Africa Wild

August 11th Satara continued

About 3km later we found this



The nice couple up the road informed us that 2 jackal had killed a steenbok and were busy eating it. For us it looked more like an impala or a baby wildebeest. The jackals had moved off the kill but were sitting about 50m away watching the vultures.

There was chaos in my car as all the rats fought for a window seat and Albert was getting squashed in the middle, so was starting to howl. An explosion followed and silence returned.

We then noticed a few cars stopping about 200m further up the road, so 5 minutes later chose to drive up and take a look.

Somebody was peering over the long grass towards the kill and his brother was lazing a few meters further in.



He was obviously weighing up his options and a few seconds later he stood up and suddenly started running towards the kill.



This again caused panic and the Cow was shouting “Turn, GO, GO, GO”, I was halfway through the usual “DO YOU WANT TO.......” when I spotted Supernova and he was already halfway through his turn, so I did the fastest 3 point turn of my life and charged off back to the kill.

I lost sight of the lions on the way, but was sure that they were on their way to the kill, but when we arrived back at the kill the jackals had returned and were having a fight with the vultures.





The Cow is nuts about the above picture, which shows one little face above a sea of vultures.

I was frantically snapping pics with my slowed up camera (It takes 3 seconds between each shot) when Hawkeyes started squealing “He’s coming, he’s coming”. The jackal and vultures were so engrossed in their own squabbles and only spotted him at the last minute. For a second they froze and you could almost see them say “WHAT THE.......”. Then the penny dropped and they scattered in all directions, which caused howls of laughter in the back seat.

He hit the brakes at the kill, sniffed it and seemed to pull his face back in disgust.





He then sniffed it again, looked around and made off with it, which caused the jackal to all start screaming for backup.





I was so involved in what was happening and nearly jumped out of my skin when Hawkeyes started shouting “The other one is coming, he’s running, he’s running”

To be continued

August 11th Satara continued

Hawkeyes continued shrieking “He’s running, he’s running” and I’m sure that the first guy heard her, because he started looking around and spotted his brother running in, which caused a frustrated growl and then he picked his stolen kill up and started moving off.



The late arrival also seemed frustrated and suddenly started peeing all over the place. At one point I thought that he was going to drill a jackal with it.



The jackal continued to howl the entire time, so eventually backup arrived and a strange bum sniffing, shrieking, etc greeting started taking place.



The late arrival decided that it was time to harass his brother again, so he moved off to where his brother was trying to hide and started edging closer, which excited the first chap who started growling again.



Suddenly the fight was on, which caught us all by surprise and unfortunately I only managed 1 out of focus pic before it was all over.



The late arrival seemed satisfied with his small piece of the stolen kill and the 2 lay down and continued feeding.

This fight had excited Bushpiggy and the questions started “daddy, if a male lion and a tiger fight, who will win”, “I don’t know”, “what about 2 leopard against the daddy lion”, “I don’t know”. Fortunately after about the 5th “I don’t know” BP lost interest and silence returned.

The air born raiders decided that it was time to call it and slowly started leaving one at a time.



A few minutes later the brothers seemed to have finished their meal and decided that bridges needed mending. One sneaky jackal ran in and stole the left over’s as soon as the late arrival got up, but they just ignored him.



After a minute of makeup head rubbing the one chap moved off towards deeper bush and the jackals sensed an opportunity, so they started harassing the lone male for scraps.



He lifted his lips a few times at them and then decided that it wasn’t worth the effort and moved off after his brother.

We sat quietly and watched him leave and then continued on.

The Mavumbye crossing caused great excitement in the back seat as one of Bushpiggy’s favourite animals, a legavaan, was cruising next to the road, so BP’s camera was clicking away like crazy.



A Green-backed Heron was also running around. This bird always cracks me up as it reminds me of Danny Devito in the Batman movies.



It had been a long morning for the rats and the stomachs were growling, so we headed back to Satara for chow.

To be continued

August 11th Satara continued

In camp the rats decided it would be fun to make fairy gardens, which kept them entertained and out of our hair for ages. Albert was most enthralled when some mongoose came through the fence and had a good look around. She sat like a statue until they had gone and then insisted that they had come especially to see the fairy garden they had made. .

