S.K.P. EXPLORER WITH S.T.F. AND J.R. TOURS.*

[steamtrainfan]

Thank you all for the lovely comments.

Today was the quietest day we have had. Travelled from Skukuza to Pretoriuskop . Lion and leopard did not show themselves.

However we did have a first in seeing what we think were dwarf mongoose. They were playing on the side of the road and even posed nicely for us.

Have seen some very big ellies around P/kop. I thought that Letaba was the only place to have them.

Will share all in the TT when we get home.

Heard there are wild dog on the Albasini Road so guess where we will be heading tomorrow morning.

[steamtrainfan]

It had been cloudy and windy all day yesterday.

Woke up this morning to find that it had rained during the night and it was still overcast and cold.

Went off in search for the wild dog but none were to be found.

Clouds faded and the sun came out late afternoon but still no game.

Had some nice sightings of a waterbuck and some kudu.

No wild dogs, no leopards, no lions in fact it was a very quiet day except for an ellie roadblock near camp.

Our last night in Kruger and we are downright not feeling very good tonight.

Going to go home via Albasini Road and out at Phabeni so still a chance we might see something.

[steamtrainfan]

Thanks folks for the travel safe wishes. We arrived back home at 15:00 after a rather quiet drive from PK to Phabeni gate. Two old dagga boys and an ellie that marched along the road in front of two other cars in front of us for 2 kilometres. We were beginning to wonder if we would make it out the park in time.

Also saw a lovely eagle - crowned I think - sitting atop a telephone pole near Nelspruit. Hope it is okay if I incude it in my T.T.?

Going to sort through all the photos now and will start posting them soon.

[steamtrainfan]

Thanks for the warm welcome back.

Looking in our bird book we see that it is the long crested eagle.

On taking a closer look at the pics I see that one of the birdies Joan took a photo of is described in Roberts as "Sparse; least common ********* in the region." So hopefully we will have quite a rare bird to show you.

We have managed to cut 500 odd photos down to 139. Going to go through them again to see if there are any others we can remove from our list.

[steamtrainfan]

Ok folks, stock up on the popcorn the show is about to begin.

12 May 2014 - Part 1/2

Arrived at Phabeni gate at 10:00 but there were delays at the gate as we had to go to reception to check in but were caught in a queue at the gate as day visitors or folk who have an amount to pay now pay to a cashier at the gate. Not a good idea. Anyone know why this is now being done?

Our first sighting was this member of the Goshawk family.



Next up was an all time favourite.



Got to Skukuza for lunch then carried on down the H4-1 to Lower Sabie to check in.

Sunset Dam produced some relaxed buffalo with crocodiles in close attendance.



Stopped on the low level bridge to watch the Fish eagle chowing on his dinner.



A pair of White-crowned Lapwing kept on trying to pinch some scraps so he gave up and took off leaving his meal behind and giving two WCL's a bit of a scare.



Off he went to find some peace and quiet.



To be continued.

[steamtrainfan]

12 May 2014 - Part 2/2.

Joan also got this photo of this croc moving to another position to continue sleeping.



This little fellow was at Sunset Dam sitting in the late afternoon sun.



This guy was making his contribution to increasing the boon population. We found it interesting to note where he placed his feet.



Joan got this shot of a Yellow-billed Stork in flight.



Finally for today a boon silhouetted against the setting sun.



Until tomorrow - sleep tight.

[steamtrainfan]

Tuesday 13 May 2014 - Part 1/3.

On leaving L.S. we headed up the S128, S30 and then back on the H4-1, having breakfast at Nkhulu.

Our first sighting was this lovely songster greeting the dawn. ID please.



A little way along the S30 there two cars stopped side by side with one car in front of them. We thought they were having a chat so slowed down. Suddenly Joan shouted "Cheetah".. Sure enough, through the small space between the cars we could see a few cheetah sitting in the middle of the road. We waited our turn when suddenly the front car drove off chasing the cheetah into the bush where they disappeared.

Then Joan got this Brown-hooded Kingfisher in beautiful early morning light.



Is this a female Common Duiker?



South of Nkhulu we came across a major roadblock. Cars were everwhere. Between the cars we could see a lot of lion walking towards us so I switched off the engine and waited. It was not long before we saw this. Joan started clicking away forgetting that she had a 500mm lens on, however some of the photos came out with a lovely effect.





We eventually got through as everybody was doing u-turns to follow them up the road as one could see they had a mission in mind. We carried on down to Lower Sabie.

To be continued.

[steamtrainfan]

Tuesday 13 May 2014 - part 2/3

Having zig-zagged our way through the maze of traffic and about 300 metres down the road Joan spotted two males in the road. By the time we could see them decently one had ducked into the long grass and the other we could not see.



Our opinion was that these two guys were part of the females we saw walking up the road a few minutes earlier.

He then got tired of all the cars revving and moving around and got up and crossed the road.



I think this guy was camera shy as he did not even look at us once as he walked past.



They soon disappeared so we continued on our way to Lower Sabie.

Lets back track a bit here. Our first sighting of the lionesses was at 10:20, our sighting of the two males was at 10:45 and another few hundred metres on and at 11:00 we saw this:



We are not sure whether this guy also belonged to the previous gang and had just over slept or whether he was a lone male having a sleep out of the heat of the mid-morning sun.

For some reason we carried on past Lower Sabie and continued down the H4-2. Just near the junction with the S130 and at 12:00 we saw a lioness cross the road in front of us. By the time we reached the spot she had disappeared. A gent in another car told us to turn onto the S130 and not far down there were more lions watching some impala. We got there only to find a bit of a traffic jam once again. So we stopped and scanned the bushes. Joan eventually spotted a lioness under a tree. There were also some impala in the distance but she did not seem too interested in them. maybe it was getting too hot as it was now registering 32 on the cars gauge.



So, four lion sightings in just under two hours with a total of 15 lion being seen. What more can one ask for.

[steamtrainfan]

Tuesday 13 May 2014 - part 3/3.

We started our afternoon drive by popping in at Sunset Dam where we sat for a while enjoying the tranquillity.

It was pretty quiet until some ellies came down for an afternoon drink sending some lazy crocodiles diving for cover.



A few more photos of the ellies enjoying their drink.







We continued up the H4-1 but it was very quiet.

Our lazy lion in the riverbed had now woken up but was in no hurry to go anywhere.



Our final photo for today was a fish eagle sitting in a tree quite close to the road with the late afternoon sun shining on his chest.

[steamtrainfan]

Wednesday 14 May 2014 - Part 1/5 - Lower Sabie to Berg to Crocodile Bridge.

Rather a long episode for this day.

A late start to the day due to having pack the car for the move to Berg en Dal.

I got this shot on my point and shoot camera before we left our favourite camp. This sight never fails to amaze us.

Lower Sabie Sunrise.



Joan found this Brown Snake Eagle sitting atop a tree in the early morning sun.



Next up were a family of warties snuffling around for breakfast.



Then a herd of elephant crossed the road in front of us.

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We think this a juvenile martial eagle. He looked so beautiful sitting in the lovely light we sat and watched him for about 20 minutes. Amazing the number of people who stop, ask what are you looking at, you tell them it is the eagle in a tree and then they drive off.



And finally, just before we reached Crocodile Bridge, a Capped Wheatear.



Coming up in part 2/5 - Crocodile Bridge to Berg en Dal. This section includes two first for us.