Story - Hello - Goodbye (Oct 18 2015)*

[aat]

*** Travel Tales ***
New series of Travel Tales

10 – Mopani Special (part 1)

Hello and welcome to part 1 of a Mopani Special story (just too much for one post) and I like a cliffhanger
NO… it’s not about tuskers and no, it’s not about cats but… well… read and look (as promised...specially for our "new" member Eland)

Thanks to all for the warm and nice comments about the Cheetah and the cubs in previous story.

First.. Not far from Mopani camp there is/was a waterhole named Tihongonyeni ,along the Capricorn loop (s143) from the S50 towards the main road H1-6.

It’s morning and Elly was still a bit tired so she decided to sleep a bit longer. I left Mopani camp and was driving around on the search for tuskers. No tusker around so I followed the road to Mooiplaas waterhole. Nothing to see so I moved on to the S50. Nothing near Nshawu area and waterholes and decided to take the Capricorn loop. First km’s some zebra and getting closer to Tihongonyeni suddenly I saw animals at the righhand side and could not recognize immediately what it was… or could I ? No… yes…. Eland !!

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It was a small family

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One of the horns of the male was broken (remember this …smile)

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I had this mixed feeling, so great to see Eland and at the same time Elly was not with me and I know she was talking for days about “may be seeing Eland”. Going back to Mopani and telling her I saw Eland … tssss….

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Back in Mopani… Elly asked me … did you see anything….? Ehhhh yes , I found Eland…
Ohhh no… really ?

Next day we left Mopani together and I made a kind of joke by saying “well, it’s almost the same time as yesterday so let’s find them again” Elly looked at me and her eyes ehhh yesss….

So… S50 again, turn left to Capricorn loop and almost halfway , not that far from Tihongonyeni at the righthand side…..

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and…. (look at the male , left on photo)


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Same Eland family , male with broken horn.
I looked at Elly and said “well, I told you… let’s find them again” and now followed by a big big smile …

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This time much closer to the road, Eland family (7 family members)

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This was part I . Hope you will join us after the “break” for part 2

Smileeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


Aat & Elly

[aat]

I have split the story part 1 into part 1 and 2.
I heard about problems with the number of photos for people with slower internet access.... so sorry for that and will keep this in mind for next stories.


10 – Mopani Special (part II)



And good to see the two youngsters

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Standing still…and enjoying this sighting , what a beautiful antelopes they are

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I think we have never seen them so close near the road before…

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I just can remember they are shy and if you are lucky to see them it’s mainly at some distance. This time very relaxed and even mother with the youngsters getting close to the road

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Close to this Eland family there was a group of Zebra and at the other side of the road buffalo.
The Eland moved on and we assumed they were heading towards Tihongonyeni for a drink, so we slowly followed them.
They were getting closer and closer to the road, together with some Zebra and we hoped they would cross the road…and they did !!

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** Forumite Eland… hope you like this **

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Two more to go… and they gave us a great show by crossing the road their own way…

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and last shot for part II..

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This was part II of the story… otherwise too many pictures and as cliffhanger….
Did we see them again near Tihongonyeni or what happened ???


Thanks for being with us for part II…. Hope you will join us after the “break” for part III

Smileeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


Aat & Elly

[aat]

Sorry for the confusion after splitting the story into part 1 and 2.... and make it easier now with adding part 3 !!

The cliffhanger was ... what happened next..... well , here the answer

Story 10 – Mopani Special (part 3) Eland , Eland and ???? Ro....

Last part of this story
In part 1 and 2 we have seen the Eland antelope coming close to the road and even crossing the road.
We were almost sure they were on their way to Tihongonyeni waterhole for drinking so we moved to this waterhole.

We did not see these Eland coming but…………… coming from the other side 3 other Eland antelopes. Amazing… Seeing Eland is not a daily thing and now two days on a row and todat even two different groups….

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The first two just passed and we were looking at number 3 and then just to the right of this Eland another antelope appeared…. A Roan !!

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We were looking at each other… with some huhhhhhhhhhhh???? Looking again and it was no joke … Roan together with Eland on one photo…. Let’s call it a wonderful and special day.
Two Eland and two Roan captured together… what a sighting.

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The Eland walked away to the small bush behind the waterhole but the Roan came closer…

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Seeing Eland was special but seeing Roan was very special. There are not many Roan left and looking at this small family we were so happy to see a young one with them.

