SA: Kruger National Park – 2018 Highlights (Oct)

An amazing week on a Mom and daughter Trip - special moments in special places!

🙂 Mom and Daughter Trip

Thursday 18 Oct 18 – Friday 19 Oct 18: 32C

This unplanned trip was extra special, as it was just our middle child and I spending time together in our favourite part of the world for 10 days. My husband and my plan has been to give all 3 our children a timeshare each at Ngwenya for their 21sts because that way they will all hopefully spend many, many years together there with friends and ultimately their families. Charlotte turned 21 in November 2017 so she had been planning the October 2018 trip for some time but unfortunately the friends that she’d hoped were coming all had University commitments and could no longer make the trip … so she invited me along instead … Hoorah – I didn’t hesitate to say yes!

We were flying from Heathrow on Thursday 18th October 2018 …and look who we bumped into… Yes – Rita! 

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Here we are waving at each other across the terminal!

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Sadly Charlotte and I were at the back of the plane and lucky Rita was up front in Business … but she did pop over to say hello!

The flight was good – we love airline food – probably because it always means we are on our way to somewhere exciting! Managed to get a little sleep and after passing through customs we headed through to board our flight to Skukuza where we picked up our hire car.

We thought playing golf would be a fun way to start the holiday. We went to pay our green fees and decided to buy 5 balls. The golf carts are all part of the fun…

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There is a lot of water on the Skukuza course!! We lost the 5 balls we had bought at the first hole …

 Luckily I saw a chap fishing balls out of the water and we bought another 10!!!

We had a family of warthogs for company plus a shy kudu and an impala hiding behind some trees plus vervet monkeys and a nyala and some wallowing hippos.

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After lots of giggling and losing a few more balls we finally completed our game and headed to Skukuza for lunch.

How wonderful to be back in the Park … we enjoyed watching this herd of elephants cooling down in the water while we enjoyed our lunch.

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After lunch we took a drive to Lake Panic to enjoy the peaceful ambiance which radiates in and around the hide. The bird life was abundant as ever…

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We started to take a slow drive back towards Crocodile Bridge Gate but had to stop for a while to observe some elephants going about their daily business – just beautiful.

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A lonely baboon was contemplating life…

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While some noisy vervets were chattering loudly.

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An elegant giraffe was grazing on acacia leaves.

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but her boyfriend looked down his nose at us…

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 See if you can spot him?! He said that there was also another female leopard on a kill in the same location but we couldn’t spot her.

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After that bit of excitement this guinea fowl kindly posed for a photo

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A stunning zebra in beautiful light

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and my favourite antelope looking suitably regal!

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As we left Crocodile Bridge, this was our last sighting of the day…

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Back at Ngwenya we were delighted that Pick ‘n Pay had delivered all our groceries and our first steaks on the braai were soon sizzling whilst we enjoyed a cool Savannah Dry and listened to the Egyptian Geese putting themselves to bed …. pure bliss…..so good to be back in our happy place…

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Saturday: 20 October 2019

We were pleased that we had enjoyed an early night as we felt quite rested when we woke at 04h30 to drive to Crocodile Bridge Gate to meet our friend and guide, Jaco Buys for our morning walk. We had our safety briefing along with a German family who were on their first ever bush walk and headed straight off at 05h00. On our way Charlotte spotted our favourite animal of all!

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Jaco was immediately on high alert – he said that this clan of hyena had a den on the other side of the road to where we were observing them … he thought their behaviour was highly unusual as they have very young cubs and he was surprised that they were out alone and not suckling them at this time of the morning. They appeared to be sniffing the ground and looked quite agitated so Jaco suspected that there were lions in the area and there may have been a recent skirmish…. exciting start to the morning!

Just a bit further on we saw this poor hippo on the side of the road – we hoped he was OK. Jaco said that it was so dry that the larger males were ousting the younger hippos and that is why he was sleeping there. After our walk he was no longer there – which was a relief.

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We arrived at Hippo Pools … still miss having a chat with Daniel here and hope that he is enjoying his retirement.

