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On Friday morning, 25 May, my SO, our little baby boy and I will be leaving Cape Town for 17 days in paradise!!

I couldn't resist informing my fellow forumites of the above, since I've been subjected to that feeling on several occasions over the last 10 months since we returned from our previous trip to Kruger!!

Will see how much time we have, maybe send a quick trip report from time to time, or do a complete trip report upon our return only.

For now, strange as it might sound, even though I've been to Kruger literally a hundred times or more (and always for a minimum of a week or so), I feel as excited about going as I ever have!!

Will keep my fellow forumites in mind though, I know we all share this inexplicable love for Kruger .....

Hello All,

Just a brief update on our sightings thus far. If it is too long or boring, please edit it mods!

(We have learnt one thing…..having a VERY active 18-month old baby in the car severely limits photo opportunities, he loves calling the animals closer!! Books and games can only occupy him so long before mommy and daddy proves to be the best jungle gym around!)

Day 1, Friday 25 May 2007

After arriving at the small, but lovely thatch roofed Kruger Mpumalanga Airport, we made our way to Numbi Gate in order to be in the park as soon as possible.

At about 3pm I smell the typical “entrance gate aroma”, there is no smell comparable to this in all the world. After being welcomed by the friendly staff, we took the first road to the left (S3) and were greeted by Impala. Closely followed by elephant and yip, 2 lions!! The lions were a fair distance away and no picture opportunities, the kind of sighting that bert is famous for! (I have sympathy bert!!)

About 1km up the road we spotted 2 white rhino grazing with a herd of buffalo, all of these sightings in the short stretch before reaching the S7 turnoff! We only needed a leopard to complete the big 5 on the first day, but no such luck.

We retired to our bungalow in Skukuza with one seriously tired little boy. It was freezing to say the least, my heart went out to the campers!

Day 2, Saturday 26 May 2007

We awoke to a cold crisp morning to find that relatives of ours came for a surprise visit from Jo’burg, because of other commitments, they could unfortunately only stay the one day, but a LOVELY surprise nevertheless.

At gate opening time, we left Skukuza with our yellow ribbon around the driver-side mirror. We made our way to the H1-2 and took the Marula Loop. We only spotted general game, but, as always, it is lovely to watch. We enjoyed a lovely brunch back at Skukuza. Later the afternoon we took the S3 along the river and returned back along the S1 in the direction from Phabeni Gate towards Skukuza, we had a lean day in terms of predators, but the day was not over yet! As we took a corner, about 3 km before the road joins up with the Kruger Gate road, we could see shapes running on the side of the road, MarkWildDog, this one is for you: 3 healthy, beautiful wild dogs running in the road, they suddenly started running with real purpose and started chasing an impala ewe, we saw the first part of the hunt, the impala unfortunately ran into deeper bush out of sight and eventually we had to leave in order to make the gates before closing time. The light was very bad and no photo opportunities presented itself. I was thrilled about the sighting, but disappointed not to get any shots. Before reaching the gates (in time), we saw a hyena mommy with a VERY TINY pup. Satisfied and excited we made our way back to Skukuza. After finishing our dinner, we made our way back to our bungalow, it was again a VERY cold evening. Soon we were all fast asleep, happy with the days events.

Day 3, Sunday 27 May 2007

We are car number 3 waiting for the gate to open, the cold air bites every exposed limb! We make our way along the H4-1, before long we spot 2 lions, a male and a female, on the side of the road, we do not have them to ourselves at all, the early morning traffic soon clogs up the road, the lions head for the bush while we quickly make a getaway while we still can to take the famous (for some) S30 – Salitjie Road, I have seldomly seen anything “wow” on this road, and I’m not too optimistic, but we decided to try our luck once more and see if it can deliver on the cats/dogs, my view of Salitjie has not changed. (something like Wiltuinman and the S100 I imagine!) after having one of the worse breakfasts in a restaurant I have ever had , we left Lower Sabie and make our way to Skukuza on the H4-1. We see lots of ellies and buffs. The baboons entertain our little boy with their antics and a few nice kudu and bushbuck sightings make the journey a very enjoyable one.

