The Great Escape

[PJL]

Friday July 9th contd

After a coffee stop at Lower Sabie, we made our way back to Skukuza. This time we took the S79 causeway and came up behind exactly the same elephant who had blocked us on the road a few days before



He was still clearly in musth and didn’t look like pulling off the road any time soon so we ended up retreating round the tar instead.

Further up the H4-1 we found a fish eagle busy with some food, and a kudu with some impressive horns





Past Nkuhlu there was a bit of a pile-up of cars with a leopard in a tree. This was just a youngster - the mom had apparently dropped out the tree earlier and been chased off by hyenas, so naturally there were a lot of people waiting to see if it would come back. The young leopard wasn’t very easy to see and didn’t seem to be doing anything much so we ducked the relative mayhem to head back to camp. Still… this was our 7th leopard of the trip which was quite amazing.



It was a very hot day so we somehow all braved the pool at Skukuza and in the afternoon headed down the H3 and popped in to enjoy the view at Mathekanyane.





We continued on down to Transport dam. There were some waterbuck, hippos and elephant in the area.









We hoped to travel back up via the S65 but I remembered that there’s a new no-name road to the west of Transport dam that joins onto the S65 so we managed to find it and take that route. It had some general game including a red-crested korhaan and warthog





The S65 was pretty quiet, but we enjoyed some of the regulars



There was even a photo bomber





The rest of the drive was quiet except for a hyena… and of course another amazing sunset

[Mel]

My the kids have grown Do you feel old already?

Leopard no. 7 - incredible

But some other entertaining sightings too. Like the fish eagle, the mongoose, hyena...

And another beautiful sunset

Seems like this is a very good time to be in the parks. Not fully booked and hardly or no day visitors (not allowed at this point?)

[Lisbeth]

If you want to see how time flies, look how much the kids of the others have grown

Nice of the mongoose to stop for a photo

Lovely pics of Transport Dam

[PJL]

My the kids have grown Do you feel old already?

Leopard no. 7 - incredible

But some other entertaining sightings too. Like the fish eagle, the mongoose, hyena...

And another beautiful sunset

Seems like this is a very good time to be in the parks. Not fully booked and hardly or no day visitors (not allowed at this point?)

Yep the kids are big now... and yes it does make me feel old
Day visitors were allowed, but there just weren't many. I think the lack of overseas visitors who might stay in places just outside the park was quite noticeable.

If you want to see how time flies, look how much the kids of the others have grown

Nice of the mongoose to stop for a photo

Lovely pics of Transport Dam

The mongoose didn't hang around much this trip Lis, so yes, nice of it to stop for a pic

[PJL]

Saturday July 10th

Today was moving day, but we weren’t going to be put off doing a morning drive first! Heading up the H1-2 there was another spectacular sunrise



We dropped down over the H12 bridge and continued on down the H4-1 to Nkuhlu but it was another quiet start to the day. Once we had finished a quick break at Nkuhlu we continued in the direction of Lower Sabie and almost immediately found a lioness walking down towards the road



There was only one other car to begin with so it was nice and easy to get in a good place for pics





She appeared to have some fresh puncture wounds



We judged where she would pop out onto the road and slowly made our way along behind her.



It was at this point that the sighting went from fun to frustrating. The other car at the sighting had pulled alongside us and the rather large lady with a correspondingly large voice in their passenger seat blurted out “look this guy is driving far too close to the lion so she’ll be off the road in no time”.

I was busy trying to formulate a clever reply, but they then drove further up the road right next to the lioness… and that’s where they stayed for the next 15 minutes. People were getting seriously frustrated with them as no-one could go past and get a nice view of the lioness walking towards them. Instead everyone had to sit in a queue. When we came across vehicles coming the other direction these selfish people would quickly go past and then wait until the lioness was next to them again… almost as if they viewed it as their private sighting.

We had moved onto the other side of the road to at least allow others to see the back of the lioness, so we basically sat in a slow moving traffic jam. Eeeeeventually we managed to sneak in a gap as the lioness was busy looking at something off the side of the road and get past.



She continued on her morning walk along the road for a bit longer before dropping off down towards the Sabie





We were keen to put some distance between us and the sighting hoggers, so as we drove off I was pleased to see others having a right go at them for their behaviour.

[Lisbeth]

You also saw a good number of lions, even if some only from behind

When I hear or see certain bad behaviour of some people, my thought is always: "No wonder the world has become what it is today, with that kind of goons around". Unfortunately there are far too many of the kind

[Richprins]

Nice again, Peej!

Love the Granokop pics and the photobomber!

Kids growing fast!

One can see the wet hindleg on the musth tusker.

And one gets those tourists...

[Pumbaa]

Simply brilliant sightings and shots again, PJL

Awesome lions, love the buffaloes and all the shots from my beloved S65 especially the warthogs

and those sunrises shots are breathtaking

[Mel]

That is one awesome lion sighting Brilliant photos, defo calendar stuff it is was mine

[PJL]

You also saw a good number of lions, even if some only from behind

When I hear or see certain bad behaviour of some people, my thought is always: "No wonder the world has become what it is today, with that kind of goons around". Unfortunately there are far too many of the kind

Yes Lis, lions were quite plentiful this trip

Nice again, Peej!

Love the Granokop pics and the photobomber!

Kids growing fast!

One can see the wet hindleg on the musth tusker.

And one gets those tourists...

Thanks RP, yep the kids are getting big now that's for sure

Simply brilliant sightings and shots again, PJL

Awesome lions, love the buffaloes and all the shots from my beloved S65 especially the warthogs

and those sunrises shots are breathtaking

Thank you Pumbaa. We also like the S65 but as yet it hasn't been great for sightings for some reason

That is one awesome lion sighting Brilliant photos, defo calendar stuff it is was mine

One of a number of good lion sightings this trip Mel