SANParks.org Forums

Donny, that is fantastic. What an experience.

I also like the S39...have almost always seen lions at Ratelpan and this year July saw lions chasing zebra at Roodewal waterhole..very exciting

Hi Francoisd,

Was on S127 in Aug 07,and couldn't disagree more. Managed 2c rhino,elephant,steenbok,ostrich,zebra & the biggest herd of kudu that i've seen in the park.Must have been about 25-30 of them incl. some superb male kudus.

Thats the beauty of the park i suppose ,u never know whats around the next corner.

But as far the road goes I agree,its not the best on the park.

Hi Guys,

Theres just something that i am dying to know from any1 out there.

This incident happened on the 2nd of May 2008. I had driven the S39 from the Timbavati picnic spot north upto the Piet Grobler dam.Had seen not much upto that point. At Piet Grobler I met up with a vehicle that had been coming from Roodewal direction to where we met.

On enquiring if anything had been happening further north on the S39 he said "nothing much except that theres a fresh impala carcass just off the road about 9km ahead but no predator in sight".
Hearing this I pushed on in that direction wanting to see for myself. After some time I got to the spot where 2 other vehicles were stationed. About 6m off the road lay the impala carcass still 100% intact but no predator in sight.

My initial feeling was that it could have died of natural causes but on closer inspection blood smudges were to be seen in the throat region.It definitely had been taken out !

I sat for about 15 minutes but no sign of anything. Being that it was very hot and just about 12h30pm,we'd been driving around since 6am and the kids were getting a bit restless I decided to go back to camp at Satara and return later on.

I duly did return at about 16h30 and not a single car in sight.More amazing to me was that the entire carcass had been "cleaned to the bone" in the exact spot where it was seen earlier, right in the open with a clear view.Once again no clue as to what it was that had feasted on the hapless impi.

I feel like kicking myself for NOT staying on a while longer where I could have had a sighting to remember for a lifetime.
Whoever did stay on were treated to a feast.

Is there anyone that might have more information on what had happened there?
I am being eaten up not knowing what i missed out.

One could only speculate as to the reason for its death.

I have a good suspicion that vultures had a major part in its disappearance!

Imberbe wrote

It was definitely the work of a predator that had brought the impi to its end.Bite marks were on the throat.

Could vultures have "cleaned" up the carcass in that space of time ?

Yes! Easily!

A few years ago we came across a dead impala on the same road, I can't remember where though, and an immature bateleur was 'guarding' it. There were no marks on it so we assumed it was roadkill.

I love this road!!! Have had luck seeing Honey Badger just before the Ratelpan turn. Also seen ellie and lion at the same time on the way up to Roodewal. This December we were really lucky though. About 5kms from the Timbavati Road there is a bend in the road; at about 07h35 on 24 December 2009 saw leopard, with only one other car, who drove off before the leopard re-appeared.

Its really interesting reading the different views and sightings on this road.
We drove it in 2009 and including seeing a Serval we were entertained from top to bottom, took us hours and hours.
We had all sorts of sightings ranging from birds to various animals, Leopards etc and we declared it an excellent road.
Then this year we did it again with high expectations and found it badly corrugated and hardly saw a thing the whole way to the picnic are despite taking every little loop and side road.
So really, the bottom line is, one never knows what you are going to see from month to month, week to week or even day to day.
But I guess that's what keeps us going back year after year.

Any reason not to love this road? After s56 it is my second favorite 500m from Ratelpan hide (Dec 2009) Stalking impala's 5m from the road









Also, at the corner of the s39 / H7... found the 2 cheetah brothers on 4 separate occasions, as well as 2 big male lions. Nice long quiet route with breathtaking scenery

Enjoying this thread

Lovely stuff Gamespotter!! I was on the road in Dec 2009, it was full of impala everywhere and knew it was a matter of time for the lions to pitch up as I had heard them from the Ratelpan hide but they were across the river which was flowing strongly on the 2nd Dec.

In the early 90's I remember great interaction with 6 lions and a bunch of vultures feeding on a Buff Kill somewhere north of Roodewaal Camp. I have driven this road a good number of times this last decade and on 2 occassions this road has produced some amazing viewing.
On one occassion a pride of 15 lions had brought down 2 zebra next to the road West of the picnic site, so we were told. We went there the next morning and found 2 male lions on the 2 dead zebra and then continued to Piet Grobler Dam where first we had 13 lions cross the road infront of us (im sure the same ones) and then 2 cheetah sightings of single adults either side of the Dam.
On a another trip to KNP we decided to drive the road again since it had been so good to us. Between the junction of the S127 and Piet Grobler Dam we came across a leopard in the riverbed followed by 2 hyenas further on and then 2 sets of lions not far apart and excellent general game.

Having had a lot of luck on this road I must say we have also had our days of driving it and seeing very little so as any road its a hit and miss but the hits have made it more than worth it!

Taking this road Sunday morning after heading down the H7 from Satara.
Soon I will have my own oppinion on the road

Enjoy 5 Weeks and I'll do the full lenght of this road again. One warning, the pics might be misleading at times...... Go without any high expectations, and you might just be lucky

Try to do this road later afternoon. Have fun

Okay then. Afternoon it is