Day 4, Monday 28 May 2007

This morning we took the S1, then S65 and return to Skukuza on the H3. We saw a white rhino, hyenas strolling down the roads as only hyenas can and loads of ellies and buffs.

We took the day easy and enjoyed the animal life in the camp, there are hordes of arrogant monkeys and beautiful birds. Late afternoon we once again took the S3 along the river and returned back along the S1 in the direction from Phabeni Gate towards Skukuza. Finally, about at the same spot where we saw the wild dogs, a leopard walks on the side of the road, the light is very bad and I’m really frustrated that I cannot get any decent pics. We watch him for about 5 minutes before he disappears deeper into the bush. We are thrilled, this makes it the Big 5 in 3 days! (even though it was white rhino we spotted)

Day 5, Tuesday 29 May 2007

This morning, we were car number 4 in line waiting for the gate to open. Again we made our way along the (now well traveled by us) loop: S3 then S1 return. We spot hyenas and only general game until we reach the S1 where a male and female lion entertained us and about 5 other cars, bert, you might want to skip the following line or two: we slowly followed them as they walked in front of us, I fortunately found myself at the front of the cars, I stopped about 10 meters from them, they turned around and walked towards our car, I was stuck, lions in front and cars behind (not a bad place to be) they made themselves comfortable about 3 meters from us and we had a full view of them. I’ll post some pics later. They were in front of the car so taking pics was tricky unless it was done through the windscreen which I have never been keen on doing. As I maneuvered out of the way for others to see this amazing site I managed a few nice shots from my open window. Had a lovely lunch in the restaurant at Skukuza.
The weather warmed up nicely and I’m writing this report in T-shirt and shorts!

Heading up to Satara tomorrow!!


Will give you an update in a few days time.

Hey guys, believe it or not but my yellow ribbon was stolen last night!! First thing I ever had stolen in Kruger.

freda, yeah, I am thrilled, the Big 5 is special not to mention Wild Dog!

Meandering Mouse, I know the feeling, had it everytime a fellow forumite went to Kruger!

Mgoddard thanks for the well wishes, I am using a wireless connection off my laptop. i manage to connect at a pretty slow speed, but can at least communicate and retrieve e-mails etc.

aboon, don't get me wrong, I love all wild animals, but lions are my favourite, I get an adrenaline rush everytime I see them! My SO loves leopards and our little boy loves cheetahs.

Ollie, it certainly was, we never really concentrated on these roads as much in previous years, but will certainly again in future.

Bush Baptist I've only seen serval on two occasions and, even though I absolutely love lions, I would gladly sacrifice a good few lion sigthings for another serval. I'm also keen on spotting cheetah, our little boy has a toy cheetah and he is in love with cheetahs. How is the weather back home?

boorgatspook, only a few more days then you'll be in Kruger yourself![/b]

Day 6, 30 May 2007

This morning we took a casual drive up to Satara, first the H1-2 and then the H1-3. The trip was pretty uneventful, plenty of general game and the highlight was a kudu carcass serving as lunch for approximately 30 vultures. The carcass was pretty close to the road but mostly obscured by grass and a steep embankment, it was at the turnoff to the southernmost Baobab Tree. The only way of ID’ing the victim was a glimpse at a magnificent set of kudu horns!

Tomorrow we’ll tackle the S100!

