Africa Wild

6th October Satara

I woke with a “thick” head and nobody else seemed enthusiastic so we had a fairly late start for us and only left camp more than an hour after gate opening.

The rats know about the darn hyena den 8.5km down the H6 and immediately started nagging to head that way. I really don’t like the H6, once again because it’s not known as leopard territory, but decided to address the hyena issue before the nagging turned into long lips.

We stopped once on the way to the den for a few ostrich next to the road.



There were no cars around when we arrived at the den and the hyena clan were out and about which was cool.











The rats loved the junior hyena interaction so every time I started the car howls bellowed from the back seat, so we ended up sitting with the hyena for more than 30 minutes.

We hadn’t seen a leopard on the drive up to Satara and one can often battle in the Satara area in general for a leopard, so we decided to head down to our little “leopard loop”, the S86 and then on to Tshokwane.

Just after the S126 turnoff there’s another hyena den, but it’s a fair distance off the road so we didn’t hang around long.



There unfortunately wasn’t much else happening, but around 14km from Tshokwane there’s a little dirt view point that one can drive into and we immediately noticed a car in the inlet and the driver was out of his car, so we drove in.



As I tried to find a place to park the passenger also got out the car and walked to the edge of the view point. I was about to start chirping when something moving at pace in the riverbed caught my eye.

“Cheetah sprinting! Camera!”

It was 2 cheetah running at full pace and I only managed 2 pics of the last one before it disappeared into the bush.





The one twit who was out the car said “They were just lying here”, so I replied “They sprinted off because you got out the car, you chop”, but it didn’t seem to register as the face remained blank.

We fiddled around on the tar driving slowly backwards and forwards until we eventually spotted them again further up the road, but they were still in the thick bush.



Just down the road we found a few cars stopped and a male lion was parking off in the open.



To be continued

6th October Satara continued

We left the lone adult male lion after a few minutes as he didn’t look like he was going to move around anytime soon, but around 5km later just outside Tshokwane at the Orpen Dam turnoff we found 5 more young male lions parking off in different spots next to the road.







Tshokwane wasn’t busy for a change, so we spent about half an hour walking around just to get a break from the car, but nobody was brave enough to try a “cooked” chow.

I wasn’t sure what to do next as my original plan was to drive the S33 and S36 back to the H7, but it was already nearly 10am and that plan would mean another long haul in the car, so we decided to drive back the same way, but to do a short detour down S33 to key spots which have produced for us in the past.

Just after turning onto the S33 we spotted 2 of the males from the previous day and it looked as if a few aunties had joined them.



Around a 500m further I found a leopard on the opposite bank cooling off in the shade. The leopard was far off, but it still relieved my own personal obsession about finding a leopard every day.



Then about a 1km further we spotted 3 cars and another leopard, but this time in a tree close to the road. It was extremely frustrating though as we couldn’t get a clear view from our position and it didn’t look as if the other cars were going to move in a hurry, so after sitting in the sun for 20 minutes we just accepted the pics we could get.



I wasn’t sure what to do now as it looked like the S33 was firing, but the longer we continued down the road, the longer the return trip to Satara was going to be.

Hawkeyes was also starting to complain of that tell tale seizure headache, so the Cow and I got nervous and I turned to head back to the tar.

A small debate started at the S86 turnoff as we had already driven the little loop in the morning and it hadn’t produced, but eventually the fear of missing out won and we turned onto the loop.

About halfway down the loop one of the rats shrieked “Leopard! Over there in a tree!” and this time we had a clear view, but the leopard was out for the count, so after another 20 minutes we continued on.



A little further on I spotted a strange shape down in the riverbed between the bushes and it was a male lion having a snooze and another was cooling off a little further on just past the S86/H1-3 intersection.





To be continued

6th October Satara continued

It was now about 1pm and we had been cruising around since 6:30am, which is crazy stuff, but there had been action on and off all morning so time just disappeared, however we were now all getting sick of lion, so when the Cow spotted 2 secretary birds just up the road from the lion we quickly cruised over to check them out.



While observing the secretary birds we noticed what looked like a traffic jam up the road, so curiosity got the better of me and I drove up to check it out, but it was another lion pride cooling off.

