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Hi all forumites!

I would like to just let everyone know that I'm going to Kruger tomorrow!!

I'm so excited.


So when I'm back on Tuesday I will start my new TR!
So get ready!

I'll be camping in Pretoriuskop from the 27 - 1 of May.

Thanks guys!
You are really making me so excited!

On my Wish List:
1. Wild dogs, in the road!!!
2. Leopard, stationary in a tree or ground, but stationary
3. Sable, anything will do
4. Pangolin,

A sign that we are going to Kruger:
Freshly home-made biltong packed away for the drive!


One is half eaten already, I told you I'm excited!

I think probably:
Kruger gate
S65
H1-1
Pkop, then setup camp-
Drive out for the rest of the day!

DAY 1 PART 1

So here we go again on another unpredictable trip to Kruger.

It was a weekend filled with public holidays which made it a perfect time to go to, nowhere else but Kruger!

On Friday the 27th of April I finally heard that incredible sound at 3:45am. No not birds, but the alarm!
To me on the day that we leave for Kruger the alarm is the best sound ever!

So I got up and made the coffee for the rest of the family to wake them up so we can start making a move and get to the gate as soon as possible.

After about an hour everything was packed and we were all ready to go and have the most amazing experience at Pretoriuskop for the next 5 days!


The traffic started off badly as expected but thankfully cleared out.


We arrived at Numbi gate at around 11:00 and had no problem signing in.
We got our forms that we needed to enter.
And we are IN!

The short 7kms trip from the gate to the camp was filled with impala, kudu, 2 buffaloes and a Steenbok.

We setup camp in 1,5 hours:



After a small bite we headed off for our first drive.
We don't usually see a lot of memorable sightings on the first day.
Lets just say that we do this time!

Stay tuned for more!

DAY 1 PART 2

Keep in mind my wishlist:
1. Leopard- in tree or ground, has to be stationary.
2. Wild dogs- in the road
3. Sable- Anything
4. Pangolin- PLEASE!


After a small bite to eat we all wanted to go for our first drive to see what interesting sightings we could see in only 3 hours!

Our route we wanted to take was:
Shabeni loop,
S7,
S3,
S1,
S65
H1-1 back to camp.

We thought this would be a great idea and we got into that car and started the drive!

Our first animal was non other than an impala:


Then we turned on the the Shabeni Loop (S10) and we took this scenery shot:


And then some more on the Doispan Road (S1):




Finally after a more or less quiet drive on the Doispan road we turn onto the Watergat Road (S65) and immediately sightings change.
About 6kms on the road we have our first traffic jam of the holiday, a leopard carcass.
Too far away to photograph but not a bad sighting! It was an impala hanging at the fork of a tree.
We waited for about 20 minutes for the leopard to arrive but we realized we have to get a move on, before the gates closed in an hour and a half!

Then about a few kms from the leopard kill we find these 4 hungry Ground Hornbills:




Some close ups:



Here's a short video I got of them feeding:


Now it is getting dark and we have 1 hour to get to the gate.
We quickly turn on to the H1-1 and drive straight towards camp.
We didn't have time to pop into Transport Dam sadly.
We saw on the GPS that we have 20kms to spot all the nocturnal animals starting to wake up in the early evening. This seemed like so much time to have to spot eveything. It wasn't.
We saw basically nothing!
The GPS now said 2kms to get to the camp. This was now it for us for our first drive. Or so we thought!

We reach 1km to go and what do we see at 5:52pm.
A car stopped! Means only 1 thing at this time! CATS or DOGS!

We drive to where the car was stopped and we couldn't believe our eyes!
There it was, walking in the road!
A LEOPARD!
(They seem to know the exact time that the gates close so that we can't watch them for long)
Here are some pics:



From my phone:


And no, that wasn't enough!
I suddenly hear my dad say excitedly: "There's another one! There's another one!"
The whole car looked forward in time to see the second one walk quickly into the bush.

We all had decided to wait for the second one to meet up with the one still in the road. We made this decision with out even discussing it, no one wanted to leave!
It was so worth the wait!


From my phone:




After the 2 walked into the bush we had to leave straight to the camp, no exceptions!

We got in and we all still felt the adrenaline of seeing such an incredible sighting!
The first day had gone with a kicker!

Not only did we have an unbelievable sighting but that ticked off number 1 on our wishlist!!
On the first drive!