Day 7, 31 May 2007

We headed out this morning on the H1-4, took the S90 and then the S41 and S100 back to Satara in order to avoid the congestion first thing on the S100. Pretty quiet, as soon as we took the S90 we were greeted by 2 Black Backed Jackal. For the rest of the way we only saw general game. Later in the afternoon we took the H6 to Nwanetsi, and took the S41, then the S100 back to Satara. Folks, I’m not exaggerating, we must have seen a hundred plus ellies. Ellies everywhere! On the S100, about 3km before joining the H1-4 to Satara, we saw a lovely lion. He was in prime condition and a beautiful specimen indeed! (first thought it was one of wiltuinman’s cardboard cut-outs, but then it got up and walked a little further into the bush! )

Day 8, 1 June 2007

We were car number 8 in queue to leave camp this morning, the lions roared beautifully all night. By the sound of their roars we reckoned they must be in a southerly direction from the camp. We headed south with EVERYBODY else…. (The traffic is comparable to the N1 North on Easter weekend!!) We passed most people when they all turned into the S100, I don’t see the use of sitting in a cloud of dust behind hordes of people who race to get to the S100 first. We continued onto the S126, in previous years we had amazing sightings on this road, we thought we’ll give it another go. Our little boys dream came true when after about 5km we spotted a cheetah in the road. She was still very young and it must have been one of her first solo hunting trips. We watched her for about 10 min. before the next car came along, they were fortunately also considerate and we sat watching her walking and scouring the bush for about 20min until she eventually made her way into the bush and out of sight. I might have mentioned it before, but our little boy is completely in love with cheetahs, this morning he was besides himself when he saw the cheetah and kept calling it closer, upon our return to camp he spotted the cheetah statue just outside of reception in the parking area and immediately dragged us over to the cheetah, he patted and hugged the statue and had a long conversation with his new best friend! The other tourists had a good laugh at this little cheetah-lover. I can think of worse things to be addicted to so we’ll encourage him in this….

Anyway, let me get back to my report, apologies for being sidetracked.

We stretched legs at Muzandzeni, from there we headed north on the S36 and then east on the H7 back to Satara, we didn’t see much until we got to Nsemani dam, there were ellies, zebras, impies, waterbuck and the resident hippos.

Later this afternoon we took the H1-4 north and the S127 west towards Timbavati picnic spot, after having our customary conversation with Richard, the gentleman who takes care of the facility, we headed south on the S40 towards Nsemani dam. We came across a herd of buffalo that we guestimated must have been about 200, with many young calves. It was a beautiful sight although it meant that we couldn’t stop for anything else on our way back to camp.

Nice way to finish off the day though.

Will update again in a few days time.

Thanks for all the nice comments, the next trip report.....

Day 9, 2 June 2007

It drizzled slightly through the night and shortly before gate opening time we had a pretty nice rain shower, we then decided that since dust would not be a factor that we should take the S100 first thing and join the superhighway to Nwanetsi. We were the fourth car to turn into the wet gravel road and I had a good feeling about the road….. it was pretty uneventful though, or at least for the first 12km or so, when we took a bend and saw the vehicles who were in front of us all lined up in typical “predator-parking-style”. We joined in and were soon told that we just missed a lovely lion that crossed the road, we scanned the riverbed and opposite riverbank…..and yes, there we saw a beautiful lioness appearing from behind a thicket soon to be followed by an impressive looking male, a lovely sight indeed, pity it is still heavily overcast and they are a fair distance away.
They soon disappeared into the bush and we maneuvered our way out to continue on our journey. We took the S41 north and then the S90 back to Satara.

We also took a quick drive to Nsemani dam, I counted 55 terrapin (not sure of the exact type tough, my knowledge on reptiles are not what it should be, but I’m learning!!) lined up in the waters edge, even on a log lying in the water. Something I found quite fascinating.

Later in the afternoon we took the H6 to Nwanetsi, saw general game, but nothing to get too excited about. We returned to camp via the S41 and S100, pretty quiet all around though. We enjoyed a lovely dinner in the Satara restaurant.

