Browns in Kruger October 2012*

[Bushcraft]

3rd October Satara

North of Satara proved to be very dry and quiet and the H7 on the sighting board was even worse, so the S100 again was on the cards for the morning drive.

We were one of the first out the gate this morning as I didn’t want to get jammed in with the S100 gang, therefore the first few km of the S100 were peaceful and relaxing, so my teeth were hanging out and I was driving along slowly at Brad’s pace when something far off on the left caught my attention.

I slowed and said “What the heck is that blob moving out of the bush?” The Cow then spotted it and shouted “Leopard!! No not a leopard, what is it?”, “Civet!”

It’s only the 3rd Civet that we have ever seen in the day time and Brad had never spotted one at night or in the day, so he was stoked.





Next up we spent a few minutes with the S100 waterbuck locals who seemed rather tense about something, but we never figured out what it was.



A few km later the first scallywag for the day came out the bush and crossed the road in front of us. This aunty looked like a real thug and seemed to also have some serious damage to the jaw.





When we reached the end of the S100 we had a small conference between cars about a quiet spot for a skottel breakfast and as all enjoyed Muzandzeni, we decided to head back on the S100 and down the H7/S36 to the picnic spot.

The first little inlet coming back on the S100 produced a lioness cruising along in the riverbed, but she was a long way off, so we decided to continue on down and wait for her to pop up again.

About a km later there’s another inlet and we found a few cars stopped next to the road opposite the inlet.

I recognised the driver of one vehicle, it was Mgoddard, so pulled up next to her to say “howzit” and find out what the deal was. Apparently there were some lions a long way off in the bush, but she couldn’t see them, so was moving on. We said cheers and pulled into the inlet, which was on the opposite side of the gang and waited for the lone lioness from earlier who was definitely heading in the direction of the rest of the pride.

A few minutes later she arrived in the riverbed and we found ourselves alone initially as the gang was still trying to spot the distant pride in the bush behind us.





The lioness then decided to park off in the riverbed to do some body work, which enabled the gang to realize that there was something happening, so we were soon snowed by others.



The gang that had developed above the lioness didn’t seem to bother her and a few minutes later she walked up the bank towards us and crossed the road towards the distant pride.



A faulty over excited tonsil decided to cut us off and block our view of her heading towards the pride, which got the Cow chirping, but I couldn’t give a toss by that stage and could see the panicked excitement in the tonsil’s car, so just drove off.

Just before the tar we found a male and female ostrich with a couple juniors, which got the Cow and rats excited, so we stopped to spend a few minutes with them.



The H7 and S36 were once again quiet and only produced a few zebra and impala, so we were happy to reach Muzandzeni for a chance to get out the car.

Our hired skottel this morning was rather long in the tooth, so Brad eventually pulled his out the car in frustration and we operated on two.

Halfway through breakfast a large ellie arrived for a drink and a few minutes later another arrived and folded his trunk back over his head and kept it there until the larger chap left. This had us all rolling with laughter, but I’m interested to find out, is this submissive behaviour or potential aggression?



To be continued

[Bushcraft]

3rd October Satara continued

After breakfast we decided to duck up to Nsemani as it was again very hot so hoped to catch a few locals that visit the dam in the heat.

A mother hippo was cruising around with her junior and a few ellies were having a swim.





Back in camp the rats went for a swim again and the Cow went on a mission around camp with the camera and managed few pics of a squirrel relaxing.



It was Brad’s turn to organize supper, but it was roasting in the camping section, so he pulled in to our spot and we started the potjie on the veranda of our unit.

A potjie is always an excuse for a few beers and today was no exception, so by the time the potjie was done it was rather late in the afternoon and we were a little louder, but I was getting the evil eye from the Cow, so we decided to make plans to head out on a drive and reheat the potjie later.

We left at around 4pm for the afternoon drive and due to the potjie mission didn’t really have a plan of action, so headed towards the S100/H7/H1-3 junction and stopped next to some buffalo with the intent of using them as a decoy for others to stop so that we could interrogate them about sightings.



I was horribly bored with the buffalo in a few seconds and we were cooking in the car, but I refused to leave until an interrogation opportunity arrived.

Four cars later the H1-3 heading south seemed to be the best option, so we continued on straight.

