SANParks.org Forums

So thrilled that we are off to our beloved Kruger National Park for the second time this year. We had 2 magic weeks in January and now have another 2 weeks together with Ranger Boy (only for the first 8 days) and Elsa and Klystron. Our trip starts in Ngwenya for a week whereafter we repair to Thornybush for 2 days of luxury before going back to first Shimuweni and then Talamati for one night each respectively and finish up with 4 more nights at Ngwenya - Heaven on Earth! We will sms our sightings through to Foxy to post on this forum! We have vast wish lists and much anticipation of special sightings. One of our top priorities is to photograph the brown hyaena that is being seen fairly regularly on Thornybush. Departure time is 6 a.m. tomorrow (Friday) and although we are somewhat like chickens with our heads cut off today with last minute catering and shopping by this time tomorrow we should be somewhere in Swaziland. By tomorrow evening with drinks in hand Durban will be long forgotten!

Thanks to all for the wishes,
packing all but done, just the job of sleeping tonight to still be conquered with the all the excitement and expectations that a trip to our beloved Kruger brings.
I will be thinking of you all and feel your presence.
Looking forward to a meet with Prings, Perks, Jose, Freda, Skillie and Richardt and possibly Richard Harris.
Take care and I will "see" you all in 2 weeks, with some hopefully wonderful tales and pics to share.

I received this SMS from Elsa

"Hi, we are currently sitting in one hell of a queue outside croc bridge gate, waiting to get in. Long weekend and school holidays make for chaos here. Went in yesterday and believe it or not but got to see Duke, much closer than when I saw him in June. Very hot, temp 40.7 maximun"

Duke Some people have all the luck.

News from these happy travellers received on Sunday very early but send on Saturday is:

[/quote]

News received from Penny & Elsa at 17h45 this evening



Look forward to the next report.

News just received from our happy and lucky travellers

Spoke to Elsa and Penny midmorning - they having a wonderful time with amazing sightings. Had met up with Richprins somewhere up north who had forgotten his YR so they cut off some of their ribbon for him. Also met a couple of other forumites. KNP is becoming quieter now that school holidays are nearly over.

Latest news received late last night from Elsa and Pen

Lastest news from Pen and Elsa : Message received early this morning but obviously sent last night

.

There is a huge Python at Biyamiti hibernating and he is in the tree hole in the tree by the hide..we used to check up on him every day! A true character of the camp. Apparently when he is active he comes into the camp through a hole in the fence and then catch prey in the camp and then he is too fat to get out again so the staff have to open up the fence a bit at his hole so he can get out

Hi all,
just arrived back home, always feel a bit "spaced" out for a few days after 2 weeks of bliss of in the bush.
We certainly had a wonderful trip with diverse weather and some most unusual sightings.
Thanks to Foxy for posting our sightings and just to confirm that it was Richard Harris that we met at Tshokwane and not Richprins.
Also Prings and SO at Nkhulu.
Will try and get some sort of report and pics done during the coming week.

Right here goes.
Sorry for the delay but things have been somewhat busy this last week.

Sat. 22nd Sept. Day 1.

Arrived early at Croc Bridge, BUT it seems not early enough as a long queue of cars waiting outside the gate greeted us.
I guess this is what a long weekend coupled with school holidays in Kruger is all about.
As the gates opened the cars started moving in en masse and so did a fair amount of chaos, people all out their cars running up the road trying to get into the long line which stretched way out of the office and into the car park.
After about 1 and a half hours we finally made it through the paper work and were able to enter the park and the start of our trip.

First thing that struck me was how dry and parched everything looked with very little availble grazing left for the animals.
No water at all in the Gezantfombi Dam or river under the bridge.

We decided to try the S28 to maybe avoid some of the heavier traffic and within a couple of kilometers, to our complete delight came across Duke and 2 askaris.










What a privelege to spend some time with the old man and he seems to be as relaxed and at ease as ever.

We carried on up to Nkhulu picnic site and our arranged meeting with prings and SO. where a good time was spent making new friends, swapping stories and generally having a good ol natter. before waving them goodbye as they were sadly leaving the park in a few hours.

After receiving a tip off of a good Lions sighting on the S65 we set off in that direction, but no luck.
We did see an Ellie having a little doze against the N'waswishaka resevoir, and it was getting hotter and hotter by the minute.
At Afsaal the temp was 40.7C on the verander and even the resident Skops Owl looked like he was also feeling the heat, with his little beak slightly ajar.
We then decided our best option was to head for our lodge and the swimming pool, so out we went.

Seen: Ellies, W Rhino, Warthogs, Giraffe, Steenboks Water Buck, Kudu, Zebra.
Twany Eagles, LBR,s Hornbills, Bataleurs, and many many more of the usual.

