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Hi all,

The time has finally arrived for me to start our new Trip Report! As some of you might know, me and my brother (Zapman) will be heading in the Kruger’s direction in 23 days time from now.

We will be staying at Maroela (23-26 June), Shingwedzi (27-30 June) and Berg-en-Dal (01-04 July).

We are definitely going to try and make this an awesome, unforgettable trip with a special Trip Report afterwards!

Hi guys,

We’ve been packing since Wednesday already but still not finished! (Thanks to all the rugby, soccer, cricket and golf the last few days) I would say we are about 90% packed…

Today I am going to charge all the cameras and spotlights together with all the final pack work and tomorrow I am going to wash the bakkie, fill it up, check the tyres etc. and then I must just pack it! (Hope the space will be enough!)

Our routes are planned, maps are updated and all that we are waiting for now is for tomorrow night 12:00 to arrive, then we must be on our way to the park!

Zapman is writing his last exam for the semester tomorrow morning so I’m a bit on my own with the packing and stuff but I love it! Packing and planning the trip is a big part of any trip!!

I will take my laptop with me just to let you know if the trip is going according to plan but you will have to wait till after the trip for our TR! Not going to give anything away before then!!

Hi guys,

Just want to let you know that everything is going according to plan and that our sightings have been fantastic the first two days! Really great! You will have to see the TR to see what I’m talking about.

The grass is very long here, makes photography very difficult but will try our best!

Hi guys,

We returned home yesterday afternoon and we are still busy unpacking.

We had some special sightings the last 13 days and this was definitely our best trip to the Kruger so far if you look at all the sightings we had.

The southern part of the park was a bit disappointed but the central and northern parts were absolutely brilliant!!!

I am looking forward to post the TR!

Okay, here we go…


Part 1 – Maroela Camp

Day 1 - 23 June 2009

Roads traveled for the day:
S28
H10
H1-3
S126
S36
H7
S145

With great anticipation and months of planning we finally set off to the Kruger on 22 June 2009 at 22h00. We could not sleep that night so we decided to rather drive to the gate and have a nap there instead of rolling around in our beds the whole night. We actually intended to leave at midnight so we were two hours ahead of schedule.

We arrived at Crocodile Bridge at 3h00 and slept there in the bakkie until the gate opened. The checking went quickly at the gate and before we could think of it, we were in the Kruger!!
What a feeling! We decided to take the S28 and then the H10 to Tshokwane were we would have our first breakfast in the Kruger for the trip.



On the S28 we came across this mother and her child walking peacefully as if they fear nothing!





Just as we got on to the H10 we saw 3 lions in the tall grass at the S128 turnoff.





We drove further on the H10 and then suddenly we saw 3 Cheetahs down by the river near Hillside water hole





Just a bit further down the road another male Lion walked next to the road in the tall grass. (The grass were extremely long this winter and it was really difficult to take some photos)





We then had our breakfast and then had a nice view of the SANPARK people and helicopter in action near Tshokwane







At Mazithi dam another 6 Lions had a nice rest under the big tree at the other side of the dam.





We arrived at the camp, struggled a bit with the tent and after everything were standing and on their places we were off again in search of the mysterious Sable Antelope.







And guess what…











We got him on the S145 near a small river. This was the best picture I could take as he was walking behind the trees the whole time.



Herewith some other photos of the day’s sightings






It was a real fun filled day with some good sightings!

Day 2 - 24 June 2009

Roads traveled for the day:
H7
S145
S36
S33
H1-3


After a good night’s rest we were up at 5h00, ready to take on the day… and again, what a day!


We took the S145 but with no luck! We then took the S36 South and just before Nhlanguleni picnic spot 4 Cheetahs were resting in the shade of a tree. Once again, sorry for the grass!







On our way back to the camp (on the H1-3) my brother saw a Leopard on the other side of the river (very far) and she had two cubs with her!! It was just north of the S33 turnoff. To have seen two baby Leopards was so special.







This is the only photo I have got with all three on.





We stopped again at the camp to have a quick rest then we took the S145 again to find some more Sable.



We did not see any Sable for the day as we only drove for about 5 kilo’s on the S145.


We did not want to go further because of this…


















There were three Cheetah cubs walking alone along the road looking for their mother. They were calling her the whole time and you could see that they were a bit lost. We followed them for about 3 kilo’s. At first we thought that we were pushing them on but after we gave them about 200m space, they just kept on walking and calling. It was actually real sad but at the same time one of our best Cheetah sightings ever.













