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We won't be entering Kruger before 15/08 but we are leaving tomorrow for our trip to SA.
See you in 3 weeks for a complete trip report

Here is a quick summary of our "before Kruger" stay in SA :

5th of August : bags packed, cat dropped at parent's in law, ready to go.
Our plane from Paris was late so we had to rush in London to catch our plane to Jo'burg. Stress, hurry but we made it.

6th of August : Arrival on time in Jo'burg but no luggage : they were still in London . Had to rush to catch our plane to Durban. Stress, hurry again but made it.
Arrival in Durban, got the rental car (not the one we had asked for).
This was a bit of a difficult start...

Arrived in our hotel to find the SA Rugby team staying there too !

Holidays could start !

7th of August : received part of our suitcases.
8th of August : last suitcase received !
13th of August : problem with the car's gear box
14th of August : got a new car (still not the one we had asked for)
15th of August : finally got the correct car just before entering Kruger.

From 6th to 15th of August, we went up from Durban to Nelspruit. Had a great time but I won't give more details as this is not SANParks related.

(Could the birders help me identify a beautiful bird that we saw flying in the Blyde River's Canyon ? It was a large bird, very bright red with black wings)

15th of August : Arrived in Phalaborwa around 11, did some shopping and were ready to enter the gate at 12.

Our much expected Kruger holiday had finally arrived !

We entered Kruger at Phalaborwa around 12 on the 15th of August. It was a really hot day (temperature from the car showed up to 48°C).

We had informed our first timers friends that we should see impala quite quickly after the gate but...

Our first animals were at Sable dam :
A big herd of elephants on the left, a fish eagle in the middle, giraffes in the back and a lioness on the left ! She was quite far away but we managed to have a nice sighting with the binocs

Back on the H9, we spotted these nice elephants :


Just after the turn to S132, 4 ground hornbills were waiting for us : 3 males and one female.
We also saw a saddle-billed stork and just after the S96, finally our first impala

We checked in at Letaba around 14.45 and had just time for a quick snack at the cafeteria before our sunset drive.

Cecilia was our guide for this perfect drive :

She drove the S46 and we had plenty sightings :

A beautiful kudu,
A breeding herd with a tiny baby feeding. This was the first time I saw a baby ellie drinking, it was so cute.
Here is mom :

Hippo and croc
Impala
Duiker
Steenbok
Fish eagle
We enjoyed the sunset before going back to the tar road :


On the H1-6 towards Mopani, we saw hippos out of the water, the usual scrub hares, wildebeest and impala.

We were about 2km from camp when a guest at the back shouted STOOOOOPPPPP. The excitement coming from those seats made us think it was not an impala. Everybody was getting very excited but nobody knew what we where looking for.
The guide reversed and there he was, next to the road : Mr Leopard. He unabled us to look at him for a few minutes before moving into the bush.

After the drive, we enjoyed dinner at the restaurant before having a night full of sweet African dreams...