I instructed the Cow to snap a quick pic with her camera so that we could move off without getting parked in, but the Cow started issuing forward/backward instructions so that she could get a view, which started the blood pressure rising and then without warning a massive bus roared past us and stopped in the middle of the road blocking us in.



It was around 40 degrees again so my patience was under massive pressure behind the bus, but it then started to get worse as Hawkeyes was now a little out of it also. I was about to stand on the hooter when the bus moved, however minutes later Albert started shrieking.

Hawkeyes had gone into a massive seizure in the back seat and Albert was getting klapped in the process. I quickly pulled off the road and Albert bailed between the front 2 seats to give Hawkeyes space, while Bushpig was trying to minimize any damage Hawkeyes was doing to her legs which were hitting the bottom of the front passenger seat. The Cow started the stopwatch as special medication is required for a seizure longer than 5 minutes, so the Cow and I just sat in silence staring at the clock.

Fortunately the seizure only lasted around 4 minutes, but Hawkeyes was very “out of it” thereafter and couldn’t even speak properly, so I put the hazards on and took off towards Satara; however after another 10 minutes she seemed ok, so we could calm down.

We only pulled into camp after 2pm so it had been a long day for the kids, therefore the Cow gave them some of their pocket money and let them duck off to the shop and I informed them that we weren’t doing an evening drive so they could relax.



I also ducked off to the shop a little later and purchased a pile of wood so that I could entertain myself with an early fire while the Cow switched off with her nose in a book.

Just after dark a badger came cruising past our unit and seconds later our neighbours started squawking as the badger attacked their bin.



The neighbours seemed very nervous and I had started on the whiskey early, therefore I did the false hero thing and chased the badger off.

The neighbours frantically packed all their food items onto the top of the cupboards and I returned to my whiskey, but minutes later they started squawking again as the badger had returned.

We then witnessed amazing intelligence from the badger (Who I have since found out is well known now and is called Stoffel)

The bin didn’t contain what he wanted and he was very interested in the cooler boxes on top of the cupboard, so he pulled the bottom draw out with his front paws (which you unfortunately can’t see in the pics as I was too slow with the camera) and climbed inside and then proceeded to make a ladder out of the draws until he could get into the top draw. Once in the top draw he grabbed the zip of the cooler box, pulled it until he could fit his head inside and stole a pack of sweets.





Minutes later Stoffel had chowed all the sweets and was now looking for something better, so the burglar repeated the above process, but this time scored a large piece of biltong.





The neighbours were understandably excited about the loss of the biltong, so I suggested that they move all their food into their unit and keep the door closed

Around half an hour later Miss Satara arrived, but as can be seen by her expression, she didn’t like me creeping closer for a pic.





To be continued

7th October Satara to Talamati

We were meeting RP and his mates at Nhlanguleni picnic site at around 12:30pm for RP’s famous Prego rolls and then from there we were off to Talamati, so we were all up early, the car was packed quickly and we left Satara minutes after gate opening.

About 1km later the Cow shrieked “leopard!” and then “2 leopard!!” which took me straight into overdrive as the rest of us hadn’t seen them.

“Where!”

“You see that bush over there”

“$*#* *##$ There are hundreds of bushes”

The rest of us didn’t see the 2nd leopard as according to the Cow it moved off in the opposite direction to the one below which cruised out of the bush and moved along parallel to the road. We reversed slowly next to the leopard back towards Satara, but it was a major mission taking pics as it was still fairly dark.



The leopard stopped once to check out where the other leopard was before continuing deeper into the bush.





I had a big cheesy now as the pressure to find a leopard for the day was off, so I didn’t really care what we did next, but nobody else had any brilliant suggestions, therefore we decided to just cruise slowly down to Tshokwane because it was closer to Nhlanguleni.

The next 25km produced all the normal gang, including a BBJ having a morning dump, a hyena who crossed the road in front of us, giraffe, ellies, a few SBS’s and a fish eagle just before Mazithi Dam.













A buffalo herd was at Mazithi Dam, but I couldn’t help wondering if they were going to get very sick from the water as the top of the dam was full of dead rotting fish and the stink was hectic.





The smell didn’t seem to worry all at the dam as an aunty decided to get out her car and pose for a picture with the buffalo herd behind her. As luck would have it a SANParks vehicle came around the corner just after this pic was taken.