Melly went to the shop later and took a pic of the sighting board for Supernova and it indicated that there was action down the H7, so the plan for the afternoon was to drive to Bobbejaankrans and then turn back to Satara.

Back at Nsemani dam, we found an elephant herd having an afternoon drink.



We could see a few cars just up the little dead end dirt road to the west of Nsemani, so we decided to investigate.

To our amazement it was a massive herd of buffalo and they were all lying down.



While we were sitting watching them, we spotted more commotion further up the dirt road. Not even 20 meters away, on the other side of the road, this lady was also having a rest.



The traffic was starting to build up, so we decided to continue on the planned route, but we couldn’t understand why the traffic was still so heavy on the tar.

A few seconds later, all was revealed, there were more lions sleeping next to the road and they had effectively surrounded the buffalo.



This caused confusion for me as I wasn’t sure if we should continue or pull over and just wait, so Supernova and I had a walkie talkie conference and decided that it was still early, so we continued on.

After 30 minutes of nothing, the lion buffalo combo was starting to burn a hole in my head, so we had another conference and Supernova was also worried about the combo, so we decided to go back to Nsemani.

On the way back an ostrich decided to show himself in a large burnt section



The next couple of km through the burnt section produced nothing and as the bush started again things seemed even quieter, so I was starting to day dream and then the walkie talkie suddenly went “CIVET, come quick”.

Again I got a fright and started shouting “CAMERAS”, but the civet had already moved into the long grass before we were organized and I only managed black blurred blobs and perfectly focused grass, but Supernova managed a pic of its back which is better than nothing.



As we neared Nsemani dam Hawkeyes shouted “Who dropped it, ALBERT!!” Albert started shrieking “It wasn’t me” and then started howling as the rest of us joined in “ALBERT!!”. I put my nose out of the window to get fresh air, but the smell was worse. A few seconds later the culprit was identified.

The massive buffalo herd was on the move and they had littered the area with putties.

The pic below looks hazy and almost as if it was taken in the mist, but this was dust in the air from the herd.



The lions that were next to the tar road had moved off, so we made our way slowly through the buffalo herd, who were all over the road and ducked up the little dirt road next to Nsemani dam to see if the lone lion was still around.

Our timing was spot on as she was on the move as we arrived.



She then decided to go to the loo and pulled a terrible face at the same time, which had us all laughing again.



She then started towards the road after the buffalo, but the Garmin was flashing that it was time to head back to camp, so the frustration started to build as she was now just behind the buffalo.

We pushed it to the last minute and then had to continue on.

A few cars were stopped on the dam wall and hands were waving and pointing towards the bush behind the dam wall, so we stopped next to them to enquire what was happening and found out that there were lion cubs in the bush.

It was nearly dark and time was running out, so the pressure for a pic was on. Fortunately Supernova managed to capture a pic in the low light, but it’s still difficult to see them.



Back in camp the hyena were up and down the fence line, which caused great excitement amongst the rats, so they set up their own viewing station next to fence and shrieked each time a hyena came past.



Supernova and I got the braai going while a few of the rats hung around like vultures.





To be continued

August 12th Satara to Lower Sabie

Due to the buffalo and lion activity yesterday at Nsemani, the plan this morning was to do a short drive to the dam and then come back to Satara, pack up and head for Lower Sabie.

We were a little late this morning, maybe due to last night’s activities, so by the time we reached Nsemani there were already a few cars around and it was soon evident where the action was.



John n Poppy’s TR shows that these guys were in the road earlier and that the male was full of war wounds, so he had obviously fought big time for her.

She started prancing around him, rolling on her back and reversing towards him, which eventually got a reaction.



The rats have seen this many times now, so they assumed that she just wanted to play and that the Daddy lion was a bad tempered bully. The violent scrap that followed enforced this opinion.





A few minutes later a car with a yellow ribbon pulled up next to us, it was Pooky and family. We chatted about sightings, other yellow ribbons and then someone in Pooky’s car spotted this in the tree in front of us.



