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We have just come back from spending 14 days in the park spending some time at Orpen and Satara camps.
There were honey badgers in both camps and although it was a great thrill seeing them they were a bit scary in Orpen as there was three of them on the rampage, they came round while people were still eating onto the porches trying to get into the bins one was even behind one Lady's chair.
When people were trying to scare them away the were growling and showing their teeth they were so bold and not scared.
It is so sad to see these animals reliant on human food.
The one in Satara just came round late at night and went through the bins

We stayed in Orpen for 3 nights last Feb and altho we turned the fridge around, never had any Honey Badger visitors, they must have been away on vacation or something.
I also want to see them but I guess not tearing into my groceries!

On 9 July 2010 we were staying in B circle in Satara when the resident honey badger made its rounds from dustbin to dustbin scavenging on leftover food. We were excited seeing it up-close and personal and I took a few photos as well.



The whole episode suddenly saddened me with the honey badger moving from dustbin to dustbin followed by at least 15 adults and highly excited and noisy children.



People came very close to it and one guy even pulled on one dustbin while the honey badger was semi inside. One guy was making remarks like it is “ job creation at work” due to the extra work for the cleaners the next day.



Maybe this should have been a highlight for me but it was sad and I think SANParks should make a huge effort in catching this honey badger for relocation far away from any camp or upgrade all dustbins to the animal proof ones.

What do you think?

Theuns H - I too have witnessed this Honey-Badger scavanging in the bins at Satara. The last time I saw him he was accompanied by a female and in between knocking over the dustbins they were mating. Great sight!

I agree that Satara management needs to address this problem by installing animal proof dustbins (finances??) or catching the little guy and releasing him in the bush.
He is not the only one around the camp area - there seems to be a few of them.

I remember a little while ago, and I can't find the post I made now but SANParks had received a large number of Baboon proof rubbish bins, which would be fine for HB's as well I would think.
Wonder what happened to those?

I am sure it must extremely frustrating for the staff to come to work and find rubbish strewn all over.

But having said that, on our last stay in Satara in March this year, when we first arrived at our chalet, about 2pm as I recall, the bin in front was already full to the brim and by the evening was actually overflowing as folk continued to pile rubbish in.
I saw several staff members walk past as well but no one attempted to have it emptied?

Must say I was quite surprised not to have the HB visit that evening, it would have certainly hit pay dirt,(pun intended)!

So yes, more effort could be made to curb the pickings which would automatically stop it coming in to camp and not have to be removed which is a dangerous job to tackle I should imagine.

Those dustbins were (are?) a Honorary Ranger project, but they didn't go to all the camps.

In the Cape , honey farmers designed a a metal stand for bee-hives , so that HB cannot raid the hives for honey any more . And the sell their honey as being " badger-friendly ".
It is therefore easy to make something similar in which the dustbin rests/stands , so that the HB cannot knock it over .

As far as recycling goes, both KNP Spokesman and Laura have given info to the forums on what is done in KNP. Waste is definitely sorted.

I have been in Addo where the HRs there also made monkey proof dustbins for the park. The biggest problem? The tourist who do not close the bins properly.

Got an idea for a forum project? Read here.

Hi

Where or what is the best way to see Honey badgers?

Hi Rubicon,
I would say initially with a lot of luck as I have only had fleeting glimpses of them in all the times I have been to the park. but maybe in the early mornings seems to have been my most fleeting glimpse.

Many folk have seen them in camps scavenging through the dustbins or your fridge but again I haven't even had that opportunity, not that I particularly want that.

But they are a very special sighting when you do get them.

Have a look through This Thread for lots of others info.

Rubicon, last year August was a crazy Honey Badger period in the southern part of the Park. Most of the people I know saw a badger somewhere over that period. We had a super sighting of one fishing in a shallow pool next to the Transport dam over that period.

We came across a dead one which got hit by a car between Phalaborwa gate and Letaba in February this year. I was furious as very few people ever see these things and here some speeding idiot killed one. I was wondering what the car looked like though. Probably got its radiator ripped out in the process! I hope!!

I've also had good luck with badgers near the lake Panic turnoff between Skukuza and Paul Kruger gate. The H6 east of Satara. The river road between Letaba and Olifants.

As others mentioned. Camps like Orpen and Tamboti at times have visiting badgers which are probably resident in the camps.

During our last visit, beginning of march this year, we drove out of Skukuza-camp to Lower sabie and we took the first loop at the T-junction near the river to Lower Sabie. And all of a sudden 2 badgers walked towards us with a youngster!. Probably a young badger-family. The young-one was was already as brave as the adults!!.

amazing sighting!!

Ruud

I agree with the above posts - I have seen them raiding kitchens and dustbins during the night at Orpen, Tamboti and Satara camps. At Orpen Camp one cliimbed up onto the kitchen counter and tried to open the car fridge/freezer that was plugged into a socket there - luckily the lid was wedged under the kitchen cupboard, but the honey badger had still tried to pull it out but failed to open it (or knock it to the ground).

Once, fairly early in the morning, I saw 3 or 4 honey badgers trotting in single file across the veld next to the approach road to Mlondozi Dam - they were presumably returning home from their night-time activities.

Also had a very bried glimpse of one in KTP.

Here is a few pics of my badger shots:

The Bume road badger taken April 2011 (the shy one):



Kgalagadi badger near Houmoed July 2007 (the brave one):



Etosha badger at Halali Camp June 2010 (the naughty one):

Hi,

This is the Honey Badger we bumped into in Satara in 2007. Our whole family including my brother who was out from the UK were sitting on our veranda braaing and I had my back to the bin where the Honey Badger was raiding it.

http://tinypic.com/m/2bux4w/2

http://tinypic.com/m/2bux4p/2

http://tinypic.com/m/2bux4o/2

http://tinypic.com/m/2buwr9/2

http://tinypic.com/m/2buwlv/2

Sorry about the images being a bit blurred but it was getting dark.

My brother was facing the other way so he saw it first. When he told me what it was I turned around and as I did that it ran off down to the other side of the camp. We all ran after it, my brother had to stop half way because he was bare foot and got a whole lot of devil thorns in his feet. I was taking quite a few photos while we were running being careful not to get to close to it.

Finally when we got to another bin he found something to his liking and sat down to eat it. So we thought we would leave him in peace to eat his dinner and then he moved off and went and sat in a pipe and ate his dinner.

It was such a nice experience, I've never done that before

I hope we meet him again when we go in May.

Samantha