Africa Wild

August 2010 (Report done by Bushcraft)

Hi Guys;

The Browns are back,

Supernova, Melly, The Cow, kids and I are off too KNP on Friday the 20th. This time Punkaloo and her boyfriend Hubbly are coming with us and it will be Hubbly’s first KNP trip, so I intend to make it memorable for him with some stories of hyenas and leopards in the camp, which will make his walk back to their bungalow so much longer


Punkaloo better watch out that Hubbly doesn’t catch the KNP bug, because she may soon be camping in the bush.

We made many changes, but the trip ended up:

20th, 21st and 22nd GC4V Skukuza
23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th Ngwenya
27th Pretoriuskop
28th Lower Sabie

Punkaloo and Hubbly are with us for the first 3 days and then they return to JHB, but the 9 remaining Browns continue on to Ngwenya.

Ngwenya will be a new experience for all of us, kindly sponsored by Supernova and Melly. I was a little concerned about getting into the park in the mornings, so we have booked gate passes for the 4 days, but I believe that one still has to follow the queuing process, etc, so I hope that we can still get into the park at the correct times for those special sightings.

A night in Pretoriuskop will also be a first for all of us. We have never stayed there, because research indicates that it’s not the best for sightings (long grass, etc), but we have to at least give it a try. The pool looks to be the best in the park.

The packing and shopping has already started, but the Cow isn’t getting anywhere fast. Melly has kindly offered to buy our meat, which will save us potential problems at the Swazi border – Thanks Melly.

Hoping for a good trip and that the burning in the south hasn’t affected things too much.

August 19th Home to Jozini Dam

Chantal and I decided to pull the kids out of school for Friday the 20th and leave after lunch on Thursday the 19th for a halfway stop over at Nkonkoni camp at Jozini Dam.

We still worked half day, so we had the usual panic to pack the car and get to the camp before dark. Supernova, Melly, Punkaloo, Hubbly, Luckycharm and Tortoise were going to meet us at Paul Kruger gate late the next evening.

Nkonkoni is always an awesome stop over for us and gets that bush feel started, but my damn cell phone kept ringing with work issues all the way there, so that first beer went down before I even unpacked the car.

The safari tents have a toilet and boma attached, but no fences, so it’s a great experience for the first night out of the city.




The family settled in and even the Cow’s zebra/tiger dress stopped upsetting me.




We did a short 1km drive down to the dam and found warthog, ostrich and nyala. The dam triggered the fishing response in me, so it was time to go and start the braai before I made a rod out of the bush and sat there all night. (Next year the fishing rod is going to sneak into the luggage).




I started the braai with an audience watching on the left and the top right of the photo.




Suddenly a warthog arrived, looked at us and snuck around the back of the tent, then more and more started arriving. The next thing Chantal came out the tent and said “We have a warthog family living under the geyser”

Maybe it was the beers that were starting to have an effect, but I thought that it would be a good idea to sneak up on them and take a photo, but the situation ended up with me running one direction and the warthogs the other, much to the delight of the kids. Chantal decided that it would be a safer option to photograph them through the bathroom window, and now, more awake, I agreed.




Out of the blue, a giant south westerly started blowing and the tent straps starting squeaking like crazy, which turned my cheesy face into a pelican one. After 20 minutes on top of a chair and nearly landing in the dustbin, I decided to give up, but 2 minutes later I had a brain wave and decided “what do you do if something squeaks, you oil it”, so I snuck off to the food box and stole the olive oil and started to grease all the straps, which worked, although it made a massive mess, but at least the tranquility returned, that’s until we went to bed and the squeaking returned, which resulted in a sleepless night even after 6 beers and cotton wool stuffed ears.

August 20th Jozini Dam to Skukuza

After 4 hours of Swazi chaos and the technically challenged we entered Crocodile Bridge just before 11am.

It was time to get the cameras out, check the sighting board, take a deep breath and realize that we were here, because next week we will wish that we were still there, so every minute needs to be appreciated, which is something that I never did in the past and only regretted it a week after I returned home.

The first sighting, besides the usual MacDonald’s clan (impala), was giraffe, which is not unusual for the Crocodile Bridge area.





The drive up the H4-2 was quiet until we reached the top end of the Gomondwane loop, which has a small unnamed dam on it just off the H4-2, so we took a small detour to the dam and found our first elephant for the trip and 2 rhino that took off into the bush before I had time to take a photo.




Just before Lower Sabie we found the first male kudu for the trip.