The lioness moved off into the bush and from our position we could only see the back of the male now. After a few minutes she returned and tried to entice him, but he ignored her, so she wandered off again.

Pooky and family decided to move on, so we said our goodbyes, it was great meeting them.

We waited a few more minutes before turning and heading back to Satara to pack.

Just before the S40 we stopped to take a pic of a funny looking Burchells



We packed up before 8:30am and were soon back on the road. Magic Guarri was heading up from Pretoriuskop and the plan was for us to meet at Tshokwane, so we decided to eat breakfast there also.

A couple of the usual guys showed up, but it was generally quiet until the Baobab area, which produced a large number of giraffe.



Just before Mazithi Dam we spotted a few cars on the side of the road, so stopped to investigate.

A lone lioness was having a sleep in the shade.



A man at the sighting called us closer and informed us that there was a male lion in the bush just off to the left and if we waited he would come out to follow the female, but after 10 minutes the rats were getting restless and disturbing the peace, so we continued on.

Mazithi Dam produced a large herd of buffalo and the usual croc clan





We tried to get hold of MG a few km from Tshokwane, but no signal, so we decided to have a slow breakfast and wait.



We unfortunately picked a table with over hanging trees and it didn’t take long for the aerial attack to start.

On previous trips the birds had dropped a few on the kids and to diffuse a potential howling situation, the Cow insisted that it was good luck. Bushpiggy remembered this and was now trying to position herself in the line of fire. She even swopped seats with Tortoise to get under a Hornbill, but to her frustration the hornbill had constipation.

After breakfast we walked around Tshokwane to try and get some signal, but no luck and MG still hadn’t arrived, so we assumed that they must have been delayed at a major sighting, or that they had already gone past Tshokwane, so after a conference we decided to move on until we could get some signal.

Just down the road we found this little owl.



Something was wrong in the back seat and Bushpiggy was complaining that she was itchy all over. The Cow suddenly said “You better stop and check out BP”

To be continued

August 12th Satara to Lower Sabie continued

Bushpiggy was whining about being itchy and she’s like a piece of biltong, so when she starts to whine, there’s normally an issue.

Bushpiggy was covered in a rash, she was having an allergic reaction to something, which could have been the Pine Nut juice or the “sausage” from the Sausage tree that she was trying to crack open at Tshokwane. Supernova and Melly pulled up next to us and suggested that we make tracks to Skukuza in case things got worse.

A few minutes later, just past Leeupan, a yellow ribbon came past us, so I slammed on brakes and started to reverse. It was MG and SO.

We chatted between cars about sightings and our trips to date, but other cars started to arrive and Supernova hadn’t seen us stop and had continued on, so after a quick chat, we were on our way again. It’s a pity that we didn’t have more time as they seemed super cool.

Next up were a few ellies having a drink.



Bushpiggy was getting worse in the back, so I pushed it up to 50km/h, put the blinkers on and headed for Skukuza Day Visitors picnic spot, which was the closest spot where we could get out and get the medicine bag out of the back of the bakkie. After a dose of Allergex, we were back on the road again.



We then decided to pop in at Skukuza, go for an ice cream, use the loo, have a smoke and keep an eye on BP in case she needed the Dr. The 10ml of Allergex seemed to have put BP on a trip, because she was half asleep and very quiet. Supernova suggested that we should maybe use it more often and for more than just a rash.

An hour later BP’s rash was fading and although still goofed, she seemed better, so we headed off to Lower Sabie.

The first stretch of the H4-1 to the H12 produced hectic traffic again, but with nothing much to see, just the odd impala.

We did manage to snap this Fish Eagle, a firm favourite for the Cow.



In the S21 area we found a saddle bill



It was a beautifully hot day, but we were all very relieved when we finally arrived at Lower Sabie.

Book in went fine, with the ladies allowing us in a few minutes early. We were staying at Keartland, for our last 2 days and were all very excited, as it’s such a lovely place. We asked for an extra mattress for the Albert, who we had to pay an additional fee for, they promised to have one delivered. We’re still waiting.......