Just before the S126 turnoff we found our first male lion for the afternoon, but he was cruising off into the bush, so we didn’t hang around.



A few km later Janet spotted a monitor lizard poking its head up.



The lizard didn’t seem to enjoy the attention and ducked off towards a tree that had a hole in the bottom and cruised into the tree.



Then a strange thing happened as halfway up the tree was another lizard and the chap that had ducked into the tree had obviously cruised up the hollow tree and was poking his head out of a hole next to him.



We decided to turn at Kumana Dam, but stopped to watch an ellie for a few minutes and found our 2nd male lion hiding out in the bush just north of the dam on our way back towards Satara.





We still had about 40 minutes spare before gate closing when we reached the S100/H7/H1-3 junction again, so decided to head down the H7 to check out Nsemani Dam again, but all we found was a BBJ irritating a few impala, which got me highly excited as I thought the barking impala were indicating a leopard, which we were still desperately trying to find.



The longest that we have been in KNP without spotting a leopard is 3 full days, so the pressure to find a leopard was growing as this was our 4th day and the Cow was starting to get negative “You know that we are not going to find a leopard this trip, I have given up”, which got me wild “Stop moaning, if we don’t, then we don’t, so what!!”, but secretly I was as desperate.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

4th October Satara to Lower Sabie

I had a rather thick head this morning due to the potjie mission that continued when we got back to camp on the previous evening, so I took my time packing before heading up to the camping section and fortunately Brad had already taken their tent down, because I was planning an excuse to not have to offer assistance.

The plan today was to duck down the S126, stop at Muzandzeni for the loo, duck out on the S125 to the tar and have a chow at Tshokwane, before continuing on to Lower Sabie.

We had a few of the usual suspects, including buffalo on the H1-3, but only stopped for the first pic of the morning on the S126, which was of a rather excited ellie who was carrying his breakfast. We once again didn’t hang around long as he didn’t want company.



A few km later the road splits around a tree and I always for some reason stick to the left and stop to check out the bush next to the road. I was about to pull off again when the Cow shouted “Owl!!”

An Eagle Owl was resting just above us in the tree and we would never have spotted it normally.



Next up was a mating pair warming up in the sun, but after hanging around for 15 minutes we decided to move on as the aunty was only keen on sleeping. (Yes, more lions Mel)



About 3km from Muzandzeni I was starting to feel green and the familiar beads of sweat were starting on the forehead as the potjie mixed with plenty Gin was coming back to bite me.

A few minutes later I realized that 25km/h wasn’t going to cut it, so said to the Cow “I need to speed up urgently”

Two seconds later the Cow howled “LEOPARD, STOP, LEOAPAAAARD!!” and started waving her hands in the air, so I immediately forgot about my urgent need for the loo and screamed “Where, on the ground, in a tree, walking, left, right!!!!”

It took the Cow a view seconds to blurt out “In a tree behind us”, which resulted in frantic reversing from me and fortunately I didn’t hit a tree, Brad’s car, or scare the leopard who was still parking off looking at us.



The Cow’s teeth were hanging out big time “This is my leopard!!” In our car I normally find them, so the Cow was making the most of this one.

The rats were also all blabbering “Well done mummy!!” and then started fighting for the window, which resulted in vicious threats from me about what would happen if they didn’t keep quiet.

We spent 20 minutes alone with the leopard before the next car arrived and then another, which made the leopard a little edgy and she sat up.



A few minutes later the leopard moved to another spot in the tree, which resulted in some frantic driving from me to get the best spot again. She checked us out again from her new spot, relaxed and went to sleep.





20 minutes later the leopard was still relaxing in the tree and there were still only 4 cars at the sighting, but the adrenalin had gone for me and the beads of sweat had returned “Let’s move on to the picnic spot, use the loo and come back”, which didn’t go down well with the Cow “What are you mad?”

“No not mad!! Do you want me to go in the car!!”, “NO!! Bake it”, so I started deep breathing labour type exercises, which didn’t seem to help and I was about to start the car when the Cow shouted “The leopard’s moving again!!”

Something had got the leopard’s attention and she seemed rather excited.



A few minutes later the leopard bailed out the tree and disappeared at pace after something that we couldn’t see, so I bailed for Muzandzeni.





