🙂 BEST of times with the BEST of people!
🙁 Flying ToeBiter!!
Friday, 1 September 2023
Great excitement – the Team met at the airport ready for our our 2023 trip! The Williams had flown a day earlier due to BA over selling seats and Paul and I were flying in the next day from Zambia (on a completely empty flight!! Ironically the same flight which had just dropped our team at Skukuza – the air hostess laughed when we told her most of the previous flight had been our friends and family!).
Saturday, 2 September 2023
After a quick stop at Skukuza for lunch the Team made their way to Mjejane – some were more sleepy than others! 🙂
We arrived as the sun was setting – what a welcome to the African Bush… sigh … home at last. The youngsters were in Buffalo Brooke and us oldies were in Leo Lapa where we had all our main meals. Jacques is the new host and Guide and he was there to welcome us. He had kindly packed all our groceries away for us which had been delivered earlier by Pick n Pay.
There was great excitement being all together – we unpacked and chilled while the boys braai’d.
We were treated by an evening of Mystical Magic by the Three Magicians! SUCH Fun!
Everyone was pretty exhausted and we headed to bed for a great night’s sleep.
Sunday, 3 September 2023
We were up at 05h30 and ready for our morning game drive. The sunrise was stunning.
Jacques is a very knowledgeable guide and had a good sense of humour. A few days earlier he had seen a huge rock python – we tried to find her in the rocky location where she was last observed in the morning sun, but although we could smell her (amonia – bit like bats), we could not see her. The general game however, was in abundance.
We learnt some interesting facts: Female giraffe poo is pointed at the end and a male’s is flat! Seeing is believing!!
Zebra stallions have canine teeth, which females do not posses – this enables them to bite each other’s tails off when fighting for mating rights!! Zebras will stand side by side to groom each other of parasites.
Steenbok and duikers will consume meat if they stumble across a carcass. Both species bury their dung and urine under soil to hide it from predators as their territories are so small and do not want to be seen to be present.
We had tried to find a herd of buffalo as the lions had been trailing them, but to no avail … so we enjoyed our morning coffee stop.
We had more pleasant (mostly) general game sightings.
We headed back to camp and the kids chilled by the pool. Paul and I prepped for the arrival of Jaco’s family. The rest of the team had decided to go on a game drive after they had chilled by the pool during the Buys visit.
We had a lovely braai and enjoyed catching up with Linda, Laurika and Lienka (and her lovely boyfriend) & Mathias… we later learned that Mathias had a terrible accident with a paint spray canister and had suffered painful burns… but we understand that he was in good hands and although in pain was in good spirits 🙁 Bless him. x
The rest of the team arrived back and shared their exciting sighting of lions on a giraffe kill!
The liars had also sent me a fake photo of a rock python grrrr. 🙂
We enjoyed another lovely sunset.
Which soon turned into night…
Monday, 4 September 2023
Early the next morning Sam, Caitlyn and I and Charlotte & Ben took off on a game drive while the rest of the team went to enjoy an Elephant Encounter.
Our family have previously done numerous encounters with this elephant and his sister at Kwa Madwale over the years (in fact Andy, Lib and Sally have joined us on one of these) but exactly one year ago, three rogue bull elephants crossed over from Mozambique and attacked the pair, killing the female. The seriously injured Tswale fled to a neighbouring farm where he was adopted and now spends his days wondering the land with his keeper of 19 years.
A gentle giant… he enjoyed eating all the fruit – we had been told to avoid mangoes because they made him hyper and he hates watermelon. LOL.
Paul said it was a really enjoyable and non intrusive encounter.
Meanwhile, in our car heading out of the Reserve at 05h30 the sunrise was absolutely beautiful and we spotted some sleeping rhino. What a privilege.
On the way out and under the bridge a pair of mating Boomslangs were resting in separate trees – highly exciting!!
We had a VERY long wait to enter at at Croc Bridge Gate but finally got through with the assistance of a sip of Amarula purchased in the shop! The flora was lovely.
We decided to check out the giraffe kill which the guys had spent time at yesterday as we suspected that it would be a playground for hyenas and vultures – we were not wrong – AMAZING.
It was amazing that just yesterday this was a fresh kill and that one day later it was almost stripped bare! The tension was palpable … the hyenas and vultures squabbled and when new hyenas arrived there were raucous cackles and greeting rituals – AMAZING.