Then the bird hour started and the H10 Bridge over the Sabie produced the unusual kingfisher clan, who seem to live there, because we have seen them every time we cross the bridge, but the Cow insists on photographing them each time. A Heron of some sort (may be a Goliath Heron) was also cruising the area.





We did a u-turn and headed for Sunset dam, which produced the normal crocodile clan, hippos and birds, including the old undertaker lookalike.






The drive up to the N’watimhiri Causeway was quiet, so we decided to do a small detour to another unnamed dam just 3km down the S21. 2km into the S21 we found a lone car parked on the side of the road and on a slow approach we saw what had got their attention.




The other vehicle pulled off and left us alone with the leopard for about 10 minutes. Then a white BMW came over the hill and the lone male driver pulled up next to us and friendly asked “what’s happening”. Chantal suggested that he reversed a little way up the hill as he would have a view of the leopard from over there. She was half way through the sentence and the BMW was already in reverse. 2 minutes later the kids started having a fight in the back seat, so I was halfway through turning around to grease them and something coming towards us caught my eye.

It was the BMW. The driver had spotted the leopard and was frantically photographing it, but had taken his foot off the brake and was now coming down the hill straight at us.

The only thing that I could do was push the hooter, which prompted an initial glare from the BMW, that’s until the occupant realized that he had about 1 second to act before he crashed into our car. He managed to stop about 5mm from our front bumper, suddenly turned very pale, and apologized profusely.

Fortunately the leopard was still very relaxed and only managed a quick glance at us before going back to sleep.





Half an hour later the leopard was still asleep and the kids were starting to test our patience, so we decided to continue on to Skukuza and leave the BMW alone with the leopard. The near crash experience had resulted in us and the BMW driver becoming mates and all waved goodbye.

Back on the H4-1 we found another 2 cars parked on the side of the road and the first lions made an appearance, but a long way off, so we took a few pictures and continued on to Skukuza.





Just after Nkuhlu we found zebra, giraffe, warthogs and these 2 fish eagles




2 minutes later the first Nyala of the trip showed up.




The book in at Skukuza took some time, because we were trying to book everyone in to save Supernova and clan the hassle later. I admit that it must have been confusing for the Skukuza staff, but they were more than willing to help, so after slightly longer than usual we were off to our unit 222 and Supernova had 221, which was cool for us, because we could sit around the fire later after the kids had gone to sleep without worrying about “will we hear them if there’s a problem”

Chantal did her yellow ribbon duties, but I have since found out that the ribbon is meant to be tied to the driver’s mirror




Just after 4pm we decided to drive out to Paul Kruger gate and wait for Supernova and clan, but when we arrived Melly phoned and said that they had been delayed, so we decided to head back to Skukuza and do our leopard loop. We later found out that Hubbly had been stopped for crossing an imaginary white line and was fined R700, which wasn’t a nice way to start his first Kruger trip.

The leopard loop didn’t produce a leopard today, but we did find a few buffalo next to the road which completed the big 5 for the day.




Supernova also saw nothing from Kruger gate to Skukuza and had to assure Hubbly that there were animals in Kruger.

The first braai of every KNP trip is special




Later that evening the odd hyena came past the fence and Hubbly got to see his first KNP predator. Whilst busy chatting on the phone, he happened to spot the hyena, got so excited, and shouted “jackal”. We all had a good laugh.

August 21st Skukuza

Morning Drive: H4-1/H10/S29/Mlondozi/S30 and back

I have to admit that I was surprised to see Hubbly and Punkaloo cruising around at 5:30am all wrapped up in blankets, as I expected that they would join us at about 9am.

After an early start, we had our first KNP sunrise, which is always special.




It was only 4 degrees that morning, so everyone was bundled up in their blankets and warm clothes, which was a massive change from the Durban weather, but Supernova and family didn’t seem to mind as JHB had been pretty cold and they were used to it. I insisted on driving with the car window open, that’s until my right ear began to freeze, but I stubbornly refused to close the window, so to save the ear I had to wrap a scarf around it, much to the shock of others and the delight of the kids.

Our first animal of the morning was this smiling buffalo captured by Luckycharm. I wish I knew who the dentist was.




After a quick toilet stop at Nkuhlu, we were off again. On the N’watimhiri Causeway we found this Woolly-necked Stork.




Supernova and Melly then spotted this strange hippo, which gave them a lovely yawn to say good morning. I will definitely stay away from his dentist.




Sunset Dam is always great and today was no exception. We found a Giant Kingfisher and a Yellow-billed Stork.