To be continued

[Bushcraft]

4th October Satara to Lower Sabie continued

I wobbled around Muzandzeni for a few more minutes while I waited for the team long drop gang to all finish and then we ducked off down the S36 towards the S125 and found a lone ellie along the way.



Things were rather quiet until just before the end of the S125 where we found a car stopped on the side of the road and found out that a leopard had crossed a few seconds earlier, so we went slowly backwards and forwards for a few minutes trying to get a better view of the dry riverbed and eventually gave up.

As we hit the H1-3 I spotted a few cars stopped at Kumana Dam, so we skipped the Baobab loop and headed straight for the Dam wall.

A couple lions were resting in the shade and there wasn’t much else around so after a few pics we continued on.





Next up was a few giraffe and plenty of the usual gang, but a few hundred meters before Mazithi Dam we found a massive herd of buffalo, so stopped to take pics of a couple of them that were next to the road.



I slowly moved forward next to the buffalo and as we arrived on the dam wall I squawked “Lions!! The buffalo are chasing lions, camera!!” and started shooting away before even stopping.



The male lion seemed to be trying to keep his cool while his aunty had a drink, but this didn’t stop the buffalo for long who obviously wanted to also have a dop and after a standoff of a few minutes, the buffalo charged, which sent the lions on their way.







The mating couple went to sit under a distant tree and the rest of the pride, which was another eight or so lions cruised to their usual shady bush at the dam.

Suddenly the Cow started shrieking “A crocodile is going for the buffalo!!” Obviously a buffalo is way too big and strong for this crocodile, but he still continued to approach and eventually ducked under just as the buffalo pushed forward and sure mister croc must have scored a few boots to the pip under water.





The buffalo continued drinking, which seemed to put serious strain on the main pride and eventually one lion got up and started to approach, which got me shrieking again.



To be continued

[Bushcraft]

4th October Satara to Lower Sabie continued

The young male lion made it halfway to the buffalo before realizing that he didn’t have any backup, so chose to rather leave the buffalo alone.

The buffalo then cruised off in the opposite direction to the lions and a few minutes later a couple ellies started to arrive, which didn’t go down well with the lions, so all except the non mating approved large male ducked off into the bush.

I think that the 2nd male was too lazy to move at the time, therefore now found ellies in his way, so for some reason decided that he should head towards us.





The male crossed the dam wall in front of us and then headed off on a roundabout route into the bush.

We stayed at Mazithi Dam for another ten minutes to take pics of passengers, a five legged ellie and swimmers.







A few km from Mazithi towards Tshokwane we found massive a herd of zebra, so stopped to take pics of the juniors.



The rest of the drive to Tshokwane produced a large lone ellie, giraffe and lions sleeping a long way off in the dry riverbed.







We arrived at Tshokwane at about 11am and it was already 36 degrees, so we decided to skip the skottel story and all purchased toasted sarmies.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

4th October Satara to Lower Sabie continued

I was in a rush again to get out of Tshokwane, but this time it wasn’t to go game viewing, it was to get in the air-conditioned car.

By the time we left Tshokwane it was nearly 40 degrees and we were moving into survival mode as we don’t get these temperatures on the KZN coast.

The drive to Lower Sabie didn’t produce much except a few of the usual gang, a team of klippies, the odd Kudu and a Saddle Bill.







We arrived at Lower Sabie after 2pm, it was 42 degrees and there was no wind to cool things down, so I wasn’t interested in anything except if our air-con worked in our EH5 unit and fortunately it did.

At about 3:30pm we decided to cruise across to Flutterby’s unit, but they had already ducked off on an afternoon drive, so we wobbled back to our air-con until about 5pm.

We had less than an hour for the evening drive, so decided to drive down to the S28 turnoff and then turn and head up to Lubyelubye just for the sake of doing a drive.

There wasn’t much happening until as we turned at the S28/H4-2 junction where the Cow found lizard head poking out the grass. The lizard didn’t fancy our attention and ducked off across an open piece of ground before disappearing.





About 2km north of Lower Sabie we spotted a few cars stopped, so pulled in to check things out and I squawked at the Cow “Ask someone in the first car” and continued trying to check beyond the first car.

Suddenly I heard my name; it was Flutts, BB and Ballie in the car next to us.

