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Halloooo... the bus is serviced, washed and there is enough petrol.

Before we take off on our first drive, let me show you what will accompany us a lot of the times from now on...

We took it for a test this weekend, and it is perfect. So nice to sit at a lion sighting (minutes after killing a buffalo) and be on the far side of the road, with two rows of cars and 4x4s between us and the sighting, and we can still see the lions over their cars... It was absolutely amazing.

As promised the lions on the buffalo kill...





Some more tomorrow

What a lekker bus Scipio, just wondering on how many litres you get to the kilometre ??

Thanks for starting your 2012 tour Petra,

Hi Billyf, we tested it now a couple of days. On the open road (highway) it tends to do only between 6 and 8 km on a litre, but in the park we get an average of 10km per litre. We were quite surprised when we realised this.

Hi everyone, welcome on the bus. There is plenty of seats available, and with the working fridge in the bus, all is going to enjoy this drive.
I cannot help myself to post more of the lions on our Voortrekker road adventure, so please be patient.

And the last of the lion pics. What made this sighting so special, was the sounds, and the total interaction in the pride while feeding. It was something I will remember for a very long time.


















As I am going on tour again this weekend, I will be posting the next installment on Tuesday.

Hie-hie, since PJ is on the road, a pic and a tale.



Now at some time, we were driving just south of Satara, that is after Lions, Buff etc. I was on the way to Sweni loop to have a "Leak" Suddenly PJ shouts, LOOK, JACKAL!!!!!!!!

Very nice Petra, and he did not even run away from your voice. I said while driving on.

Suddenly there was an icy cold gush of wind in the vehicle, a silence not to be forgotten(Especially whilst driving with PJ, cause can she talk. Many hours later:

Petra, whats wrong, are you ill?

NO, THAT WAS MY FIRST JACKAL IN 6 YEARS!!!!!

Well, needless to say, I was scanning the bush for, not Lion, Leopard or anything, BUT Jackal for a few days.

Hi Foxy and Normana from 20km outside Orpen gate. There is a rule, I am only allowed to use the bucket when on the road. So still like the ablutions near... A shower is also a no-go and I would only wish for a hot tub or jaccuzi, but that will be in the zink then...

Sitting next to a boma fire at the moment, in a special bush lodge which I am not allowed to mention as it is not a SANParks one, but there is no fences here, and the lady at reception just told me to watch out for the lions in the night, and rather wistle while you go to the ablutions and to always carry a torch... and to listen for sounds before exiting the bus. Saw a brown hyena in the camp last night, got quite a shock, as we didnt realise the animals walks freely in here. Appartently a leopard came to visit a few nights ago, and gave some campers such a fright they left the next day. Wow I just love this "unknown"little gem.

O ja, saw Spargish and family on the road today. Hope they have some great sightings. Tomorrow off to take the guests on a safari on the S100, let us see if someone put up some cardboard lions for us. Enjoy your evening, till tomorrow night.

Petra, Scipio and LO (Cheeky monkey)

Tom, the brown hyena was on the verge of the camping grounds. We were standing in the moonlight looking at the stars when we heard something. Shone the flashlight, and there it was, no time to run back to the truck to get the camera, but netherless one of the bests sightings for me as well. Especially when we realised what it was. Then started to doubt and asked reception, where they said, yes, there is definitely brown hyena around the camp.

Luckily I hadnt had the chance to try out whistling on spotting lions, but saw in Kruger today 60 plus on three different sightings. We started off first with some wilddogs, then a leopard (too quick for a pic) and then lions, lions, lions ... Was supposed to drive up to Letaba from Orpen gate and back with the guests, but only made it to Satara As connection is too slow for downloading pics, will do that on Tuesday when I am back again in Johannesburg.

Almost forgot to mention, saw GemmaT today at the wilddog sighting, at least we got a pic of her in the car as well.

Wildlife4ever-Roy, see you are entering tomorrow your 6 week trip, I really hope you find amazing sightings, and please let us know when you do, we would love to hear from you.

Enjoy your evening and will post again on Tuesday.

It was a great week, but I must tell you all afore PJ tells her version.

Now, it is known that I am able to immitate a few sounds of animals, and one that not even the guide/tourleader could fathom as a human is the call of a Lion. So PJ and Cheaky Monkey dares me to go outside the boma, and put a little life into the guests. Great, I excuse myself going to fetch spice.

Silently I go round the Boma, and let it go. A hush fell over the group, but Francois ensures them the Lion is at least 3 km's away.

Next moment the real deal answered me in full force from right behind me .(Ek het amper my broek beskyt,,,TRL I got a very big scare )

But then, the next moment I was in the Boma, asking everyone if the heard the Lion.

The start of summer always is very special. New life in the veld as the grass turns green, and then off course the little ones arriving...

Normana, usually I ask him to stop first ...

Summer means rain, and while searching through our pics, I came upon these pics of rain and clouds ...

Somewhere in December, we were driving one day on our way to Skukuza, when suddenly something was in the road, acting strangely… this is what we came upon. My very first kill… By the time we were close enough to take pics, it moved off the tarr road already and was in the grass.

Thank you Normana, we couldn't beleive what we saw at first, especially because the frog was so much bigger than the snake.

I am never lucky with cheetah sightings. One day we were driving in the region of Crocodile Bridge, when I mentioned to Scips that I would really love to see some cheetah, where his response was, ok, lets show you some…. He suddenly turned off the tar road on the way to Duke’s waterhole, and said, I am sure within the next kilometre we will find your cheetah, I’ve let him know to meet us here. I was laughing at him, when suddenly he stopped and said… see, what did I tell you? He got the message…

Billy, I still use fax.

But to interrupt the timeline, I found a really nice pic from this weekends hustle and bustle today. Could only find time to download now.