Sunday, 23rd Sept. Day 2.

As we were quite a big group of 7 we only managed to get going a little later today, but were also thinking the initial crowd at the gate would have eased, WRONG option, this time the cars must have stretched back for more than 2 kilometers.
They did seem to be managing the crowd in a more orderly fashion this time and were only letting enough cars through the outside gate once there was enough parking space outside the office. This time it took us 2 and half hours to gain access.
H4-2
A vulture gathering.



There were a small group of Lionesses lying around the Gemondwane Water Hole, unfortunately not close enough for a clear pic.

Onwards to Lower Sabie via the S82
Never in my life have I seen the parking so full, cars were parked on every available piece of ground right up to the gate.
A quick pit stop only as the restaurant and deck area was filled to overflowing and I would not have liked to try and get anything to eat there that day.

On the bridge it was time for a grooming session.



From there we decided to have our brunch at Mhlondozi Picnic site with the same overcrowding problems.
It was pretty difficult to get a table and enough chairs never mind find a place to put the skottle.
Still, one good thing is that it gave us more time to peruse the view.
Plenty of Hippos lolled in the water and on the banks, water buck, impala, warthogs etc plus at one stage we could see Lions under a tree in the distance, Ellies, Buffalo and W Rhino, amazingly enough 4 of the big 5 in one area.

The temp was rising steeply at this stage and must have been pretty close to the same as the previous day.

Nothing too spectacular on the way out except being in the park which is always great.

Monday morning saw us contentedly watching game come down to drink and browse in the Crocodile River.




For our afternoon drive we took the S25, S108, H5, and back on the H4-2.

All the usual animals and birds plus this lovely big herd of the commonest ones but still so lovely to watch.

Thanks all for the replies.
must say seeing Duke on our first day and first hour in the park was really something none of us would have predicted in our wildest dreams.

Tuesday 25th Sept. Day 4.

After all the heat of the past few days this day dawned blissfully cooler and overcast with a definite hint of some rain to come.
At the gate at 6am, in at 7am, hooray!! things are improving.

Up the H4-2 and we see in no particular order,
Giraffe, in such numbers as I have never before seen in Kruger.
Impala, Warthogs, also very plentiful, Zebras, Common Duiker, Kudu, Baboons, Vultures, different varieties, the resident pair of F. Eagles in the dead tree next to the Sabie, seen almost every time we passed.
Some Trumpeter Hornbills flew past on a mission.
Ground Hornbills seem to be doing well as they were seen frequently. good news indeed.

We checked the rocks at Lubyelube Bridge hoping to see the Leopard that seemed to be hanging around there but not this day.
So onwards up the H4-1
The birds seemed to be enjoying the cooler weather and out in abundance.
Crested barbet, Grey Goway Bird, Coucals and these gorgeous White fronted Bee-eaters.


and then scuttling around in the undergrowth a lovely little Orangebreasted Bushshrike.

I do apologise for the quality as the bird was moving constantly
bt not flying, we do think it might have had a injury to its wing.

A little way up the road, came across a bit of a traffic jam, and found some Lions lying fairly deep the bush.
We attempted to wait for a while but when the guy in the car next to us started banging his hand on the roof and sides of his car trying to get them to do something we decided to leave.
The rain had started falling softly by the time we reached Nkhulu for our slap up breakfast but the intrepid 4 did not let this put us off and we found ourselves a nice big tree to shelter under and went right ahead. Yummy.

Carried on over the bridge and up the H1-2 finding no Elephant at the Elephant water hole but a Hyena instead.
No pic as he lay down in the long grass as I was about to take it.
Bushbuck, Steenbok. Waterbuck, Giraffe, Bataleur Eagles and Buffalo more or less completed the journey up to Tshokwane.

H10

Just after Nkumbe this handsome Kudu posed for us.


And then at 12.45pm we saw our first elephants of the day!!
Followed by some Ostrich and this Reedbuck.


and then some interesting "cottonwool" plants.


At Lower Sabie, the sighting board revealed that Cheetah and Wld dogs had been seen on the S28 so that was our route for the outward trip.
Well, as much as we tried, no Cheetah or W. dogs but we did get to see this....

her eyes firmly fixed on a group of Impala grazing nearby but unfortunately the local vervet monkeys gave the game away, by screeching from the top of a tree and that was that as she slunk away into the bushes in disgust.

A little further on we had a Rhino crossing.

and then a really "bum" shot as he too ambled off.


It was only then that we realised we had actually seen the Big 5, today without even trying, altho the Lions were not up close and personal and the Ellies had not exactly been plentiful.
So ended another "tough" day in Africa.