After all the unpacking etc was completed, it was time to just relax and enjoy the surroundings. The rats love exploring the fence and spotted quite a few animals with much excitement and hand waving. If you look carefully at the first pic you will find 2 giraffe on the opposite river bank.





When we first saw this ellie, he was having a feast on the opposite bank, but then decided to cross over for a closer inspection of the deck.



After a long day of travelling we were stuffed, so decided to do a very short afternoon drive.

It always amazes us how sightings on a specific road can change. One day it’s full of life and the next; there are hardly any animals around. This afternoon was one of those drives and the only thing we spotted halfway to Nkuhlu was this Giant Eagle Owl, so we decided to travel back past Lower Sabie for a few km to see if things improved further south.



The drive back was very quiet, but just before Lower Sabie we found 2 rhino and this little guy, looking very pensive.



About 4km past Lower Sabie I was ready to turn around, but a few seconds later a large traffic jam appeared and the adrenalin started pumping again.

We couldn’t see anything, but Supernova eventually informed us on the walkie talkie that it was a leopard with a kill. It was nearly dark, so it was getting more difficult by the minute.

Just ahead of us an elderly couple started waving at us so we pulled up next to them and they explained to us exactly what happened. The leopard had made the kill about 200 meters down the road and dragged it in the middle of the road to where it was now.

It was hiding in thick bush, but only about 15 meters off the road and I was getting very frustrated, because they could see it clearly and we couldn’t, so they kindly offered me their binoculars and said that I should pull up right next to them, what a difference. We managed to spot it straight away, but couldn’t get any damn photos, as the camera kept focusing on all the branches. The Cow did manage to get it on video though, but its looks like a black and white clip, because the sun had completely disappeared.

The awesome elderly couple now realized that they had invited a car over that had 3 wild rats in the back who also wanted to see, so after 2 minutes of the rats fighting for a window seat and a Cow’s greasing, the elderly couple excused themselves and headed off.

Time was up anyway, so still frustrated; we headed back to Lower Sabie.

We had a nasty surprise when we returned to Lower Sabie; the Cow tried to run the rat’s bath and discovered that there was no hot water in 2 bathrooms and the kitchen. Upon investigation we found what you see in the pic below, no geyser.



Fortunately the office was still open, but they had no idea of why there was no geyser. After a few calls maintenance confirmed that they were aware of the situation and that a new geyser would be fitted on Saturday.

To be continued

August 13th Lower Sabie

Today was our last full day in the park, so my pelican face was already starting.

The plan this morning was to drive down to where the leopard had been with its kill about 4km south of Lower Sabie, then head up to Mlondozi for a break and then come back to Keartland for breakfast.

We were out the gate just after 6am this morning and desperate to find the leopard still at the kill.

A few hundred meters from the kill sight we spotted 2 cars on the side of the road, so immediately we all assumed that the leopard was still around, but to our surprise it wasn’t the leopard.

2 male lions were having a snooze just off the road. The one chap was in deeper bush, but the other guy was right next to the road.



I think that this has to be the first time that I have been disappointed at finding male lions.

After a few minutes the chap that was deeper in decided it was time to cruise and a few minutes later the other guy followed him.



We hovered around the kill sight from the previous evening, but couldn’t find anything and as I was about to move off when the Cow said “What’s that on the other side of the road”.

There was something strange under a sausage tree on the other side of the road, so I repositioned us closer and it took a few seconds for us to figure out what we were looking at.

It was half an impala. The leopard had obviously dragged it back across the road in the dark



I was amazed that there were no hyenas or any other scavengers around. We waited a few minutes and then decided to continue on and stop back here later.

When we got to the H10 Bridge it was still too early to go to Mlondozi, so we decided to continue on up the H4-1 for a few km and then come back.

About 100m past the H10 something caught my eye in the grass just off the road, but the brain only registered as we went past it and then I shouted “CAMERAS, AWC”.

As I reversed the damn cat took off into the bush and nobody was fast enough to snap a pic. I was highly frustrated now as it would have been our 3rd pic of an AWC in the day, but it never showed itself again, so with a long lip we chose to move on.

We stopped briefly at Sunset dam to check out the locals and then continued on.