On the other side of the road, the Cow found this Impala hiding. If I was part of the MacDonald’s clan I would spend most of the day hiding behind a bank just like her.




The Lower Sabie sight boarding was still a bit quiet, so we all went on to the deck. Luckycharm managed to get this picture of an elephant having an early morning drink. Aat is taking a look at this elephant for us and is trying for an ID.




On the bridge we found this Swallow.




On the H10, we found a family of Giraffe, a Kori Bustard and a Rhino, the third of the Big 5 for the morning. This one was stubborn, refused to turn around for a photo and started to look like a rock to me, so we moved on.







We also found this little Steenbok hiding on the side of the road.




As the decibel level in the car was rising with calls for food, these boys decided to make an appearance. It had been a fairly quiet drive until now and Hubbly was still undecided as to whether KNP had any predators. Supernova’s car sounded like a fish market suddenly.






The 2 brothers then decided it was time for a nap, found a nice shady spot and disappeared. They just popped their heads up every now and then to survey the chaos around them.







Mlondozi Picnic spot was quiet, until our gang arrived. We were greeted by the usual view and these hippos out the water.





While Supernova and I made breakfast, Hubbly was the tourist with the camera.




On the drive back to Skukuza, we decided to check on the cheetah, but there were so many cars, we turned around and went on our way.

The S30 was very quiet and the morning doldrums returned.

Once back on the H4-1, we found our first big KNP traffic jam. Immediately all the cries in our car were ‘lion’. After patiently waiting our turn, we saw these 4 lying under a tree.




After about 10 minutes, 1 lioness got up and started walking our direction. Her 1 eye looked a little pale and we assumed that she must have been blind in that eye.




The males were the next to follow and came out the bush right next to our cars, which caused the car windows to go up/down/up.




The stomachs and legs of both males were covered in blood, so they must have just been on a kill and it almost looked as if they had been lying on the kill. The adrenalin was charging in our car and I can only imagine how hectic Supernova’s car must have been, especially since it was Hubbly’s first KNP lion and 1 large male was right next to his window.




They then walked along the road in front of us, intently watching the impala and warthog. At one stage there was even a giraffe walking towards them.




We all sat with baited breathe wandering it they would charge, when all of a sudden, the big male took off after a warthog. I started shrieking at Chantal to film and looked in my rear view mirror to see if Supernova and clan were watching; but the waving arms and lip reading told me that they were watching and fairly keen to chase the action. Luckily for the warthog, it got away, not that the male lion stood much chance anyway.





The lions then decided they’d had enough of all the gawking and being bumped by an idiot in a reversing car, so they took off into the bush again. We followed them, just catching glimpses of them in the bush. A quick check on the Garmin showed an inlet down the road, so we left the crowd and moved off to the secluded inlet.

I find that on the Skukuza/Lower Sabie road all one has to do is stop and look intently into the bush and in 5 minutes you will have an audience. After 2 minutes the crowds started coming down the dead end inlet and most had no idea why they were even there, just following the crowd.

The cars started stopping next to us “What happening, what are you looking at, where is it”. I took great joy in saying “Nothing right now, we are waiting for lions to walk past”. The shocked expressions and looks of “These are crazy folks” made me bite my lip to stop from laughing, but a few minutes later the lions arrived. Timing really is a major part of any sighting.
This was the best we could see.




Once they had moved on again, we found another inlet, they didn’t come past, but did frighten a buffalo enjoying a rest in the river bed though.

What a first morning drive for Hubbly

Afternoon Drive: H4-1 to S21 and back

We left for our afternoon drive at 3pm and found some warthog, nyala, kudu, buffalo and a herd of ellies going for a drink.




We decided to try our little unnamed dam a few km down the S21, but halfway to the dam we spotted our BMW mate on the side of the road and he was frantically waving his hands at us. I jumped on the walkie talkie to Supernova “Leopard, leopard in the tree”. The reason for the excitement was not just the leopard, but also that fact that a herd of impala were approaching the tree.





While we were sitting watching him, the impala decided to graze under his tree. He watched them so intently and they didn’t even have a clue that he was there. In the below sequence you can see how he stalked them from the safety of the tree.





My teeth were chattering with excitement, but the lazy leopard decided it wasn’t worth the risk and lay down to have a snooze.




In the photo below one can see the leopard in the tree and the impala grazing totally oblivious to the fact that they were so close to potential death.




We spent more than 30 minutes with the leopard and eventually the Garmin was shouting for us to return, so we waited until the last minute and left for camp.