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… indeed there were many hippos wallowing in the water.

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This bad boy was patrolling right next to where we were about to disembark from the safari vehicle!

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When it was safe we climbed to the top of the rocks – that vista is just so stunning…

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We then set off to start the walk…

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Jaco immediately stopped to read the bush telegraph which directed us to very fresh tracks: Lion! … and fresh scat….

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He showed us where they had been sent marking and kicking their back legs on the grass to spread the smell of their presence…

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He continued to track and said that he thought it was the large Vurhami Pride….we started following at pace as they were just ahead of us and moving fast … we could see on the dusty surface where they had startled some buffalo and the ground showed which direction the buffalo had run…

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We continued to follow the tracks and Jaco held up his hand – the lions were right in front of us!! They were staring straight at us: 1 big male and 2 lionesses!! I used my phone camera so you cannot see them clearly in the photo that I took below – but they are there! SO exciting!

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We’d tracked them a fair way by now and Jaco said we’d had a good view of them and enjoyed the sighting and advised that we shouldn’t disturb them further. We headed instead in the direction of a huge elephant bull that we had spotted just before we saw the lions. He was very interested in us!!

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He came really close until Jaco shouted at him and then he literally ‘high tailed’ it and left us in peace! Phew! (This is my first attempt at sharing a video – hope it works!!)

We continued our walk and felt ourselves being watched – 4 dagga boys were peering at us from behind the bushes! Once they realised that we were not a threat, they continued to graze and we walked on.

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We admired this kudu who was also admiring us with his intent stare!.

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We found this interesting warthog skull

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Jaco rather suited his tusks!

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At the same site we picked up a small piece of flint which would have been utilised as a tool by the indigenous people many thousands of years ago.

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Back to our vista at the top of the rocks we saw this beautiful herd of waterbuck.

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They had all been gazing intently at a spot across the river – we followed their line of vision and realised that the anti-poaching team were there. Jaco gave the Section Ranger, who was standing across the river talking to the land owner a call and he told us that two poachers had been spotted in the area in the early hours.

What an exhilarating morning – not a bad first experience on a bush walk for the German family?!!?

Charlotte and I arranged a time to meet Jaco the next morning and we headed back to Ngwenya where we enjoyed a fantastic hour’s full body massage – pure relaxation! Then we chilled on the deck watching the wildlife go by – this elephant was completely unphased by our presence.

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This old dagga boy made his way across the water followed by egrets and hosting ox peckers.

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The weaver birds were flitting around

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Not a bad view at all…

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After relaxing and reading and snoozing we set off at 16h00 for our Sunset Drive with Jaco. It bucketed down with rain! I felt so sorry for the Belgian tourists on the safari vehicle with us – they looked utterly miserable and it was their first ever game drive. Even Charlotte and I felt a bit despondent!

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BUT of course, Kruger never fails to deliver! The rain finally ceased and we noticed this young female elephant all on her own. She almost ran over to our safari vehicle seeking out our company – Jaco said that she is far too young to be on her own and may have been abandoned by her herd … I felt so sad as he said it is unlikely that she would survive…she came right up to the vehicle and put her trunk out at a South African couple in the back – they were literally terrified, but you could see by her body language that she was completely calm and just reaching out to smell. I was so caught up in the moment that I forgot to take a photograph!

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Then things only got better!! A skittish female leopard stepped into the road ahead of us and crossed over nervously running into the night – no photo opportunity unfortunately. When it gets dark, I put away my camera and use my eyes and my memory banks to capture the moments … and wow – did we have some moments for the rest of the drive!!!

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One thing that did stand out for Charlotte and I, is that in two entire days of game viewing thus far we had not seen even one *** yet, nor even a *** midden on the roads…..that really saddened us.

We headed back to Ngwenya buzzing with excitement of our sightings and lit our braai and enjoyed a lovely smooth Pinotage with our meal.

