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S100 is 1 of my favourites , although it is a case of feast or famine .
Seen all of the big 5 along there .
I like to do this route in the afternoon though .
Set out from satara , head northwards , turn up the s whatever to gudzani waterhole , turn right towards nwanetsi (often see nice big kori bustard along this road) , gudzani dam for sundowners , then back along s100 towards satara .

I have found this route to be very productive , and a nice length for an afternoon drive of around 3 and a bit hours .

Said that I will not be doing the "S100 thing" during my stay in Kruger.
But eventually did it this past Tuesday and had one of the best leopard sightings ever.
'Ol Spotty' tried to catch a turtle.
I have wonderful video footage on that.

Always loved the round trip drive from Satara S100 and back along H6 I think it is, and have had some pretty decent luck along that road.
I have seen 2 kills, as well as 4 of the big five (never seen rhino up there).

Generally when I stay at Satara will do the s100 first thing in the morning and then late in the afternoon, of course the morning trip will include brekkie at N'wanetsi (I think, it's been a long time since I was up there). My first kill was awesome. there is a reservoir on the left side and a water hole (man made) on the right, quite a few km's down the S100.
Anyway it was very dry, August and we saw a rather large herd of buffalo heading towards the waterhole. To the left of the waterhole was a kind of a bank and there was a pride of lion probably around 11 or so. Well we were alone on the road so we parked the car and waited.
the buffs arrived and the lions decided to go a hunting. 3 females picked out a buffalo and came in for the attack, one could see the buffs were a little weak from lack of water food etc.
One female jumped on the buffalo's back and just hung on,
the buffalo continued to run, this was all happening right in front of the car.
The other 2 females came in for the kill, and finally dragged the buffalo down about 3 metres from the water hole, and the pride then converged on the scene and chowed down.
It was incredible to see, and we sat in amazement.
By now we had one other vehicle behind us who also saw it, other than that nothing.
What I found amazing was that even though the buffalo was weak, it still took quite a while for the lionesses to bring him down and then once the lions were eating, the rest of the buffalo continued on to the waterhole to drink, instincts kicking in.
I will try find pics to post soon, need to look for them in my boxes (happened before there were digital cameras I am afraid).

I love this road and have had wonderful sightings over the years. Have sen lions on almost every occasion I have taken this road and leopard a few times and only one cheetah once and never any rhino.

We were the only car at one of the leopard sightings and we once saw a lioness stalking a kudu for about half an hour and there was only one other car.

The park is there for all to enjoy and as long as people are behaving I do not have a problem with that.

One of my two sightings of the AWC was on this road and I have also enjoyed many hours observing the kori busted and the secretary bird on this road and also of a brown snake eagle catching and feeding on a snake.

Many times we have stayed at Satara after the 5th January and it is usually quieter and if you leave camp at 4.30 there will not be too many cars at a sighting. Like Bucky I'd rather share a sighting and I go to the north and bush camps for other reasons and other game. To put it another way, I like it all but for different reasons and oftentimes the fun is in the sharing and telling others of a sighting.

WTM, may I please request that you don't put any of your cardboard cut-outs on the S100 for the first part of June?

Putting them there would imply you being on the S100, the animals will get spooked again and nobody would be able to spot anything there for weeks!

Only 2 more days before entering Kruger!!

Hello, my first time on this forum.

Last time I was in the park was 3 years ago (I now live in Australia) but every time I've driven the s100 I've always had incredible and memorable sightings. I've seen the magnificant 7 (big 5 plus cheetah and wild dog) at various times. On two trips I've seen 4 of the big five on single drives along the s100 (one morning drive, one evening drive.) Most memorable was a bumba by 3 cheetahs, chased off by a pack of 5 hyena's who then lost the meal to 3 female lions!

Am really surprised not too many others haven't had that sort of luck on my favorite road in the park!

Seems like WTM has been very busy with those cut-outs

My personal experience of the s100 is that it varies according to the season. Have driven it many times in winter time and it seemed more quiet than in early spring and summer. Last December we drove that road up and down and every single time found two or three prides of lion (one of the prides have been around for a while now and consist of 5 females, three males and many youngsters , I think 8 or so), white rhino, a big herd of about 80 or so elllies, buffs, hyena and leopard. If you don't get to the road early from Satara with the first few cars it will be dusty and the game will move away from the road, until after the first hour or so, and then it will settle. Had some awesome leopard sightings on this road in the middle of the day and with good reason. Have often seen lion early morning on the road, and leopard would then avoid it, until the lions have gone to sleep. But the road is a hit and a miss, just like Eloff Street (road between Skukuza and Lower Sabie). One day you drive it and its cooking and the next day its dead quiet!

Hi,

It was just at the beginning of the road from Satara, maybe the first 100m, he was walking at morning 25 m on the gravel road and suddenly run on the bush

Thats a good summary of this forum

Monné

I drove the S100 a week ago and managed to see 4 of the Big 5 - on our own drive we saw a large male Lion, buffalo and elephant. Went on a night drive from Satara and also managed to see a small spotted genet, elephant, rhino and a serval. I have read so much about the S 100 and it didnt let me down.

Francoisd is in Kruger at the moment, and has sent this to me...for special attention WTM and other S100 critics

I'm new to the forums,but after reading comments on S100 I have to say that as far incredible sightings go this is the road to go.
Was in Satara 9-11 Aug. 07 and saw entire pride of lions numbering +- 12 lions surrounding my car at about 5p.m.
Enjoyed about +- 1 hr.
Previously seen leopard with cubs on S100.
Just off the S100 towards Gudzani dam 2 cheetah were sighted.
The S100 is always stacked in favour of cats not to mention all other common game.
Game spotting is combination of knowledge coupled with luck.
Don't give this road a miss !!!

Hi all,

I must say that the S100 is normally too busy for our fancy - we prefer the quieter roads. This road has however provided nice sightings in the past, on the few occasions that we have driven it.

In July this year we saw a beautiful serval on a S100 morning drive (see photos under the serval thread), and we decided to give it a go again in the afternoon.

Although we saw a lioness, the late afternoon drive was a "typical" Winter-afternoon S100 drive with heaps of cars and a lot of dust, making it difficult to spot anything.

Approximately 10 minutes before gate closing time we were at the back of a long line of cars pressing to be in time. How none of the other cars saw the leopard sitting right next to the road I will never know. Maybe it could have been the dust. For 5 minutes we had eye to eye contact with the beautiful cat before it disappeared in the bush.

Lion, leopard & serval in one day!!

Heavy traffic jam on the S100 in January this year. About 8 youngsters in the pride providing entertainment, playing and tackling each other.