SANParks.org Forums

Dear all,

only 2 days to go, then my feet will be in Kruger again!

I have 2 trips with a day in between. 1st trip: 19 - 24 June 07 and then 25 -29 June 07. I will change friends and cars inbetween.

Camps to stay in:
19+20:Tamboti
21: Letaba
22+23: Punda
25+26: Tamboti
27+28: Pretoriuskop


I will try to update you. Can't wait!! Hope to meet some of you in .... Kruger heaven!:mrgreen: The Bush is calling!

Hi Guys and girls,

thanks for all the wonderful wishes!

Bert, I cannot help I am in such a demand! I will be on my first trip with Riaan & Vanessa in their bakkie, and then with Carmen and Tinus in "sneeuwitjie", my Tazz.

I know the vehicles seem like a demotion, but if you only have a smaller car.... Anything will do, to take you to Kruger.

Annemarie, I will bring lots of photos back! I will be away for 3 weeks. After Kruger I will drive through Swaziland to some of the Northern Reserves in Kwazulu Natal. So do not expect the photos too soon.

Speak to you soon....

Dinky bird, will keep you updated.


Pumbaa, can you organise a Pangolin for my wishlist?

Dear all,

I am half way with my trip and had a wonderful time in Kruger! Sorry I could not update you day by day, but will do so for the next week. Here is the short version of my trip. Only highlights!

Day 1:
Entered at Kruger gate only at 12:00. SANPARKS is busy with controlled fires. 1 Wilddog in the road near Talamati. Sorry no photo. Heard Giant Eagle Owl calling in camp. Went to investigate found Mother, Father and Young one!

Day 2:

Very little game at Tamboti. 3 Fish Eagles playing and calling at Nsemanidam. Went on Night drive saw 4 different owls:Spotted Eagle Owl, Giant Eagle Owl, White faced and Pearl spotted, BBJ Cameleon, Genet, Lesser Bushbaby, Hyena Buffalo, Elephant and normal game.


Day 3:

Drove to Letaba. Saw impala up a tree, but no leopardSaw 2 Honey badgers just after Olifants. Sorry no photo. They were too fast. The smallest baby hippo I have ever seen. Klipspringer en Sharpes Grysbok.

Day 4:

1 White Rhino at Mopani, Secretary Bird, Tsessebe at Tonyengeni waterhole. A young elephant trying to mock charge us!!

Day 5:

Nyalas, Lots of birds! Elellies. Went to Tula Milla waterhole. Watch an ellie drinking for 3 hours. There were also Impala, Nyala, Warthog, Buff, Kudu.

Day 6:

Went to Pafuri.
Saw the usual and a baboon playing hide and seek with us around a fever tree. Left through Pafuri Gate.

All together we saw 130 Bird species. Cats avoided me, hopefully my luck will turn on the rest of the trip.

Sms just received from Mads!



Holding thumbs for those cats!!

And another sms!!




Oh wow!! So they got to see cats

Hi to all,

I am sorry that it took me so long to do this report, but after my Kruger trip I was in Kwazulu Natal for 10 days. This was wonderful! I concentrated on birds and saw Neergards Sunbird, Palm nut Vulture, Pel’s fishing Owl just to mention a few!

Then my mom fell and broke her hip. So I had family matters to attend to. My mom is much better now, and so things are busy normalizing!

Here is some information about my first trip:

I don’t know why I had no luck with cats on this first trip….. But then, we had luck with a lot of other animals and interesting animal behaviour. Heaven must definately be in Kruger...

Day 1:

We entered at Kruger Gate. Just after the gate we encountered this buffalo without horn tips.


Spend time to have coffee and lunch at Lake Panic and then hit the road towards Tamboti.

On our way we saw general game and interesting sightings on the birding side was that I saw for the first time at Skukuza Crowned hornbill and Stierlings Wren Warbler. I have seen them before but only at Punda.

These Ground hornbills greeted us just after Skukuza.


Look at the colours on the back.


After we turned of the main road on to, SANPARKS were busy with controlled burns. Thus we saw very little game on this road. Jones’s Dam had no game, not even the usual waterbuck. We saw 2 ellies (our first for this trip) and lots of forktailled drongos and hornbills to eat the insects fleeing the fire. We saw dwarf Mongoose and a photogenic Crested Francolin.


The whole area around Talamati was also black (veld fires). Just after Talamati we saw a single wild dog running down the road and it was too late for a photograph. We booked in at Orpen went to Talamati and had a nice braai. We heard the funniest sound (it sounded like a naughty child screaming at the top of his voice) in camp and decided to investigate it. We found mother and father and child Giant Eagle Owl with our handheld spotlight. Obviously it was Eagle Owl Child that made that sound!

Untill later for day 2......

Greetings from a cold Pretoria, (wish I was in Kruger!)

Sorry!! I only saw now that I left the road no’s out! From Skukuza we took the H1-2on to the S84 and then the S36.

MM: I saw another buf with no tips on it horns near Satara on the second trip. I can only guess that he once was the macho guy!

Jonty 1 we had a lovely trip if I had to go according to my owl sightings! Watch this space!

Thanks for all the good wishes to my mom, she had a hip replacement and is out of the hospital now. Slowly but surely going better.

Day 3:

The whole area around Tamboti has been burnt recently ( in the last 3 days). Even general game was very scarce in the area.

