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Just wondering if and how people record their time in the park (other than photos)? Do you meticulously keep a journal of sightings? What details do you record? Time, weather, place...etc? Do you go back to your records of times past?
I started a 'Kruger diary' last year on our first visit and it is full of each day's drives and activities and our impressions etc etc We are returning in 3 weeks and the diary will continue for 'Chapter 2'!

On my last trip (2011-07-29) to the Kruger I decided to buy a small booklet that contains a checklist of all the animals, birds and trees in the Kruger.

I started marking all the animals and birds I saw in the checklist. After some time it became almost like a game to see who can spot another animal or bird that is not yet on the checklist.

That is when you start shouting at the driver to stop quickly, because you saw a dwarf mongoose on the ground a few meters back. The rules were however, it had to be observed by at least two people in the car and a positive ID must be made in some of the reference books.

It is amazing how much more you started to learn about things you previously would have missed just looking for that next cat or dog sighting.

I am definitely taking the booklet with next time as it allows for three trips, and also gives you then a history of things seen in the Kruger over time. It is also amazing how quickly one forget some of the smaller sightings.

I would advise anybody to start making some list of things you see in the Kruger. The list of animals and birds that forms part of the Kruger Map booklet is also sufficient, so no need to buy expensive books.

Hi threedogs yes we do informally record our sightings/impressions in a note book but I would not call it a journal. We like to read though the different recordings over the years when we are back at home .

Yes, we do.
Mostly in the form of our photographs which we file under the trip date on NAS (Network Attached Storage). It's amazing how you know where each photo was made years after the fact.

I have travelled with mites who record sightings. They are often very good birders.

This is a challenge to MM who calls birds, "Dinguses". At the moment I am watching a "long tailed little brown dingus".

I realise that the recorders get a lot of fun from their recordings. Sometimes the act of recording can be the cause of a lot of hillarity when it come to noting animals/birds down.

I do not record. I often try, but my thoughts can meander like mouse looking for sweet grain. Once the grain is found, the mind turns to mush. I tend to get my joy in my trip reports where so many moments flood back.

We don't keep a diary or journal so to speak but do always take a note book and Jock is meticulous in her recording of the date, time and temperature on entering the park, road names and every animal and bird and anything else of significance.

This is mostly to help me with the writing of our trip report once home.

When she is not on the trip with us I am afraid I am hopeless and have to rely on the memory to do the report which often leads to scratching of the head and improvisation altho I am blessed with having a somewhat retentive memory of where we saw what, but only relating to the parks!

Absolutely!

I create my own booklet that suits me, with a page for the birds and a daily page for the animals.

I put them onto a spreadsheet when I get home.

It also helps me to know what have been good days/routes and refute "we didn't see much today" when we did.

I have an animal list that I tick off
However many ticks next to the animal, thats how many sightings of it on the drive
Type them up on my comp at home

Thanks for the replies. It is interesting to hear how others note down their sightings and experiences. I just have a spiral bound notebook and note date, time of departure from camp, weather/temp and then note down each road number as we go and list sightings underneath and any interesting observations. We also have a bird and animal list which we check off at a later time. As I will be doing all the driving on our upcoming trip I'm relying on my young adult sons to do the recording - hmm.....

Hi threedogs perhaps some interesting sightings or observations that you share with us from your notebook? It would be nice to read

almost everything gets recorded when we visit
Kruger, from time left to time returned, We even
have our provisional shopping list in the book(make
remarks regarding new 'items' we have tried). As well
as road #'s and sightings etc.
Next visit still to far away

We don't make any notes...it sounds like work!

We take photos and keep a mental note however!

Aside from photos (with making sure the camera has been set to the correct date and time) I usually buy two mapbooks.
One is to be kept neat(ish), on the other I mark sightings and the panoramic photos I took. Especially for the latter that is extremely handy to find back where exactly it was.

I only list the new birds i see each day
The special sightings will always be remembered

Always interesting to look back at observations
This is how my preditor count looks around satara. Have travelled the roads about equal amount of times. And have at one point or another given it the best times of the day



H7: 9 lion, 2 leopard, 1 wild dog, 4 jackal
H1-4: 4 lion, 5 jackal, 2 hyena
H1-3: 1lion, 1 leopard, 2 hyena
H6: 2lion, 2 jackal, 1hyena
s90: 2lion, 2jackal
s39: 2lion
s41: 1lion
s100: 1 jackal

the number indicates how many sightings of the preditor
Note the tar roads have given the most preditors. And the H7 is tops while s100 is sucking