Sorry, the Cow took the first pic and Hawkeyes the close upToko wrote: Who took the photos?
Browns in Kruger April 2014*
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
26th Skukuza continued
After a late breakfast/lunch I decided that a couple Cane and Oros mixes were required to straighten my morning drive pelican and kill the flu, so by 3pm I was feeling much more positive and was plotting to crash leachy’s boma a little early, but the Cow started looking at her watch again; therefore we hit the road just before 4pm.
My initial plan was to do some of the S1 as a wildie had scored there the previous evening and the rats were nagging to check the junior hyena at the den again, but maybe it was the day dreaming, the flu, the tablets that the Cow had pumped me with, or the Oros, because I hit a miss and ended up on the H1-1, which never happens as I can picture most of the roads by name below Olifants.
“This isn’t the correct way Cow”
“Don’t look at me, you are driving!!”
“If I turn now we won’t make the hyena den”, which caused a stir and a few pelicans in the back.
“Well let’s duck up the S65 and we may still make the den”, which straightened a few faces.
A few km later, as we came over a rise I spotted something poking its pip out the grass and maybe it was the slowed up mood, but I casually said “Wild dog”
Then the penny dropped for the Cow “WILD DOG!!” and the hands started their normal involuntary excitement flapping in the air, which woke me out of my day dream.
The grass was so long that one would never see them if they were 1m in the bush, so our timing was perfect.
An oncoming car arrived and after a greeting, indicated that there was a leopard in a tree just past the S65 turnoff, so now it was decision time as I switch off to everything when I hear leopard.
“Let’s move!!”
“WHAT!! These are wild dogs”
“SO! There’s a leopard up the road”
I then remembered the junior hyena plan for the rats which involved us going up the S65 to the S1 and if we continued past for the leopard we wouldn’t have enough time to get back to camp, so a tense family negotiation started.
Fortunately after a sales pitch all agreed on the leopard, so we took a few more quick pics and continued up the road.
We couldn’t miss the leopard due to the number of cars, but it was fairly far off and frustratingly it refused to look at the camera, which was getting me wild as the Garmin was saying that we had to start back towards camp, so we gave up after 5 minutes and turned to drive the same route back to camp.
The dogs were still parking off on the road, but the traffic had increased big time, so we stopped for around 2 minutes before continuing on.
The rest of the drive back to camp produced all the normal locals including a scallywag in the road.
The clan quickly got organized for the AW meet while I swallowed a few pre meet warm up dops and soon we were on our way to the boma.
I won’t elaborate on the meet as it’s under that thread, however I would again like to thank all involved in the organization and all who attended. Great stuff wildies
To be continued
After a late breakfast/lunch I decided that a couple Cane and Oros mixes were required to straighten my morning drive pelican and kill the flu, so by 3pm I was feeling much more positive and was plotting to crash leachy’s boma a little early, but the Cow started looking at her watch again; therefore we hit the road just before 4pm.
My initial plan was to do some of the S1 as a wildie had scored there the previous evening and the rats were nagging to check the junior hyena at the den again, but maybe it was the day dreaming, the flu, the tablets that the Cow had pumped me with, or the Oros, because I hit a miss and ended up on the H1-1, which never happens as I can picture most of the roads by name below Olifants.
“This isn’t the correct way Cow”
“Don’t look at me, you are driving!!”
“If I turn now we won’t make the hyena den”, which caused a stir and a few pelicans in the back.
“Well let’s duck up the S65 and we may still make the den”, which straightened a few faces.
A few km later, as we came over a rise I spotted something poking its pip out the grass and maybe it was the slowed up mood, but I casually said “Wild dog”
Then the penny dropped for the Cow “WILD DOG!!” and the hands started their normal involuntary excitement flapping in the air, which woke me out of my day dream.
The grass was so long that one would never see them if they were 1m in the bush, so our timing was perfect.
An oncoming car arrived and after a greeting, indicated that there was a leopard in a tree just past the S65 turnoff, so now it was decision time as I switch off to everything when I hear leopard.
“Let’s move!!”
“WHAT!! These are wild dogs”
“SO! There’s a leopard up the road”
I then remembered the junior hyena plan for the rats which involved us going up the S65 to the S1 and if we continued past for the leopard we wouldn’t have enough time to get back to camp, so a tense family negotiation started.
Fortunately after a sales pitch all agreed on the leopard, so we took a few more quick pics and continued up the road.
We couldn’t miss the leopard due to the number of cars, but it was fairly far off and frustratingly it refused to look at the camera, which was getting me wild as the Garmin was saying that we had to start back towards camp, so we gave up after 5 minutes and turned to drive the same route back to camp.