The SANParks vehicle stopped next to them, so we decided to wait and watch, but in seconds the SANParks vehicle cruised past us; therefore it must have just been a verbal warning.

I wanted to ask the SANParks guys what the deal was, but minutes later Hawkeyes had another seizure, which distracted us for 3 minutes and I lost track of the SANParks vehicle which was motoring at speed anyway.

To be continued

7th October Satara to Talamati continued

We arrived at Tshokwane fairly early so it was more peaceful than usual, therefore we plucked up the courage for some hot chips, but this time they wouldn’t sell us any unless we ordered a “main meal” because there was a shortage of chips, so we gave up on that idea and scrounged together a chow from the previous evening’s leftovers.

The plan was to waste some time in this area until it was close enough to 12 to head for our meet with RP, but the sighting board wasn’t offering any suggestions, so we eventually decided to head down to the S36 turnoff next to Mantimahle Dam and then head up the S36 to Nhlanguleni.

Things were quiet until the Kruger Tablets which produced the normal klippies, but at least this time they were closer to the road.



Mantimahle Dam produced a male lion parking off and a little further up in the dry Nwatindlopfu riverbed another male was hiding out in the shade. We didn’t hang around more than a minute at each sighting as there were OSV’s in the prime viewing spots and the lions weren’t doing much.





We were still a little early for our meet by the time we hit the S36/S33 intersection, so decided to take a tour to the old Vutomi Dam.

A few km later Bushpig chirped that she had spotted something in a tree that could have been a leopard, so the reverse mission started, but getting bearings and exact driving instructions from Bushpig with everybody talking at once turned into a blood pressure moment.

I’m not sure how she even spotted it in the first place because no matter how much I repositioned the car we couldn’t get a clear view.



Vutomi “Dam” is definitely no longer a dam and at best it could be classed as a “pan” in the rainy season, but now there was obviously no sign of water, so we turned to head back towards Nhlanguleni.

A few km later one of the rats spotted a python in a tree right next to the road and I got a few hairy eyeballs because it was on my side and I had missed it. It was another frustrating situation because the tree was at the wrong angle in relation to the road, so we couldn’t get a clear pic of its head.



I did however spot a dung beetle in the road with his prize and for some strange reason the Cow likes them, so I made a big deal out of the stop and the pictures to score points.



Just before Nhlanguleni we spotted a hippo buried in a mud hole, but it certainly couldn’t stay there long as the temperature was in the high upper 30’s, so that little puddle would be dry in a day or 2. It was very close to the Nhlanguleni picnic site though, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it ended up cruising there that evening or the next day.



RP and mates were already at Nhlanguleni when we arrived, so the introductions started immediately.

RP decided to give the Cow along hug and it resulted in the Cow’s glasses falling off her head, so RP tried a Jonty Rhodes manoeuvre but only succeeded in grabbing the Cow’s butt with both hands much to everyone’s amusement. RP is fairly sharp, so I’m still trying to work out if this was a clever plot to score a feel or if he was aiming for the glasses and hit a miss. I’m just glad the glasses fell behind the Cow and not in front of her

It was boiling hot, so shade was an issue, but after a few comments a couple who had a cool spot with a view moved, so we scooped their spot.

As my clan had only shared the small amount of leftovers from the previous evening they were rather hungry, so I had to keep a subtle eye on them to make sure they didn’t eat all the chow, but it turned out that RP had purchased enough meat to feed an army and we ended up taking all the leftovers to Talamati compliments of RP.

We were rather slack on the camera side of things, so I don’t have any pics of the meet (RP may though) but the Cow did get a few pics of the normal elephant gang which pull in and out throughout the day.



It was great catching up with RP, but time disappeared, so we were soon on our way to Talamati while RP and mates headed for Tamboti.

It was nearly 3pm and still around 38 degrees, so I wasn’t keen on stopping for most of the usual gang, but we did stop for a tawny close to the road and at some stage on our morning drive we found another blackie which caused a skrik.





After unpacking at Talamati we were stuffed, so we decided to again skip the evening drive, therefore I started the fire early so that we could get supper out the way and just enjoy the time in camp.



The sleeping arrangements at Talamati are an issue because my clan always fight over who gets to sleep alone in the lounge, but as it was Albert’s turn I expected more drama because she was only 9. Her older sisters came up with multiple war stories to scare her, but she insisted, so the expected drama dissipated.