At one stage they walked into some Zebra’s and they chased the poor cubs into the bushes.This was the last time we saw them!

I am scared to think what might have happened with them, but maybe these guys know their way to their mom or their mom knows her way to them!

If someone see them again, please post their photos!




Herewith some more pics of the day’s sightings






Once again, a day full of excitement!

Day 3 - 25 June 2009 “The Day Of The Lion”

Roads traveled for the day:
H7
S12
S40
S39
H1-4
S145



We were up again at 5h00 and ready to take on the day! The previous day we had no Lion sightings!! Can we see some today?



Just a few kilometers on the Orpen Road, we came across this BIG pride of lions… we counted 19 of them but I guess there could be one or two that we missed – they were on both sides of the road, it was dark and the tall grass doesn’t make it any easier! Males, Females, Young ones and Babies! An absolute awesome sighting!











After all the excitement of that morning’s pride, we decided to drink some coffee at Girivana and then continue with our route. While we were pouring the coffee, a lioness made her appearance almost right next to us. After some seconds two cubs followed her to the water hole. Behind them another female came with two cubs. And guess what… Behind them the third female came with her two cubs!!

You could actually say - We had a “cub” of coffee there…













Also at Girivana…
This show that some enemies can live in harmony!





The gravel road was quiet but immediately when we turned south on the H1-4 another 8 Lions were waiting for us under the trees doing what they do best…




This was now getting out of hand, 36 Lions before lunch!


We stopped at Satara to have some nice Buffalo Pies and afterwards straight back to the camp.


We took the S145 once again for the afternoon drive.


Can we possibly have the same luck as the two previous days? The first day the Sable, second day the cheetah cubs… What will it be today?






For the first time on the trip we had no luck!



Just this huge Rhino that came walking down the road





Our “cat count” was now up to 59 in three days and most important we have seen Lion-, Leopard- and Cheetah Cubs!
46 x Lion
10 x Cheetah
3 x Leopard


What a day… Again!

Day 4 - 26 June

Roads traveled for the day:
H7
S12
S100
S41
H6
H1-4
S145


After the previous day’s lion sighting at Girivana, we decided to go there again for our morning coffee.



And what a great decision it was…



4 lion cubs lying there close to the road and all on their own. No mother in sight! This was a real special sighting for me! It is not every day that you can come this close to them.

















On the S100 and S41









On the H7 and S12







We arrived at the camp and before we could even have a rest, we saw this Tusker in the riverbed from the camp.






According to my research, I believe that this is Mac (the collar and the gap in the left ear)

Please correct me if I’m wrong with this one.




On our afternoon drive, we decided once again to take the S145 to look for some Sable antelopes.



No luck again…







This brings me to the end of Part 1 – Maroela


It is a really nice camp with not a lot of noise! Animal sounds are superb there – the one night we could actually hear an elephant’s stomach and the loudest Hyena call that I think we will ever hear! I will go back there for sure!


Highlights of Part 1
All the cat sightings especially the cubs
Sable
To have seen one of the Tuskers - Mac

Wonderful report SW, the cubs are sooo cute, did the mother not come back for them at all while you were there?

Your tusker certainly appears to be Mac.

Have a look Here

Thanks everyone for your comments so far and for reading our TR!

No Elsa, we stayed there for more than an hour but no sign of mom. Think she went to fetch them a nice breakfast!

Part 2 – Shingwedzi Camp

Day 5 - 27 June

Roads traveled for the day:
H7
H1-4
H1-5
H1-6
S48
H1-7

It was now time for us to go north, the place where the rare antelopes live! We already seen the Sable, now we must see the Eland, Roan, Sharpe Grysbok, Lichtenstein Hartebees, Tsessebe and the mysterious – never seen before- Suni! Even though I don’t believe there are any Suni in KNP!!!


A few hundred meters outside Maroela, we saw the famous Maroela / Tamboti Leopard. We saw her in December and now again! I only managed to take one blurry photo of her as she was running over the road into the grass. If you look carefully you will see that it is a leopard…




As we approached Satara, Mr. Jinxy took his morning run in the grass about 30m from the road on the H7.





He kept on running for a few meters then he came a bit closer to the road…







It was the first time that I had the chance to take clear photos of the African Wild Cat in the KNP. You always see them early morning in the dark or at night!



On the H1-4 near Ngotso dam another 6 Lions! And again, very lazy!




We had late breakfast at Letaba and then just a few kilometers from Letaba we saw the one and only Hlanganini down by the river… What an awesome elephant!!!