The dogs were still parking off on the road, but the traffic had increased big time, so we stopped for around 2 minutes before continuing on.
The rest of the drive back to camp produced all the normal locals including a scallywag in the road.
The clan quickly got organized for the AW meet while I swallowed a few pre meet warm up dops and soon we were on our way to the boma.
I won’t elaborate on the meet as it’s under that thread, however I would again like to thank all involved in the organization and all who attended. Great stuff wildies
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
27th Skukuza
The alarm gave me a massive fright when it went off as I’m normally awake before it goes off.
“Kill it!!” and I went back to sleep.
We eventually got up some time after 6am, but the motivation was at an all time low as we only got back to our unit after 12pm and only crashed just before 1am.
My plan that plenty dop would kill the flu hadn’t worked and I felt as if I was in my own little bubble, so we eventually hit the road at around 7:30am, but only made it as far as the little dirt loop just after the Skukuza T junction at the H4-1 before I felt those familiar beads of sweat, therefore a quick u-turn was in order and back to camp we went.
As we pulled into Skukuza the rats started squawking “There’s Flutts and BB, they are waving” but the alarm bells were still going off, so there’s no way I was stopping unless it involved a sprint to the loo.
This time things were a little more organized at our unit and we packed enough chow, etc to make a longer day of it.
We left camp for the second time at around 8:30am, but decided to drive the Marula loop this time and then duck across the H12 Bridge before heading down to Lower Sabie to link up with my work mate who probably thought that we were ducking him by this stage.
The Marula loop produced the normal locals, but nothing to get excited about, so we just cruised along slowly and didn’t bother with pics.
Around 1km down the H12 the first ellies for the morning made an appearance, including a couple juniors and teenagers who wanted to scrap in the road.
We moved forward as the teenagers ducked and found Flutts, BB and Ballie checking them out from the other direction. It seems they had scored in the morning on a different route, but they had left camp at 6am, which shocked me as I was still battling to focus enough to drive let alone look for animals.
The rest of the drive to Lower Sabie produced a few locals, including a Brown Snake Eagle and then a lioness which I spotted by chance as the focus was starting to return.
My mate was still on a drive when we arrived at Lower Sabie, so we decided to wobble around the shop and check out the Mugg and Bean setup, but after an hour they still weren’t back and it was already after 12:30pm, so we decided to give up on them and head back towards Skukuza via the H10/S30/H4-1.
The H10 section produced a few giraffe, buffalo, chameleon and a rather nervous reedbuck.
The S30 was quiet until about the halfway mark where we spotted 2 cars stopped on the side of the road in the distance, so slowly approached, but initially could only see a gang of boons, however as we got closer all shouted “Wild dog!!”
To be continued
The alarm gave me a massive fright when it went off as I’m normally awake before it goes off.
“Kill it!!” and I went back to sleep.
We eventually got up some time after 6am, but the motivation was at an all time low as we only got back to our unit after 12pm and only crashed just before 1am.
My plan that plenty dop would kill the flu hadn’t worked and I felt as if I was in my own little bubble, so we eventually hit the road at around 7:30am, but only made it as far as the little dirt loop just after the Skukuza T junction at the H4-1 before I felt those familiar beads of sweat, therefore a quick u-turn was in order and back to camp we went.
As we pulled into Skukuza the rats started squawking “There’s Flutts and BB, they are waving” but the alarm bells were still going off, so there’s no way I was stopping unless it involved a sprint to the loo.
This time things were a little more organized at our unit and we packed enough chow, etc to make a longer day of it.
We left camp for the second time at around 8:30am, but decided to drive the Marula loop this time and then duck across the H12 Bridge before heading down to Lower Sabie to link up with my work mate who probably thought that we were ducking him by this stage.
The Marula loop produced the normal locals, but nothing to get excited about, so we just cruised along slowly and didn’t bother with pics.
Around 1km down the H12 the first ellies for the morning made an appearance, including a couple juniors and teenagers who wanted to scrap in the road.
We moved forward as the teenagers ducked and found Flutts, BB and Ballie checking them out from the other direction. It seems they had scored in the morning on a different route, but they had left camp at 6am, which shocked me as I was still battling to focus enough to drive let alone look for animals.
The rest of the drive to Lower Sabie produced a few locals, including a Brown Snake Eagle and then a lioness which I spotted by chance as the focus was starting to return.
My mate was still on a drive when we arrived at Lower Sabie, so we decided to wobble around the shop and check out the Mugg and Bean setup, but after an hour they still weren’t back and it was already after 12:30pm, so we decided to give up on them and head back towards Skukuza via the H10/S30/H4-1.
