The OtHeRwIsE trip..... *

[Bookworm]

Hiiiii

At last we are ready to start our TT

We left Boksburg on 1 December at 5:30. Tataruka and I left in my own car so a little sisterbonding took place . At first I was very nervous because it was my first time that I would drive so far . My previous record was 12 km .

We arrived in Phalaborwa at 14:00 and Tataruka's eares were buzzing from all the calls my dad made to us to see if we were ok... HELLO we were right behind him I think he was more nervous than we were.

I will start the TT shortly with some photo's... wish me LUCK

[Bookworm]

1 December

Once we arrived at Phalaborwa and set up camp, my dad and I decided to go for a short drive. Tataruka decided to stay at the caravan.

We got to the gate and I knew that I was HOME again

We saw quite a few animals, so here goes...

Our first sighting (and we saw quite a lot of them through out the trip)



GUESS WHAT









We then saw some impala with their little ones. I have never been in Kruger to see all the new borns so this was very special to see and very CUTE!!!







And some thirsty ellies



More will follow soon...

[Bookworm]

1 December Part 2
(A short part of our trip that I found funny afterwards )

After the short visit to the Kruger, my dad and I went back to camp. This is also the day that we met Sprocky

Before Tataruka and I met him I had to take her to get some alergex because she didn't feel so good. So off we went to town and I had no idea where to go. We then drove a little without any luck and with my "brilliant scence of direction" we kind of got lost... . Luckily my GPS was still in the car and we got to the camp safely but without alergex. (Tataruka was fine after that).

We met Sprocky at camp and had a lovely braai. While I was making some salad, we heard Tataruka freaking out over a big, scary, hairy worm that climbed on her foot -O . But little did I know that I was also going to "meet" this worm . It climbed onto my leg,up, up untill it reached my shorts. That was when I eventually felt it on me. So I took it with my two fingers and put it on the ground without knowing that it stuck its hair in my fingers (my fingers were full of its hair and what a struggle it was to get them out )

Unfortunately we did not take a picture of it.

Pictures of day 2 will follow soooooon ...

[Bookworm]

2 December

This day we decided not to get up early and we took our time to pack everything up. Once we got to Phalaborwa gate, our adventure started!

Who knew that this would be our first sighting for the day? Unfortunately my dad could not see it as he had the caravan to tow and could not reverse. So we stayed to enjoy the brilliant sighting.







And an ellie



3 klipspringertjies that my dad also did not see





A buffalo relaxing



...with a view







More pics of the day will follow soon...

[Bookworm]

2 December (Part 2)

We eventually arrived at Letaba and started to set up camp. It was a good feeling to be able to camp in Kruger again

We saw some bushbuck and some squirrels in the campsite.









I decided to put some landscapes on too





Some zebras in the distance





Waterbuck



This is a photo that Tataruka took of a tree that is on its side (I thought it was something unique and different)



A waterbuck on his way to the water



More landscapes







Fishies -O



The rest of the waterbuck family...





Some MORE landscapes haha





Tortoise







And the last picture of the day, some impala that says goodnight and off to bed...



That night we had a peaceful night listening to all the animals that surrounded us. It seemed like Tataruka attracted all the insects because they were flying and crashing into her and, of course, I couldn't stop laughing

Some more pics will follow tomorrow

[Bookworm]

3 December

Today we didn't do much. We had a little drive and took some pictures

This was taken very early in the morning so the light wasn't too good to get a nice photo of the maraboe





Some kingfishers



Baboons





Buffalo



Kudu



Zebra



Waterbuck showing his bum to us



Giraffe mommy...



And baby follows...









This one was a little far



The ellies wanted to play hide and seek -O



We then had a visitor at the camp at the fence. He was calling for one of the female bushbuck inside the camp but she ignored him so he started to eat to get rid of the disappointment



Some ellies came to visit at the view point at Letaba





I took this photo and looked at it afterwards, I saw that the one ellie wanted to do other things -O



This monkey stole someones lunch...