Day 1:
1. Banded mongoose: 4
2. Buffalo: 2
3. Dwarf Mongoose: 8
4. Elephant: 4
5. Hippo: 3
6. Impala
7. Klipspringer: 2
8. Kudu: 15
9. Leopard: 2
10. Steenbok: 2
11. Tree Squirrel: 1
12. Vervet monkey: 20
4 of the big 5 in 3 hours! not bad!

I hope you all enjoyed day 1.

Stay tuned for our incredible 1st ever sighting for us on day 2!

DAY 2 PART 1

Keep in mind my wishlist:
1. Leopard- in tree or ground, has to be stationary. -CHECK-
2. Wild dogs- in the road
3. Sable- Anything
4. Pangolin- PLEASE!

Rise and shine time to wake up for our first full day in Kruger!

I woke up at 4:30 to get to the gates at 6:00, I know way too early but I get excited! I love that feeling being the only one awake in camp, it's always amazing.

So we get the the gate and there is already a line of about 4 cars! So we wouldn't be the first ones out but it didn't make a difference in the end!

Finally the gates opened!

We wanted to go straight to Transport Dam as there is a hyena den there and we wanted to see the pups.

We got a bit distracted on the way there by 4 figures running in the road.
We were on the H1-1 about 1km from Pretoriuskop, so not too far!

We looked and we couldn't believe our eyes when we realized what were in the road.
WILD DOGS!

It's incredible!
Day 1 - last sighting - leopard (Item 1)
Day 2 - first sighting - Wild Dogs (Item 2)

So we quickly did a U-turn and followed them back to Pretoriuskop.



After we followed them for 1km, then stopped at the T Junction for some photos.


The one dog picked up a piece of paper lying around and started eating it. I wanted to take it from him as I felt so bad, but there was nothing I could do.


After a few minutes they started walking and we continued to follow them.


Then at the turnoff to the Pretoriuskop picnic center the leader suddenly stopped and had that stance that everyone knew what was going on. They spotted prey.

He looked at the other 3 dogs and gave them a sign. It was more like a "Let's go for it".
As he did it, the other 3 dogs started looking carefully.
We went forward and there was an impala standing in the middle of the picnic area next to all the tables where you are allowed to get out!!




After a few silent moments we all knew the hunt was on.
All 4 started walking together and cramped next to each other.




When they realized that the impala knew they were there the dogs started the chase.



They chased and ran but the impala sadly got away.
All the cars following the dogs started to fill up the picnic area.
When the dogs disappeared after chasing the impala, about 3 seconds later all the cars disappeared too.

We never...
I said to the rest of the family "Let's wait, they might come back."

We did wait.

5 minutes later we look and there they were again! Just to ourselves!


They quickly disappeared afterwards, we waited again but they never returned.

This whole experience was a first for us. We have never seen a wild dog so close!
And what they did for us was amazing!

I hope you all enjoyed Day 2 Part 1

Stay tuned for more...

Hi

I finally uploaded the video of the wild dogs!
Please watch, it's very entertaining!



Let me know what you think!

Thanks so much!!
It was truly incredible!


Thanks!
Us too, it was a first for us! Never seen them in the road before!



Everyone was asleep but when the car stops you have that feeling. And then all the sleepy heads wake up.


It was the best start I could hope for!
It was weird that the impala stayed for so long. It realized them even before they realized it. But the dogs didn't seem too interested in running so maybe that's why?
Not sure.


Thanks!
I hope you enjoy the rest!


We are so used to seeing impala, for a change our FIRST sighting was something incredible!


It was amazing!
Wouldn't mind having that again. Anyday!


I hope so too!
Good luck!
I hope you have the best time ever!


Thanks!
Welcome aboard!


No one can not enjoy wild dogs! They are just too special!


My next installment is going to be good!


Thanks so much!
I'm so glad you loving this TR
Welcome aboard and I hope you love the rest!


Thanks so much! I hope you like the rest!


lol! I hope you have that feeling all the time! Believe me you will!


You definitely should!
It keeps you entertained!


You are right! Our adrenaline was pumping like mad!


It's was incredible!!

Welcome aboard!


DAY 2 PART 2

So what a morning with this amazing wild dog experience!!
Was truly a first for all of us.

Now to the rest of the day!

We decided to go to H1-1 and just drive up there and see what else we could find, as that road had shown us Leopard and wild dogs already!

We stopped off at Shitlhave dam where we found this awesome sighting of a juvenile Martial Eagle swimming and relaxing.
We were determined to sit there until it took off, just to get a great picture.
First ten minutes:


After 20 minutes of waiting it move a little closer:




After 30 minutes of waiting the following pictures paid off the long wait:



So we continued to drive towards skukuza even though we knew we weren't going to get there, but still a great drive.

