The hunt for elusive species is on *

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Tue May 01, 2012 8:26 am

Yup.

It it is that time again.
6 Weeks without the bush is simply a no no.
All that work and no play can really make Jack a dull boy and this time it is Tsendze again.

Made the arrangements.
Phoned Rodger to secure a great spot for us.
Nearly all the packing and groceries are done and bought.

One more day and we will be off to Tsendze for 4 days.

Two first timers shall be going to Tsendze with us.
It will be a novelty.
They have never been in Kruger or the wild for that matter and have never camped before.
So.
All in all green in every sence of the word.

So we have to try and find them

This:



and this:



and this:



and this:



of course this:



Ag.

As they do not know a cow from a wild boar I can always show them a Zebra and tell them that it is a Cheetah.

-O -O -O -O -O -O -O -O -O

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Thu May 03, 2012 6:31 pm

Eish.
It has been great today.
Entered at Orpen at 6.30 and being in Tsendze at 15.00.

Our first sighting was the best of the day.
At the Tambotie turnoff not 1, not 2 but 5 Black Backed Jackals.
What an incredible photo opportumity right next to the car, in an open clearing and in the golden morning light.

Beautiful.

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Thu May 03, 2012 6:36 pm

that was nr 1 on my illusive list.

Sadly our friends could not enjoy it with us as one of them got Larangitis, but the will be enjoying the pics.

t

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Thu May 03, 2012 6:40 pm

Nr 2 on the ellusive list is also scratched.

2 Giraffes "neckking".

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Fri May 04, 2012 5:16 pm

Eish.

Today was nervewrecking as well as exiting.

Twice we were hunted and chased by Elephants.

But the ellusive species hunt continued.

2 Hyena pups less than e weeks old and the Grey headed Bush Shrike

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Sat May 05, 2012 5:07 pm

phew. What a day.

LLong, long day.

Did not see that much, but our first sighting was the best.

IIn the early morning light at Bowkerskop waterhole.

Cheetah. All alone.

AAnd after that an African Wild Cat. Anothe one for the ellusive tick list.

r

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Mon May 07, 2012 8:50 pm

Ok.

Here it goes.

The bakkie was packed.
Everything was done and dusted.
And now it was time to get some sleep after a long day of hard work.

And, I am sure you know that feeling, the sleep did not want to come.

How is the road going to be?
What are we going to see?
Will Rodger be talking about his Red Rabbit again?
Etc, etc.

Finally, after about 3 hours of blissfull sleep, the alarm went off at 23.30 and it was time to get ready to leave.
The trip there was rather uneventful as must sain humanoids are asleep by that time and around 6 in the morning it started dawning and we exited the Strydon Tunnel to get to feel the force of the Lowveld sun and we knew. "We were back home again".

Slowly the sun rose in a majestic red and orange as we reached the outskirts of Orpen Gate.

The formalities were done in a jiffy and after getting a few essentials we unpacked the cameras and discovered our first mistake.

Darn.

We left the Binocs at home.



I quickly thought of buying myself a cheapy at the campshop, but that went by as a train passing in the night and we settled in "die swart gevaar" and entered the gate with the soft, early morning, light glowing as it wanted to set everything in a special glow just to greet us.

As we neared the Tambotie turnoff I saw something that I have ever, fleetedly, saw.

A Black Back Jackal sitting there.
Warming himself in the sun.



He was sitting all by his lonesome and suddely Mma Ramotswe cried out. "Look. There is another one".
Darn.
Hardly ever seen one and if I did it was only for a few seconds and now there were not one but two of that ellusive species.



We were snapping away like crazy and along came a very helpful Erectus to tell us that there are even more.

5 Of them!!!!!!

Oh shiver me timbers.

I jammed the SG (Swart gevaar) into gear and took the turnoff.

They were left, right and center of us.

We could not beleive our luck.