I remember reading on the forum that a number of forumites commented on how few elephants they saw on recent trips, well, I can put everyone’s mind at peace, we must have seen several hundred by now!! (still missing any of the upcoming big tuskers and Duke of course)

Day 10, 3 June 2007

We headed out this morning on the H7 and took the S39 to Timbavati, glad I’m using a rental car, the road is badly corrugated!! Didn’t really see much at all, even few impies, I’m not too phased though ‘cause it is a beautiful road in terms of scenery. About 10km after Leeubron we spotted two big male lions about 10 meters from the side of the road. The one immediately got up and left even before I could get my camera and the other one gave me enough time for 2 pics only, he too left within a few seconds of us stopping, they walked in further into dense vegetation and disappeared out of sight, we were the only car to have seen these two monarchs. During the course of the day we saw plenty kudu, incidentally we have seen MANY on our trip thus far. From Timbavati we continued on the S39 towards Roodewal, the road has beautiful scenery, we also saw loads of general game. This should be a nice road to travel first thing in the morning. We made our way to Olifants H1-4 and H8 respectively; we enjoyed lunch and went to the viewing deck to spot the usual ellies. The highlight of the day though was when a White Stork flew past the viewing deck in full view, when a lady sitting with the people on the bench next to ours informed the rest of her group that the bird they just saw was a pelican, I almost cracked myself laughing……. fortunately someone else came to her rescue.

We took the S92 and then the S90 past Balule all the way to the H1-4 down back to Satara, we saw plenty of general game and really enjoyed the drive. The area around Balule is bone dry, I hate to think what it would look like in August…..

Day 11, 4 June 2007

This morning we decided to sleep in and to have breakfast in the Satara restaurant. We left about mid-morning and slowly made our way down the H1-3 towards the S125, again we saw lovely kudu and general game. after taking the S36 south, we finally arrived at my favourite picnic spot Nhlanguleni, I can easily live here…… there were zebra drinking and two giraffes were grazing and eventually also decided to have a drink. We drove south towards the S33, I must admit, maybe it is just me, but I don’t think I have ever seen anything worthwhile on the road, but took it nevertheless. At Vutomi dam we saw a single giraffe and the resident hippo. Seriously, I can count the number of animals we saw, impies included on my one hand! Next we took the H1-3 north back to Satara, about 3km before the Nwanetsi road (H6) we saw a few parked cars, the kindly told us that there was a leopard lying flat in the grass, not 5 meters from us. I switched the car off and waited, we could see nothing, finally we saw a tail moving, then, an almost sad looking leopard got up and crossed the road behind our car, not the swift and agile illusive cat we all know, it certainly didn’t look to be in prime condition, a pretty sad sight, but it is a leopard nevertheless!!

Late this afternoon we drove to Nsemani dam, we saw a big hyena strolling seemingly aimlessly as only a hyena can. An enjoyable sighting however.

Still hoping to spot a serval, another cheetah and a healthier looking leopard though……

Till later………

Day 12, 5 June 2007

We were the second car to turn north out of all 25 plus cars waiting for the gates to open. We took the S90, then the S41 and finally the S100, we saw no predators and few game in general, until we reached the halfway mark of the S100 that is……. We came a cross a pride of 10 lions, 3 kings and 7 queens to be precise. They did what lions do best during the day and only moved to carry their tired bodies to the closest shade to continue with their favourite past-time.

We saw our very first Bateleur of this trip today, we also saw several Dwarf Mongoose, unusually relaxed with the presence of cars. Late afternoon we took a leisurely drive down the H7 and turned left on the S36, after a brief stop at Muzandzeni, where my son inspected the skeletal remains of an elephant skull, we headed for the S126 for our late afternoon drive back to Satara. For the most part the road was pretty quiet, we saw a massive herd of buffalo though, we seem to see really big herds all over the place.

