Phew! I had to sit up late to do this one!
1/6/09En Route to SataraWe start the day with a massive packing session. The remaining rear seat has become irretrievably stuck in the runner and will not tip forward. Eventually we just fold it down and pack on top of it. Once everything is on board, we set off for a last visit to Matjulu waterhole. It is a beautiful, cool morning, very peaceful and serene. The water is like glass, reflecting the trees darkly and beyond them the peaks of the hills are tipped with a pale wash of pink as the sun rises above a horizon we cannot see and slowly spreads light and colour into the environment. We travel at 40kmp along the dirt road because there is nothing stirring and as we go we have a debate about our plans to go to KTP next year because I have now done the costing and we need to phone and book today. Sadly we decide that it is not at present financially possible
so instead we shall come to Kruger. We should have missed it awfully if we had not come, so the decision is not going to leave us in the depths of depression. I think.
So at 07.30 I phone and get through within 15 minutes to a very nice, cheerful guy who thinks that it is great that I am phoning from the middle of Kruger! Our first few nights for 2010 are booked
.
At the Timfenheni bridge we find Kudu – first a group of females then a couple of males - plus a Groundscraper Thrush, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, Tawny-flanked Prinia and some White-fronted Bee-eaters. We travel up the H3 stopping briefly at Afsaal picking up quite a few birds, but not wanting to stop too long as we have a way to go yet. When we get to the H1-1 close to Skukuza there is a fire along the side of the road and the flames, which are quite fierce, are licking the tar, and there is a bit of a wind and the heat is quite fierce so we can’t stop, but as we drive slowly through it is fascinating to see masses of Starlings, Drongoes, Puffbacks and Lilac-breasted Rollers flying in and out of the inferno catching fleeing insects and picking up roasted ones from the tar. The colours of the fire and the smoke and the burnt bush and the bright birds are an amazing mix.
By the time we reach Skukuza the temperature is already 29C. We order toasted sandwiches and find a bench in the shade on the edge of the river. There are White-fronted Bee-eaters hawking over the river, Reed Cormorants perched on the rocks alongside Egyptian Geese, and we also see Yellow-breasted Apalis, Chin-spot Batis, and Speckled Mousebirds in the trees amongst the ubiquitous starlings, whilst a flight of red-faced Mousebirds streams across the water. We then go to fill up with petrol. The attendant says our bill is R1172. Huh? We look at the slip and see that it says R172, so we explain this, but he keeps insisting it is R1172! When he comes back with the Garage card, he shows us the slip. It says R1179. We are getting a bit agitated by now and I say to Anne ‘go and speak to them, check this amount hasn’t been charged to your card.’ She is just about to get out when he bursts out laughing and gives us the real slip . . . so we all start laughing, including the other attendants who have obviously been in on the joke. Seems we are the Patsys here.
The Sabie River is very full and flowing quite fast, sunlight glinting off the swirls and ripples as we drive towards the high-level bridge, it’s great to see so much water and we stop in most of the lay-byes to check out the scene. At one we find a whole group of hippo, one of whom, a massive male, is just getting out of the water, moving slowly like a great, glistening, distended tick. He is followed by a smaller one whom we assume to be a female and he gives one sharp grunt, whereupon she stands stock-still, waiting until he has found the most choice position and has slowly lowered his great bulk to spread across the warm sand. Then she walks towards him, sniffs his rear, angles in at 90 degrees, turns round and backs up until she is touching him before folding down with a thump.
It’s strange that hippo, so social in the daytime, so ready to press up against each other on the sandbanks, are so solitary at night when they go off to feed. I guess it’s because each hippo needs such a large amount of grass, and if they grazed together they’d never get enough before daylight because of the constant competition. A bit further on we come to a group of cars, all the occupants looking towards the river. We are told that there are three male lion and we can see them all. They are sitting together amongst the reeds on a sandy bank, one with a long pale gingery mane and rather thin and bony looking flanks and the other two with a short thin line of stiff hair from the crowns of their heads. Every now and then one will get up and move a little way and find a new, comfortable spot in the sand, then another will follow, so we have a good view of them as they move about, and we sit here for about half an hour enjoying the sight.
Sadly however, we have to move on and we drive along the river, passing herds of impala and little groups of kudu on the sides of the road.
We stop on the bridge and watch a group of White-backed Vultures having a bath. On the other side of the bridge is a lone Saddle-billed Stork doing the same thing and making a huge production of it, shaking out his enormous wings at the end of the process and grooming carefully. The black and white wings, the splashes of red and yellow and the sparkling drops of water are a very pretty sight. Whilst I am watching it, Anne pokes me hard and I look up and find that I am nose –to-bill with a Giant Kingfisher that has landed on the bar of the bridge right next to me!