Minutes later another drama started as one of the rats had spotted something in the bedroom. It took me awhile to decode the frantic talking, but it sounded like they had seen a “rat crossed with a badger” which was now under the bed, so I got sent to investigate.

I hesitantly lifted up the bed half expecting to get attacked, so when a squirrel charged out over my foot I was shrieking as loud as everybody else which started a clan stampede out of the unit.

Eventually I conned the Cow to assist me with the capture and after half an hour of chaos the Cow had the squirrel wrapped up in a blanket and released it out the window, so peace returned.

While we waited for the fire we took a few walks to the camp hides and back as the normal elephant and buffalo gang kept arriving in intervals.





We chowed just as it started getting dark but our meal got interrupted by a frog that pulled in which set the rats off again.



We left our unit just before 7pm to head for the hide and the next 3 hours turned into one of our best evenings in Kruger ever, hence the need for another episode to complete the day.

To be continued

7th October Satara to Talamati continued

We had been allocated unit 5 at Talamati which is closer to the main gate hide than the hide opposite unit 15 at the end of the camp, so we packed drinks, torches, cameras and headed for the “waterhole” hide just before 7pm.

The clan was excited to get moving and I fell behind due to an alcoholic mix I was making, so by the time I got onto the road the clan were a long way ahead of me. A few seconds later something moved in the road right next to me which caused some tap dancing as I had my camera in 1 hand, the dop in the other hand and a small pencil type torch between my teeth.

My brain took a few seconds to register what this strange looking creature was and at first I nearly ran as I thought it was a giant steroid type rat as I certainly never expected to encounter a fat dassie in camp.

Once I registered what it was I had another mission on to get a pic. The clan had seen my torch flashing and were heading back, but the overgrown rat, which was only 1m from me, was starting to get nervous, so in panic I dropped my dop and tried to fire with the camera at the same time, which only resulted in the dassie switching on a built in turbo and the #$&^%* camera wouldn’t fire due to some focus safety feature thing which requires a light on the subject for focus to be achieved before the camera will fire. (If anyone knows another way on a canon 550, please share it as it’s very frustrating)

The net result was no pic, a temper tantrum and nearly a camera thrown into the bush after the dassie.

I was still muttering as we entered the hide, but there were a few hyenas popping up beyond the waterhole, so I got distracted quickly.

Seconds later a lady screamed from the direction of the other hide, which got me muttering again about the lack of respect some people show in Kruger. Minutes later another guest entered the hide and excitably chirped about a wild dog which had just taken out an impala right in front of the other hide. (That would explain the scream)

I was out the hide and heading that direction before the aunty could finish the story.

We arrived at the other hide to find 2 excited Americans and a hyena chowing the impala right in front of the hide, but no wild dog. The cool American dude informed us that it was only 1 wild dog and the hyena had chased it off the kill.



We have picked up on a pattern with the resident Talamati leopard and he normally arrives between 7pm and 8pm for a drink, so I chirped jokingly “A leopard is going to pull in”

Minutes later we all spotted a movement and something approaching which we initially thought was another hyena, but seconds later I was squawking “leopard!”

The leopard was cautious, but once he spotted that it was only 1 hyena he charged in and surprisingly the hyena bolted.







I was now frantic and torch instructions were getting rapidly issued because my little pop up flash only has a range of about 8m with a torch backing it up.

I then commented to the American dude that normally a lone wild dog would hang around once chased off a kill to see if it can sneak back in and steal a piece. Minutes later the leopard jumped up and a wild dog charged out the bush, but hit the brakes big time when faced with the leopard.





There was a standoff between the 2 of them for a few minutes and then the hyena came charging back in, but with 2 other hyena as backup.

The leopard immediately grabbed a large portion of the kill and took off up a tree in front of the staff quarters and the doff hyenas charged off after the wild dog.





The bashing through the bushes continued for a few minutes as the hyenas tried to make sure the wild dog was educated in the pecking order, but to our amazement the wild dog side stepped the hyena, confused them properly and pulled back in to steal a piece of the kill.

The leopard spotted this from his tree and decided that he could take out the wild dog, so he bailed out the tree and charged the wild dog who took off in another direction.



The leopard ate in peace for a few minutes until the hyenas realized they had been given the slip and came shrieking in, which set the leopard off to his tree again with the hyenas in hot pursuit.



