SANParks.org Forums

Hi all,
We (Aat and Elly) were at the KNP from february 9th till 27th.

For me a special occasion since on the 24th I celebrated my 50th birthday in the KNP.

What did we see..... well we have seen a lot ! Almost all animals everybody likes to see, Big-5, Wilddogs, Cheetah, Black Rhino, Jackal, Hyena etc etc etc .......

We had to deal with very very hot weather (40 to 48 celcius) and some (3) rainy days.

Believe it or not but my present to my wife on valentines day was the Big5 in 3 hours..... We were planning to go to Orpen to buy potatoes since they were sold out in Satara. Leaving 07.15 , meeting buffalo > lion > rhino > leopard and elephant on 10.15 on the way back.....crazy but all on the road between Satara and Orpen.

Little summary: We saw 7 leopards, more than 60 lions, 3 cheetah's, 2 black rhino, 2 packs of wilddog, 7 black-backed jackal , 12 hyena's and lots of other more "regular" animals.

We saw a "meeting"between elly's and hyppo's and a "meeting" with elly's and buffalo in the water.

Almost every day we had a kind of special sighting.

Info: we started at Lower Sabie, next stop was Satara, than Crocodile Bridge, Berg and Dal and last Skukuza.

Beautiful weather (hot) and last few days a bit of rain.

I now (10-3-2007) completed 13 pages with lots of pictures on my website
www.studio-aat.com
3 pages with big cats, 1 with hyena and jackal, 1 with wilddogs, 1 with Rhino (B&W) 1 with elephant, 1 with Birds, 1 with just Wide shots,1 with Buffalo, 1 with "other animals" and 1 with mother/child pictures.

I included pics like many people will recognize like sometimes you have a sighting with animals far away and sometimes very closeby.

Take a look and let me know which picture(s) you like most ok ?

Our objective for this trip was.... Just to have a couple of nice weeks and enjoying all animals...and so we did. We were not hunting specific species but just took our time for all !
We stayed as long with the animals as possible, like a sighting with a pack of 20 lions (S41 - we were just alone with them) a sighting with a pack of 12 wilddog (S114) and with 3 cheeta's (S29). We liked very much to follow them for a while to see their behaviour.

I guess we were very lucky with all our sightings and I like to thank all these beautiful animals for showing themselves to us....since .....

All animals are moving Anywhere, Anytime and Anyplace and... yourselves are also moving so an encounter/signting is allways special and not a given thing !

(for member Wilddog..... If you like to get wilddog pics by email in any format just let me know ok?)

Hope you like the pics and the story.
w.r.
Aat and Elly
The Netherlands

Thanks!
There is more to come but checking more than 1200 pics and selecting etc... cost a lot of time.
I was really almost "talking" with one of the hyena's coming to my door... I never forget those friendly eyes like also the "coming" mother in the water... and the puppies , so nice to see that they are no monsters at all.

Aat

Thanks Gwen...
Celebrate your birthday in the Kruger with lovely animals is better than shaking hands at home (hahaha)
We had dinner at Skukuza train Restaurant with singing staff for me....

Aat

Thanks Elsa, very nice to hear this.
Coming week I post more pics on my website so if you have time take a look later...

w.r.
Aat Vuik

Your photo's are absolutely amazing. You were very lucky and very privileged indeed with the sightings you had.
It is very difficult to choose between the photographs, but the cheetah's are my favourites.
I also just love the one of the baby elephant and mother crossing the road and the baby water-buck is adorable.
The birds? - the one of the Giant Kingfisher - just perfect.
Thanx for sharing.

Thanks Naomi.
We also were very pleased with the "meeting" with the cheetah's. For us it was the first time we saw cheetah's in the KNP and I must say we were very very happy to be with them for a long time so we could look at them anf follow their behaviour.
In general, it is funny that many people like the cats but few people react on Black Rhino knowing that they are also rare and difficult to spot. I wonder if Black Rhino is regular/often seen by people. Talking so some rangers of the KNP I got stories like " I am working in the KNP for 17 years but only saw 2 times Black Rhino.
Aat

What can I say..... We were just driving slowly, suddenly saw 2 rhino's, stopped the car and we had the feeling they were surprised too.. they (the black rhino's) were near each other and looked at us for some time... I took my camera and hoped they would not disappear.... they stayed and posed you can say.....than the "mother" decided to leave and the younger one followed... They did not look aggressive at all, they did not act shy so we realized it was a special moment ...pfff .. describing such a sighting is difficult ... but we were happy, touched etc..... hope you understand... the same feeling we got when we met the cheeta's ... moved/touched and happy to see them and for a while to be in their neigbourhood ....
Cheeta's always had and have a special place in our hearts, we visited cheeta breeding "places" in south-africa and namibia but never seen them inthe real wild world and when that happens it is soooo special....
Sometimes we got the feeling they knew and stayed extra long time with us......

Aat

What you say makes it even more special I guess. I really hope you will see them next time, knowing that going for Black Rhino is almost impossible since they are not grazing or showing themselves often in the open area's. I learned that they hide quickly when there are noises around and their ears are outstanding.
Last year we saw Black Rhine in the Mopani area, pics are also on my website in the 2006 series Kruger part 3.
Aat

Thanks,
It was really very nice to be with a group of willddogs without other cars / people and just watching them doing their thing, sleeping, standing up and walk to another one socializing etc... it is different than just have a quick look. Following animals for some time is special
Aat

Thanks,
In general ...you never know how animals will act.
Yes i guess we were lucky to see so many cats, very special was to be with a group of 20 lions for a long time, looking at them how they socialize, getting together like saying to each other , " we are going for food so let's hope we get something nice".

Aat

Well, I feel honoured that 4 pics have been placed on the public sighting album of Sanparks website....

Aat