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I could not find a thread on this road so I am starting one on this road.
During my last 2 trips to Satara (Nov 09 and Jan 10) I found this to be a most productive road which included numerous sightings of the big 5 including 6 leopard sightings as well as a lion kill.
The Kumana and Mazithi dams are also good birding spots.
General game also abounds.
The traffic can be a bit hectic during the middle of the day as but early mornings and late afternoons are relatively quiet as far as traffic goes.

Adw, I agree with your post regarding the Kumana and Mazithi dams and we had some great sightings there, but generally speaking the H1-3 wasn't very good for us during numerous visits. We had seen a leopard once and lions on a few occasions, but again this road always feels a bit long!

Thinking about it, we had some great elephant and rhino sightings on this road as well!

Spotted on the H1-3 about 20km north of Tshokwane on 19 Jan at 14h30.

Hi Theuns, I am with you there on a night drive right now. This was a young female Leopard and I came across her as she was walking on the road. I had her for at least 10 minutes as she continued her walk first on the road and then in the bush alongside the road before another car arrived.

Have had very good sightings on this road over the years and drive it on a regular basis when I am in the park but I prefer the S100.

My uncle actually 'phoned me on Sunday to remark as to how vegetation was encroaching on this tar road, all from the eastern side, with branches of small bushes actually reaching across 1.5 metres or more!

Any other experiences?

I found this road to be a bit slow this year. The usual suspects (Waterbuck, Impala, Storks) at the waterholes. But not much in between.

Quite a few Elephants between Satara and Nkaya.

Was there last week, with good game viewing especially near water!

Here's a pic of the encroaching bush...a bit unsafe, I think, as two cars cannot really pass at some spots!




Anyone know if they are going to clear the verges for wood again as they did a few years ago?

ADW I had exactly the same experience when I went to Satara. the H1-3 was in fact the BEST road around Satara for me. better than the S100, H7 or any other common favorite. There were plenty of herds of elephant and buffalo on this road. And other antelope sightings every five minutes. Plus I saw this on the H1-3 just after the Sweni river road turn off




and lions


there are many roads you could see lion on, and I was lucky with the leopard. But the main reason is the abundance of game on the H1-3 trumps the other roads around Satara in my experience

Hi Cheetah2111, I agree with you that the H1-3 is a good game viewing road. It is also a great road to spot Leopard on.

Yep.
It is a good road. Summer and winter.
Lots of sightings there.
Leopard with cub and kill in a tree. Leopard in the riverbed.
Many lions.
Antelopes of different kinds.
Elephants etc.

Lion kittens on road H1-3 2km north of Kumana dam

Thank you all....yes it was quite a morning. We spent almost an hour with them. We spent several hours with them the day before. We can't wait to get back again this year in November.

Ed