We went passed the Klipspringer Koppies where we saw, you guessed it, klipspringers.


We decided to get back to camp for lunch.

On our way back a car stopped us to ask us if we saw anything. We told them about the Klipspringers and then we asked if they saw anything. They said "Leopard!" or at least we thought.
We all got so excited.
We asked them how far. They said "oh just 50m from here. You'll see there are about 10 of them"
It was then when we all got our hopes up too high.
It turns out the leopard was a herd of elephants.

Still a great sighting when the one young one started playing in the road.



Then an even younger one. This one was still learning how to use it's trunk with it flying all over the place.



We went back to camp and had a great lunch.

The afternoon drive was very quite so no photos.

DAY 2 Summary:
1. Banded Mongoose - 1
2. Blue Wildebeest -2
3. Burchell's zebra - 14
4. Chacma baboons - 20
5. Crocodile - 1
6. Elephant - 50
7. Giraffe - 10
8. Hippos - 2
9. Impala
10. Klipspringer - 2
11. Kudu - 3
12. Nyala
13. Tree squirrel - 1
14. Vervet monkey - 13
15. Warthog - 10
16. Waterbuck - 17
17. Wild Dog - 4

So today I ticked off item 2 on the list.


I hope you enjoyed DAY 2...

STAY TUNED FOR DAY 3, THE BEST DAY I HAVE EVER HAD IN KRUGER!
You don't want to miss it!

Thanks all for your great comments!

DAY 3 - Best Day Ever!

Which is my favourite law on earth? Easy!
Murphy's Law...
It's the only law (Besides for gravity) that never fails!
Every trip we go on our friend Murphy helps us out.

This day of the trip was no different!

It goes like this...


I woke up as usual got the coffee ready as usual and then woke every one up as usual.

But today was going to be a great day filled with sightings the second my sister said:
"I'm too tired. You go with out me and then at 8:00am come back and I'll be ready."
We said fine. We would come back at 8am. Or so we thought.

After we all had our morning drinks we were off to start the best day so far for me in Kruger.

We decided that we were going to go to transport dam sit a while and get back to my sister by 8am.

So we were on our way. (Murphy's law, do us proud!)

We turned on to the H1-1 and we got hit by the beautiful sunrise covered by major mist that was everywhere.




Due to the mist our sightings up until then were pretty slow.

But we turned onto the turnoff to transport dam and finally saw a car stopped.
First predator for the day!
And first hyena for the trip! (we were discussing that morning how we wanted to see them as they are my dads favourite!)


How fast that hyena did actually disappear


We got to transport dam and it was quiet but beautiful!
The mist made it seem so special.





Finally some animals arrived.




At about 7:30am a car arrived at the dam and said that there were lions on the H3 just south of the H1-1.
We had seen 2 leopard and 4 wild dogs by then with no lions!!
Looking at the time we thought that we would never get back by 8am to fetch my sister so lets just try.

We did...

We got there and we saw a traffic jam and we got so excited! We asked a car what they we looking at and of course the usual "You just missed a pride of 14 lions." Bla Bla Bla...
But the car turned out to be a friend of ours so we discussed our sightings and shared some photos. He said that he was on the prowl for leopards.
We told him so were we and that he should follow us back to Skukuza and maybe we'll get lucky.
He said he'll meet us there but he would take the H3 and H1-1. Big Mistake!

We thought to ourselves. AGGHH!
What a waste of time and petrol, which by the way we were running out of, to go look for those lions.
We needed to go to Skukuza and fill up.

We thought of taking the route S112, S114, H1-1 and then back to camp to fetch my sister well after 8am but with her missing nothing interesting at least, besides for the hyena.

We left our friend at the turn off to the S112, while we turned he continued.

We drive extra slowly as we know that there is a common leopard in that area.
Soon about a km down the road, what do we see walking in the road?
The Leopard!!!!

We quickly took a photo as he was walking towards the bush.



Once he left to off road we said "Oh well, thats the end of that incredible sighting."

But we didn't leave. We waited.
The waiting paid off as we finally saw this coming out the bush:





This beautiful leopard then crossed the road and sat for a few minutes.






We realized what he was looking at when he started to stare and lock his ears on his target.
It was an impala on the opposite side of the road.


The leopard started to walk and cross the road again, and again sat.