We sat with them for quite a while, just snapping away, and finally it was time to press on as we were awake for an hour or 7 and our bellies were starting to ask for some food and we decided to get some brekkies at Satara.

We drove on for a bit and took a short detour into one of the dirtroads.

Suddenly we spotted a movement in the grass.

Eish.

Red Crested Korhaan.

Glowing in that soft light it seemed that it was a creature created out of the sun to come and entertain us with it's beauty.



Underneath the tree next to the Korhaan there was a Crowned Plover.
His "stilts" gleeming a shiny red in the glow of the sun.

"What a catch within the first hour of the drive"!!!!

We were totally mesmirized by that beautyful as we drove on.

We saw Starlings singing in the trees and Crowned Plovers right next to the car.



A snort right next to the road.

What will it be?

JABI's. (Just Another Bloody Impala for the alphabetically challenged under us. -O -O )

What were they looking at?

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Tue May 08, 2012 7:05 pm

Ok.

Here we go again

Eyes fixed and ears standing to the front the Jabi's stared way in the distance, but as they were standing so superbly in the morning glow we were eyeballing them too much and did not see what they were looking at.
Slowly we drove on and Mma stopped with a shout.

3 Giraffe, a female and two males, were standing next to the road. The males were busy doing some sort of dance.

I am not going to comment too much on it, but it was great to witness something I have only heard about.















After this encounter, that probably lasted for a few more hours, we slowly drove towards Nsemani dam.

The dam was full to the brim.

On the little Island a few Waterbuck were playing and alongside the dam there were more Waterbuck with a few young.
Their long coats shining in the last of the beautyful light and, in a distance, a lone Elephant grazing.







A young male decided he wanted a shot at the big Induna for the place of head of the tribe
but he got shown the ropes of what it takes to be a leader very quick



"Look out!!!!!

Them fake buffalo's with no brains are coming".

"Get the women and children out of the way!! Quick".

[mma_ramotswe]

Posted on Wed May 09, 2012 8:10 pm

Following my pathetic attempt at a TR I've decided I'll let PN get on with the hard work and I'll just point him in the right direction every now and then.... :D :D

And of course I'll add my photo's...

[Penga Ndlovu]

Posted on Sat May 12, 2012 7:37 am

Backing away from Nsemani dam we proceeded to Satara.
Along the way we did not see much and we arrived there with our tummies rumbling.
The bird were playing in the garden and at the waterhole there were a few animals drinking.

After a few titbits of shopping we proceeded towatds the north again as we still had some ground to cover and I wanted to take the old road towards Bangu and swing westwards towards the tar again.

Our first sighting was this old man trying to cross the steaming hot tar.
He could not decide which foot to place and I got off a few snapshots and drove off again.
As I drove off I saw in my sidemirror that they are actually capable of running.



After we swung onto the gravel road we did not see much but this Bateleur gliding effortless through the sky



Bangu has always been good to me, but this time it was a bit meager.
Only an Elephant that showed a bit of lazy interest



And a few Zebra on their way to get a sip of water



And 2 more showing their affection to eachother



We drove off towards Balule to have a look around there and what I saw there was a real shock.
The lowwater bridge is totally demolished





No way of crossing there and we doubled back via Ngotso and finally arrived at the bridge.
It is that I know the area well, but if you would show me a picture of the area I would not recognise it.
The beautyful bif trees that lined the banks of the river were all gone.
The railings of the bridge are in shambles and are still lying there posing a threat to all that passes there and with the crocs and the hippo's lying in the water it is an accident about to happen.

Disgraceful!!



Somewhere along the line we seemed to have picked up a lifter with one hind leg



We quickly finished the dusty road past Balule and got on the tar towards Letaba and got some lunch there and a beer.

There I found this little fellow hopping around in some bad light



After lunch the drive was rather uneventful, apart from a few Vervets playing, and we arrived at Tsendze where we were greeted warmly by our host for the next 4 days: Rodger.



We quickly set up camp and then went towards Mopani to check in.