The H10 section produced a few giraffe, buffalo, chameleon and a rather nervous reedbuck.
The S30 was quiet until about the halfway mark where we spotted 2 cars stopped on the side of the road in the distance, so slowly approached, but initially could only see a gang of boons, however as we got closer all shouted “Wild dog!!”
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
27th Skukuza continued
The dogs were sleeping in the shade, so again I wasn’t overexcited, but soon the boons started to approach them and you can see in the pic below by the dogs on the right that they weren’t happy.
I thought that there was going to be some major action, so started shrieking video instructions and orders, but the darn boons lost courage and moved towards the vehicles. In the pic below it looks as if the dogs are looking at us, but they are actually looking at the boons that were around our car.
We were about to leave when Hawkeyes spotted 4 more dogs off to one side who had been flushed out of the grass by the boons. The boons were only interested in having a drink though and soon left the scene.
It was now around 2:30pm and all were keen to get out the car, so we headed back to camp passing the normal locals along the way.
As we arrived at camp Flutts, BB and Mommo were heading out for their afternoon drive, so we had a quick chat about sightings and ducked to our unit.
I was feeling rather green by this stage, which must have been the flu and it had nothing to do with the previous evenings antics, so decided that a few refreshments of blue top and Oros on the veranda would do the trick, but this set the Cow off “Don’t you think you had enough last night”
“It’s just a small one!!”
The Cow soon got involved in 1 of her books, which normally drives me crazy, but today it created the necessary distraction and a few more Oros mixes escaped detection.
Around 5:15pm Hawkeyes started hassling about Kruger tradition and the fact that we have never missed an evening drive, so reluctantly I wobbled to the car.
We only had 45 minutes, so I decided to drive aimlessly down to one of the little dirt loops on the H4-1 and then head back.
We decided to drive the outer section of bravo loop and drove straight into a massive traffic jam. The Skukuza gang had lost the plot with lion fever again and people were driving in the bush, etc, so my gasket was about to blow. It was also getting dark, so pics were almost impossible from where we were, which was about 30m from the lioness, so we took a quick “proof” pic handheld without the flash, turned and ducked down the inner loop towards camp.
Halfway down the closer loop we spotted 2 cars on the side of the road and then 3 teenage lion who were almost on the road. I was shocked and glad that the gang hadn’t discovered this yet as they were still all fighting over the lioness up the road.
One of the cars moved off, so a gap opened for us right next to the lion and I could use the built in camera flash at this range.
The traffic at Skukuza heading for the gate closing can get very frustrating at times, so after a few pics we decided to duck and beat the gang to camp.
We arrived at our unit to find a plenty of people and a herd of ellies cruising the fence line for a chow, so Hawkeyes and Bushpig went on a mission for pics without realizing that the fence was reflecting most of their cameras flash and I settled for the veranda as a view point.
The ellies crashed and banged their way around the fence line for another few hours, but we were all stuffed, so collapsed rather early.
To be continued
The dogs were sleeping in the shade, so again I wasn’t overexcited, but soon the boons started to approach them and you can see in the pic below by the dogs on the right that they weren’t happy.
I thought that there was going to be some major action, so started shrieking video instructions and orders, but the darn boons lost courage and moved towards the vehicles. In the pic below it looks as if the dogs are looking at us, but they are actually looking at the boons that were around our car.
We were about to leave when Hawkeyes spotted 4 more dogs off to one side who had been flushed out of the grass by the boons. The boons were only interested in having a drink though and soon left the scene.
It was now around 2:30pm and all were keen to get out the car, so we headed back to camp passing the normal locals along the way.
As we arrived at camp Flutts, BB and Mommo were heading out for their afternoon drive, so we had a quick chat about sightings and ducked to our unit.
I was feeling rather green by this stage, which must have been the flu and it had nothing to do with the previous evenings antics, so decided that a few refreshments of blue top and Oros on the veranda would do the trick, but this set the Cow off “Don’t you think you had enough last night”
“It’s just a small one!!”
The Cow soon got involved in 1 of her books, which normally drives me crazy, but today it created the necessary distraction and a few more Oros mixes escaped detection.
Around 5:15pm Hawkeyes started hassling about Kruger tradition and the fact that we have never missed an evening drive, so reluctantly I wobbled to the car.
We only had 45 minutes, so I decided to drive aimlessly down to one of the little dirt loops on the H4-1 and then head back.
