Browns in Kruger October 2022

[Bushcraft]

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The drive from the causeway back to Lower Sabie produced more of the usual sightings and we stopped to park off at Sunset dam, but we had been in the car most of the day, so decided to head back to camp a little earlier than normal to get the fire going.

Back in camp we created our own little table space slightly away from the EH2 gang and I started the fire, but soon Albert was tap dancing as a rock monitor cruised through our seating arrangement and as the sun set, I rigged up a light in the tree above our table so that Bushpig could continue with her matric studying while sitting with us.

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To be continued

[Bushcraft]

30th Lower Sabie

The plan for the morning drive was to head down the H4-2 to Croc Bridge and then return to camp via the S28 for breakfast.

A few km out from Lower Sabie we found teenage hyena sniffing around.

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The rest of the drive down towards Croc Bridge was relatively quiet and we considered turning around a few times, however a few km outside Croc Bridge near Gasanftombi Dam, a lioness was heading up the road towards us and then we spotted another lioness and male heading towards the female in the road.

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[Bushcraft]

The lioness that was on the road then ducked off diagonally across the open grass towards the direction of the dam and the other lioness and male did the same. We also spotted another 2 males in the background a long way off, the one can be seen in the distance in the pic below.

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I realised that they were going to pop out on the Gasanftombi access road, so started to turn the car around to move that direction which got the Cow chirping.

“Where you going!”

“I’m heading for the dirt road that side”

“What dirt road, the lions are here!”

“They going to cross that side”

The Cow thinks I’m too keen to move sometimes when animals are moving, but I knew the dirt access road to above the dam was just around the corner, so ignored the Cow’s huffing and continued slowly onto the dirt section before the other cars at the sighting realized what was going on.

“There, here they come!”

After a quick assessment of where they were going to cross the dirt, I switched off and we waited for their approach. The 2nd male had now also decided to follow, so one of these females was “popular”.

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[Bushcraft]

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The lionesses and both males slowly crossed in front of us and continued down towards the dam, but the gathering crowd had now also worked out what was going on and we weren’t keen to get in amongst the building scrum of cars that were heading to the lookout above the dam, so we just parked off on the side of the road while everybody went past.

The 3rd male was still relaxing in the distance and we knew that he would eventually follow the same route, but after waiting 20 minutes the male was still parking off, so we ducked down to Croc Bridge for a pitstop

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[Bushcraft]

We always stop at the old toilet block past the garage when at Croc Bridge as it’s frequented by less people and the Cow found a Barbet in a hole in a tree. She has found them numerous times over the years in the trees around this toilet block so for some reason they seem to hang out here.

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The S28 back to Lower Sabie wasn’t particularly eventful but we did stop and take pics on the odd occasion.

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[Bushcraft]

Back in camp we got takeaway toasted sarmies from Mugg & Bean, the kids continued with their studying at the units and I explored around camp while the Cow chased birds with the camera.

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The plan for the afternoon was to head back up towards the S79 causeway and then explore around that area as I was starting to stress because we hadn’t found a leopard yet.

The H4-1 and S79 produced the usual sightings once again and we stopped a few times but didn’t take any pics until just onto the S21 where we found a few cars stopped and a leopard kill in the tree.

There was no leopard around, however there was a pride of lions in the dry riverbed opposite the leopard kill and the rumour from other cars at the sighting was that the leopard was hiding just over the bank, so we decided to wait around and photograph the sleepy lions until we had to leave to get back for gate closing.

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[Bushcraft]

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After half an hour Bushpig suddenly spotted another male lion that had appeared out of the bush about 15m from the leopard kill. The male lay down and then fairly quickly got up and moved over the bank in the direction that the leopard was supposedly hiding, so we expected some movement, but it was all quiet and the Garmin was starting to indicate that it was time to leave, so we reluctantly headed back to camp.

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The drive back to Lower Sabie wasn’t eventful so we were back at Sunset Dam with plenty time to spare which made me wonder if we shouldn’t have sat at the leopard kill another 10 minutes, but one never knows, so we planned to head straight to the kill at 1st light.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

1st October Lower Sabie

The plan to head for the leopard kill from the previous evening hadn’t changed so we were up and waiting in the queue at Lower Sabie gate at 5:20am for the 5:30am opening. I assumed that we would be early enough, but it seems many must arrive much earlier to wait as we were about 15th in the queue.

At least half the cars turned left as they exited Lower Sabie and half of the remaining cars that were in front of us stopped at Sunset Dam, so my teeth were hanging out straight away as there was only 3 cars left in front of us heading towards the S21.

My hanging teeth had turned into a mild pelican by the time we arrived at the S21 as the H4-1 section had been quiet once again and 2 of the 3 cars that were in front of us also took the S21, so they must have had the same plan as us.

The tree with the kill in it was only about 1.5km down the S21 from the H4-1 and my cheesy returned

“It’s in the tree, camera……. quickly it may bolt!”

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The leopard got nervous as we stopped, but fortunately relaxed again and then went to sleep in a strange position

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We were battling to get pictures as the sun was rising behind the leopard, so the leopard looked like a black spot in the tree like when one photographs a bird in a tree with the sun behind it, so we were all fiddling with different settings, but it was more of a frustrating clueless hit and miss affair.

“Stuff this camera!”

“Try that setting”

“It’s worse, #@%”

“IT’S MOVING!”

The leopard stood up, moved across to it’s kill and started feeding

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[Bushcraft]

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[Bushcraft]

The feeding continued peacefully for 10 minutes, but then more cars arrived and the leopard got edgy again. She checked around and then decided it was time to move, but decided to take her kill also.

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