13th Skukuza to Lower Sabie continued
The male lion lay down in the bush and disappeared again so we moved a little further on and found another male on babysitting duty.
I was stressing about the time as Skukuza Golf Club was still a long way, so we headed south.
Hawkeyes had attacked “Roberta” when the lion action started, so now was moaning big time as it was still early and cold, hence looked like a pink Eskimo.
A few km outside Tshokwane the Cow spotted a movement in the riverbed but wasn’t initially sure what she had seen, which got me hyped up because she guessed it was a leopard.
“Where was it?”
“Do you see the tree with branches that go left and then right”
“There are hundreds of trees, I need specifics!”
The Cow and the rats then all spotted it “LEOPARD!” “It’s walking, you need to move!”
I was now totally wild as I couldn’t see it so had no idea where to drive, but fortunately it sat down just before a large scrap started.
The leopard parked off for a few minutes but then continued on its morning patrol, so we followed along; however it was a mission to get pics and only managed a few more as it came down into the riverbed.
The leopard disappeared behind some bushes in the riverbed, so we lost sight of it, but there’s a new loop just north of Tshokwane and it overlooks a small waterhole in the riverbed, therefore we guessed that the leopard was heading that way for a drink, but it was still around 500m from the water and patience isn’t my strong suit, so we continued on after the Cow got her pic of a legavaan.
The H1-2 was quiet again which was becoming the norm on this trip, but we did stop for some ostriches
I checked in with RP as soon as I got signal to let him know we would be arriving at 10:30am and he was in surprisingly high spirits “Ok, we are here, the “tea” is flowing, it’s beautiful, we have 1 ready for you”
“What, already”
“Ja, GB was thirsty”
I failed to mentioned the “tea” part to the Cow at the time for fear of “picture and no sound” for the rest of the way to the Club. I soon started to wonder if that had been a mistake as my clan were in a rowdy mood, so I got drilled with a combined karaoke attempt of some new song for the last few km and had to shut them up once close to lake panic otherwise they would have caused a panic.
GB organized a table and more “tea” for the men which caused a hairy eyeball from the Cow and the ordering started.
RP was impressed with the menu tick box thing, but wrote 3 eggs next to his and GB was on form, so promptly crossed it out while RP wasn’t looking.
The marmite mission then started which resulted in a few pronunciation attempts and confusion from the staff, so eventually RP got his own marmite from the car which I inherited.
The chow arrived and I must say it’s good value for money compared to other spots in Kruger, however RP only had 2 eggs and then I ate his brown toast by mistake, so he was developing a mild pelican.
The poor staff member then arrived with the tick box paper thing to ask if RP wanted 3 eggs and got short shift “It’s too late!”
After chow more “tea” arrived and we joined the other animals outside.
RP had been hassling about Robert who was entering the park and I had never met him, so RP decided to call him and Robert happened to be at Skukuza, so an impromptu meet was arranged and soon RT and 2 sons arrived which got RP on a mission with his first generation vintage cell phone for a pic.
Rugby, more precisely the “Bulls”, instantly came up and Robert’s oldest son came up with a few very sharp chirps to give RP lock jaw, however I can’t remember what they were as I was getting force fed a 3rd “tea”
GB then decided it was time to pull the choke chain and minutes later Robert decided it was time to head for Lower Sabie, so we were all on our way over the next 10 minutes.
It had been a great meet with RP and GB and Robert was a cool guy.
It was a middle of the day in holiday season so the H4-1 certainly isn’t my cup of tea, but we did have a forced ellie stop.
I caught up with RT somewhere on the road but didn’t register until one of the rats spotted him however I ducked down the causeway, but RT continued on the tar.
The causeway produced at the little first loop.
To be continued
Thanks for popping in 