At the Giriyondo turnoff we came across this…





We arrived at the camp at about 14h00 and quickly put up the tent and stuff so that we can go for our afternoon drive to Babalala and listen to the rugby on the radio.


We met up with Petro (also on the forum) and her family and had some nice chats during our stay at Shingwedzi. Don’t want to give anything away for her TR but they sure did have some great sightings! Especially with the antelopes!


No real luck on the afternoon drive…




At least we won the rugby test!!! And the series!!!!!

Day 6 - 28 June

Roads traveled for the day:
H1-7
H1-8
S61
S63
R52 (Red Rocks)

Today we planned to go all the way up to Pafuri, have breakfast there, spend some time there in that beautiful part of the Kruger and then take the Red Rocks (Northern Road) in the afternoon.


Somewhere between Shingwedzi and Babalala…






Then for the first time in our lives, we saw the Side-striped Jackal in the KNP! He crossed the road and disappeared in the bushes… Luckily I could take some photos but they are not very clear, sorry…








We decided to go and have look at Klopperfontein dam and we were rewarded with 12 Eland that were drinking water there!








These guys were also on the S61






Baobab Hill




We arrived at Pufuri picnic spot ready to make a nice, big breakfast. There was no one to assist us with a gas bottle. We were a few people there looking for the guy to help us but he was nowhere to be found. After about 20 min we decided to go, a bit disappointed though.


We then took the S63 and after no real luck we returned to Shingwedzi. These are some of photos I took.










On our way back to the camp we stopped at Klopperfontein again and these guys were standing there as if they wanted to show us that this is their place.




The afternoon drive was very quiet and only after we turned around on the R52 we saw these guys down by the river. The trees and grass made it impossible to see through it but then there was one place where we could have a sneak view. Brilliant! Another 6 lions and again with babies!






It was yet again a day full of excitement and another “Big” antelope has been ticked off our list!

Can this trip get any better?

Day 7 - 29 June

Roads traveled for the day:
S50
S143
S144
H1-6
H1-7



We planned this day a long time ago. We were going to take the S50 south, have a stop at the “much talked about” Tihongonyeni water hole, visit all the Nshawu water holes, have a meal at Mopani, go back to Tihongonyeni and then back to the camp via the S50.



With great anticipation we left the camp 05h55 at the East gate. For about two hours we had absolutely no decent sightings. If I can remember correctly we only saw some Water buck and a few Impalas.



As we approached the turnoff to Tihongonyeni (S143) we really hoped to see something special at the water hole. Less than 500m from the turnoff we saw this...




At first I did not even see that there were three other on the ground! I was so astonished by the posing of this cheetah!


He stood there high up in the air for about a minute then jumped off to sit down by the other three…




We could see that they were looking around the whole time and we sensed that something was about to happen! They were restless and suddenly jumped up and moved forward slowly.






They started running and then suddenly we could see an antelope running across the road (almost in their direction).


While they were running my brother shouted “it’s a Reedbuck!!”


As they were chasing the poor Reedbuck, they ran into some bushes / trees and I decided rather to drive forward to get passed the trees then we will have a clear view when they take him down (if they catch him).

Just as we passed the trees they jumped onto him and he had no chance of shaking off 4 cheetahs!

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the actual first tackle or chase but we’ve got it all on video! If we did not drive forward we would have missed the tackle and the photo! Now I only missed the photo but the memory of it is even more valuable than a photo.






But I think this will do…






















You could hear the Reedbuck moan and groan for almost 10 minutes after they brought him to the ground!

This was the highlight of an (almost) perfect trip! We were the only people at the scene!!


We were fortunate enough to have witnessed our second cheetah catch in less than a year. Our first one was on 03 July 2008 and now this one 29 June 2009. Four days prior to the one year anniversary!


Oh and that was our first Reedbuck for the trip!!


After the massive sighting we had, we almost forgot about the fact that we were actually heading for Tihongonyeni and hopefully see some rare antelope there.


We approached the water hole then suddenly my brother stopped me and pointed out something in the distance. It was running away from us towards the Mopani bushes. He looked through the binoculars and guess what? – it was a Roan. I took some photos but it was VERY far!! Those of you that have been there will know about the open space there – you can see for miles! (If your eyes allow it).




Then almost in the same direction, a herd of Eland was standing there in the Mopani’s. Also VERY far!!
We counted 12 of them!




Also at the water hole… Some Tsessebe’s




This giraffe also decided to join the action




And some other animals…




I was really impressed with the water hole and all the commotion and I will go back there every time that I visit the Kruger!


We left the water hole and went to check what’s going on at our cheetah / reedbuck spot.