We decided to drive the outer section of bravo loop and drove straight into a massive traffic jam. The Skukuza gang had lost the plot with lion fever again and people were driving in the bush, etc, so my gasket was about to blow. It was also getting dark, so pics were almost impossible from where we were, which was about 30m from the lioness, so we took a quick “proof” pic handheld without the flash, turned and ducked down the inner loop towards camp.
Halfway down the closer loop we spotted 2 cars on the side of the road and then 3 teenage lion who were almost on the road. I was shocked and glad that the gang hadn’t discovered this yet as they were still all fighting over the lioness up the road.
One of the cars moved off, so a gap opened for us right next to the lion and I could use the built in camera flash at this range.
The traffic at Skukuza heading for the gate closing can get very frustrating at times, so after a few pics we decided to duck and beat the gang to camp.
We arrived at our unit to find a plenty of people and a herd of ellies cruising the fence line for a chow, so Hawkeyes and Bushpig went on a mission for pics without realizing that the fence was reflecting most of their cameras flash and I settled for the veranda as a view point.
The ellies crashed and banged their way around the fence line for another few hours, but we were all stuffed, so collapsed rather early.
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
28th Skukuza to Satara
I hate packing up to leave camp, so woke with a pelican; however all pulled their weight and soon the car was packed, so my lip straightened.
The Cow was nagging to drive the H10 to Tshokwane, as we hadn’t done that route for awhile, which is mainly because I don’t fancy it, but it would also mean another trip down the H4-1, which we were all sick of; however my mate was moving to Skukuza today from Lower Sabie, so I agreed as we would meet them on the way down.
The locals made appearance on the way to Nkuhlu, but we never stopped for pics as I had those sweat beads again so the only thing on my mind was Nkuhlu.
There was nobody at Nkuhlu when we arrived so I bailed for the loo leaving the clan in the car; however unbeknown to me the Cow also decided to duck off to the loo, leaving the rats alone in the car.
Just as I settled and reached the point of no return the rats started screaming, which initially nearly caused me to forget that I was on the loo, but then peace returned and I assumed that the Cow had handled the situation.
I arrived back at the car to find 4 major pelican’s and the greasing started “Do you know what happened!!”
“I was in the bog and I’m not clairvoyant!!”
Then all started talking at once.
It turned out that I had left my window open and as soon as the Cow ducked for the loo a baboon had bailed into our car through my window.
Bushpig was beaming “I fought it off Dad!! It could have stolen your camera”, however Hawkeyes and Albert weren’t amused.
I started laughing, which didn’t go down well “There could have been serious consequences!!”
I don’t doubt that, but all I could think about was who got the biggest fright, the rats or the boon when it realized it wasn’t alone and it faced a wild adrenalin charged Bushpig.
The rest of the drive to Lower Sabie produced a few more locals including buffalo and ellies; however no sign of my work mate, so we decided to give up on that.
The Cow now wanted takeaway Mugg and Bean coffee at Lower Sabie in prime game viewing time, so my pacing up and down in the car park continued for around 10 minutes before the cylinder head went and I roared off to the Mugg and Bean to make a scene.
Soon we were back on the road and on our way up the H10; however I was getting the picture and no sound treatment.
Fortunately around 10km later a jackal and then a hyena broke the silence.
The scallywag was a real thug and seemed interested in a drain next to the road, however backed off each time it got close.
I happened to look down the road and there was another hyena charging along in the middle of the road, so announced that we should follow it, but as we turned the corner the darn hyena had disappeared which set the Cow off “Where’s the hyena!! Why did we move!!”
I was still slowly driving up the road though as something else had my attention “There’s something happening up there. What’s that in the road?”
Suddenly the Cow screamed “WILD DOGS!!” which first gave me a massive fright as I was concentrating on trying to identify what was running around and wild dogs on the H10 was the last thing my brain was processing.
The pack was moving at pace and 4 dogs came past us while we were still farting around with cameras, but there still 13 up ahead, so we fired off a few quick shots and then turned to follow the decision makers.
After around 1.5km the pack was spread out over about 300m and still moving at pace; therefore it was a nightmare to take pics, so there was massive commotion and all kinds of instructions happening in our car, but fortunately before there was an implosion the leaders slowed and stopped to check out where the rest were.
The rest then slowly gathered together for a few minutes and then the leaders took off at pace again, which set the entire procession and commotion in our car in motion again.
“Take pics Cow!!” “I’m taking video, you take pics!!”
“I’m driving so can’t take pics!!”
“Operate with the cameras rats!!”
The lead dog suddenly stopped, seemed interested in something and started coming back towards us at pace, which caused even more commotion in the car.
I was frantically trying to work out what caused this change and soon spotted Elvis in the bush looking rather nervous.