I forgot to mention that while Charlotte is on her gap year and before she starts her Masters in Forensic Psychology later in the year, she enrolled for her FGASA Level 1 and that Jaco is her tutor and mentor.
She has diligently been studying in the UK and set aside two hours every evening after our meal in the Park to do her work. She also stayed on in SA for a further 3 weeks after I left to do her practical work with Jaco.
Here she is working away while I went to bed.

Sunday 21 October 2018

Charlotte and I were up bright and early and headed to the gate after a quick coffee – got there at 05h30 and through gate at 06h00. We decided that we’d take a leisurely drive to Lower Sabie and have breakfast there.
The anti-poaching team are ever vigilant – the K9 team were out in force. Every day we saw a couple of these vehicles parked up searching for poachers – especially as the full moon was approaching.

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At some point during the day we found our first *** – it was really apparent how skittish he was! SO beautiful.

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But back to the morning … this warthog is so ugly that he is actually handsome!

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Always enjoy a stop at Sunset Dam

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Love the happy hippos!

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Breakfast at Lower Sabie was delicious!

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After a quiet lull in the heat of the day we came across this massive bull elephant who was dominating the road!

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He had impressive tusks!

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We decided to head back in the direction of Crocodile Bridge and hit a bit of a traffic jam on the bridge. To our good fortune a gentleman in front of us said that he was moving on and we could take his position – which was a poll position! Lions on a warthog kill!

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Then they started to bicker and snarl at each other, so one got fed up and ran off with most of the kill!

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This is all she managed to retain! A little trotter!

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Then the vultures arrived

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What an amazing sighting – we were thrilled. By now there were a lot of cars. We tried to edge forward to leave the sighting and I signalled to a chap who was completely blocking the road in front of me, that he could take our place…he obviously misunderstood me and a barrage of verbal abuse followed … most unpleasant and not a great representation of South Africans who are usually polite and well mannered….

Saw 2 klipspringers on the S21 – just after I’d said that it had been a while since we have had a sighting of them! The one disappeared before I could photograph him – a bit camera shy!

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We met Jaco and his wife Laurika with their beautiful two children and his Mother in law, Linda for a coffee at Crocodile Bridge – they have done it up so nicely now.

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As Jaco is a co-owner of Saseke Safaris, he is entitled to take the safari vehicle out one day a month for personal use with his family, and they had very kindly invited us to join them for the afternoon.

Spotted this angelic little zebra foal

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Spotted this chap

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Then this Mozambique spitting cobra!

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While we were having a coffee another guide had told Jaco that they had just had a pangolin sighting – so we were heading to that spot with great excitement!
Unfortunately we could see the tracks and the pangolin had gone back into his hole – so we just had to make do with this pretty vervet and decided we’d come back again to check the next day.

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Saw these magnificent martial eagles and chick – both parents were present and bringing nesting material

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We left the gate at sunset and this was what we saw silhouetted on the horizon when we looked back …just stunning…

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0Back to Ngwenya for another delicious braai washed down with some fine red!

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Monday 22 October 2018

Today Jaco had planned a full day’s game drive with us. We met him at Crocodile Bridge at 05h00 to do the paperwork and set off on time.

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We had just gone through the gate when we saw these two beauties on the side of the road! Not a bad start to the morning!

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We headed straight to the pangolin hole, but couldn’t find him but what happened next is about as unusual as a pangolin sighting!!

I am actually going to cheat a bit and share Jaco’s Facebook post on the highlights of our full day safari with him, as he writes so eloquently – so here it is and I will intercept his prose with my photos:

“Awesome, awesome day in Kruger with Tracy and Charlotte Earwaker. We were blessed out of our socks. Had the privilege of seeing Lions on 3 separate occasions

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many White ***,

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plenty of Elephants

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Buffalo Bulls and breeding herds

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and a monster Leopard Male.

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8 Wild Dogs was a bonus and to see the Alpha male frolicking in the orange Jackalberry leaves a rare treat.

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We found and listened to Martial Eagle chicks calling their mom out of their extensive stick platform nests on two separate occasions!

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Watched a White Headed Vulture descend on its nest on the open Timbavati Gabbro plains of Jock Road towards Afsaal.