I was still moaning at the Cow for not having the cameras ready for the AWC and basically blaming everything except that fact that it was probably my frantic reversing that scared it, when the Cow suddenly shouted “What’s that in the road in front of you”, again the brain took a few seconds to click “LEOPARD!!”

Now I wasn’t going to miss out so I took the first and second pic through the front windscreen.




The leopard was rapidly moving off into the bush, so stress levels were at an all time high and as we moved closer the Cow, who was trying to film with the video camera, blocked my view and I ended up taking pics of the back of her head, which resulted in all the toys coming out of the cot, “I CAN’T SEE”, the Cow shouted back “WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, VIDEO OR NOT!! @#%#”.

Fortunately Hawkeyes managed a shot with her camera and I convinced the Cow to take one with my camera.





I reversed back slightly to allow us to look up the path that the leopard walked up, but he wasn’t around, so we moved slowly forward. Suddenly everyone screamed “LEOPARD” again.

I forgot that the Cow now had the camera and was frantically looking for it on my lap and around my feet, but then I spotted the Cow lining up the shot, so started squealing “Get it, Get it”.

The Cow managed 1 more shot and then gave me a greasing for putting the pressure on.



We hovered around for another 15 minutes going slowly backwards and forwards, but the leopard never appeared again, so we continued on to the causeway where we turned and headed back towards Lower Sabie.

A few km outside Lower Sabie we found a traffic jam that was starting to build and from a distance we spotted another male lion walking in the bush. We should have stopped there and taken a pic, but as per normal, thought that we could get a better position, but by the time we found a spot in the crowd the lion had decided to lie down and he disappeared in the grass, so after 15 minutes of trying to get an angle, decided to go on to Lower Sabie for a pitstop.

We checked the sighting board, which didn’t indicate much, so we decided to go back and check on the leopard kill.

It was still under the sausage tree and there were still no scavengers around, so it was off to Mlondozi.

Next up was a rhino a few km past the H10 Bridge and then a lone buffalo next to the road.





To be continued

August 13th Lower Sabie continued

The rest of the H10 was relatively quiet until we reached the Mlondozi/S29 turnoff.

Rumour has it that lions killed something here the previous day, but had moved off and now the scavengers had pulled in to feast on what was left.



The hyenas and vultures were having a full go at each other and I’m surprised that the vultures managed to escape the hyena attack each time.



The hyena seemed to be very nervous and would continually stop and look around between each mouthful. It was heading towards mid morning, so I think that they were uncomfortable out in the open with the sun up and there was always a chance that the lion would return.

Eventually the very fat ones started to move off and so did we after a few more pics.



On the way up to Mlondozi Supernova managed to capture a Bateleur family warming up in the sun.





As we pulled in to Mlondozi car park I noticed a yellow ribbon in front of us, so we stopped behind them, but there was a commotion just to the right of the cars and everyone was going to investigate, so we followed along.

To our surprise it was a “kill”

A “Sand snake” or as others call it a “Skaapsteker” was having a lizard for breakfast.





The yellow ribbon turned out to be Roaneric and family, so we chatted about our “kill”, other sightings, cameras, etc. They are a friendly awesome family.

The snake had finished its chow and was now posing for pics



The Cow took the opportunity to give the rats a lecture about playing in the rocks at picnic sites. Albert’s eyes grew bigger, but I don’t think that Bushpiggy listened to a single word.

The snake decided it was time to leave this curious crowd and headed for deeper cover.



We had to get back to Lower Sabie for breakfast, so we said our goodbyes to Roaneric and were back on the road.

It was a fairly quiet drive back and all the usual clan were hanging around the H10 Bridge, but there was a new addition as shown in the pic below. I have see others drive to this point before and there seems to be a road leading to that position, is it permitted?



To be continued

August 13th Lower Sabie continued

The geyser gang were busy in the unit, so we decided to hang around for the afternoon until they were done. We had an awesome view anyway, so a few G&T’s were on the menu and we just parked off to watch the show.

We spotted giraffe, warthog, kudu, ellies, saddle bills, etc while we waited.



Then another strange sighting appeared. These guys below decided that it would be a good idea to exit their vehicle on the H10 Bridge. The one idiot was holding a small baby in his arms.





