Browns in Kruger September 2024

[Bushcraft]

4th September Skukuza

We woke to a calm sunny morning so enthusiasm was high and we were out Skukuza gate just after 6am.

The plan was to head down to Lower Sabie, grab a pot pie takeaway for breakfast, and then to head slowly back up to Skukuza.

Our enthusiasm faded the further south we drove and by the time we arrived at Lower Sabie I had a major pelican because although we had seen a few of the usual locals, the only thing we had photographed were a couple of buffalo.

1.jpg (213.13 KiB) Viewed 592 times

It was now a little early for the Mugg & Bean pot pies since we had arrived earlier than expected due to the quiet drive down, so I did some sighting board stalking while the Cow & Albert scouted around the shop for gimmick earrings or something.

After 10 minutes of hovering around the board a potential interrogation suspect arrived and put a lion magnet up on the S28, so I blurted out some questions and got the detail in Afrikaans which required some decoding because the last time I was told something in Afrikaans at a sighting board, “jagluiperd”, we charged off down the road for a leopard and it was a cheetah. Once I had my facts straight, I roared off to the shop to hurry the clan up.

The facts were correct and we found the mating pair of lions and as luck would have it our timing matched their timing, so we got the action minutes after arriving.

2.jpg (160.25 KiB) Viewed 592 times

3.jpg (171.49 KiB) Viewed 592 times

4.jpg (180.17 KiB) Viewed 592 times

[Bushcraft]

5.jpg (188.25 KiB) Viewed 592 times

The Cow wanted to wait for the next mating session so that we could possibly get better pics. I expected to park off for another 20 minutes for the next session, but I’m not sure if the lioness got faulty or if the male needed Viagra, but an hour later they were still sleeping and my patience had collapsed, so we turned to head back up towards Skukuza.

As we approached the Lubyelubye area our timing luck was in again as a lioness crossed the road in front of us which caused massive “find the camera” panic since it wasn’t expected.

6.jpg (166.07 KiB) Viewed 592 times

We then found a few more lions and a sickly-looking younger teenager suddenly also appeared next to the road.

7.jpg (202.47 KiB) Viewed 592 times

8.jpg (182.1 KiB) Viewed 592 times

[Bushcraft]

9.jpg (228.17 KiB) Viewed 592 times

Within minutes another car stopped and then a further few minutes later an OSV arrived and he immediately got on his radio, so we knew that this sighting was going to turn into chaos very quickly.

The lion body language definitely indicated that they were hunting, however they were unfortunately heading inland and it was getting more difficult to see them, but then they all suddenly took off after something at pace, so there was commotion as all at the sighting tried to maneuverer their cars to maintain a view.

We decided to let the gang charge up the road in parallel to the direction that the lions had taken off and then slowly followed. The gang pulled off around 100m up the road, but one could only obtain the odd glimpse of a lion body through numerous bushes and trees.

I had a feeling that if parked on the Lubyelubye bridge looking back up diagonally inland that they may be visible, so we turned and headed back to the bridge, turned again and slowly drove forward along the bridge and found a small viewing spot where they could be seen and they had definitely killed something.

10.jpg (238.72 KiB) Viewed 592 times

The crowd continued to grow up the road and I was amazed how people just put blinkers on as numerous cars and OSV’s charged straight past us to fight for a spot in the crowd up the road to see a section of a lion’s body.

After around 20 minutes a car eventually pulled up next to us to advise that there was supposedly a lion visible up the road, but they couldn’t see it, so I asked with a grin.

“Do you want to see it?”

“YES!”

“We are going to move now, so pull into our spot and look diagonally up”

We moved, the new comers instantly spotted them as they pulled into our spot and waved profusely to say thanks, so we slowly continued into the Lubyelubye loop to check out some ellies in the riverbed.

11.jpg (179.34 KiB) Viewed 592 times

As we exited the loop, we saw that a gang was now developing on the bridge as the newcomers hadn’t been very subtle about the fact that they had a view and cameras and body parts were hanging out their windows which is the 1st mistake in this crowded section of the park if you want a peaceful sighting.

We slowly made our way through the remains of the gang up the road who were still fighting for a view of a lion’s body and continued slowly while chatting about how crazy people can get over the potential sighting of a lion, but the Cow and I definitely weren’t paying attention yet to the bush as we were only around 300m up from the lions.

Suddenly Albert let rip

“LEOPARD!”

Then followed up some frantic hand signals and more commentary

“It’s right in the open in that tree next to the road! REVERSE!”

I initially thought that Albert had possibly seen something else since this was the busy H4-1, so how could nobody have seen the leopard, especially since one could park under the overhanging branches of a portion of the tree while still on the road, but I slowly reversed under the overhanging branches and in seconds realised that Albert was totally correct.