Flutts told us that it was a hyena stuck in a snare and that there were a few lions in the riverbed just up the road.

I couldn’t believe that someone would rig a snare up this close to Lower Sabie, but there were still a few cars and we had no view, so we said cheers to the Flutts clan as we were meeting them in a few minutes for a braai and shot up to check the lions.





The lions moved off as we arrived, but it was very close to gate closing anyway, so we turned and headed back to where the poor hyena had been.

Flutts had left already and there was only one car left at the hyena, so we pulled up next to them and spotted the poor hyena that was definitely trapped in wire of some type.

The occupants of the remaining car said that a ranger had attended, but needed something from camp, so asked them to stay there until he returned so that he could easily find the hyena again, which made sense, so we thanked them and headed for camp.

As we pulled into camp a ranger was going out to the hyena.

Once at our unit I quickly loaded the cooler box and we made our way to Flutterby’s unit for a braai.

It was a great evening with the usual skinner and chat.

We only left at about 10pm after the Cow started giving me the hairy eyeball and Albert had already collapsed on a bed inside, so I hope that we didn’t make a nuisance of ourselves, but I was starting to warm up on the Gin so probably needed the handbrake pulled.

Thanks Flutts, Ballie and BB for a great evening.

To be continued

[Bushcraft]

5th October Lower Sabie

I woke up again feeling a little tender because we had only got back to our unit from Flutterby’s place after 10pm and the entire EH5/EH3 gang had gone to sleep and as my starter motor was already going, I utilized that quiet time for a few more peaceful dops outside, which I was now regretting.

Brad waited patiently while I wobbled around and we eventually pulled out of camp about half an hour after gate opening.

The plan this morning was to head down the S28 as Brad was keen to find another cheetah.

We found a few of the usual gang and then a lone ellie a couple of km into the S28.



The rest of the S28 didn’t produce much until just before the end when Brad suddenly hit the brakes.

A black rhino was out in the open, but he wasn’t impressed by our presence and quickly started for cover. This again caused camera panic, but fortunately he stopped long enough for a rushed pic.



Our next stop was Gomondwane waterhole which produced a lone lioness relaxing and then about 5km from Lower Sabie we found a grumpy hippo cruising along next to the road.





It was still fairly early when we stopped at Lower Sabie for all to use the loo, so we decided to head up towards Nkuhlu.

Just past Sunset Dam a scallywag came cruising down the road towards us and he was on a mission because he kept sniffing the air and the ground, so we reversed with him until he ducked off into the bush.





Just before Nkuhlu we spotted a massive herd of ellies in the riverbed, so decided to stop and watch them for a few minutes, but shortly after we stopped something that we couldn’t see gave them a fright, which resulted in some serious trumpeting and then they came straight for us, so I quickly drove forward slightly to allow them to cross the road.

Two big aunties arrived in the road first and they started checking us out big time, which set the Cow off on an outburst at the two ellies “Don’t you check us out; we have done nothing to you, so move along”



The Cow must talk “ellie”, because they trumpeted again and roared off into the bush, so I thought things were fine and started to reverse back towards the herd, which resulted in a greasing from the Cow and then some serious trumpeting from the ellies who took off across the road.



We were all hungry now, so turned just before Nkuhlu and headed back towards Lower Sabie. On the way back to camp we found what I think is a junior Tawny, some buffalo and then a tortoise heading for cover.







To be continued

[Bushcraft]

Great episode and a Black Rhino to boot.

Love the two Aunties in the road pic.

Always nice to work off a hangover with some great sightings. -O

The Raptor is a Yellow-billed Kite. Nice shot of it.

Thanks for the correction Dewi I'm slowly getting there -O

[Bushcraft]

5th October Lower Sabie continued

We had plenty of hours in camp over the lunch time period, so the Cow went on her usual mission around camp and found a few lizards to photograph.





I strolled around camp, but soon became bored, so we ended up leaving on our afternoon drive just after 3pm, which is fairly early for us.

I had read about a hyena den on the S130 on one of RP’s reports and the rats were all keen to find it, so the plan was to duck down that direction.

The first sighting that we stopped for was a potential tusker cruising in the Sabie riverbed.



Things were then relatively quiet until about 6km down the S130 where we found the hyena den and the rats went crazy with excitement.