They were still there after about an hour – no cars though.




We turned around to go and visit the Nshawu water holes and came across a male and female Reedbuck only a few kilometers away from the catch.










Then another two a bit further down the road…






Close to Nshawu 2 this Roan came to greet us. He was just standing there in the open for about ten minutes (also very far from us). Another great sighting!




We had something to eat at Mopani and afterwards went to Tihongonyeni again. The same animals were still there except for the Roan. A lone Jackal also made his introduction there.


We passed the cheetah spot again and there were cars everywhere (about four hours after the catch). Everybody wanted to tell us their version of the story. The one guy told us that 2 cheetahs killed a waterbuck. We just kept ourselves stupid and made if we knew nothing about it. Some really funny stories came out!!


We arrived at the camp and almost immediately drove towards Babalala for our afternoon drive. We found Petro and Faan on the road and they told us about a very special sighting they had close to Babalala a few minutes ago. We drove there hoping to see it but no luck! You will have to wait for her TR to see what the special sighting was!


We saw another herd of Tsessebe crossing the road on the H1-7



And these Hyenas next to the road. (It might be the same young one that stole my number plate in December)




About 200m from the camp gate this tusker was standing in the Shingwedzi riverbed. It was very dark and I had to play a bit with the lightning tool on my PC to make it a bit more visible – sorry for the quality. I have posted the photos on the Big Tusker thread for someone to identify him. I think it is between Bidzane, Hlamalala or Timaka but I’m not an expert in this field so I could be wrong.






What a day – The catch, the antelopes, everything just perfect!!!

Day 8 - 30 June

Roads traveled for the day:
H1-7
H1-8
H13-1
H1-3
S99
S58
S61
S60

It was our last day at Shingwedzi and we wanted to go up north for the day to Punda Maria and its surroundings. We planned to be on the road the whole day and spend as much time in the Punda Maria / Babalala area and maybe we are lucky enough to spot some more rare antelope and maybe some doggies.


We left the camp again at opening time and saw some Hyenas and Elephants in the early morning.


When we approached Boyela water hole there was a massive (what we thought) dust storm. When we investigated it was actually a BIG, BIG herd of Buffalo! The most I have seen together for some time! It must have been far over 500!






On the Punda Maria road we had our first Sharpe Grysbok sighting for the trip! We went on to see three for the day - Two on the H13-1 and one on the S99. Could not take one clear photo!!!




Our only Hyrax (Dassie) sighting for the trip




Have anyone of you actually realized how far you can see the power lines near Punda? I never realized it before!




We were driving towards Punda and just after Babalala my brother stopped me again. He saw something in the thick Mopani bushes. He said it was a Roan but I could not see it. Eventually it started moving and I could see that is actually one. He started running and we thought he was gone. Only to find out he was running in our direction and only stopped about 10 meters from us and stood for some pics! We needed this sighting to bright up our day as we didn’t see much for the day up to here!










Some Ellies on the H13-1






Then this lone male lion was laying there as if he felt sorry for himself!



On the photo he looks like the King of the Kruger but believe me he looked near his end the way he was laying there.

Then something happened that upset me a lot!

A truck (some construction truck or something) arrived at the sighting with people on at the back (with no cover and sitting in the open). The lion saw the people on the truck and stood up as if he wanted to charge them! It was actually really scary and I think the workers on the back of the truck were praying all along! Instead of charging the truck, the lion ran off into the bushes.

The truck just came and spoil everyone’s sighting and after the lion ran off they just waved at the lion.

How do we allow stuff like this to happen in our beautiful park??


On our way back to the camp this youngster made his appearance at the same Hyena family we saw the previous days!




Some more photos of the day’s sightings.










Our stay at Shingwedzi came to an end but it was (as always) the best time in the park.

Day 9 – 1 July

Roads traveled for the day:
H1-6
H14
H9
S51
S1
S3
H1-1
H3

We left Shingwedzi and were on our way to Phalaborwa gate. We will exit the park there and then go in again at Phabeni gate. Afterwards we realized it would have actually been better to travel inside the park! We spent the same amount of time that we would have spent inside and we didn’t see much for the day!

The only good sighting for the day was this leopard on the H3. This was our worst sighting day of the trip.




Some other photos for the day.










The traffic was unbelievable in the southern part of the park. There are always cars passing you even if you travel at 50 kph. This really disappointed me and I will think twice before going to the south again in holiday time. If you stop for a sighting you can’t even reverse to have another look, there’s always a car on your tail.

None the less, we tried to make the best out of our time there.