The geyser gang finished at about 4pm, so we decided to leave with them and head up in the direction of Nkuhlu for the last time. Also the SA versus NZ rugby was on at 5pm and I had a long drive to Durban ahead of me in the morning, so we planned to only go out for an hour or so.

Just past Sunset Dam we found our first roadblock for the afternoon. A couple of lions were having a snooze in the bush just off the road. There were way too many people for us, so after a quick pic we moved on.



I was dawdling along behind Supernova and had no idea what was happening up the road, but I later found out that Supernova was shouting into the walkie talkie, but had forgotten to switch it on.

Supernova slowly came into view and they had stopped on the side of the road. Suddenly I spotted arms waving at us, so roared over to where they were, but soon slowed rapidly when I spotted what they were looking at and it was a little too close for comfort.



He turned to face us and was now only about 5 meters from Supernova’s car, which set alarm bells off in my head, as I thought he was going to charge, but he continued eating and completely ignored us. Nevertheless the warnings were issued in my car.



This was our first Black Rhino in KNP and he seemed very relaxed. We have spotted them elsewhere and they were very different animals to the one that was standing next to us now. I was in another park in December and those guys charged us about 5 times, so I couldn’t understand this guy, as he seemed to be behaving like a tame pet.

I couldn’t help but shake my head at the many idiots that stopped and said “It’s only a rhino” and drove off. This is an animal that they may never see in the wild again.

After 20 minutes it became obvious that he wanted to cross the road, so we moved to give him space and he took the gap.





He then decided that he would stop on the other side and block half the road, Time was ticking for us, so we sneaked past him and went on down to the leopard kill from the previous evening.

The kill was still there, untouched and there were still no scavengers around, so we decided to go and watch the rugby.

We rushed in to watch the game, but the DSTV, which we had paid for, wasn’t working, so Supernova and I went to check out the dish, which was blocked by branches from a tree. Supernova tried to fix the problem, but my patience doesn’t last that long, so I went to pour the dops before the satellite dish became Lower Sabie’s first flying saucer.

We eventually decided to braai instead, which resulted in a few visitors arriving a little later.



The one lying down arrived first and had a very bad limp, so we thought that when the other collared one arrived, that limpy would move off, but all of a sudden limpy lost her temper and drilled the collared chap, which cracked us up.



To be continued (Final post)

August 13th Lower Sabie to KZN

Our final morning had arrived and as per normal, everyone was quiet and very subdued.

After saying our goodbyes to Supernova, Melly, Luckycharm and Tortoise, we were on our way.

It was about 6:15am by the time we got on the road, which was stressing me out, so I drove past a lone buffalo and then a couple of ellies, but didn’t stop, which resulted in huffing and puffing and then a tongue lashing from the Cow. For her, the longer we take to get out the park the better, but I had all the driving to do, so the blinkers were on.

A few km later an ellie appeared on the side of the road and I spotted the hairy eyeball from the passenger seat, so stopped for a quick pic.



Just past the H5/H4-2 intersection we found slow moving oncoming traffic. A couple lionesses had crossed the road and were on their way to Gomondwane waterhole. I tried to ignore the situation, but the hairy eyeball was looking at me again, so we reversed back to the waterhole. After 5 minutes they hadn’t arrived, but I knew that they were just down the H5 and chose to keep quiet about it, so we continued on.

Next up we found 3 rhino, but they were walking away from us and a fair distance out, so we stopped for a look, but never took a pic.

We were nearly at Croc Bridge and another traffic jam appeared. It took us a few seconds to find him



It was about 7:10am, so I was pressuring to move on, but about a minute later the 2nd male came cruising past.





5 minutes later I said “All things come to an end, we have to move”. The Cow’s hairy eyeball turned to a sad one and we left KNP. The silence for the first 100km after leaving KNP has to be one of the worst feelings ever.

Lastly, thanks to all of you guys that have shared our adventure with us and for allowing us the opportunity to relive our trip and for this site which allowed me to finish it

Thanks again

Bushcraft, Cow, Supernova, Melly and the Rats.