The junior hyena were all out when we stopped, but ducked for cover instantly and the “old lady” got up to give us the hairy eyeball.



I switched off and issued the “quiet” instructions, so after five minutes the junior scallywags made an appearance.





We spent about ten minutes with the hyena before turning and heading for Dukes waterhole, which had some Cow confidence destroying visitors in the water, so when they started to move towards us immediate instructions were issued for us to move on.



We stopped at Duke’s exit confused about what to do next as it was still very early in the afternoon, but fortunately another car arrived from the S28 side and they told us that things were very quiet coming up from Croc Bridge, so we decided to head north again until we reached a little no name waterhole that we always visit 5km down the S21.

We arrived at the S21 at 5pm and hadn’t seen much so I was pelican and moaning that we should have explored south but decided to head to the name waterhole anyway.

About 2km in on the S21 we spotted a car stopped on the side of the road, so Brad asked them what they had seen and apparently the driver’s wife thought that she had seen a leopard, but now couldn’t see anything, so we hung around a few minutes before continuing on towards the little no name waterhole.

On our way back out to the H4-1 the car was still stopped in the same place, but this time the occupants started frantically waving for us to approach “Leopard!!!!”

Initially the leopard was fairly deep in the bush, but seemed to be slowly heading for the open, which created another panic attack, because time was rapidly ticking away and things were looking tight for gate closing.

As luck would have it the leopard moved into the open and lay down with just enough time for a few pics before we had to leave for camp





Sometime this afternoon we also found more than a few of the chaps below.



We stopped at Sunset dam for one last pic of the day



To be continued

[Bushcraft]

6th October Lower Sabie

For some reason our junior, Albert, loves Mathekenyane and we promised that we would visit at some stage on this trip, so the plan this morning was to duck up the H4-1, onto the S21/S112/H3 and then come back to Lower Sabie via Skukuza.

I wasn’t that keen on the route as there were no toilets until Skukuza, so issued warnings in camp, but others wanted to continue with the plan and accused me of being the major toilet problem in the first place.

Fortunately it was a very quiet morning and all we spotted to take pics of was a few mongooses, a klippie and an ellie, because most needed the loo big time when we left Mathekenyane.







The toilets at Skukuza reception for some reason were very busy this morning, but in spite of this, Brad, his boys and I were out of the bog in minutes and ready to leave again, but I hadn’t catered on the female ablutions.

After 10 minutes I had steam coming out of my ears, so decided to investigate the reason for the delay and popped my head in the female ablution door, but I was shocked to see the Cow and rats still waiting in a queue for the loo, so started making frantic hurry up hand signals, which only resulted in me embarrassing myself and the Cow.

I eventually had to come to the conclusion that women and men operate at different speeds in the bog, so went to sulk impatiently in the car.

Ten minutes later the Cow and rats finally arrived at the car, but I could see that the pelican was out, so decided that it wouldn’t be wise to comment.

The picture and no sound in the car continued for a few km on the H4-1, but a fish eagle broke the silence.



A few km later a massive traffic jam blocked our way, so my stress levels started to go through the roof immediately.

Brad came over the walkie talkie “I’m getting out of here as soon as a gap opens”; I was halfway through agreeing when a lioness cruised up the bank next to us.

I was highly amused at the occupants on the back of a JJ and forgot about the lion, as they were wetting themselves, because the lioness stopped next to them.





The main crowd got excited about the lioness that was now cruising up the road behind us, so a gap opened up fairly quickly and we ducked through it.

Next up was the Nkuhlu boon gang and one chap cracked us up as he seemed to have a major sore head



We stopped at Nkuhlu for a skottel breakfast, which was over quickly as we were running out of chow because we were leaving the next day and hadn’t catered properly, so we bounced a pack of bacon and shared the remaining eggs.

The rest of the drive to Lower Sabie produced crowds, the odd kudu, a few buffalo, including one with two broken horns, another fish eagle on a nest with junior and then some ellies partying in some mud.









We arrived at Lower Sabie just after 11am and as we had booked our first sunset drive, we still had plenty of time left in the day, so I suggested that we duck a few km up the H10 and then come back for lunch time braai.

As we crossed the Sabie, I decided to rather do a few km of the S128 and 500m later we found these guys.



To be continued