Day 13, 6 June 2007

This morning we headed for the S100 in hope to catch up with the pride of lions we saw yesterday, so we joined the traffic on the superhighway and traveled considerably slower than the others, they could introduce a fast lane and a slow lane on the S100!! Well, we come to Krtuger to relax and not to continue the rat race, so we were passed by several dust kicking vehicles and saw as much as they did if not more, no predators though and after taking the S41 south to Nwanetsi, we took the H6 back to Satara. After breakfast we took the H7 to Orpen, again nothing to get too excited about. I love what they died with the old bungalows at Orpen, they revamped them to the tune of even marble tops in the kitchen area, very impressive, probably not in everybody’s taste, very “lodge-style” look about them, but you cannot please everybody, I think it is a huge improvement and that they look lovely. After returning to Satara via the S106, we took the Nwanetsi road H6 there and back as our late afternoon drive. My SO saw something running about 100 meters from the road which disappeared into thick bush, she only had a brief glimpse so is also not sure of what it was……..looked like a medium sized, darker coloured cat, so could be a number of really exciting things!

The highlight of the day was that we saw a side-striped jackal, only the second one in all my years in Kruger this afternoon just before gate closing time, 5:29pm, not a hundred meters from the Satara gate!! The other one I saw was in the late 80’s, early 90’s on the S114 if I am not mistaking. On that particular morning I saw the only caracal I have seen to date, only a few kilometers from the side striped jackal sighting.

Will update again soon…….Satara greetings to all of you.

Day 14, 7 June 2007

We were the ninth car in queue waiting for the gates to open this morning. We took the S90, then the S41 and finally the S100 back to Satara, we saw no predators whatsoever, and few game in general.

Later we took the H7 and turned left on the S36, then the S126 for our late afternoon drive back to Satara. Again zip, this has been the worst day in terms of sightings we’ve had on this trip. We even struggled to see general game, hopefully Kruger will be kinder to us tomorrow!!

Day 15, 8 June 2007

This morning we decided that we’ll enjoy a late breakfast at Letaba, from Satara we’ll take the S90, past Balule en route to Olifants and finally Letaba. We were the fourth car in queue and the first to turn north out of the gate. After about 7 km we saw a leopard heading towards us in the road, as usual, my SO quickly got the DVD video camera out and I my photo camera, to elaborate on the frustration during the morning as mentioned in my previous post, as I took a picture of the leopard, and not a very nice one at that, my camera shut down and the warning came on to recharge the battery or change battery packs!! I ran out of power on my camera battery!! (With an extremely busy little 19 month old boy it is surprisingly easy to forget to charge a camera battery the previous evening, I have only just bought the camera, this was its first trip and I seriously haven’t had a chance to go buy and extra battery pack before we left CPT) For almost the first time I can remember I simply watched the leopard and imagined all the nice pics I could have taken, I nevertheless enjoyed the show, but could not take any further pictures of the leopard. To get back to the leopard, we turned the car around and followed him for about 15 minutes, walking in the road, listening, looking for game (I assume) and dodging the flashes from cars on the now congested road. He made his way into the bush and we once again turned around to continue on our planned journey. Only a few kilometers on the S90 I saw something running on the side of the road, as we approached, my SO and I simultaneously shouted “serval”!! What a sight! Off course this only adds to my frustration that I can’t take any pics. This is my first sighting where I have an opportunity for brilliant pics, on my first two sightings I hardly had time to shout serval before it disappeared into thick bush. This guy walked at the side of the road and as we approached he headed for grass, we could however see him clearly everytime there was a clearing in the grass since he was not too far away from our car, he even attempted catching something, we saw him leap in an arch as I have only ever seen on documentaries, we couldn’t see what it was he was after, probably a mouse/rat, but he missed and continued his search for food. It was a lovely sighting. By this time I couldn’t believe our luck and thought that we were truly blessed. We finally drove off after losing sight of him as he headed deeper into the bush. We drove along, still on our adrenaline rush when we saw a couple of Kori Bustards and a short distance from them a Secretary Bird patrolling its territory!! We also saw a Southern Rheedbuck standing in a clearing about 50m from us, this was also a special sighting, but to get back to the cats, about 7km from Balule we saw a car standing, as we approached an AWC walked in the open and casually walked off into dense bush, not to be seen again. What a morning it was! By this time we were way too late for a late breakfast at Letaba and enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the Olifants restaurant.

