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hi all , going to brave posting as i go from my p910i so excuse if it looks odd .
arrived yesterday , set up and relax .

15th .
early drive head out on sand to afsaall , ellies buffalo , wahlbergs eagle , imature martial ,dead mamba on road , and best of all lits south of afsaal .
lots of game near jock and park looking great , plenty of surface water.
luckily grass not to high near pkop yet.

camp site had 3 sets of the dreaded overlander groups last night , will post on it upon return.

so far no yr , cmon people "uithaal en wys" .

dec 15th afternoon drive.
mestal dam and circle loops .
klipspringer , green snake crossing road 1m long , maybe my 1st green mamba .
hippo ,fish eagle at dam .

16th dec mornig drive .
out at 4.30 after horror of finding flask not packed , no cofee and rusks eish .
headed to doispan tar road , 2 white rhino sightings .
nkuhlu for brekkies and coffee , then draught .feeling sorted after that .
vervet steals rusks from sons plate.
back via nwamathiri road , but not much 2 c.
3 rhino at shislava dam .
back at camp 36 deg , going to wallow in pool now , hoping for lions now .

game is quiet in sw side of park , gona head east again tonight

btw , am long standing lits member , just need to get out old snaps , but this was the first in bout 3 years.

o1fri 16th aflternoon drive.
reedbuck pair just out camp .
rhinos at shitlhave dam again , there always seems 2 be some around the dam or open areas there.
hyena crossing river on the way back to camp .

sat 16th .
lioness at 4.35 just out camp , saw her 4 about a minute .
headed east 4 long drive ,lots of game near jock .
stopped for coffee with new flask at biyamiti dam in very shady spot , great view of cardinal woodpecker in tree there.
mpondo dam nice and full.
croc bridge for lunch temp tipping the scales @ 42 deg c .
tar all the way home ,
long drive did not prove very fruitfull though.
arrived at camp and was on the way for daily wallow when we where told that 12 lions where on faai loop.
headed out in cosumes ,but ended up spending to much time watching a very small baby ellie and its young mom , so only saw the tail end of the lions leaving the mass of cars and green dragons .

rain started in late afternoon heavy showers , most pans and small rivers have water now .

sun 18th.
lots of general game along doispan tar road , wildebeest with small calves.

back at camp to catch up some sleep , these early mornings are catching up now .

going to head out to afsaal now , as it is good pancake weather today , cool n drizzly .

Hi all , back home .

Yes the hyena was close , and I actually meant to say we
where crossing the river when we saw it .

Sun 18th afternoon drive .
Another pair of redbuck along fayi loop , seems like this is a
good area for them , rain was pouring down at the time .
A record number of rhinos along the sand road to afsaal , they
came out in there droves once the rain stopped , we saw a total of 8 groups (about 3 a group) on the way back from afsaal (but didnt see any pancakes cos we got there just after the resturant section closed.)
Almost felt like a drive in a certain cannot be named zululand park .

mon 19th morning drive along tar up towards skukuza then down to malelane and out.
Decided we just had to go past afsaal again seen as everyone was luss for pancakes now .
Elephant on tar near transport dam blocking the road , not good when towing caravan , managed to gap it after he moved off road to anhialate some trees .
About 5km north of afsaal , found pack of cars (luckily no green dragons) looking at leopard stalking impala heard
I managed to park to one side of road and waited . after about an hour of the leopard creeping closer , and the impalas looking very edgy , but not being able to see there pursuer , he decided to make a move and started moving at a fast pace towards the heard , now on the opposite side of the road to him , but still unaware of the danger they where in .
Our exitment grew , and I think I managed to get a good snap
or 2 as he moved through the bush .
As he was really picking up speed and moving to make his final attack , some flamming idiot decided to race forward in his 4x4 and park right between the leopard and the impalas , so he just slumped down and stoped his chase .
After another few minutes he tried to make a run for the impalas , but they where now alerted to his presence and the heard started alarm calls , and moved away , with some rams
standing there ground , very brave indeed
My SO gave the guy in 4x4 a real mouthing off , I am sure if he hadnt raced in , that the leopard would have gone into full speed and gotten an impala , as they where only across the road at that stage , and still unsure of the leopards presence ,with thick bush behind them .
It would have been a once in a lifetime sighting .

Pancakes and 1 windhoek draught at afsaal , very nice sweet and savoury pancakes , enjoyed by whole family .

5 hyenae pups about 5km from malelane gate , nice end to a great trip .
Couldnt convince SO that an extra night in malelane at the last available camp site was needed cos we where leaving at the late hour of 12:30 pm .
Spose I do have work on the cards for tomorrow

Hi Bucky, great report! We were also on the Skukuza / Malelane road on the 19th. Didn't spot your yellow ribbon though. It is almost unbelievable but we had a very similar experience with a leopard and a herd of impalas also a few kilometres north of Afsaal on the very next day (the 20th) - the same leopard I wonder? A shame about the 4X4 spoiling it for you.

Hi Bucky!

So you saw the tail of the last of the 12 lions at Pretoriuskop!
I heared about it when I was at the swimmpingpool playing Yatzee with SA boys who didn't knew the game.
One of their brothers game to fetch them around 16.45 because he was told that there were 12 lions at the loop!!
My partner and I overheared it and also went as quick as possible in the car.... too late... they were gone....

We also saw that dead mamba: we have a picture of him/her.
And what a lot of rhinos at Afsaal, wow.
We missed the leopard you saw there. We were walking at the rocks a bit further... what a shame.

We thought we had seen 3 leopards crossing the street (just before our car, we were their alone!) but at home it turned out it were cheetahs! Also great ofcourse. Only... the pictures or not sharp enough. aaaah...

Maybe we met there at Pretoriuskop?