The highlight though that astonished us was the scene that unfolded at a Vervet Monkey sighting. We were enjoying the antics of a youngster that was days old. A nearby female jumped up all of a sudden and ripped an unsuspecting Barred Owlet out of a Sicklebush right next to our car. The baby’s mother abandoned her offspring and promptly stole the struggling Owlet before killing and eating it. Her baby’s cries not making an impression at all! Excuse the commentary on the video, but it was unbridled emotion on what is unique! The only possible explanation, the lingering dry season and topsy turvy weather forcing animals to adapt and do anything to survive. The experience in Kruger unbelievable at the moment with the open, sparse vegetation, the need for water with the ongoing dry spell and associated adaptive animal behaviour. Thank you to Kruger and for being at the right place at the right time.

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We finished off a great day with a Cheetah and Wild Dog presentation we did at Mjejane Bushcamp.” ( I must say Jaco’s talk was captivating – the audience were spellbound for the entire hour! I learnt so much!)

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In addition to all the aforementioned game, we e also saw these beautiful Vereux Owls:

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This hippo

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HUGE crocs!

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Tall giraffe

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A terrapin sunning himself

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Klipspringer

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Bee eaters

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Woodland kingfisher

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ID?

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Dwarf Mongoose

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We enjoyed a fantastic brunch at Afsaal – Jaco did the cooking. Highly amusing – some young adult men came over and asked me for some salt in Afrikaans – I laughed so much because it is the first time I have been called ‘Tannie’ …Jaco says he is now use to being called ‘Oom”….made me giggle.

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Delicious!!

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Even the hornbill helped himself!

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This friendly little spurfowl was at the hide to greet us

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What a privilege to spend the day with a phenomenal guide like Jaco – he is a walking encyclopaedia. He is also an incredibly courageous person – he suffers from Stage 4 colon cancer which had metastasised to his liver, so he has had to have had 48 hours of chemo every two weeks. Fortunately we were there in an in-between week, so his energy levels were better … guiding on a 3 hour bush walk and a full day safari drive is tiring for any fit person – so we really appreciated our time together hugely.

Headed back to Ngwenya and decided to have dinner at the restaurant which was excellent. Also met a dear friend who also happened to be staying at Ngwenya who I hadn’t seen for 25 years – so another very special ending to another very special day in our favourite place on earth!

Tuesday, 23 October 2018

Today was our last day at Ngwenya as we were heading North on the Wednesday. As always our morning started perfectly …this time with 3 hyena

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We also had a bumper day for *** sightings, which made us feel much better!

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Just love this iconic Africa look with the ellie

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but NOT of this person who was standing through the roof at an elephant sighting!

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0Q8A1471 by tracy@earwaker.com, on Flickr

Found 3 lions on the H3 – but they were flat cats!

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Nice big male

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This old dagga boy was using a scratch post

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Headed back to Ngwenya to enjoy some relaxation – stunning sunset shot of water buck on Crocodile River from deck.

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The sound of the Egyptian Geese always takes me back to Ngwenya – love that noisy argumentative chatter!

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So sweet how they put themselves to bed each evening!

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Followed by the usual braai and dauphinoise potatoes….divine!

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Wednesday, 24 October 2018

Woke to the most glorious sunrise.

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We were pretty much packed and ready to go and so were at the gates as they opened. We knew the family of 5 cheetahs had been spotted so decided to take a quick look on the S28 – there was already a traffic jam, even though we were one of the first cars through the gate! Soon there were so many cars, that even if we wanted to we could not move anywhere, so we just sat and enjoyed watching the 4 youngsters and their Mom, albeit it from a distance. Unfortunately, not the best photos but at least we saw them!

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We had a fair distance to cover so after an hour or so we battled to move on from the sighting through the traffic that had built up, but eventually got out and immediately to our right we saw these two hyenas having a nap.

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We left them in peace and drove on towards Lower Sabie for breakfast. On the way we spotted these two on the road next to us.

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The hippos were wallowing and enjoying the sun shine.

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Suddenly a loud noise disturbed them and they all dashed into the water: the anti-poaching helicopters were out in force.