The wild dog had obviously been watching from a distance and suddenly came charging in to scoop the foetus.



One of the scallywags spotted this, sounded the alarm and the chase after the wild dog was on again.

Minutes later there was another movement in the distance, so I chirped the American dude that I wouldn’t be surprised if a jackal pulled in and seconds later a SSJ charged in to grab a piece.



The American dude had eyes like saucers and was now looking at me as if I was a clairvoyant, but made the mistake of gulping my dop instead of his to calm his nerves, which resulted in one of the funniest faces I have ever seen and his eyes looked like they were going to blast out of his head. (I knew we were going to spend some time in the hides, so my “mix” was 90% whiskey 10% coke)

“What the heavens is in there!”

This relieved the tension and everybody started laughing

This circus seems quick by the way I have described it above but if I look at the time stamps on the pics it carried on for more than an hour.

At about 9pm there was nothing left and the 4 different predators wandered off in different directions. The rats by this stage were completely overexcited and sensed that it was now ok to jabber and all started at once, so I started with the “predators in camp” war stories which seemed to catch the American dude more than the rats as his eyes got even bigger.

Minutes later we decided to head back to our unit for more drinks and came face to face with a genet in camp, which nearly had the rats climbing up my leg and I was very happy that the American dude was still in the hide or he may have climbed up my leg also.

20 minutes later we decided to head back to the hide where the action had taken place, but everybody had ducked and things were quiet, so we decided to walk along the fence line to the waterhole hide on the other end of camp.

Halfway between the 2 hides I spotted a movement in the bush next to the fence, so stopped and started signalling for the torch, but we all got a massive skrik when I switched it on, as a leopard was cruising along opposite us.



It was obvious that the leopard was heading to the waterhole, so a Brown clan stampede to the other hide started.

As I charged into the hide I chirped all that a leopard was about to arrive for a drink, which got others in the hide who had missed all the action at the other hide rather excited, but then I spotted that an ellie, buffalo and hyenas were hanging around the water so we decided to wait it out.

About 20 minutes later the other animals cruised off and the leopard popped up and went for a long drink at the waterhole. It was just out of range for my camera flash, so we decided to just sit back and enjoy the sighting.

The leopard then walked between the water and the hide towards the camp entrance, so we bailed out the hide and walked along the fence opposite the leopard until it disappeared across the road at the camp entrance and down into the dry riverbed behind camp.

I forgot, we also got a scops owl and a scrub hare during our trips between hides. The hare was too fast but the scops owl just parked off.



It was now close to 10pm and the rats were starting to collapse, so we decided to head back to our unit and came across a scorpion in the road which caused another drama.

I sat outside in the dark alone for half an hour enjoying the memories of what we had just witnessed.

To be continued

8th October Talamati to Lower Sabie

We were up and about at 5am as lions had roared all night, so we thought they may come for an early morning drink at the waterhole, but the rest of camp had the same idea, therefore the hide was packed by 5:20am.

At gate opening (5:30am) the lions were still roaring and it sounded like they were very, very close, so I wasn’t sure what to do, but as it didn’t look like others were going to leave camp yet, we decided to cruise up the road to see if we could find them.

Just outside camp a jackal charged across the road and seconds later the Cow spotted a bushy head checking us out.





There was another roar from the other side of the road, which got the first lion mobile and he crossed in front of us to meet up with his brother and then the 2 of them went on their morning patrol with us following along next to them.











As luck would have it they then decided to head back for the road and both crossed right in front of us.





Suddenly 2 hyena charged out into the road just ahead of us, so we cruised up to check them out before turning back to camp.





We were back in camp just after 6am, so decided to take our time and cook breakfast while we slowly packed the car.

To be continued

8th October Talamati to Lower Sabie

In between the packing and breakfast we took the odd stroll to the hide as different animals kept pulling in.





Just before we left camp the 2 junior rats wanted another look at the hide, but I was miff for the walking backwards and forwards, so sent them off alone, however minutes later they returned at full sprint shrieking “Sable”, which started another Brown clan stampede to the hide.







The rats were now whining for another night at Talamati and I was also keen as RP and mates were pulling in, but there was nothing available, so we reluctantly left camp, but stopped for one last pic of the waterhole.