The drive back to camp was a quite one, with just the usual suspects along the way, but it had been another awesome big 5 day.

August 22nd Skukuza

Morning Drive: H1-1, S114, S21 to the H4-1 back to Skukuza

We decided on a different route this morning. What a disaster, burning had taken place and we only found a scattering of impala. We were going to do the S112 and go past Transport Dam, but decided against it and rather took the S21. This was also burnt and we only saw a giraffe an hour and a half into the drive.




There wasn’t much at the dam, so we thought we’d try our luck at our leopard tree again. When we got there, there was a tour operator and one other car. The tour guide told us that we had just missed a pack of wild dogs by 2 minutes. They were hunting and found a hyena and then proceeded to chase him all over the place.

We stayed around for a while, but all we saw were their footprints on the dirt road. That’s KNP for you. My lip was hanging on the steering wheel by now, so we moved on.

Just before we reached the tar, we found this rhino and Chantal’s favourite bird, which if not photographed, results in picture, but no sound in the car for at least half an hour.





We also saw this crocodile sunning itself just before Skukuza.




In desperation we decided to do our leopard loop again, but today this 2km of dirt had turned into a lion loop.




It was a strange combination of the older sick looking male, a young male and 1 female.







The rumour along the dirt road was that they may be TB lions, but only the older male looked sick to me.

The crowd started to grow and this little road wasn’t made for so many cars, so tensions were increasing rapidly, but eventually we got into position for a few photos. Suddenly the walkie talkie rang out, it was Supernova, who was 2 cars behind us; “the lady behind you is opening her door”. When I checked in my rear view mirror the “husband” was waving his hands at me, so I assumed that they wanted to get out of the traffic jam, therefore I decided to move out of our prime spot and give them a gap to get out.

The next thing they moved into our spot and started taking photos. This caused me to completely blow a head gasket and share some choice works with them, which caused them to come on past us and the “conversion” continued on.

This had ruined the sighting, so we decided to head back to Skukuza. It took me about an hour to return to normal colour.

We had some visitors in front of our units over lunch, which was pretty cool.

Afternoon Drive: H4-1 to Nkuhlu and back

We left camp at 3pm again and decided to do our leopard loop. All we found was this male lion having a sleep. He was the same sick guy from the morning, but his companions had moved on.




Kruger isn’t Kruger without some elephant up close. Even though The Cow is terrified of them, Melly and Hubbly were desperate for some up close and personnel. Just after the H12 Bridge, a herd decided they needed to cross the road. The gent in the car in front of us was just as terrified as The Cow and he kept reversing, which kept us reversing, so I eventually had to go round him and he reversed a 100m further down the road.

The last elephant was one with 5 legs and he was in a bad mood, which caused Supernova’s car to also reverse a little. He proceeded across the road and started chasing the rest of the herd up and down through the bush. I will spare everyone a picture of the fifth leg, but it did cause some hand signals from Hubbly after it was all over, which looked similar to the way us fishermen indicate the size of a fish. I’m glad that we men don’t get to see the same visual displays from female elephants.




Just before Nkuhlu, we found these baboons. The mother was pulling the same faces that I do after a long day with the kids.




This little guy was so cool; I think the wife and kids all fell in love with him.





We still had some time, so continued on a little. Even though the N’watimhiri waterhole was almost completely dry, we found these kudu drinking/grazing. They were there every day.




Time was running out, so we did a quick u-turn and headed back towards Skukuza.

Just past Nkuhlu this chap came walking down the road.




A few minutes later Supernova suddenly braked and started reversing, so I jumped on the walkie talkie and asked “what’s up”, Melly answered and said “Hubbly has seen something that looked like a hairy sheep”.

The sheep turned into a hyena




About a minute later 2 more arrived, but it was getting dark, so taking photos was proving to be a problem. We watched them interact for a few minutes and then moved on to Skukuza.

Just after 6pm a few visitors arrived at the fence. Supernova managed to get a few pictures of this little guy




Tonight was Hubbly and Punkaloo’s last night with us and our last night at Skukuza, so we all agreed to use extra points on our wild cards and head up to the Selati restaurant for supper. This was meant to be a last night treat, but once again I’m not sure if it was one.

Everything went wrong, from no fillet in stock, raw meat (I like my steak almost raw, but Melly’s was still mooing), some kids getting food and finishing eating before others even got their food, etc, etc.