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Peace soon returned and we watched these ellies while we enjoyed our breakfast on the LS deck.

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Feeling comfortably watered and fed we headed towards Mlondozi Dam to have a quick look at what was happening there.

This giraffe was having a rest but still looked at us curiously as we passed.

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There is always a surprise at Mlondozi, and today was no different….scanning the surrounding area with our binocs we could see a HUGE herd of elephants in the distance slowly making their way to the water.

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So wonderful to watch

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This one was enjoying the rays

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We stopped at Nkumbe View site for 15mins just absorbing that view and enjoying the vastness of Kruger

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We had a great sighting of a family of 6 Ground Hornbills.

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We have never heard a youngster make so much noise – it was non-stop!! Turn the video up loud and you will hear the familiar boom of the adult, but in the background you will hear a continuous moan which was the youngster….

We stopped off at Orpen dam – our first time ever there – so peaceful with lots of impala, kudu, waterbuck and giraffe coming to drink.

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As we left Orpen Dam a kind gentleman told us that there were lions on a giraffe kill at the Leeupan loop, so we headed off feeling excited. We were delighted to find that we were the only vehicle there! We managed to get a few photos of a lioness and a younger lion feeding on the carcass. (When we returned 4 days later there was not even a bone left to show where this giraffe had fallen!!).

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They had obviously eaten their full and soon became flat cats so we left them to sleep it off.

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The vultures were waiting patiently.

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Found another klipspringer couple.

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Quite a bit of activity at this waterhole

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We stopped for a quick bio-break at Nhlangulenipicnic site,

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and as we were on foot (safely behind the fence!) the ellies had got wind of us photographing them and had all formed a tight ball…

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Then they relaxed and carried on drinking

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But he was still keeping a close eye on us!

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White backed vulture chick in nest!

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We finally arrived at Orpen Gate – there was just enough time to cool off with a quick swim and 20 mins in the sunshine drying off before making our way to Tent 22 at Tamboti – one of our favourite restcamps!

Paul and I have previously stayed in the ‘Luxury’ units with en-suite, but this was perfect for Charlotte and I. On arrival the baboons did try it on with us, but we chased them off.

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After Charlotte had finished studying, we lit the braai and this caught the attention of he young resident hyena who came to see what we were up to from the other side of the fence!

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Love this photo of Charlotte watching the hyena and the hyena watching Charlotte with the magnificent full moon as backdrop

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Another delicious braai

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With the genet begging to no avail in the background

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That moon… we were just hoping all the rhinos were safe out there…

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We had to walk to the toilets and took our ultra-violet torch with us and spotted about 15 scorpions – everyone we met on the way stopped to join in the fun for searching for them!

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Thursday 25 October 2018: Tamboti to Shimuwini – 33C

What an eventful night – woke up to the baboons shrieking at 2am – sounded like one had been taken – maybe by a leopard – the sound was quite disturbing! Then the hyenas started calling and the honey badger returned making quite a noise outside – certainly was not restful!!

The honey badger was not content with his midnight feasts and decided on another early morning raid when we went to the bathroom!

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The naughty little fellow outside our tent!

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As we left the gates we were greeted by this handsome Nyala – we were actually on the look out for 3 male cheetah that had just been spotted by a couple that we passed

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This big elephant was just going about his day.

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These guys were digging for water

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This giraffe was causing a roadblock and we did not have the heart to ask him to move on.

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We pulled into each of the viewpoints to see what we could spot. At the 2nd one we got out and I was photographing this vervet:

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Well, he was having none of that – he bared his teeth and lurched forward to attack me! I turned and ran and he chased me – fortunately a group of 4 people were having coffee and the men chased him off for me!! I must say, it was so unexpected and such a shock! He must have though that my camera was food when I approached him to take a photo. We thanked the people and jumped back in the vehicle to resume our game drive.

Soon saw this lovely family – we counted 13 chicks!

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We continued North and as always pulled into each of the little loops and came across this carcass at the end of the loop on the road

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If there was a carcass, there had to be a predator …and as it was a kudu carcass, the predator must be a lion…. Sure enough, we spotted a solitary lioness who looked rather full and fed up!