The afternoon was uneventful in comparison, I don’t think my chance are good of ever experiencing a morning like that again, but who knows? This is what makes Kruger “Kruger”!! Kruger certainly was kind to us today.

Hi there, yes, back in Cape Town, had an enjoyable flight, but MISSING KRUGER BIG TIME.

Mgoddard, so you know exactly how I felt!!

arks, I'll definitely look into that and invest in one of those, I would have paid anny sum of money for a battery/charger on Friday morning!

Katy, yes, I always start missing Kruger as soon as I exit the gate, cannot wait to go back though, fortunately Kruger is much closer and accessable to us than to you guys, by the way, I love your pictures, I think you are a very good photographer, I always enjoy your trip reports & pictures tremendously.

Day 16, 9 June 2007

We were once again the ninth car in queue waiting for the gates to open this morning. We took the S90, then the S41 and finally the S100 back to Satara, we saw a black backed jackal a few hundred meters after turning into the S90, but no other predators, we saw lots of general game and 3 Kori Bustards and a Secretary Bird. On the S41 we saw no less than 6 white rhino, first 2 and then about 50 meters on another 4.

Later we drove down to Nsemani dam, a number of Waterbuck and loads of impies enjoying a drink, a single giraffe adds to the already beautiful scene in front of us.

We took the H7 towards Orpen, turned right on the S40 and went to Ngirivane Dam on the S12, we enjoyed giraffes, zebra, impies and wildebeest drinking. On the opposite side of the road some giraffes were battling it out with their neckswinging/headbashing maneuvers. First only two and then a third joined in the action. Later we continued on the S12 and back on the H7 towards Orpen, then left on the S36, then the S126 for our late afternoon drive back to Satara, we added to our tally of elephants, buffaloes and kudu, still one of my personal favourite roads, Sweni that is. The scenery is lovely and always makes me feel as if “there could be something here”. Our baby boy enjoys the baboons (or “boons” as he calls them) who, each afternoon, make their way to the bridge and surrounding trees just before you get to the S100/H7 roads. He loves their antics, chasing each other, grooming and in general just playing around. I think he enjoys the baboons in the afternoon as much as we enjoy those rare sightings like the serval and leopard etc.

We sadly enter the gates on our last late afternoon drive of this trip. We did enjoy a lovely dinner at the restaurant though and greeted all of our friends, our boy is like a celebrity over there, everybody knows him, he talks to and greets any willing soul who bothers to greet him back or pay attention to him.

We feel sad to go to bed for our last night, but hey, this is one night closer to our next visit!! (optimism at its best)

Day 17, 10 June 2007

This morning we packed the last few things into the car after doing the majority of the packing last night, we left camp and took the H1-3, then the H1-2 and lastly the H11 to Kruger Gate, we saw more impies, ellies, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest (or “beasts” as our boy calls them) kudu, waterbuck and warthog. We also came across a clean eaten jawbone of an antelope, think it might have been a kudu, with lots of vultures around, sadly no sign of the predator(s) though. We left Kruger at about 10:30 am and made our way to Kruger Mpumalanga Intl. airport. We enjoyed a good flight back and our boy just wanted to see more “boons” as we got into the car and started driving out of Cape Town airport. “Sorry, no “beasts” or “boons” here my baby, but soon we’ll visit Kruger again, promise”.

We had a brilliant trip as usual. Kruger didn't disappoint. We had nowhere near as many lion sightings as usual, but had more leopard sightings and more "usually not seen" animals, eg. serval, side striped jackal, southern rheedbuck, AWC, we saw hundreds of ellies and buffs, kudu was also plentiful. Lower Sabie won the prize for the worst breakfast I ever had in a park restaurant. The food was disgusting to say the least, and the staff was not interested in providing any sort of service either.

In general we had a wonderful trip though and already started planning our next trip!!

During our trip we were blessed with some of the most splendid sunsets!