This was a BIIIIG bird



The end

...of day 3

[Bookworm]

4 December

We decided to go for a "little long" trip to Satara after a long night of waiting for 3 young men, that camped right next to us, to be quiet and pack up their games. All we heard was: red ones, blue ones, green ones.... Fortunately they didn't stay up too late.

A bluewildebeast in bad lighting (early morning)



Big Boabab tree (it was the first time that I atually saw one with leaves on it. It didn't look like it was planted up side down anymore )



Some kind of eagle



Flowers that we saw at Olifants







Chameleon



Eagle on the rail of the bridge







I think this croc wanted to stretch his hind legs (I laughed when I saw it)





I would have gotten a better picture if this little steenbok didn't jump away the moment I wanted to take the picture...





Some ellies



Ellies playing in the water



An ostrich (a little far)



This picture isn't one of the best but there are some blue wildebeast, zebras, giraffes and a rhino



Baboons





More pictures of this day will follow soon...
Hope you enjoy

[Bookworm]

4 December (Part 2)

Some more pictures of our trip to Satara and back to Letaba...

Waterbuck saying: "What you looking at???"



Some zebra



It looked like these three played a game of "copy and paste" -O



This eagle was a little far and the light wasn't very good



A vulture





Some more waterbuck





Kudu bum shot





I decided to name this giraffe Yellow Legs



This one was leaning against the tree. It was probably tired -O



Two baby impala



It is supposed to be a rhino



This is Mister I Know Everything



Bluewildebeast



Saddle billed stork (hope I spelled it right )



Secretary bird



Ellies



A monkey that was watching us...



And the last picture of the day is a landcape picture



The next day we had a LITTLE surprise

[Bookworm]

5 December

We got up quite early to get packing for the long road to Shingwedzi. It was hard to get in enough sleep because the 3 young men that camped behind us, went on playing games and drinking until early in the morning (I didn't hear anything becuse I was too tired ) They eventually stopped after my dad went to them with an axe and spoke some words (I only heard about the axe thing the next morning)

The road was quiet and I struggled to keep my eyes open while I was driving, but I tried to entertain myself -O

Kudu on its way to the water



Some landscapes





A mad ellie. It looked like it was chasing the buffalo and after that it looked like the buffalo were very thursty and ran for the water -O







An ellie



Tortoises...that was naughty



I almost killed this guy luckily I saw it



Thirsty ellies



We arrived at Shingwedzi and set up camp. It was really hot and dry there sooooo we decided to go for a swim before we went for a little drive to Kanniedood dam.

A fish eagle



Nyala



Kanniedood dam



A bunny (It can't be seen very clearly)



Baboons



Waterbuck and a saddle billed stork



Clouds



And the second last sighting of the day... (my camera didn't take good pictures but I put it on anyway)





This is a picture my dad took. It is way better than mine



We saw a lioness after the cheetah but unfortunately we did not have the chance to take a picture of her

Enjoy

[Bookworm]

6 December

It was a very quiet day and we did not see much. Tataruka and I went for a drive on our own and what an interesting day....

We were riding on one of the gravel roads near Shingwedzi and after some time I saw something in the road that looked like a dry stick. So I thought that an ellie might have dropped it there because the road we were driving on had a lot of branches and leaves on it from ellies crossing the road earlier. I drove on until I saw the stick moving. Suddenly it raised itself and went into its striking position. I got a huge fright and hit the brakes but forgot to hit clutch too, so just after I closed the windows, my car died . It was a snake. A black mamba . My heart has never beaten that fast! Unfortunately I could't take a photo because it was already gone...

After the frightening event my heart eventually calmed down and when we were about to turn on the road back to Shingwedzi, I was looking on the board to see how far it was and Tataruka yelled: "LOOK OUT!" and when I turned my head to my side, there stood an ellie and I almost bumped into it. Soooo my heart went crazy...AGAIN...

Here are some pictures

We saw a lot of skeletons in the Shingwedzi area



In the following pictures, there was an eagle and a vulture in the same place







Sharps grysbok





Wet buffalo. We saw him after the snake incident and I was still quite shaken and was so scared that it might charge at us



Last picture of the day