As I snap away with my camera, two Bateleurs land on the sand, one to drink, the other takes a bath; an African Fish Eagle lands in a nearby tree and a Hamerkop flies past.
We pass Kudu with babies – this year there are baby everythings – we’ve seen baby ellies, baby giraffe, baby zebra, baby kudu, baby impala. It must be something to do with the good rains and the abundant food.
Mantimahle dam is our next stopping place. There are plenty of waterbuck, but the dam itself is invisible behind a thick cloak of vegetation which is very irritating – who knows what could be out there? At the next river we see bushbuck and then we come to Leeuwpan. This waterhole over the years has shown such a changing face – you just never know what it will do next. One year I remember driving in to a smother of beautiful blue water-lilies with various water-birds treading delicately amongst them. Another year it was completely dry - a cracked,flaking expanse of mud. This year there is water and quite a mass of reeds and as we arrive a herd of elephant is just leaving. We switch off, disappointed and settle down to survey the scene. In amongst the reeds are Egyptian Geese and a couple of Fulvous Duck. On the bank is a large, well-fed crocodile. Crowned Plovers are calling from the high bank at the end Little Grebes swim through the water. Jacanas – also young ones amongst them I notice - potter about, never once tripping over their enormous feet, Blue-eared Starlings strut down to the water to drink and then amuse themselves by mobbing and chasing a slender mongoose, making a huge noise. Then all at once another group of elephants pour in.
(I knopw this pic is blurry, but I like it!)
They are all sizes from tiny, through teenagers, to huge males and large females. They come almost at a run, accompanied by a cloud of dust and make straight for the water, drinking thirstily. Then the fun starts as they squirt water over themselves and over anyone else who happens to be near them.
The babies collect in excited little clusters and every now and then there is a loud snort or a trumpet, and plenty of deep and even deeper rumblings. Apparently the vibrations from these subsonic noises can be felt by a distant member of the clan through the soles of its sensitive feet. Whilst the airborne rumbles can be detected up to 10km away by another elephant, the same rumbles travelling seismically can be picked up through the feet half as far again. Next time you see an elephant resting with one foot slightly raised, this is what it might be doing. Any kind of panic or danger can thus be transmitted to other family members far away. This gives rise to great speculation when we come across an elephant with its foot resting lightly on the ground in this way – what message is it receiving? Does it look worried? Contented? Panicked? Well happily there is no panic here. These guys are having fun!
Some of them blow bubbles in the water; (I wish someone would tell me why they do this!) others splash and squirt; others move away and start blowing sand over themselves. The older ones, having drunk their fill, leave the youngsters to their fun and start grazing the bushes behind them. Ten minutes later, as if at some sort of signal, they turn and move swiftly off, one defiant youngster staying to blow one last trunkful of water at us. As they go, they come across the fat crocodile we saw when we came in, and the youngsters shy away and move in a curve round it. We have to move too and we do so marveling at the serendipity of arriving as one group are leaving only to be enchanted by the arrival of another.
Silolweni dam, so sadly empty last year, is now full again. There are quite a few hippo – seven or eight in the pod near us; quite a few large crocs, Grey Herons, a Fish Eagle, several Three-banded Plovers, a flotilla of Little Grebes and a Black-winged Stilt. So it seems that it may be ecologically healthy again.
As we get closer to Satara the numbers of animals increase; large herds of mixed zebra, wildebeest and impala, lots of giraffe; kudu and waterbuck; little steenbok in ones and twos and the odd duiker. By 4.00, the temperature is still 30C (it went up to 34C) and we have the aircon on again. Mazithi dam yields Spoonbill, more Little Grebes, White fronted and Reed Cormorants, hippo and a couple of Pied Kingfishers, falling like arrows into the water from a great height and carrying their catch off to the fallen tree in the water. Along the bank are Water Thick-knees and a large crocodile and on the far side we can see White-faced Duck. Before Mazithi we see five Southern Ground Hornbills, at least one of which is a juvenile which is cheering.
