Browns in Kruger September 2024

[Bushcraft]

Cat whisperer Or rather reader of the predator mind

Visiting Kruger during summer might not be the best sightings-wise, but at least you avoid the crowds and you get away from the cold at home

We can only go to KNP once a year at the moment due to work and financial constraints, so we have to pick the season I miss the green and summer birds, but I don't miss the heat, however I can understand the need to escape your winter

[Bushcraft]

Not kidding, many previous trips produced over 20 leopard in the same timeframe, so this trip didn't match up with regards to leopard sightings. I have also mellowed with age, so we don't search like we used to.

And we were ecstatic with our 9 sightings!

Fantastic spotting by the Cow, and great lion pics!

9 leopard sightings is good going Flutts Trips with big leopard sighting numbers require those "5/6 leopard" type days in the mix, but on this trip those type days were missing. Our worst trip only produced 2 leopard, so one never knows

[Bushcraft]

A long day trip, Bushy!

Always a buggered hippo at the H10 bridge!

Never noticed the red eye on the cormorant like that, crisp pics!

And of course the rare stalking pose of the lioness, totally different with the ears flat like that!

Ja, it was a long morning, but we don't slow down on this particular day. I find it like fishing, when your luck is in, then you must make the most of it and push the hours

Agreed, there always seems to be a dinged up hippo around the H10 bridge

[Bushcraft]

Really fantastic lion shots, Bushcraft

Thanks Pumbba

It's a mission at times on the H4-1 to dodge the cars, etc, and still get pics

[Bushcraft]

5th September Skukuza continued

We arrived back at Skukuza around time for brunch, so bacon and egg buns were the 1st priority and then Albert & I cruised around camp to check on the renovated/new units and to record the unit numbers of other potential booking options. I can’t handle noisy neighbours who lack respect for others when in KNP, so we always scout for unit options and unit numbers that are the most private, even if they are scrap units, just to minimize the neighbour risk.

The new units are fancy, but I’m not certain how I feel about the unit design and the lack of an outside braai is a big problem for me. After the recent issues with open fires in KNP I can understand the need for better control of the camp braai fires, but I don’t believe that moving the braai, basically into the unit, is the answer. I just can’t see it being pleasant braaing in your unit, even with open doors, after a 45-degree windless day and I can’t see those social chats “around the fire” at night being possible, which is unfortunate, as it’s a big part of a KNP trip for many.

We then decided to charge cameras and back up pics while just relaxing under our private Lapa thing.

Our neighbours at Moni guest house next door were also back at the unit and I quickly developed a pelican sitting outside because it was a large group from various parts of the camp that had gotten together for lunch and there were some major Hadada’s in the group that had no idea about volume, so we ended up moving inside our unit for peace.

The Moni guest house Hadada gang continued into the afternoon so I was getting very irritated with the lack of peace, therefore at around 2pm I started hassling the Cow and Albert for our afternoon plan, because I would rather relax in our car in a peaceful environment than continue listening to our neighbours.

The Cow & Albert wanted to do some of the H1-1/H3/S113/S23/S114 back to Skukuza since we hadn’t explored that section of the park yet, but I was less enthusiastic since the sighting boards hadn’t indicated any action from those areas in the time we had been in the park, however it was much earlier than we would normally leave for our afternoon drive, so I semi reluctantly agreed to do the route.

Our 1st stop was for some giraffe that were hanging around the De Laporte waterhole.

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The rest of the drive down to the S113 produced the odd elephant hiding in the shade of a tree, but not much else and the condition of the S113 was stuffed with some large potholes rather than the normal corrugations, so I was mumbling and moaning to the Cow.

“We need to get off this road, it’s stuffed! It’s a short section, check the map book to confirm how long it is. The S114 back up to Skukuza is probably going to be full of potholes also!”

The Cow opened the map book

“It’s not long, around 3km and then we turn onto the S23 just over the river up ahead……. What’s that on the left………LEOPARD!”

We couldn’t believe our luck as a male leopard was sleeping in the shade about 4m off the road, so I had to swallow my moaning tongue rather quickly.

The leopard was out cold, so I slowly pulled off to the side of the road next to him and switched off.

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[Bushcraft]

About 15 minutes later another car arrived behind us and they were rather noisy with positioning their car for the best view, so it was mildly irritating, but it did wake the leopard up.

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[Bushcraft]

I expected the leopard to get up and cruise off deeper into the bush, but he instead he was grooming and checking us out, so my teeth were hanging out because it’s not often that one gets to spend this amount of time this close to a wild leopard. After 10 minutes we put the cameras down and just enjoyed spending time in his presence.

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Around 20 minutes later something suddenly got the leopard’s attention and he quickly got up and moved off down towards the riverbed through the bush. The other car moved off at the same time, but we repositioned and found him again on the bank looking down on the riverbed, so we went up to the S113/S23 intersection and turned to come back down to the low water bridge/crossing.

He was still very close to the road, around 6m max, so I approached very slowly and snuck into position on the bridge below him.

He was very relaxed with our presence, even though he was making continuous eye contact, which I initially was trying to avoid, however it soon became apparent that it wasn’t an issue with this guy.

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[Bushcraft]

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We had now spent more than an hour with this leopard, so we felt it was time to move on, however we thought that we would at least wait for another car to arrive so that we could point out the sighting to them before moving off, but after another 15 minutes no cars had arrived, which I suppose is the joy of exploring this part of the south.

While I was repositioning to drive off another car arrived and it was 2 young female foreigners who stopped next to us and started waving hands at us and then blurted out in a strange accent

“There’s a……………There’s a…………LEOPARD!”

“Yes, we know, we have been waiting to point it out to another car”

We said our goodbyes and moved on up the road, but decided to rather travel back up the short section of the S113 to the H3 and then take the tar back to Skukuza rather than the potholed S114 dirt.

The drive back up to Skukuza produced the same as the drive down, ellies in the shade of trees, but not much else, so we arrived at Skukuza at around 4:20pm, quickly stopped at the reception area toilet and then continued down the H4-1 towards Nkuhlu as we had enough time to make it there and back to camp by 6pm.

To be continued

[Flutterby]

Wow, wow, wow! It's not often that you get a leopard sighting like that...what an amazing experience.

With regards to what you were saying about the social chats around the fire, that is a big thing for me, but I noticed how few people still braai in Kruger. Most nights we were the only people braaing, and often our neighbours weren't even there. It seems that most people use the restaurants now. I was telling the Brat about our trips as youngsters, and at night everyone would be braaing and sharing their sightings for the day. Sad that it doesn't happen anymore.

[Lisbeth]

and at night everyone would be braaing and sharing their sightings for the day. Sad that it doesn't happen anymore.

Really? It's one of the best moments in Kruger after a long day of driving and looking.

@Bushy - Do they really put the braais inside? It's absolutely Instead of burning a piece of bush, the huts will be burnt or possibly braaing in KNP will belong to history

I just finished Flutterby's leopard story and got straight into yours. Leopards galore and both great sightings