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And like the Eland did before these Roan came closer and closer to the road. One of these days….. (smileeeeeeeeeeeeeee)



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And here the youngster… what a beauty and what a privilege

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The two other ones also came closer , family of 4 (dad, mom , teenager and “little” as we called him)

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Another shot of “little” because he is so pretty with his small !! ears

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And…. Like most things and specially nice things comes to an end a last shot of this Roan family before they disappeared

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What a day… and Elly and I are more then happy to share this with you

Eland …yes they are there and Roan yessssssssssssssss , it was so good to see them with some young ones

Mopani was very kind for us... Leopard with small cub, Cheetah mother with two cubs, Eland and Roan....

Hope you liked this part 1, 2 and 3 and see you soon with something completely different


Smileeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


Aat & Elly

[aat]

Thanks for all comments and time for a new story. Join us and enjoy Spotting Spots....

Story 11 – Spotting Spots

Well, it has been some time ago but back again with a new story

But before I invite you to join us for a nice drive in kruger I like to show you our “new” kids Fleur and Duke

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We are very happy with them, really lovely and cute

Back to kruger. After a morning drive we had lunch at Afsaal and were doubting what direction to take after lunch. S25 , back to Croc Bridge or heading to Skukuza ? Ok, Skukuza…why not?

Just after a few KM’s we saw “something” moving behind some bush so slowing down and watch….

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A Leopard. Ready to watch the great cat but…. What happened , the leopard moved into a passage under the road. Looking to the left… to the right but nothing. Time 13:39 PM. We decided to wait …. and wait and wait….
Time 13:53 PM and yesssssssssssss

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Leopard appeared again and now we could see the wound , a fight with another leopard or hyena… who knows?
Leopard was coming closer to us

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We thought the leopard would cross the road and disappear at the other side as they do most of the time, but…. We were wrong.
This leopard this time decided to give a wonderful show. Standing and sitting on the road not far in front of us. Posing as a model , turning head left…right towards us and , incredible…nobody else.

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I could make photo after photo, what a luck…

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Did you ever look straight into the eyes of a leopard ? I think we produced something like “ohhhhhhhhhhhhh….. wowwwwwwwwwwwww”

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And still no sign of moving away….no, relaxed sitting on the road now

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Again a very friendly look at us and a nice shot to have a look at his whiskers.

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Then… other cars arrived including a bus and the leopard did not like all the noise so walked away and disappeared into the bush near the road.

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Leopard was maybe not in a very good condition but for us it was impressive to spot this great spotted cat this way.

Thanks for joining us again and next story is about something we have never seen before during all trips we had in kruger.

It was near Satara…. late afternoon…. A small dirtroad …. All looking peacefull and then it started…. See you next time


Aat & Elly

[RogerFraser]

wow how lucky for you to get this experience by yourself .
Glad to hear you say the injury was not hampering the Leopards movement .

[Pumbaa]

Your little kitten are gorgeous, Aat,

you even named one Duke

Stunning leopard story although it looked indeed a bit thin

[aat]

Thank Pumbaa,
Kittens are almost 6 months now and they are real beauties.
The leopard will do well to my opinion , he moved without limping and was looking for prey.

Your little kitten are gorgeous, Aat,

you even named one Duke

Stunning leopard story although it looked indeed a bit thin

[aat]

*** Travel Tales ***
New series of Travel Tales

12 – 80 “killing” minutes -PART I-


As promised this story is a special one. We have never seen anything like this before in kruger
I think we have never been so quiet for more then an hour, speechless, breathtaking, heartpounding are kind of correct keywords to what happened not far from Satara.

First I like to thank you for the comments related to previous story. I agree we have been a bit lucky with lots of nice and special sightings.
For this story some will not like what they see but think about this… we did not only see all but also heard all.

It felt like being part of these Big Cat stories on TV.
Because of all the photos I can’t make it in one post so I will write the whole story and post it is several parts.


So if you like to join us please jump on the vehicle and I am ready to start the engine.

PART - I

It’s about 3:30 PM and we leave Satara camp. Turning left and following the main road till we turn right to the right (first road to the right S90). The idea was… a loop by following the main road, the S90, right to the S41 and back to Satara by following the S100.
We never got to the S41 !!

On the S90 it was quiet… no other cars and some animals left and right… some wildebeast, zebra and further away a few elephant bulls.
At Mavumbye waterhole nothing so we are moving on… and next place with water but not a named waterhole nothing….
Looking around and no animals at all. Driving slowly on this road and searching to all sides and then in front of us we saw a small herd of buffalo coming from the righthand side crossing the S90.

Then, suddenly this whole story started.
The small herd of buffalo (about 20) were surprized like we were….

In the mean time we were almost at the place where it all happened.

Kill number 1:
A young male lion took one of the young buffalo. This was the first photo I could make

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Sitting in your car and watching this felt strange. Kind of mixed feelings, exitement, feeling sorry for the young buffalo and breathtaking since we never saw a live kill just in front of our eyes.