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We continued and bumped into a couple of dagga boys

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A teeny tiny new born fluffy elephant with pink ears

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A fleeting glimpse of a large male lion who was retreating into the bush where he had a zebra kill (poor photo but took it with lightening speed reaction!)

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The vulture ever patient

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We enjoyed a quick lunch at Letaba.

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then continued on our journey past very hot and flustered herd of buffalo

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Equally hot and flustered water buck

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Some thirsty zebra and impala

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We parked up and enjoyed watching these idyllic scenes unfold in front of us

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We arrived at Shimuwini (Unit 9 highly recommended) – first time to stay here – and certainly will not be our last – it is magnificent!

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Love this sign in our room

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Our house was spacious with beautiful views on to the river. It was so peaceful. We went to have a swim and met a lovely couple from Birmingham in the UK and had a good chat. We then lay on the lawn outside our unit and watched the ellies and hippos in the sunshine – stunning.

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Then the gate manager came over to say that she had managed to arrange a sunset drive for us. The lighting was simply stunning as we commenced our drive. Amos was an excellent guide and we really enjoyed his company.

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Bush buck in the lovely light

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More klipspringers!

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this is the setting where we found them

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Big croc

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Fish eagle in flight

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And an ancient baobab tree (26m2 circumference!!!!) which is being stripped by the elephants!

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We were very lucky to see a Sharp’s Grysbok.

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Mathebele ants on a march after food! The soldier ants are at the edge of the column and the smaller worked ants in the centre. We could clearly hear the hissing/rattle from them as they moved as one! Such fascinating creatures.

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We also had an excellent civet sighting – I had put my camera away as it was dark, but I would actually have gor a decent few photographs as he did not run away and posed for us – typical!

Charlotte and I got home and prepared our braai – and then we had some very welcome visitors who were also staying in camp: Rita and Sue!

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We had a lovely chat and Rita very kindly gave us some yummy chocolate goodies from Austria. She also told us that they had witnessed the lioness take the kudu that we had seen earlier in the day – they showed us their awesome video footage!!
We were all yawning as we’d all been up at the crack of dawn, so said our goodbyes – until next time!! So great to meet in person.

Charlotte and I admired the moon and were soon fast asleep under the beautiful African Sky lit up by the now waning moon and the call of hyenas.

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Friday 26 October 2018: Shimuwini to Sirheni – 38C!

Dawn at Shimuini was spectacular.

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We were rather sad to leave…but we were first at the gates and filled with anticipation of what the day would bring.

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And of course Kruger delivered as soon as we were on the main road. We spent an hour on our own with this hyena Mom and her brand new cub.

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The den ran the breadth of the road where there is a drainage line and this little one was giving Mom the run around popping up at one side of the road and then disappearing and popping up again on the other side! Too adorable!!

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Eventually another vehicle pulled up and the cub disappeared, so we told the lady just to wait the cub would be sure to pop out again. She told us that about 1Km ahead there was another den and that they were all out on the road suckling. We love hyenas and this was a perfect start! Sure enough, we found them completely relaxed enjoying the early morning rays of sunshine – excuse the number of photos (I actually whittled them down!!). There were 7 hyena: 3 young, 2 Moms and 2 very young.

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Jaco has taught us that if you see two very young hyena cubs at a den suckling on their mother, it will be a boy and a girl. If it is only one, it is most likely to be a girl because the girls commit infanticide and if two females are born together the dominant one will kill the other. Thought that was an interesting observation.

So we spent about another hour enjoying this little clan’s company until another vehicle turned up and we left them to enjoy the sighting to themselves.

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We continued heading North as we were planning to have breakfast at Mopani and the day continued to improve! A big pack of about 20 wild dogs including pups near Tzendze!

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Again, we had them all to ourselves for about 20 mins until another vehicle arrived. A lovely couple who had spent 3 months in the park (yes, we were green with envy!) and who were heading to Uganda next. We chatted a while…and then noticed that there was a skirmish, and all of a sudden on the other side of the river bank we saw 4 hyena running and one of them was carrying a carcas!

