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DvZ day trip - 17 April

Hi All

Last minute, I thought I would pop to Kruger for a day trip from Polokwane.

Left about 7am and got to Phalaborwa gate at 9:30.

Took the dirt road to Letaba, had lunch and returned via Tar road.

Sweltering day - 35.

Not much game to see. Couple of impala, zebs, dwarf mongoose and ellies as well as Giant Heron. (this guy had an amazing wingspan)

Best sight was a herd of ellies having a decent mud bath. They were soaked. One then proceeded to have a dust bath.

Great sight. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me.

Lastly stopped at Sable hide. Lovely place. Definately returning there. Saw a bunch of Marabo there as well as rooibokke and a herd of buffalo that were lying in the bush.

DvZ

Muhammad's April 2005 KNP trip

23.04.05 Pafuri to Bateleur
1.Nyala
2.African Wild Cat
3.Roan-just a glimpse 30km south of Pafuri
4.Lions on Buffalo carcass.Rooibosrand Dam

24.04.05 Bateleur
1.Sable.Rooibosrand Dam.a herd of 3,early morning 6.30am
2.Hyaena feeding on Buffalo carcass.No lions

25.04.05 Shingwedzi
1.Leopard
2.Lion
3.Buffalo
4.Elephant
above all seen in dry Shingwedzi river bed.all 4 of the big 5 seen 2km away from Shingwedzi camp towards Kanniedood Dam.Sightings were 10 minutes apart.

26.04.05 Bateleur
1.Leopard.1km before Rooibosrand dam.
2.Buffalo carcass all eaten.no sign of kill.

27.04.05 Bateleur
1.Lion-Red Rocks

28.04.05 Bateleur to Phalaborwa home
1.Ostrich-Mopani.

plenty impala,elephant,buffalo,zebra,kudu amongst above sightings.
go north!time and patience will reveal!

Tue May 03, 2005 7:14 pm
Rooibosrand dam has better views. One can view the dam from three different places.
Limited view at Silwervis dam. According to Bateleur camp manager most leopard sightings are at Silwervis.
Hope you have the same sightings as mine.good luck
still about the ROAN!

Tue May 03, 2005 7:39 pm
Besides the sable and roan sightings, we sat at water holes, lookout points, rivers and very slow driving. Shingwedzi camp to Kanniedood dam, round trip took 6 hours. Twice we spotted leopard and lion along this route(s50). Stopping and viewing along the river was at least 30 mins each. Luckily the day was overcast with slight drizzle and no TRAFFIC!

Tamara's KNP April 2005 trip (and wedding)

Hi guys!
I'm back in Holland. The trip was perfect, the wedding was great!
Saw a lot of animals. And because of the bad road conditions in Moremi we arrived in Kruger 5 days earlier!
2 nights Punda Maria, 1 night Shingwedzi and 1 night Balule and Maroela extra.
We saw a lot of young animals, like lions, elephants, kudu, hippo, which was really nice. We were chased by an elephant twice, they we're really agressive.
Two days we saw a cheetah and the last day even a leopard (not in a tree unfortunately, but on a koppie).

On the 28 of April I found a note on our windscreen from a forumite (we had a yellow ribbon). Don't know who it was...It was in Olifants. Didn't see a yellow ribbon myself

We really enjoyed our trip, Namibia and Botswana were also great!

tamara