To be continued
I hate packing up to leave camp, so woke with a pelican; however all pulled their weight and soon the car was packed, so my lip straightened.
The Cow was nagging to drive the H10 to Tshokwane, as we hadn’t done that route for awhile, which is mainly because I don’t fancy it, but it would also mean another trip down the H4-1, which we were all sick of; however my mate was moving to Skukuza today from Lower Sabie, so I agreed as we would meet them on the way down.
The locals made appearance on the way to Nkuhlu, but we never stopped for pics as I had those sweat beads again so the only thing on my mind was Nkuhlu.
There was nobody at Nkuhlu when we arrived so I bailed for the loo leaving the clan in the car; however unbeknown to me the Cow also decided to duck off to the loo, leaving the rats alone in the car.
Just as I settled and reached the point of no return the rats started screaming, which initially nearly caused me to forget that I was on the loo, but then peace returned and I assumed that the Cow had handled the situation.
I arrived back at the car to find 4 major pelican’s and the greasing started “Do you know what happened!!”
“I was in the bog and I’m not clairvoyant!!”
Then all started talking at once.
It turned out that I had left my window open and as soon as the Cow ducked for the loo a baboon had bailed into our car through my window.
Bushpig was beaming “I fought it off Dad!! It could have stolen your camera”, however Hawkeyes and Albert weren’t amused.
I started laughing, which didn’t go down well “There could have been serious consequences!!”
I don’t doubt that, but all I could think about was who got the biggest fright, the rats or the boon when it realized it wasn’t alone and it faced a wild adrenalin charged Bushpig.
The rest of the drive to Lower Sabie produced a few more locals including buffalo and ellies; however no sign of my work mate, so we decided to give up on that.
The Cow now wanted takeaway Mugg and Bean coffee at Lower Sabie in prime game viewing time, so my pacing up and down in the car park continued for around 10 minutes before the cylinder head went and I roared off to the Mugg and Bean to make a scene.
Soon we were back on the road and on our way up the H10; however I was getting the picture and no sound treatment.
Fortunately around 10km later a jackal and then a hyena broke the silence.
The scallywag was a real thug and seemed interested in a drain next to the road, however backed off each time it got close.
I happened to look down the road and there was another hyena charging along in the middle of the road, so announced that we should follow it, but as we turned the corner the darn hyena had disappeared which set the Cow off “Where’s the hyena!! Why did we move!!”
I was still slowly driving up the road though as something else had my attention “There’s something happening up there. What’s that in the road?”
Suddenly the Cow screamed “WILD DOGS!!” which first gave me a massive fright as I was concentrating on trying to identify what was running around and wild dogs on the H10 was the last thing my brain was processing.
The pack was moving at pace and 4 dogs came past us while we were still farting around with cameras, but there still 13 up ahead, so we fired off a few quick shots and then turned to follow the decision makers.
After around 1.5km the pack was spread out over about 300m and still moving at pace; therefore it was a nightmare to take pics, so there was massive commotion and all kinds of instructions happening in our car, but fortunately before there was an implosion the leaders slowed and stopped to check out where the rest were.
The rest then slowly gathered together for a few minutes and then the leaders took off at pace again, which set the entire procession and commotion in our car in motion again.
“Take pics Cow!!” “I’m taking video, you take pics!!”
“I’m driving so can’t take pics!!”
“Operate with the cameras rats!!”
The lead dog suddenly stopped, seemed interested in something and started coming back towards us at pace, which caused even more commotion in the car.
I was frantically trying to work out what caused this change and soon spotted Elvis in the bush looking rather nervous.
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
28th Skukuza to Satara continued
The wartie was standing very still and trying to look invisible, but the dogs were too sharp and soon the game was on, which sent my levels through the roof.
“VIDEO! Take pics!”
“What! Where!”
“There! The pig!”
“The camera won’t switch on”
“@#%*”
Elvis immediately knew that he had been spotted and took off with the dogs hot on his heels.
Unfortunately I had my camera on aperture priority or something, so most of the chase pics were blurred, the Cow was still trying to switch the camera on and the rats had stage fright, but the wartie escaped, so it wasn’t the end of the world.
The dogs then decided to all come back to the road and have a sleep, so I won’t bore all with hundreds of dog pics when they all look similar, however this chap below reminded the rats of their dog at home so it caused a small stir.
We had spent nearly 45 minutes with the dogs and the crowd was starting to grow, so we continued on to Nkumbe view site.
