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Hi All
I've just returned from 3 weeks in the KNP. We had a week each in Lower Sabie, Satara and Skukuza. This will be more like a trip highlights than a day by day report. It's my first go at doing one of these so I hope you enjoy. This entry is for week 1 at Lower Sabie.
We met this fella on our first day - he looked sooo proud of himself! This was on the s180


We saw this lot bathing at Siloweni

We were extremely lucky to see 2 black rhinos in 2 days. the first (not very clear in the pic) was near Mpondo and the 2nd on the Mlondozi Loop



We met these cuties just sitting on the side of the road


This group caused a complete traffic jam on the road between Lower sabie and Skukuza

We saw this herd of buffalo from the top of Nkumbe

More rhino on the Mlondozi

This little beauty came down to eat the bugs when we packed up our tents at Lower Sabie

We saw this lioness on a kill on the way up to Satara

And this was our closest neighbour when we arrived at Satara

Hope you enjoy these and I'll get onto week 2 soon
Gemma x

OOOppppssss!! I forgot the very very best bit!!
These we met between Siloweni and Leuupan!






Gemma x

Ok folks here comes week 2. We stayed at Satara for this and I have to say my Dad was very excited to be returning to the S100! And it didn't disappoint. After setting up the tent we headed out there for an evening drive. No great piccies of these but we saw a spotty bum in a tree (I guess the rest of the leopard was attched but it was very hard to see!!) and then a couple of hundred metres along the road there were lions on buff kill. Again no piccies as it was more than a little congested!! Martie did put a photo of this kill in her blog.

On our 2nd day there we saw an impala in a tree a few k's along the Orpen rd. We sat with it for a while and got to see some excited hyena and jackals, but no leopard. We thought we'd head back the next day just in case...

There was a bird of prey feeding on it and we were asked by a French tourist if the hawk had lifted the impala into the tree!! Well it made us laugh!!!
We gave up then thinking that a leopard wouldn't let a hawk eat it's kill if it was still around! We had very very lucky timing...We met 3 leopards walking along the river bottom just before you turn onto the N'wanetsi tar rd.


Only got pics of 2 of them though.
We then headed to do the loop of N'wanetsi tar, then dirt then S100. We stopped to look at this towards the end of the dirt rd

Which was great...but then we looked up and saw these!!!

5 leopards in one day!! What a buzz!!!!
We were also told about a lion kill on the Sweni Rd. There was a giraffe right on the side of the road. Here are some of the pics we saw over the next few days there.

This lady was there on our 2nd day.

She was chased away by one of the 3 big males who were with the kill

We were then very surpised when these little buddles appeared!

They greeted dad

Then got on with a good meal!!!




The next day we came back and there were very different visitors!




We met this fella near Timbervati

And these 2

These lovelies were on the S100

So were these

We saw some VERY muddy hyenas just north of the camp

This gorgeous little fella was also on the S100

On our last day at Satara we decided to to try the Vutomi Rd and this is what we met!

With his pals

And also saw some lovely sunsets

Hope you've enjoyed installment 2
Gemma x

Hi All
Here comes the final installment. We moved from Satara to Skuzuza for our final week. The area directly around Skukuza did seem quieter than the other areas we'd visited. However we still had some goods sightings.

There were lots of ellies.
This one decided it wanted to let us know it didn't want us on his road. We were busy reversing when this pic was taken!! This was on the Salitje Rd

He kept us moving for about 200m and really didn't like us!!

These were more cheerful!!




These 2 were playing on the old Tshokwane rd


I got this shot cominig back to camp one evening


This handsome fella was beside the Muntshe rd



I took this shot from the high water bridge - just thought it was beautiful!

I don't know the name of these rocks, but we met this lovely couple everytime we passed them

We met this fella with some friends on the road to Lower Sabie early one morning




This beautiful Nyala was near the high water bridge




I's never seen an African Green pigeon before. This one was at Biyamiti Weir


This one was taken in the camp - he was very inquisitive


He was at Leuupan everytime we visited.




These 2 were on the S65


The highlight of our final week was undoutedly seeing this beutiful girl just south of Lower Sabie on our last full day






We saw her eating an impala and also dropping it from the tree to the hyenas below.

The only animal that we missed out on was cheetah. We drove all over trying to find them but no luck. My dad stayed on in the park a week longer than me and he has seen them this week - making me very jealous.

I hope you've enjoyed my highlights - I certainly has a FABULOUS time!! And can't wait to be back.
Gemma xx