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Such a beautiful report. We were on the H6 now in July and I am pretty sure we were at the same Hyena den and you will be happy to know all 4 pups are still there and growing! We spent a good 30 min with them sniffing our car and getting very brave while mom was away!



And Olifants rest camp is AWESOME!!

So after a lovely relaxing afternoon and evening the night before spent soaking up the atmosphere of Olifants, we were off bright and early the next morning. As we were in a new area we decided to drive to Letaba camp and have breakfast while we were there. We drove along the gravel road, kept our eyes peeled all the way but no sightings this morning.

We sure did love Letabas location and would like to return here one day and maybe stay a couple of nights.

We had a yummy hot breakfast overlooking the water, visited the shop and elephant museum and dawdled around enjoying the ambience not in any hurry to leave.

Feeling happy and refreshed we took a drive along the H9 to explore the area. We got all the way to Phalaborwa Gate without seeing anything again, a bit of a slow morning but we didn’t mind.

Maybe today was just not going to be an animal day for us so we decided then to go out the gate and have a look around the town.
While there we did a bit of stocking up at the supermarket then stopped at the art and craft shop back near the gate. We had a nice browse around, everything seemed to be made locally which we really liked. Had a chat to the guards and locals [some of whom were there striking], and ended up leaving with a couple of local art works to take home which made me even happier

Back on the main road we had still not seen one single animal all morning, even the birds were in hiding, of course some days the brains are a bit foggy, maybe we missed something in the grass.

So we were slowly driving along in that vacant state of mind that you get in when nothing has been sighted and your brain just starts to slow down when suddenly we noticed something crossing the road at the top of the hill in front of us. At this stage even an impala would be great !!!

It was just a silhouette way in the distance and we were not sure what it was, SO kept saying it was a lion or a leopard but I refused to allow myself to get excited.

But as we got closer the excitement was growing, I kept telling myself it was an impala, but SO was insisting
it had a slinky long tail.

Nearly there..what is it ...it does have a slinky tail...now getting rather excited and nearly jumping through the windscreen.....
And no cars anywhere....yes yes yes

right again Hilda



IMG_5977 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

we know we are not the first to see this

but oh boy we were excited beyond belief


IMG_5960 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_5962 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_5965 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Hope you guys don't mind a couple more piccys before the next chapter, just love this guy so much


IMG_5980 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_5982 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

not sure about this pose

IMG_5972 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

and lastly here is a view of my lovely tail

IMG_5969 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

So feeling completely sated, and still not managing to spot any other creatures. we decided once we got back to our Olifants bungalow that this is where we would spend the rest of the day. Lets enjoy the rest of the afternoon just soaking up the view, and watching giraffes and bushbucks down on the other side of the river.

We decided to have a second attempt at a braii. Of course us Aussies are just as crazy about barbequeing as South Africans right. Well yes but of course we are only used to cooking with gas here, partly because of hot summer days that mean a total fire ban, and partly because we have just become a little ....mmmm...shall we say spoilt.

Sitting on our verandah it seemed a perfect idea but of course as soon as we set it all up and got our food ready a rather gusty wind suddenly blew in. And blew and blew. Attempting to keep our pride intact there was now no turning back now so we perservered until it was lit and firing along.

Our lovely neighbours [Hi Luislang] and other passersby would stop and look then praise us for our courage at attempting a braii on the top of a hill in gale force winds

Anyway as it turned out we had a lovely feast despite sitting huddled against the bungalow wall to escape the howling wind.

Our other neighbour [Hi Arks] came over for a chat during dinner, and once again we were reminded that all the wonderful people we met along the way have also contributed something very special to our holiday.

Our only other sighting for the day !!


IMG_5989 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

The next morning we drove along the S39 again, it was cold and drizzling rain for the first time on our trip and it seemed a lot animals were in hiding.
We did have an enjoyable sighting from a hide ......Ratelpan I think. Some hippos were frolicking in the water and were probably the most active hippos we had seen, they must have loved the rain

Love the circle formed by those massive mouths

IMG_6009 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Stopped for breakfast and a stretch of the legs at Satara then as we left we saw another hyena strolling down the gravel across the road from camp.


IMG_6037 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Our first jackal

IMG_6052 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Thank you Hilda


Not everyone looked too happy about the rain


IMG_6029 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6026 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Then an unusual sight along the main road north from Satara.
I spotted a lioness quite close to the road with her backside in the air and head under a tree. Excited at first as we thought she had a kill but when she showed herself it was awful to see that she was clearly not in a good way.


IMG_6073 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6069 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


She was thin and had lumps and bumps over her body. She kept returning to whatever was under the tree and was eating but we could hear bones crunching so figured whatever the poor old girl was gnawing on did not have any meat left. We left her feeling a bit sad as we always do with these things. Maybe some experts out there can identify what might be wrong with her.


IMG_6084 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6095 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Stopping on a bridge to stretch the legs we saw more hippo and some birds I need some help with.

Sorry the pictures are from a distance but they are clearly birds of prey of some kind, maybe vultures but they just do not look like any we have seen before???



IMG_6108 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6110 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6111 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Glad we got out of the car otherwise would not seen these handsome birds at all.

Our last few sightings around Olifants

Some frisky zebras with wildes and giraffes looking on


kruger12-1 152 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6046 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6118 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6132 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6133 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6136 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

The next day we checked in at Mopani camp.

This was a whole new area for us to visit and we really enjoyed our stay here [surprise surprise].
We spent a lot more time chilling out here on the huge verandah which overlooked the dam. And having a full kitchen was a bit of a treat, we cooked all our dinners at home. We had a little lounge room with couches, which looked like it might be nice to use but I am afraid it did not turn out to be of any benefit. As usual we were so tired once we cleaned up after dinner, and downloaded our photos, we would collapse straight in to bed.

Along the way

kruger12 50d 1 005 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Little did we know just how many of these roadblocks we would have during our stay at Mopani


IMG_6129 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Our first drive from Mopani was of course to check out the famous Capricorn loop and it did not disappoint.

Regular locals I guess


kruger12 50d 1 019 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


kruger12 50d 1 015 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


kruger12 50d 1 014 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Much excitement with this, our very first Tsessebe


kruger12 50d 1 011 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


kruger12 50d 1 009 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Not sure about the Id of these handsome birdies, they joined us at our verandah.


kruger12 50d 1 024 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


IMG_6127 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr

Our last sighting for the day

this little guy did not seem happy at all that we were on his road


kruger12 50d 1 034 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr


kruger12 50d 1 035 by thesandmans2012, on Flickr