one of the Ops where they cut your leg off and put it back on at a different angle). Melly thought the best way to heal was to get Mr. Grumpy to Kruger…. Clever girl that Melly.. So we took a long weekend and headed off to the park.
This was quite a different trip from any other we had done, as we saw more of the small five that ever before and lot’s of birds. We usually plan our trips in the winter (June and August – Kids school holidays) and this was our first experience in the summer months.
We entered the park at Malelane Gate and travelled the S25 to Croc Bridge and then up to Skukuza, it was drizzling and for us who were used to winter months, it was BOILING HOT.
I was amazed at how green everything was and how different the photos looked in summer months
About 5 km along the S25 we came across three lions sitting miserable in the rain, they might have been miserable but we were happy to see them.
And a little further a herd of Elephants with lots of babies; we stayed well clear, as we had a few charges in our 2004 trip.
The story that I forgot out of the 2004 trip was that we were parked in the middle of a breeding herd with the car’s engine still running. We decided to turn the car’s engine off, to listen to the sounds of the bush; this was not smart, as the sudden silence spooked the elephants. A mother elephant panicked and charged us from the front of the car, we called for the kids to sit dead still and be silent, but they screamed. When turning around to tell them again, I saw we were also being charged from the back of the car , and that was why the kids were screaming. Luckily both stopped before the car and veered off into the bush
Usually see these guys on the ground but was great to see them sunning themselves when the rain had stopped.
And a croc to one of the pools along the roadside
The trip to Skukuza was actually a quiet one but we were all enthralled at the changes in scenery and rivers. We found this little guy crossing the road on the way up to Skukuza on the H4-2
We had never seen the European Roller before and were amazed at how many great birds there were, that we did not see in the winter months
The usual “RP Nkuhlu crowd” were waiting for us to pass
Just outside Skukuza was this 3 legged Warthog, it did not seem to worry him, and the injury must have happened a long time back as it was fully healed.
And a Leopard kill, we waited until Skukuza gate closing time approached but no leopard appeared. When we gave up and attempted to make it to camp before closing time….the car would not start (old Landrover Discovery), panic….stuck under a leopard kill with a car that won’t start and darkness approaching.
After 5 minutes of silence Melly tried again, and good old Discovery started this time,Melly was actually quite disappointed, it would have been a good excuse, to stay there and wait for the leopard
We stopped past Lake Panic the next morning and this little guy
The next day it was up to Satara and along the S100, it did not disappoint – the Lion road delivered a pride on a kill. Unfortunately beyond the river bank and out of sight, but the entire pride was lying on the road side in the sun. Every now and then one or two would jump up and run down the bank to chase Vultures off the kill.
On the way out we took the H10 down to Lower Sabie and spotted this Lioness from the top of Nkumbe look out, lucky I had a 12x optical zoom and a 2.2x converter.
And that was a brief summary of March 2005 and Mr. Grumpy left Kruger a happy guy.
Note the big cheesy grin from Mr. Grumpy…
Thanks Supernova