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We wondered whether there would be a confrontation between the wild dog and the hyena, but the wild dog did not even notice them, so they moved out. The pups were becoming restless and we were hoping that they might move in on some impala which had just moved into the river bed…but the adults were still snoozing.

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We were tempted to stay another hour but by now we were really hungry as it was already 9am so we left the other couple and headed for breakfast which was very good.

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As we finished breakfast at Mopani, we bumped into them again and they said just 5mins after we left they went into hunt mode and had started chittering and then set off on a run…aaargh – patience always pays in the bush! At least we saw the video footage of it!

We stopped off for a Selfie at the Tropic of Capricorn marker.

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We were very fortunate to see this sable!

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And then a lovely hartebeest

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By now it was getting very hot and this dagga boy was in the water hole and the elephant was resting in the shade.

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We headed via Redrocks – love this road and the scenery…but today was a very quiet one in this vicinity.

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We saw evidence of drag marks from a leopard off the road and many vultures in the distance, but could not find the victim or the predator concerned as looked to be dragged deep into the bush.

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This chap was hunting

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A beautiful bateleur

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Mini Baobab Tree

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The elephant graveyard near Shingwedzi where we had lunch.

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We followed the Mphongolo road next to the river and had some lovely bird sightings, with the odd croc skulking in the background

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The ellies were enjoying a drink

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while the dagga boy waited his turn.

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We stopped to chat to the few vehicles that we saw- they had spotted lion and leopard which we missed but we felt that we had still had a great day.

Soon we arrived at Sirheni – another first for us and a true little gem – we had Unit 1 just near the hide.

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Lekker braai’d ribs for a change and an early night….

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Saturday 27 October 2018: Sirheni to Crooks Corner to Shingwedzi

On the road at 05h30 and this shy dagga boy was hiding behind a rock.

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We hadn’t gone very far at all when we saw this young lioness in the road.

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She was extremely agitated and was displaying the  flehmen response every few minutes as she moved over to one side of the road,

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And then back to other side of the road

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and on to higher ground to contact call.

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We had been with her for about 45mins when she moved off the road and spent some time sniffing around

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Then we saw what she was interested in: a dead hyena

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Looks like it has been ripped open down the back by a lion.

We wondered if there were cubs around but could not see any trace of them and the lioness was not lactating. But she was clearly distressed and contact called every minute – perhaps she had lost her pride?

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We had just heard a call in response from quite a distance when another vehicle turned up and left their diesel engine running. I started our car and drove to them and indicated to unroll their windows and told them that if they switched their engines off we might hear the reciprocal contact calls – they told me it was too hot (7am!!!) closed their windows, looked away and left their diesel running – we had spent such a long time with the lioness that we decided we would rather just leave than listen to an engine. Hope she was reunited soon – looks like there may have been a morning fight between the lion pride and the hyena clan. Not an easy life for either predator!

We continued North to Crooks Corner – this is just one of the most beautiful roads in the Kruger – simply stunning…felt like we were in heaven.

These baboons grooming each other and the cutest bare bottoms!!

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And enjoying some snacks in the dung!

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These ellies were having the time of their lives! This one is still furry!

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But when the Matriarch says it is time to go, it is time to go and they all line up and follow!

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But it is always ok to stop for a quick drink from Mommy!

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Fleeting glimpse of the spotted one.

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Before he made his way into dense bush

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I wasn’t going to mess with old tatty ears and allowed him a wide berth!

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It was hot and even the vultures needed to cool down

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The buffalo was fast asleep!

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She was curious

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As was this beautiful specimen

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Nyala lovers

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Nyala Teenagers

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Rutting impala

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Look at my lovely horns

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Please – DO NOT mention horns!

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Hungry warthogs

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Essential grooming

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Lonesome Buff

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Happy Ha De Das (Ibis)

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Baleful bee eaters

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Happy Hoopoes

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Beautiful Boababs

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Carefree crocs

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Gregarious giraffe

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Right of way!