As we drive on smoke rises lazily from a fire somewhere, curling and flowing in front of the sun, rendering it a strange orange colour. We see more elephant, wet and muddy, almost orange in the strange glow, obviously just up from the river, then round a bend we come across a huge herd of about four or five hundred buffalo crossing the road, with lots of moos and calls and spatters. A fantastic sight – buffalo everywhere, horns and hairs gilded by the low rays of the sun,
pale coffee-coloured babies moving alongside their mothers ( as I said – baby everythings!) But this is going to make us late! There is one car in front of us and another behind. The occupants of the latter obviously feel the same way because they ease past us and start slowly moving towards the buffalo, stopping and starting. Eventually the animals part, reluctantly and we drive quickly through. Looking back, the flood of buffalo across the road is as thick as ever. The other two vehicles have disappeared but a bit later we come across the one that parted the buffalo stopped by the side of the road. He waves us down. Leopard! There in a tree about 500m off the road is the carcass of an impala wedged in a fork, and stretched out along a branch a beautiful, large, healthy-looking leopard. (Not a good pic, sorry)
We sit and gaze hungrily at him for ten minutes, but, alas, cannot stay. Further along we come across a young hyaena crossing the road and when we stop we find it down at the entrance to a culvert, with a second, even younger one staring at us curiously.
As we reach Satara, the sun has gone and the gate has just been shut. Luckily the Security guy opens it for us, with a rather disapproving stare, but we don’t care, we are in! At reception we find we have the hut we wanted and we collect the key and make our way there through the warm dark night. Unpacking and stowing takes half an hour, then it’s time for hot, thick spicy bean soup and wholewheat rolls as we listen to the Pearl-spotted Owls calling across the veld and watch Satara’s resident hyaenas prowling the fence.
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Syndication
It’s odd really that we, who have been steadfast in our choice of camps because we can’t bear to think of not being in them, are so excited about these differences. I suppose we are celebrating from the safety-net of our three favourite places, but we are, in the future, determined to let go of at least a piece of that security blanket and get up North. Some time. Maybe when Kruger has undergone N-S shrinkage and we can reach them all . . . . 
Things like a spare battery for my camera (suddenly had the heebs re ‘what if the battery stops holding a charge’ or ‘it needs charging but the ellies have been charging too and have knocked out the electricity again’); some more citronella soap (this is the third time I have been into the same place for citronella soap in the past week. They are looking at me very oddly . . . . I think their premise is that Normal People buy it all at once . . . .); fresh tartare sauce for our prawns (well it goes so quickly, I just snatched the last one from under the nose of another shopper – no guarantee that there will be more tomorrow); special rusks which I had to order and which arrived this morning; a pocket of avos from someone’s farm. My stuff is nearly all packed. I had a strict lecture from Annie on not bringing too much 
(darn it, she knows me too well); I am one of the ‘well what if it snows?’ packers. This evening – a last check on my camera, that all the cards are in, the charger is in, the lens cleaning stuff is there – I know it is really, but still . . . .
: people wandering around on the road taking photos; children being allowed to hang out of the windows at lion sightings; people driving off the road to get a better view; loo paper festooning the roadsides. Regarding the last one – I mentioned in another thread that we are test-driving the most wonderful little camping loo that can be used in the car. If it works I think that SANParks should stock them – or at least stock ziplock plastic bags to put loo paper in – something we have used successfully for years. For us it is the worst and most ugly blight on the landscape. 
; four out of five of the bird 'hope to see' categories 
; also festoons of loo paper (and more) all over the park 
and we only learnt two new trees 
! It never ceases to astonish me that on a two week holiday one can still say 'but I didn't have time to . . .' and I need to get my head around the fact that in Kruger one is driven by the moment and not by aspirations.
; it made all the difference to the survival of our frozen food. I love the way that SANParks staff often make these extra efforts to enhance your stay; it makes you feel special and wanted – excellent customer-care approach. We are so tired that we barely register the fact that the décor has changed. No concrete slab beds, real beds instead. And the lovely big concrete slab bedside table with central cushion seat has gone too; it seems that we have to share the suitcase rack. As neither of us can reach it from our beds we use our Coleman for a second table – perfect! For supper, which we eat outside under the stars, we have fresh prawns with fresh tartare sauce and avocados (no cooking!!) whist reluctantly listening to the remnants of the Bulls vs Chiefs match which is blaring out from our neighbour’s car radio 
) - but Berg-en-Dal staff did go to the trouble of arranging for everyone to watch in the conference centre, probably to avoid this very irritation. Faintly over the radio we can hear the munching and rumbling of elephant in the bush in front of the chalet and eventually to this reassuring sound we fall asleep.
But they are fresh and well-toasted and thickly filled and delicious and they certainly fill us. 
but somehow I manage to disconnect something so that, once flushed, it will not fill, and I lay down every towel I can find to dam the water. There is something really weird about walking barefoot across a room in the dark and suddenly finding you’re in water! In the morning we have to use hand towels after our showers . . . .