We took the H7 on to the S100, S41 to Nwanetsi and the H6 back onto the H7. Birdlife was in abundance!

The brown snake eagle posed for us,


Then it was the turn of a yellow throated longclaw ( this is the first time I saw the longclaw so clearly!)


And photogenic roller ( so synonym with KNP)


On the S100 we fould these Dwarf Mongoose


And then a drinking place in the Nwanetsi river. There were all sorts and sizes of game.


At Nsemani dam we watched 3 Fish Eagles playing and calling for about an hour. (Sorry no photos). It was amazing to watch how they hook their talons and do some cartwheels.

We went early back to camp to get ready for the sunset drive.

We had a wonderful night drive though cats were scarce. (Our guide told us he has not seen big cats for 3 weeks on the drives.) Animals we saw were 4 different owls:(Spotted Eagle Owl, Giant Eagle Owl, White faced and Pearl spotted), BBJ, Chameleon, Small Spotted Genet, Lesser Bush baby, Hyena Buffalo, Elephant and normal game. Well 2 of the big five and all the small creatures were wonderful!

Till later!

Day 3 (21 June): (Hope I got it right this time)


Well, we had to move camp. Letaba was the next camp. So we took the H7, S39 (Timbavati loops), S89, (Ngotso weir) passed Balule to Olifants and then the S44 and S46 to Letaba.

Though I did not take a lot of pictures we had interesting sightings.

The first interesting sighting was on the H7. We saw Sharpe’s Grysbok! This is the most southern sighting I have ever had!

On the S39 we saw a leopard kill (very little left of the Impala) in a tree. A bateleur came to eat on the carcass, unfortunately no photos, as the kill was hidden.

General game was in abundance. The area around Balule (my favourite camp) was empty and very dry!. We did not even see birds. At the Olifants river we saw the usual, hippos, baboons, purple heron, wiretailed swallow, etc.

On the S44 we spotted this klipspringer family. Our first for the trip!


And then the smallest hippo that I have ever seen from one of the view points


This kudu bull had an itch… He still does the scratching very elegantly.


Another Sharpes Grysbok! 2 in 1 day unheard of!! They do not stand still for a photograph! Well not these ones!


Then suddenly in the road…. 2 honey badgers!! As we approached they ran into thick bush so no photo! But what a sighting!!


We watched the ellies playing at the Engelhard dam.


….. and so another day ends as we returned to camp, to book in and to have a nice braai.

Hallo every one,

Thanks for all the replies. Yes Bush Baptist, cats is not every thing! I was so lucky to have all these interesting sitings in the first trip, keep on reading to see how the second trip went.....

Day 4: (22 June 2007)

We were early out of Letaba. We took the H1-6 to Mopani. Turned off on the Nshawu road (S50) and turned again on to the tropic of Capricorn loop (S143)

We saw a Secretary still in bed (on a tree) and general game (Impi’s, zebra, waterbuck, ellies ) etc.

Oh yes, and we found another grysbok!

Thongonyeni water hole was alive! and we saw 11 Tsessebe (this is better than any cat, I have not seen for 15 years in Kruger), ostrich and a huge herd of Zebra.


There were also a lot of small Greyish birds on the ground. After half an hour of identifying this bird, we came to the conclusion that it must be grey backed sparrow larks. ( a lifer!) According to the distribution map in the bird book, it should not occur in Kruger, but these birds even reacted on the grey backed sparrow larks call. Another interesting bird (dead) - road kill, that we saw, that according to my bird book, show they do not occur in KNP is the blackrumped Button Quail. Unfortunately this was a dead bird otherwise it would be a lifer for me. We were in a hurry for a bathroom so unfortunately I did not take a photo, and on the way back it was gone!

As we drove back after breakfast we found a white rhino close to Mopani. (sorry too deep in, no photo.)

Just outside Shingwedsi we found a huge breeding herd of ellies. We stopped to look at them and all of them were at peace except this small ducktail… he came and mock charge us out of the blue!! We could hear him before we could see him! When we did not move, you could see that his ego took a knock!!

This was the last time he tried!!



SANPARKS was also busy with game capturing in the north. We saw the trucks waiting for the animals.

Just before Babalala we found another grysbok! No. 5 and still no photo. This seems all I can get!!


Just after Babalala we found this elephant sleeping next to the road against a termite mound. I have seen this in Botswana before, but it stays a interesting phenomenon! Not a lot of people see an adult ellie on its side.



We took the S58 and went up to the Dzundzini look out point to look for the elusive Sable…. But nothing!!!

On the way down we found Grysbok no. 6 and she was posing!!!! Lucky no. 6. Well, 3 for the day and 6 for the trip!! Unheard off!!


We turned on to the H13-1 and found this birds on a giraffe….Yellow billed oxpeckers! I have seen before but my friend Riaan has never!


And so the day ends……arriving at Punda Maria.

Hi there!

Thanks for all the comments! I really appreciate it!

Sorry that I have been so quiet, but went to Northern Cape especially Namakwaland for 2 weeks! The flowers were wonderful! We stayed in a private house on top of the Gifberg! With a waterfall infront of the house. So flowers and animals were inabundance.

I will finish this report hopefully this week and will then add my 2 night stay at Kgalagadi and 1 night stay at Augrabies. Unfortunately I could not enter Namakwa National Park. Our friends had car trouble!

Speak to you soon!