Africa Wild

Bushcraft

One by one the lions came towards the road

We were shooting into the sun which made it difficult but also presented an opportunity for some nice effects with the sun rays and dust

















This was turning out to be a very good lion sighting



TBC

One of the lions followed the lioness on to the road and there was no mistaking who was king



The effects of the sun rays and dust











How did you do that dad











The King of Kwang

The Flehmen Response (Reference: Grant Atkinson from here )

The Flehmen response takes place when one lion, of either sex, sniffs and smells the urine of another.







Chemicals and hormones contained in the urine elicit the Flehmen response. Usually, after smelling the urine patch on the ground or vegetation, the cat that is doing the smelling will lift his or her head, and hold their lips back in a strong grimace for a period of several seconds. If you have never seen it happen before, it can appear to be a threat display, but in fact it has nothing to do with threat.







Each cat has a vomeronasal organ (also sometimes called the organ of Jacobson) located above the palate. By sniffing deeply, and then pulling back their lips, they are in fact ‘testing’ the chemical content of the urine left behind by the earlier animal. Also, because lions are social for much of the time, it is easier to observe the Flehmen response taking place amongst members of the same pride. Although Flehmen is observed amongst males and females, it appears to be most important to males and it plays a part in allowing them to determine whether a female may be entering an oestrous cycle.

What you doing Daddy



You too young for this son



but will find out soon enough

The final episode of our lion sighting

The King of Kwang sprawled out on the road and was admired by 3 of the cubs





No response from Daddy so they tackled one another







One cub was more comfortable with Mummy

05-08-2013

We were on our way our favourite camp in the Park, Grootkolk. We love the area between Lijersdraai and Union’s End. As the Driver always says to me when we get to this part of the world, “There are 7 billion people in the world and yet here you feel as if you are the only people on the planet.”

We parked off at Lijersdraai waterhole to have a break. We love these quiet moments at waterholes as we can sit and commune with nature. But today we got to talking about our favourite area in the Park and we wondered about what the Park would be like in ten years’ time with all the new developments and activities planned for the Park in the future.

We were having our leftover braai chops at the time. The car was parked facing away from the waterhole under the shade of a tree and we were not paying much attention to the waterhole. Suddenly the Driver said see who is drinking at the waterhole!

I looked at the waterhole and dropped my chop

He arrived so silently that we would have missed him if the Driver did not turn and look at the waterhole at that moment. He drank his fill and went back in the same direction from where he came. We had not heard him at all and can imagine the scene if he had crept up to the car with open windows, I would have dropped more than my chop -O





We checked in at Grootkolk

At Camp the regular wildebeest came in a storm of dust.



For the afternoon drive we went north

Our sighting for the afternoon were Meerkats







and a Pale Chanting Goshawk



At about 6.30 pm while we were busy braaiing, a leopard came silently to drink. We would have missed that too had Andries our Camp Manager, not alerted us. The leopard turned out to be our leopard - Rosa!!! Sorry not Safran nan

06-08-2013

A lion woke us up at about 5am and the roaring got closer and closer. He got to the waterhole at 5.30



Temperatures were picking up and the day began with 2°C and peaked at 27°C.

On the way to Lijersdraai this morning we saw eland



springbok pronking



and then we saw what we thought was an ostrich having a dust bath but it turned out to be an ostrich with two heads but it really was a fluffball factory





At Lijersdraai we thought we would catch Saffron but she did not pitch but what we saw was a Lanner factory















Little lanners on the way

We had decided that we will be out till lunch time and then return to Grootkolk and just relax in camp and not do an afternoon drive. We decide to go to Polentswa Waterhole. Near Lijersdraai Picnic Site we saw a lion with 6 legs



6 legs and two heads -O



We have experienced lions on the road on every trip to the KTP and knew they will just continue walking right past us so we just parked off but ready to close the windows in a hurry if required









and they kept coming -O









and then they were past us heading towards the waterhole



We continued towards Polentswa

Convinced yet Bushcraft

Polentswa turned out to be very windy and dusty and all we did was ate dust

We turned around and went north and near Union’s End waterhole we saw an African Wildcat curled up in a tree. Unfortunately we spooked her and she was down and off across the road in front of us and gone leaving just a trail of dust.







At Geinab we found a family of meerkats







with little ones but just got one photo of the little ones in a huddle



We had, as always beautiful sunsets at Grootkolk, we were in paradise







Hyenas paid us a visit at night

Mel wrote:Gosh, those little meerkats huddling each other - sooo cute!

Spotties at Grootkolk waterhole -

Shame for the running AWC but she gave you a good look before disappearing. -O

I take it Geinab waterhole isn't put into use again?

Geinab has been closed for some time now. Not sure if it will be opened again

Bushcraft wrote:6 legged lion

Two fantastic males Big boys

Awesome AWC pics and a classic meerkat family

Seriously though Sharifa, you guys are experienced in KNP also, so which gets the vote

It is very difficult to compare the two Bushcraft

I have been going to Kruger since I was a little girl and done 70 trips with the Driver. Kruger is my first love and we have seen some amazing sights in Kruger but it cannot beat KTP for cat and raptor sightings.

KTP does not have the variety of animals so you have stretches of road where you see little or nothing and it can get frustrating but you get quality sightings.

You have an excellent chance of seeing a cheetah kill. You also have a better chance of seeing caracal, honey badger and brown hyena(don't think there any in Kruger), but that is a debate for another time -O