A few km later it was clearly obvious that it was going to be a seriously hot day as we were already battling and it wasn’t even 9am, so we made a joke that RP and his mates were going to fry. I didn’t know at the time, but I was tempting fate in more ways than I could have imagined.



The plan was to travel across the S125 to the H1-3 and then down to Tshokwane for a pit stop.

The S125 produced all the normal gang, but we only stopped once for some ellies on the opposite bank.



Just before the end of the S125 my “wheels fell off” in a big way and some tolerance and patience will be required for the rest of this TT as I can’t remember many sections of the next few days. In fact I’m finding it difficult to write the rest of this in a “lighter tone” as our trip turned into a complete nightmare.

I started feeling dizzy as the S125 joins the H1-3 and minutes later I was fighting to remain conscious, then the nausea started, I lost feeling below my elbows, my legs started tingling below my knees and my pulse rate was through the roof.

I initially thought I was having a heart attack due to the loss of feeling and erratic pulse and then we thought it was heat stroke, so I started pushing the liquids, but I knew that there was nothing anybody could do for me halfway to Tshokwane, therefore kicked it to Tshokwane with hazards on.

The Cow has never driven a bakkie before, certainly never a big 4 cross 4 and she had never driven in Kruger due to a fear of ellies, so I wouldn’t let her drive, however I was barely conscious behind the wheel by the time we pulled into the Tshokwane car park.

It was now around 10:30am and already 41 degrees, so getting out of the air-conditioned car when feeling like this wasn’t pleasant, but I thought at this stage it was heat stroke, so spent an hour in the shade pushing bottles of water.

During this time the Cow took pics of birds above me.





To be continued

8th October Talamati to Lower Sabie continued

After spending more than an hour in the shade pushing liquids I wasn’t improving and could barely stand up without passing out, so the Cow was going to have to drive for the first time in a game park.

This got the rats all chirping and taking pics from the back seat and the Cow was clutching the steering wheel as if she was about to crash. I remember hoping that all ellies would take cover otherwise we may end up on our own 4x4 track.



I was in and out of consciousness for most of the drive to Lower Sabie, but remember stopping a few times and the rats took over the pic duties.















I’m not sure what time we arrived at Lower Sabie, but I know it was before book in time as the Cow had to negotiate our unit early so that I could get into bed and the SANParks staff told her that they were allowing everybody into their units early due to the extreme heat. (At the time I refused to go to the Skukuza doctor or leave the park)

It was 47 degrees at Lower Sabie reception and I believe Skukuza hit 48 degrees and Satara clocked 50 degrees which is hotter than anything we have ever experienced.

Sorry, I don’t remember much of what happened the rest of the afternoon or evening, but I do remember noticing that Lower Sabie looked like a ghost town as everybody was hiding inside their units, which is supposedly what we did until the next day.

To be continued

9th Lower Sabie

I was a little more coherent when I woke at around 4am, but I now had stomach failure for some reason, so spent the first hour running from the bed to the loo.

The rats wobbled around taking pics of insects until I was confident to try a drive.



I won’t mention where we went for the morning drive as I would like to include some rhino pics.

Our first sighting was 4km from camp and it was a leopard parking off in a tree next to the road, but it decided to move as we stopped and the rats were too slow with the camera.

A few km later Hawkeyes shrieked “leopard” as one ran across the road in front of us and once again everybody was too slow with the camera. I was semi out of it, but still remember getting wild about the lack of camera speed.

Next up was a blackie in the distance, the nyala gang, buffalo and what I think is a yellow billed kite. (Please assist with the ID)









I was starting to feel worse again and Hawkeyes was complaining of the “seizure prelude headache” so we turned to head back towards camp.

It was still very early by the time we reached camp, so we decided to push things a little and continue on another direction from Lower Sabie and this produced more ellies and 3 male lions parking off. The one using the branch as a pillow gave us a few laughs







Minutes later Hawkeyes started another seizure, so the timing began and we turned to head back to camp. Fortunately the seizure stopped after 3 minutes, but I was battling, so we continued back towards camp, but on the way got a skrik as another blackie nearly walked in front of us.



We arrived back at Lower Sabie just after 9am and Hawkeyes and I went straight to bed which left the Cow, Bushpig and Albert to entertain themselves around camp.







To be continued