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Belligerent buffalo

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Crooks Corner always fills me with intrigue and excitement when I think of the old days in this wilderness…

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Always a delight to picnic at Pafuri.

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These vervets were hoping for a treat.

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We watched this huge elephant while having our snack – poor thing had obviously been caught in a snare – but was certainly surviving!!

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We stopped for a delicious lunch at Punda Maria.

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We did sneak in a quick dip in the pool as there was no one there and it was SO hot! 

 As soon as people arrived we left. The water hole was a hive of activity and it was quite amusing to watch a baboon break into a poor person’s caravan while they chased them having stolen a bag of food!

We got o Shingwedzi just as Gates were closing! It had been a LONG day but it wasn’t over yet! We still had a night drive. We went to the restaurant and ordered steaks to take away so that we could eat them after our game drive and headed straight for the vehicle.

At first we were delighted because it was a small vehicle for the night drive, but then there were a few last minute additions as we were pulling out …and we were given a monster truck which we usually refuse to do game drives in (we had actually checked how many on the drive) …but Charlotte and I agreed that we might as well go ahead as it was my last night and that we would grin and bear it. It was very difficult for the guide as no one could hear him over the noise of the engine….fortunately for us we were at the front but only because Charlotte and I had agreed to split up to allow a couple to sit together on the other vehicle so they had kindly insisted we board first…so we sat in front and could hear him. As we left the gate and still on the entrance road we saw another lovely hyena den.

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Most of the remaining game drive was awful – we literally drove into a breeding herd of elephants with the loud engine and bright lights – they actually trumpeted in terror as they fled the scene in a cloud of dust when we arrived. Likewise for a small herd of buffalo – even the guide said, ‘all we can see is their dust’ as they thundered off into the darkness. I just do not know how or why they operate these ridiculous monster trucks – it is not a good experience for the client or the guide or the animals or the environment. Every guide that I have spoken to has concurred on that front. If you are a passenger at the back on your first safari you do not have a hope in hell of hearing a word. Anyway, rant over… Charlotte and I now had the absolute giggles as there were a number of other incidents with the South African clients on board the monster truck that I cannot repeat for fear that they find themselves exposed here…

 but it made the trip fun for us and we were actually rewarded at the very end with two beautiful male lions patrolling their area – so all was worthwhile! Life is what you make it!

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In spite of our reservations we’d had a really good giggle and had built a good report with the guide who despite the high level information that he tried to convey over the engine, actually gave us some useful detail often explaining the Shangaan origin of names etc. We had been rewarded with the hyena den at the start and finally that magnificent male lion coalition at the end, so all was good. Unfortunately, we were a little disgusted when several of the male guests relieved themselves right next to the SANParks vehicle the minute that they disembarked ….but hey, ho… this is Africa!

We ate our steaks in about 5 mins, once we managed to get the microwave working and soon fell fast asleep.

Sunday 28 October 2019

Up bright and early for my last day in the bush until December. We were first at the gate as we wanted to leave plenty of time to get to Skukuza for my 14h50 flight.

As with so many of our early morning starts, today yielded our favourite animal again – hyena.

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Next up a road block of elephants crossing the road

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Mommy was grazing calmly but this little one was very interested in us

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These chaps were having an early morning drink while the wildebeest kept a lookout

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The buff was grazing without a care in the world

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These chaps were all moving with purpose towards the waterhole

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0Q8A2997 by tracy@earwaker.com, on Flickr

This little jackal was also on the move

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It was another hot day and these dagga boys were having a soak to cool down.

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0Q8A3031 by tracy@earwaker.com, on Flickr

Charlotte and I got to Skukuza airport just in time for me to say good bye to her and to check in for my flight back to Jhb and then back to UK. We called each other and were both feeling a little heart sore but agreed that it had been the best trip together! The adventure was not over yet for Charlotte as she had a few more weeks to spend with Jaco and drove down to Croc Bridge to book herself into the tented accommodation there. We felt very fortunate to have spent such a lovely time in Kruger together.

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