I was fairly shocked as we pulled into Nkumbe as a naked junior was cruising around the car park with his winky hanging out and then the faulty mother indicated that he should pee, which is what he did in front of everyone. I understand it’s just a kid, but I wasn’t raised that way and people should have more respect for others. At least take the kid to a tree, behind the car or something.
I was now in a foul mood with the Jerry Springer family, so we didn’t hang around.
A few km before the end of the H10 our first puffie for the trip decided to cross the road and seriously took his time about it, but we didn’t want to stress the chap out, so stopped a fair distance from him.
The plan was to purchase breakfast/lunch at Tshokwane, but it was crowded and power kept going on and off, so we canned the idea and ordered 3 packs of hot chips.
It worked out though as all were a little nervous of chowing there after last year’s food poisoning experience.
The ablutions are still stuffed and only green “hut and loo” hire type bogs are available, which gave Albert a pelican, however Bushpig had a jol pushing the flush device on the floor and even did 2 trips to the loo.
The rest of the drive up to the H7/S100/H1-3 junction produced a few more locals, including some buffalo and waterbuck.
We still had some time before the 2pm book in, so decided to drive 5km down the S100, just to get a feel for it again and around 4km later found some lazy lion having a snooze next to the road.
Surprisingly there was only 1 car there, so it was relatively peaceful, but sleeping lions can be like watching paint dry, therefore I started stuffing around with the Cow’s camera and tried to take pic of the one’s nose, but ran out of zoom
Soon the rats were also bored of the sleeping lions, so we turned and headed for Satara.
To be continued
The wartie was standing very still and trying to look invisible, but the dogs were too sharp and soon the game was on, which sent my levels through the roof.
“VIDEO! Take pics!”
“What! Where!”
“There! The pig!”
“The camera won’t switch on”
“@#%*”
Elvis immediately knew that he had been spotted and took off with the dogs hot on his heels.
Unfortunately I had my camera on aperture priority or something, so most of the chase pics were blurred, the Cow was still trying to switch the camera on and the rats had stage fright, but the wartie escaped, so it wasn’t the end of the world.
The dogs then decided to all come back to the road and have a sleep, so I won’t bore all with hundreds of dog pics when they all look similar, however this chap below reminded the rats of their dog at home so it caused a small stir.
We had spent nearly 45 minutes with the dogs and the crowd was starting to grow, so we continued on to Nkumbe view site.
I was fairly shocked as we pulled into Nkumbe as a naked junior was cruising around the car park with his winky hanging out and then the faulty mother indicated that he should pee, which is what he did in front of everyone. I understand it’s just a kid, but I wasn’t raised that way and people should have more respect for others. At least take the kid to a tree, behind the car or something.
I was now in a foul mood with the Jerry Springer family, so we didn’t hang around.
A few km before the end of the H10 our first puffie for the trip decided to cross the road and seriously took his time about it, but we didn’t want to stress the chap out, so stopped a fair distance from him.
The plan was to purchase breakfast/lunch at Tshokwane, but it was crowded and power kept going on and off, so we canned the idea and ordered 3 packs of hot chips.
It worked out though as all were a little nervous of chowing there after last year’s food poisoning experience.
The ablutions are still stuffed and only green “hut and loo” hire type bogs are available, which gave Albert a pelican, however Bushpig had a jol pushing the flush device on the floor and even did 2 trips to the loo.
The rest of the drive up to the H7/S100/H1-3 junction produced a few more locals, including some buffalo and waterbuck.
We still had some time before the 2pm book in, so decided to drive 5km down the S100, just to get a feel for it again and around 4km later found some lazy lion having a snooze next to the road.
Surprisingly there was only 1 car there, so it was relatively peaceful, but sleeping lions can be like watching paint dry, therefore I started stuffing around with the Cow’s camera and tried to take pic of the one’s nose, but ran out of zoom
Soon the rats were also bored of the sleeping lions, so we turned and headed for Satara.
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
28th Skukuza to Satara continued
The Cow handled the book in as per normal and I was tasked with the responsibility of replenishing some of our stock at the shop, which was crowded and under renovation, so it was a long lip dragging half an hour in the queue. Lesson learnt, never visit the shop at around 2pm.
I decided that I needed to refuel on the veranda with a few Oros mixes while the Cow and rats went on their normal mission around camp hunting squirrels, but also found a few other things to take pics of.
It had been a long day, so we decided to leave camp at around 4:30pm and head down to Nsemani Dam for a short time.
The dam produced the usual gang, but after checking out the surroundings with binoculars decided that it was rather quiet, so we decided to continue for a few minutes down the H7 and around 1km later stumbled on the below.
The male had a big cheesy and was frantically tormenting the female, which set Bushpig off “Are they married Dad?”