All the kids, except 1, had received their food, finished eating and were starting to fall asleep on the table, before the rest of the food arrived. The one bonus is that we had more time to drink beer and maybe that’s why my steak tasted great to me.

The final shock was that Selati doesn’t take wild cards!!!!

When we got back to the units Supernova and the Cow took the kids to bed (Supernova never returned), while the rest of us continued with the “war stories” outside.

Suddenly I got excited about a movement in the tree and after a few beers, I even surprised myself. It was a Bushbaby, but I spent more time photographing the tree or branch where he was a second before and ended up with only 1 photo.




I was frustrated at only getting 1 picture, so when everyone went to bed I took a blanket out of the cupboard, switched all the lights off and waited in ambush outside.

After 11pm the Cow wondered where I was and came outside to find me. I’m sure that she wasn’t surprised to find me curled up and sleeping, as I have done it many times before, but I crapped myself when she woke me up, but probably not as badly as the time that I fell asleep down by the fence at Biyamiti. The situation ended with me getting scolded all the way to the bedroom.

August 23rd Skukuza

Morning Drive: H1-2, H12 and the H4-1 back to Skukuza

This morning’s drive had to be a short one, because we had to get back to Skukuza, pack up, head to Ngwenya, and Punkaloo and Hubbly had to face a long drive home.

On the bridge, at the start of the H1-2 coming from Skukuza, we found 2 Pied Kingfisher .




A few km further we saw 2 or 3 cars stopped on the side of the road and very quickly saw what had caught their attention. Lying right next to the road were 4 females, 2 adolescents and 2 large males.




The smaller of the 2 males didn’t seem to enjoy all the attention; was putting on a massive show and did manage to cause a little nervous tension in our car.




He then decided to give one of the cubs/teenagers a scolding.



The cub took off to the safety of mom.



The king of the pride, who was much larger than his stroppy brother, didn’t seem at all interested in what was happening around him and one almost felt that if you reached out and gave him a scratch that he would roll over and start purring.





After about half an hour with them, 1 female got up and moved off into the bush. Slowly 1 by 1 they all followed.

Down the road we found another Bateleur posing for a picture.




Just before the H12 turn off a large herd of buffalo began to cross the road. I always feel that these guys are just vicious cows and having spent many holidays on a farm in Richmond, I battle to get overly excited at their presence, but when in a large herd like this, the adrenalin does start to flow.




These guys got separated and looked just like pedestrians trying to cross the road.




On the H12, we found this Southern Ground Hornbill.




We also found this little guy on the H4-1 back to Skukuza. He must have got separated from his mother.




Not much further down the road, the usual traffic jam was in progress. It was one lone lioness trying to get some sun. We sat there for a few minutes, but she was totally relaxed and didn’t move, so we moved on.



We found this lone giraffe crossing the road. From side view, we noticed something wrong with its leg, but didn’t realize just how bad it was until looking at the pictures later.





Saying goodbye to Skukuza always leaves a lump in ones throat and today was no exception. We just had enough time to pack up, fill up and check the sighting board and we were on our way for some breakfast/lunch at Nkuhlu.

The drive to Nkuhlu was very quiet. All we found were these impala having a scrap.




Nkuhlu was packed, but we finally managed to find a spot as well as a skottel. Needless to say, Supernova and I were very cautious when switching it on. Supernova’s hair is just growing back from the June incident.

This is Punkaloo and Hubbly having breakfast with the girls. Love the “glasses/goggles” Punkaloo.




As usual, the girls love the freedom and were all over the place, but we finally managed to get them all together for a photo.




Thinking of the drive ahead, we didn’t stay to long and soon we were off again.
As you all know, Chantal is terrified of elephant, so when the rather loud elephant call came from the passenger seat, I almost crashed the car. When I told her we weren’t stopping, she got rather upset and said that if I didn’t want to see a tusker, to just keep going.

My curiosity got the better of me and after manoeuvring myself round back behind Supernova and Hubbly, managed to get this view. It’s not the best picture, because he was rather deep the bush. Aat is again checking it out for us as a potential tuskers.




We had quite an audience, but people soon started moving off. The next minute, a car stopped us as we were about to move off. Chantal told them about the elephant and again I started to drive off, when the next minute, she was shrieking next to me – I thought she had gone mad. The couple in the next car were actually trying to show us their yellow ribbon. We had our first yellow ribbon and she was so excited. We met H. Kristal from Italy. It was really great meeting you both and we hope you had an awesome holiday.

Just before Lower Sabie we found nyala, another large elephant and a hippo and buffalo sharing the same space.