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The Lion took the buffalo down and moved it bit by bit like carrying a small bottle of water. This way you can see how strong these lions are.

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Tired of taking the buffalo down and dragging it some meters the lion looked around and tried to bet some air…

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I think we did the same…. Some pffffffffffff…. amazing… woooowwwww
Less than a minute later, the lion took the buffalo in his throat again.

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and

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I can tell you it was weird…. Looking at this, hearing the buffalo’s panic at the same time and no time to look around , just fascinated by this situation.
So… I did not really see what happened around till I saw another lion coming when I was photographing. He appeared looking through the lens.

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The other lion was getting closer to see what his “brother” has done and if any help was needed

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The other lion was staring at us for a few seconds… I told him …”no I am not interested”

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In the mean time just a few other cars have arrived.

So far less then 10 minutes gone and with a last photo of both lions with the young buffalo calf I have to end PART - I

I split this story into different parts since several of you have slow internet access and following the good agreement to have a maximum of 10 photo’s per post.

So…. I invite you to PART – II

Aat & Elly

[aat]

Story 12 – 80 “killing” minutes (Part – II)

Please start reading with Part I

PART – II

We are still with the lions with the kill of a buffalo calf


Where was this second lion looking at ?

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Following his eyes and 100 meter away from this “scene” another lion.

And……… this lion also made a kill, another buffalo calf

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Three (young) male lions with two kills. We saw the second kill but concentrated on the first since this was closer , about 50 meters from us and the second kill was a bit hidden just behind some bush. The second kill was about a minute later then the first one.
We were switching between the two places and believe me… it was weird.
The lions were “playing” with the buffalo calves. In both situations the lions did not really kill them as we could hear them and see them still moving. Not a very nice situation but at the same time it was… how to say that….? Impresssive … breathtaking… exciting… lots of mixed feelings.

The lion was also dragging his kill to another place.

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He took the calf to some small bush

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and … (no comment needed)

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Switching back to location 1 , both lions were still together but one was looking at location 2 and decided to move to his other “brother”.

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Finally time for us to drink some water and making sounds like pffffffffffffffffffftttt…. Shaking heads , felt my heart making overtime.

I was asking questions like “ why????” As you can see on the pictures the lions already had big bellies…. But I know… lions are opportunists and kill what they can kill … maybe specially these youg males.

At location 2 one of the lions decided to walk back to location 1 , no help needed so …

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Back at location 1…

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In the middle of these scenes they found some time to socialize…. Probably saying something like “well done brother”
Allthough it was weird to see this , just near the buffalo calf they just killed

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so far…. About 15 minutes gone and after socializing the lion went back again to location 2

This also means end of part – II

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So take a coffee or a beer or anything else and see you again in PART – III

Aat & Elly

[aat]

Please start reading with Part I

PART – III

Two buffalo calves down by three young male lions and two locations about 100 meter from each other.

Location 2 – the lion took the calf and dragged it away for the second time.

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till he found a good spot under a tree
The next 20 minutes no much action… lions were laying down and one of the lions was walking from location 2 to location 1 and back… Sometimes one stood up and dragged the calf a meter away again.

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At location 1 the lion was paying less attention to the buffalo calf and was looking at something close to location 2…. But what ???

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Near location 2 some movements… Huhhhhh ? Believe it or not but this small buffalo herd came back ?????

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On this picture you can see the buffalo with “big belly” I think she was pregnant
She left the small herd and came closer ….
In the mean time all three lions were at location 2 and approached the buffalo…

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45 minutes after killing two calves the 3 lions attacked this buffalo

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She had no chance…. 3 young males on her back and she was not able to fight back at all

We felt sorry for her and again why? Already big bellies , two calves killed and now killing this buffalo too … incredible

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I must say it was not nice to see / hear this but it happened and yess…what can I say

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This killing took about 20 minutes. Looking at and preparing these pictures makes me quiter again. We were very much impressed by what we saw.
Looking at scenes like this at TV is very very different then being there.

Here she was down and finally no movements or sounds …

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Buffalo killed , the two other lions moved back to the calves and time to get back to Satara camp. Three young male lions and three kills , each lion his own dinner … looking at the pictures and preparing them for this story … it still feels weird what we have seen.

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One hour and 20 minutes after the first action we went back to Satara and I remember we were really impressed and a bit quiet most of the evening.
Many times during other visits to kruger we were hoping to see a “live” kill and now …3 on a row

Well…. This was one of the most special sightings we ever had and as said …never seen before

Thanks for being with us again and sorry it took a lot of time for you to go to three parts…

See you next time with something completely different

Aat & Elly