“I think so”.
This then set Hawkeyes off “She’s trying to break up with him”
Suddenly the male decided that forceful tactics were in order and he pushed the female on the bum until she was obliging.
Albert wasn’t amused “Many daddy lions sit on the girl lions. Why doesn’t she run away?”.
Hawkeyes again came to the rescue “She’s trying to let him down gently”.
Soon Bushpig and Albert will get “the speech” then these types of sightings will never be the same again.
After the deed the male seemed more relaxed and the female decided to roll around in the grass, so we waited another 10 minutes, but it was around 5:25pm, getting too dark for pics and I was keen to start the fire, so we turned and headed back towards Nsemani, but around 200m later the Cow chirped “What’s that, LION!”
Another couple were cooling off in the bush watching the first couple, so we must have driven straight past them earlier.
About a minute later the second couple decided to join the party, which got Albert protesting again.
It was too dark for pics, so we cruised back to camp passing a few locals on the way.
I really don’t like the fact that the majority of the units are in a circle at Satara as it dramatically increases the chances of faulty neighbours, because even if the faulty gang are on the opposite side of the circle their noise travels straight to you. I have had more noise in the Satara 6 sleeper D circle over the last 5 years than any other camp and it’s nearly always just 1 group who cause the issue and tonight was no exception.
Fortunately a lion started roaring which distracted me from the rowdy out of control kids and their high pitched shrieking mothers who for some reason had to shout at each other, so we went on a family stroll to the webcam area as that’s where the roaring was coming from, but no luck; therefore returned to start our fire.
To be continued
The Cow handled the book in as per normal and I was tasked with the responsibility of replenishing some of our stock at the shop, which was crowded and under renovation, so it was a long lip dragging half an hour in the queue. Lesson learnt, never visit the shop at around 2pm.
I decided that I needed to refuel on the veranda with a few Oros mixes while the Cow and rats went on their normal mission around camp hunting squirrels, but also found a few other things to take pics of.
It had been a long day, so we decided to leave camp at around 4:30pm and head down to Nsemani Dam for a short time.
The dam produced the usual gang, but after checking out the surroundings with binoculars decided that it was rather quiet, so we decided to continue for a few minutes down the H7 and around 1km later stumbled on the below.
The male had a big cheesy and was frantically tormenting the female, which set Bushpig off “Are they married Dad?”
“I think so”.
This then set Hawkeyes off “She’s trying to break up with him”
Suddenly the male decided that forceful tactics were in order and he pushed the female on the bum until she was obliging.
Albert wasn’t amused “Many daddy lions sit on the girl lions. Why doesn’t she run away?”.
Hawkeyes again came to the rescue “She’s trying to let him down gently”.
Soon Bushpig and Albert will get “the speech” then these types of sightings will never be the same again.
After the deed the male seemed more relaxed and the female decided to roll around in the grass, so we waited another 10 minutes, but it was around 5:25pm, getting too dark for pics and I was keen to start the fire, so we turned and headed back towards Nsemani, but around 200m later the Cow chirped “What’s that, LION!”
Another couple were cooling off in the bush watching the first couple, so we must have driven straight past them earlier.
About a minute later the second couple decided to join the party, which got Albert protesting again.
It was too dark for pics, so we cruised back to camp passing a few locals on the way.
I really don’t like the fact that the majority of the units are in a circle at Satara as it dramatically increases the chances of faulty neighbours, because even if the faulty gang are on the opposite side of the circle their noise travels straight to you. I have had more noise in the Satara 6 sleeper D circle over the last 5 years than any other camp and it’s nearly always just 1 group who cause the issue and tonight was no exception.
Fortunately a lion started roaring which distracted me from the rowdy out of control kids and their high pitched shrieking mothers who for some reason had to shout at each other, so we went on a family stroll to the webcam area as that’s where the roaring was coming from, but no luck; therefore returned to start our fire.
To be continued
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Richprins
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Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
Nice bat! 
So you looking forward to the speech...or is that Mom's job?
Some may think lion have a "mating season" so the cubs come out when hunting is best...winter...
But not really, as pride males have to make hay while the sun shines...ie. being alive, for a start, and catching a female on heat before they may succumb to rival males. That is why they keep the female busy for days, so as to "make sure"...
Good shots!
So you looking forward to the speech...or is that Mom's job?
Some may think lion have a "mating season" so the cubs come out when hunting is best...winter...
But not really, as pride males have to make hay while the sun shines...ie. being alive, for a start, and catching a female on heat before they may succumb to rival males. That is why they keep the female busy for days, so as to "make sure"...
Good shots!