It started to crouch towards the impala, we wanted to get a good view of the impala so we moved the car.
We waited 20 minutes and nothing happened and the leopard disappeared.



We thought of how Murphy was there for us the whole time!
And he didn't think this was enough.

When we decided to leave that unbelievable leopard experience to head to skukuza, a car showed up and asked us what we were looking at.
We said "we just spent the last 45 minutes with a hunting leopard. And you?"
He looked surprised and said "Oh great! But go down a few kms and at Kwaggaspan there are cheetahs"
We asked them if they would still be there and they said that they were walking off and probably gone.

They soon left and we discussed if we should go to the "alleged" cheetah sighting or go back to camp even later than we had expected.
After a great argument that ended with "It's her fault she didn't come with" that we decided to check out the cheetahs.

What a great decision!

We arrived at Kwaggaspan with the 2 cheetah waiting for us.


We waited with them for about 10 minutes and then they started to walk around the water and drink.





The other one at the other end looked in the water and jump with fright from his reflection.


But then got over it.




We had had the most incredible morning full of spotted animals, and it was the first time ever we had gone from a leopard to cheetah in a space of 10 minutes!

We filled up at Skukuza and proudly told another forum member about the cheetah. They were so excited as they hadn't seen cheetah in a long time!


Nothing too interesting on the way back to camp to fetch my sister as we didn't want to make our morning trip report even more unbearable as it already was.

Back at camp we wanted to make it up to her by going on a drive. Even though everyone was so tired after such an eventful morning.
She agreed and off we went for our sunset drive.

We decided to take a route that we had never done before.
The H2-2 voortrecker road.

We turned onto that road and had a great start with a road block.


We finally reach Komapiti dam and as we turn towards the water I see a head sticking out of a bush!
Finally! The last of the magnificent 7! (Which we always see first)
The LION!!



Good thing we didn't come 30 seconds later.


So that was it for the sleepy lion that was going to do nothing for the rest of the day.

We then went to Shitlhave dam to watch the sunset there which was beautiful!



So I hope you enjoyed Day 3 - my best day in Kruger so far!

DAY 3 SUMMARY:

1. Banded Mongoose - 2
2. Blue Wildebeest - 1
3. Bushbuck -2
4. Chacma baboons - 30
5. Cheetah - 2
6. Crocodile - 1
7. Elephant - 70
8. Giraffe - 15
9. Hippos -5
10. Impala
11. Kudu – 7
12. Leopard - 1
13. Lion – 1
14. Spotted Hyena- 2
15. Tree squirrel - 1
16. Vervet monkey - 2
17. Warthog - 5
18. Waterbuck - 4

To be continued... with another sighting that I have NEVER seen before but I have been looking for the past 7 years!

FINAL DAY

So It's taken long but here is the final day.

We woke up refreshed and ready to make the last day count. Beside for my dad who wanted to sleep late. So no good photos of the morning drive.

We headed straight to the S3.

As we turned on there was a huge herd of buffalo crossing the road.


AND!! We were driving and I suddenly see a cheetah next to the road!
I shouted stop.
Everyone looked back and by the time I switched on my camera to film it had already disappeared into the bush. I got some footage but even I can barely see it. We just had enough time to watch it cross the road.

We went back for lunch. We met our friend, who missed the leopard and cheetah the day before, and we had lunch with him.
He really wanted to go out to look for animals. He asked if any of us wanted to go. Everyone was too tired... Besides for me

So we went towards transport dam, but as we got to the turnoff to the H2-2 I had a feeling to go on it.
We both looked at each other and thought. What the heck, lets do it.
It was the trip's best decision!

We saw a car and asked him if he saw anything. To my wildest dreams' surprise he said "Sable, 15kms down"

Was I SO excited!!!

We went 15kms down and saw nothing!
We were both determined to see them so we eventually spent 1,5 hours driving up and down to look for them.

We didn't find them so I said that we should go back.
As we turned back, I'll never forget this moment, I see a head looking up to me on the hill about 500m into the bush.
There they were!! A herd of 4 sable!!






That was again Murphy's law in action!
And it just shows how if you spend more time looking for animals than in the camp, you end up seeing way more!.

I hope you enjoyed this Trip report!

This was by far my best trip yet. Especially because we saw so much on our Wishlist!
On my Wish List:
1. Wild dogs, in the road!!! - SEEN
2. Leopard, stationary in a tree or ground, but stationary - SEEN
3. Sable, anything will do - SEEN
4. Pangolin, - Next time my friend!

Thanks so much for following my trip and I look forward to the next one!