We spent over an hour watching this intense debacle – it was like being in the midst of a David Attenborough documentary.
We drove onwards and came across another amazing scene: a pair of Hammerkops building their nest. Such a pleasure to observe them….we sat with them for about 30mins to observe their craft.
The strangest aspect of Hamerkop behaviour is the huge nest, sometimes more than 1.5 across, and strong enough to support a man’s weight. Its is usually built in the fork of a tree, often over water…as per this prime example. A pair starts by making a platform of sticks held together with mud, then builds walls and a domed roof. A mud-plastered entrance 13–18 cm wide in the bottom leads through a tunnel up to 60 cm long to a nesting chamber big enough for the parents and young. Nests have been recorded to take between 10 and 14 weeks to build, and one researcher estimated that they would require around 8,000 sticks or bunches of grass to complete. Nesting material may still be added by the pair after the nest has been completed and eggs have been laid. Much of the nesting material added after completion is not sticks, but an odd collection of random items including bones, hide, and human waste. Pairs of Hamerkop are compulsive nest builders, constructing three to five nests per year whether they are breeding or not. Both members of the pair build the nest, and the building of nests may have a function in creating or maintaining the pair bond between them … you have got to love nature!
This little mongoose lived in the same area and was also very busy foraging. A little Garden of Eden…so peaceful.
We headed to Lower Sabie for a well earned brunch. A herd of elephants came right up to the decking – it was lovely to watch them interacting.
We stopped off at Sunset Dam to see if there was anything interesting going on… just a peaceful spot.
During the course of our stay we were delighted to spend time with rhino.
Our last sighting as we exited he Park was this lovely herd of elephants enjoying an afternoon drink.
We got back at about the same time as the rest of the team who had enjoyed the elephant encounter and got ourselves ready for our sunset game drive at 16h30. The zebras looked beautiful in the golden hour.
We found a herd of buffalo enjoying a mud wallow in the setting sun…. I was particularly taken by this chap’s expressions!
His teeth could do with a clean!
They really were very photogenic!
It was time to head for our sundowners shared with a rhino grazing in the background… we took some lovely family photos (although Sally may disagree!) 🙂
The highlight was yet to come…
…a Serval! SO Excited!
Tuesday, 5 September 2023
Bush Walk with Irving – Just as an Example of bringing it Back to Basics….
The team broke into two groups, one on the early shift at 05h30 and the next at 10h00. There can only be 8 walkers per group for safety reasons so I opted to stay behind and enjoyed a very relaxed morning relaxing by the pool reading and watching the natural world go by … bissful. The others had a great walk and encountered rhino on foot.
Once everyone had returned from the walk we enjoyed lunch and then a few of us took a drive to Berg n Dal where we enjoyed a toasted chicken and mayonnaise and a glass of wine.
We had a lovely ellie sighting at the water hole
The ‘rare’ saddlebill stork and a klipsringer – we also had a glimpse of a cheetah but no photographic evidence,
That evening the Youngsters very kindly cooked for us while we relaxed (apart from poor Charlotte who was still trying to fit in work during play!) – what a feast! 🙂
Great family fun …UNTIL… the TOEBITER flew in and caused completed chaos! Paul caught it and saved the day … only for it to fly back with a vengeance …and Paul caught it again and threw it over the edge to the river … it was only later that we read up on this viscious insect that we understood the intense pain it can inflict if you are bitten!! YIKES!
Wednesday, 6 September 2023
Today was our full day drive to enjoy a picnic at Mlondozi Dam. We left at dawn and the sunrise was stunning.
The views at Mlondozi did not disappoint. Elephants swam across the dam which had plenty of water. Waterbuck came to drink. Hippos wallowed. It is a Garden of Eden … Paul, Andy & Andy cooked up a storm and we enjoyed a delicious brunch.
It had been a LONG Day! We were shocked by the recent flood damage which had completely obliterated some roads!
Our last dinner at Mjejane was a lovely evening and we were joined by Vannessa. We were all utterly exhausted and were probably very poor company as we all ended up heading to bed for an early night, especially as some of had opted to leave at 05h30 so that we could stop off at Blyde River Canyon before heading to Umlani!
Another memorable stay at Mjejane … we were excited for the views at Blyde River Canyon and our next stop at Timbavati Game Reserve visiting Umlani!
Go Back to: South Africa