Please check Needs Attention pre-booking: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=322&t=596
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
29th Satara
I woke feeling much better this morning as the Oros mix had eventually worked and the flu was dying.
The rats were under instructions that noise around the neighbours wasn’t an issue this morning, so I eagerly went to see if my revenge was going to work, but the darn neighbours, who were still going at 11pm, were already up and about, so I was rather deflated.
To top things off they were on the road to the gate before us and the aunty gave me a dirty look as if to say “Control your kids”, so I had to plot another revenge tactic at some stage during the day.
The morning sightings started in camp with an AWC who had chosen to sleep under my car, so the rats where stoked, but we were too slow to get organized with the cameras and the cat ducked.
We didn’t really have a plan for the morning drive, so the easiest thing to do in the Satara area is to drive to Nsemani Dam and then decide on what to do next.
The Nsemani pride was out and about next to the dam wall and some juniors also made an appearance.
The crowd started to grow and the lion were just parking off, so we continued on to where we had seen the duel mating gang.
The one lot had moved off, but the other was still around and mobile; however the aunty must have had a bad night as she had a massive pelican for the still frantic male and wasn’t interested in him so after a few pics we turned and headed back to Nsemani Dam.
The hippo locals were still cruising around and the pride was still laying around, but nothing much else was happening, so after checking the hippo out for a few minutes we decided to plot a route.
I remembered Flutts mentioned 5 cheetahs on the H6 at the AW meet, so I had a feeling that they would be cooling off just waiting for us, so we ducked off that direction.
After driving most of the H6 slowly I developed a pelican as although we had seen the normal suspects, including ellies, giraffe and ground horn bills, there were no cheetah waiting for us.
We love the Timbavati picnic site, so the new plan was to duck back down the H6 and then up the H1-4 until the S127 turnoff to the picnic site, but we didn’t find anything to get excited about, so all had sour faces and had lost interest by the time we were halfway down the S127; therefore when I spotted something moving in the road up ahead it took the brain a few seconds to register.
To be continued
I woke feeling much better this morning as the Oros mix had eventually worked and the flu was dying.
The rats were under instructions that noise around the neighbours wasn’t an issue this morning, so I eagerly went to see if my revenge was going to work, but the darn neighbours, who were still going at 11pm, were already up and about, so I was rather deflated.
To top things off they were on the road to the gate before us and the aunty gave me a dirty look as if to say “Control your kids”, so I had to plot another revenge tactic at some stage during the day.
The morning sightings started in camp with an AWC who had chosen to sleep under my car, so the rats where stoked, but we were too slow to get organized with the cameras and the cat ducked.
We didn’t really have a plan for the morning drive, so the easiest thing to do in the Satara area is to drive to Nsemani Dam and then decide on what to do next.
The Nsemani pride was out and about next to the dam wall and some juniors also made an appearance.
The crowd started to grow and the lion were just parking off, so we continued on to where we had seen the duel mating gang.
The one lot had moved off, but the other was still around and mobile; however the aunty must have had a bad night as she had a massive pelican for the still frantic male and wasn’t interested in him so after a few pics we turned and headed back to Nsemani Dam.
The hippo locals were still cruising around and the pride was still laying around, but nothing much else was happening, so after checking the hippo out for a few minutes we decided to plot a route.
I remembered Flutts mentioned 5 cheetahs on the H6 at the AW meet, so I had a feeling that they would be cooling off just waiting for us, so we ducked off that direction.
After driving most of the H6 slowly I developed a pelican as although we had seen the normal suspects, including ellies, giraffe and ground horn bills, there were no cheetah waiting for us.
We love the Timbavati picnic site, so the new plan was to duck back down the H6 and then up the H1-4 until the S127 turnoff to the picnic site, but we didn’t find anything to get excited about, so all had sour faces and had lost interest by the time we were halfway down the S127; therefore when I spotted something moving in the road up ahead it took the brain a few seconds to register.
To be continued
Re: Browns in Kruger April 2014
Arrow- marked babblersLisbeth wrote:Wouldn't that kind of sighting not be the right moment to explain the facts of procreation to the girls?Bushcraft wrote: Suddenly the male decided that forceful tactics were in order and he pushed the female on the bum until she was obliging.
Albert wasn’t amused “Many daddy lions sit on the girl lions. Why doesn’t she run away?”.
Hawkeyes again came to the rescue “She’s trying to let him down gently”.
Soon Bushpig and Albert will get “the speech” then these types of sightings will never be the same again.
Lovely pic of the two arrow-marked babblers
I would never have got that 
Birds and bees at a mating sighting in Kruger