After our Lower Sabie toilet stop we found this strange baboon warming her ears on the road. She reminded me of the old great train robbers listening for the train’s arrival.



We found plenty of the usual game on the way down to Crocodile Bridge, but our arrival marked the end of the road for Punkaloo and Hubbly and the start of something different for Supernova and I, so after the usual goodbyes we continued on to Ngwenya for the start of our out of KNP experience and decided to spend the afternoon exploring Ngwenya rather than coming back into the park.

The first shock for me was the quality of the road to Ngwenya, Supernova’s car is designed for this type of thing, but I was thankful that I didn’t have false teeth, because they would have fallen out within the first km of the road.

The view of KNP from the restaurant deck at Ngwenya is awesome.




The kids found a few new friends, but I’m sure that this was a one sided friendship, especially after mother goose shouted all night next to our bedroom window and had to dodge a few pieces of charcoal.




The dam in front of Supernova and Melly’s unit again triggered the fishing response, but we had no rods, so my pelican began to grow, especially after listening to a few of the locals stories of giant fish. After a few beers I tried a piece of my eldest’s knitting wool with a vienna sausage attached, which surprisingly produced a few bites.

We all went to bed early, because we had never queued at an entry gate before and therefore wanted an early start.

August 24th Ngwenya

We arrived at the gate at about 5:45, were about 12th in the queue and on our way into the park at about 6:20, which was not nearly as bad as I expected it would be.

Morning Drive: Crocodile Bridge Gate/H4-2 to Lower Sabie/S28 back

The first few km produced the usual resident giraffe, wildebeest, warthogs, buffalo, etc, but about 5km in we found this guy.




Someone, it may have been Supernova or Melly noticed that he had a collar on, and then at about the same time we said “Is this Duke?”, suddenly we were paying more attention to this lone bull. I was sure that it wasn’t Duke, because he looked like such a drip and having never seen him before thought “Duke must be bigger than that, but why the collar, the only collared elephant that I know about is Duke”

Supernova later the evening compared ear markings with other pictures of Duke and now we were sure that it was him. The final confirmation came from Aat a week later. He must have been very impressive when he had his tusks.




After that we found a few of the usual suspects on the way, but generally very quiet until about 3km before Lower Sabie, where we found these guys in the road.




My heartbeat took a few seconds to return to normal, because at a distance they looked like 2 leopards in the road and I shrieked the false alarm in the car.




The scallywags eventually got tired of our attention and moved of into the bush.

Just outside Lower Sabie we found the telltale traffic jam. It was a leopard kill in the tree, but no leopard. We waited hoping that the leopard would return, but after 20 minutes there was still no sign of the leopard, so we moved on.




A few hundred meters later our first Nyala for the day.




The sighting board at Lower Sabie also didn’t indicate much, so we decided to head back towards Crocodile Bridge and breakfast.

The leopard kill traffic jam was growing, but still no leopard

The start of the S28 produced our first rhino for the day




Next was a kudu hiding in the bush and a Bateleur having breakfast.





The rest of the S28 was very quiet, in fact we found more leaving Croc Bridge. These guys were on the little dirt road inlet opposite the entry/exit gate toilets.

Afternoon Drive: Tar to Malelane Gate S114, S25 to Crocodile Bridge

We thought we’d try something different this afternoon, as we’d done the H4-2 in the morning, so we drove on the tar to Malelane Gate, preceded up the H3, turned into the S114 and then the S25. There wasn’t much to see, except impala. Our first big animal of the drive was this giraffe.




We then found this saddle billed stork, sorry about the quality, but it was quite far away and it was starting to get dark.




The only other exciting thing on this drive was some vultures in a tree.




We did however pass our second yellow ribbon, which caused more excitement than anything else on the road, but once again only spotted the ribbon late and we had already passed each other, so decided to continue, rather than chasing the ribbon down.

The other thing that we hadn’t taken into account was that fact that there are no stops, or toilets along this long 50km stretch of dirt. We always have to plan our drives around pit stops, because my kids will insist that they have been to the loo, but generally lie. Supernova and Melly’s kids have built in petrol tanks and can drive almost the whole day without stopping, but halfway through this drive the alarm bells were going off in the back of my car and I have to admit that even my eyes were watering by the time we reached Croc Bridge.

It was a very long drive to see hardly any animals and I think we were all a little despondent when we got back to Ngwenya. The weather had also taken a turn for the worse and it was now very cold and looked as if was about to rain.