12.jpg (172.19 KiB) Viewed 592 times

[Bushcraft]

13.jpg (186.7 KiB) Viewed 592 times

The leopard was instantly giving off signs that she didn’t like the fact that Albert had found her and she looked ready to move, so I issued frantic instructions.

“Keep still, quiet! She’s going to bolt off”

The leopard slowly started to relax, so I was stoked, but about 60 seconds later I spotted an OSV full of guests approaching with speed from up the road and I knew if they stopped this leopard was gone, so I quickly dropped my camera while watching the OSV driver out the corner of my eye. He slowed slightly while looking at us and then accelerated forward again, obviously towards the lion crowd that was still visible up the road and none of his guests picked up on the leopard either which was a minor miracle.

14.jpg (172.44 KiB) Viewed 592 times

15.jpg (164.01 KiB) Viewed 592 times

We spent another 5 minutes quietly parked off with the leopard in peace and 3 other cars drove straight past us during this time without even slowing down as the “lion crowd” up the road seemed to be taking all the attention, but then another OSV appeared in the distance.

“S%^t, here comes another green vulture!”

My con didn’t work a 2nd time and the OSV driver, not his guests, spotted the leopard and he unfortunately pulled up next to us with his noisy excited passengers.

The leopard instantly got edgy, changed position and then jumped out of the tree and disappeared down the bank and out of sight.

16.jpg (168.24 KiB) Viewed 592 times

[Bushcraft]

17.jpg (185.71 KiB) Viewed 592 times

18.jpg (177.05 KiB) Viewed 592 times

Seconds later there was more commotion from the OSV guests as a hippo was charging down the road towards us, but the hippo seemed more nervous than the guests and quickly changed direction towards the river.

19.jpg (104.99 KiB) Viewed 592 times

Plenty OSV drivers control their guests and they are also helpful and respectful at sightings, but many, especially those operating on the crowded H4-1, seem to operate off a tick list. They will cut off other guests, push in, etc, just to achieve the “tick list”, and then they will rush off to the next sighting that has been radioed in, even if there’s still something to see at the current sighting.

It was now around 10:30am and we were hungry, so we decided to rather stop at Nkuhlu picnic site for some buffalo pies, which weren’t brilliant, but they filled the gap.

There were no more fireworks for the rest of the drive back to Skukuza and we only got back into camp after midday, so it had been a long morning, therefore we decided to relax under our Lapa thing for most of the afternoon. The odd tame bushbuck was hanging around as well as plenty birds for the Cow to chase with the camera. Later that afternoon we cruised to the ice cream container takeaway spot and then returned to our Lapa to watch nervous train guests as Sanparks were doing controlled burns on the H1-2 near camp.

20.jpg (116 KiB) Viewed 592 times

[Bushcraft]

21.jpg (90.14 KiB) Viewed 592 times

22.jpg (154.28 KiB) Viewed 592 times

At around 5pm it became clear that Sanparks had moved the controlled burn even closer to camp, so we decided to take a short drive to check out what was happening. They had started to burn at the H11/H4-1 intersection and the fire was moving towards the Skukuza camping section and later that evening there were complaints popping up on the Sanparks Facebook page as the campers were getting gassed out by the smoke all evening. At this time of the year, I suppose Sanparks are “between a rock and a hard place”, but they probably should have checked the wind direction before burning that close to camp.

Our short stint around Alpha loop didn’t produce the leopard local we hoped for and we had to settle with impala, bushbuck and a hyena before returning to camp for a braai.

23.jpg (123.74 KiB) Viewed 592 times

24.jpg (230 KiB) Viewed 592 times

[Bushcraft]

25.jpg (166.1 KiB) Viewed 592 times

26.jpg (125.79 KiB) Viewed 592 times

To be continued

[Lisbeth]

I was just about to write "more a lion trip than the usual leopard one", when Albert shouted "Leopard" and it was a beautiful leopard at that and great pics

It's a puzzle for me that the OSV jockeys don't tell their guests to be calm and quiet, as the experience would be much better for everybody

Luckily the Cow is a bird lover It is a strange model the one half weaver and half something greenish Probably a weaver anyway

[Richprins]

Joh, Bushy, lots of sightings!

That raptor may be a pale Wahlbergs, difficult to judge the size but it seems smaller?

Love the waterbuck on the beach!

Viagra!

And all sorts of antics on Eloff street!

Lovely leopard, I must say.

Is your unit the one whose roof collapsed a few weeks ago?

Nice ice-cream goodies, and weather looks perfect!

[Pumbaa]

What a stunning leopard sighting, Bushcraft,

a pity that the OSV arrived

Also lots of lions you spotted during that trip - Love the sunbirds, the hippo on the road and the usual suspects