SANParks.org Forums

Someone is having a good time... First report received earlier from the "coffee"man:


Me: What?? No leopard??

Me: Suppose I catch the 19.00 wormhole...?


One can dream, hey?

Update (received 14.30):


Me: Hi from all, and Jay wants the GPS coordinates for yesterday's cheetah.

Me: you mean it wasn't one of WTM's cut outs? Different coordinates???

Me: You're not by chance having a beer too?

Me: Cheers!

I haven't heard from him since, but I know he had booked the stargazing activity so we'll probably hear all about that in the morning.

Today's conversation:

Me: Which one was it? Tusker, I mean?Me: How you know he's one of the named ones then?
A bit later:
Me: Easy with the beers, ok? Nobody to watch your back on the way to the loo in the middle of the night. Me: Eish... did you lock the kitchendoor?
Me: Oi!! Then maybe just grrre/grrra (5-7 times) right back at him/her?Me: you got enough wood to postpone your supper, if need be?Me: Depends, I guess. Can you see the meat from where you are??

Day 1

Arrived at Orpen after an eventful journey and slightly delayed but made it safe and sound. Was greeted with the usual friendly manner by SANParks staff, and I had arrived home, life is great and with the bushveld in nostrils and sounds ringing through my ears off we set. Decided to lunch at Satara and then head back to Tamboti., through the gate we were greeted by impala and further on some zebra and wildies and a nice herd of ele’s quietly munching away on both sides of the road. Then lunch at Satara all I can say well done Satara they’ve managed to upgrade the restaurant area while still keeping the same bushveld feeling. Back to Tamboti, and not far down the road some buffalo always glad to see them as they sort of part of the family further along three Lion lying in the bush and a great start so far, Tamboti once again stole my heart, this time stayed in the luxury bungalows and this is still the best camp. On our afternoon drive managed to catch up with some old friends the two cheetah brothers that roam that part of the world and great to catch up with them. Then settled in for the evening with braai going and glasses filled. Content with life

Day 2

Early start to the day as we pack up and off on the next leg, we are greeted by the brothers again, this time I actually manage to get a half decent photo

and travelling further on we come across what was left of a zebra
And some squabbling amongst the breakfast guests.


And then a funny story played itself out while eating some breakfast overlooking Nsemani dam this egret took exception to some impala walking on his patch of grass and proceeded to chase them around




T.B.C

Day 2 cont’d

After a brief pit stop at Satara we headed north to Olifants our next destination and low and behold a species of bird I have not seen in Kruger for a long time especially not this far north


by now the heat was starting to kick in and even the impala started to wilt away and we decided to push on a bit to Olifants and spend the afternoon in the camp. But there was one more surprise …. Stopping at the Olifants bridge a lioness had just wandered down the bank and into the reeds in the river bed … and once again the temp rose we arrived at olifants and spent the afternoon at the lookout point where I watched a croc play cat and mouse with a yellow billed stork …. was fascinating to watch (wheres a 2000mm lens when you need one)… what the final outcome was I don’t know as we had to prepare for the evenings activity.


Star gazing at Olifants

All I can say about this is WOW and if haven’t done it then DO IT … we started out just before sunset


We arrived at Nwamanzi lookout to be greeted by the folks from Astronomy Africa who treated us to some sundowners as the last rays of sun crept over the horizon and in the valley a lion roars and the hippos are grunting … life is great …


after it had darkened we began with the astronomy we were shown the basic constellations and an very informative talk we then moved onto the telescope and looked at the stars and constellations like the jewel box and then Jupiter and saw the storm bands on Jupiter as well as the four Galilean moons or surrounded in complete darkness. On the way back to camp we went on a short night drive we saw a scrub hare and very special sighting of a spring hare hopping down the road and off into the bush.

We settled back into our hut and dreamt of stars as we drifted off to sleep.

A big thanks to Alan our guide for the evening who handled a difficult group extremely well and a big thumbs up if you ever come across Alan in your Kruger wanderings rest assured you are in great hands.