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Oct &, Day 4, continue

Leaving Nkaya pan and aventualy on our way to Tshokwane along the H1-3 and it's a busy road. If you can call 1 vehicle every 5 to 8 minutes busy,... coming from Gauteng. All of a sudden a vehicle going in the same direction, waved us frantically down. First thought was they had car trouble, but no, there was a chameleon in the middle of the road!



I love when their eyes look in different directions.



These beautiful flowers were next to the road for a long way, no idea what they are called. We also saw them on the S40 north of Satara.



Along the way we saw lots of pajama donkies every where, all going in the same direction we are traveling in. Maybe there is a zebra convention near Tshokwane?



At the turn off to the most southern Boabab tree we met these lovely lady long necks. They walked across the road, we taking pics and forgot to turn off to the Boabab.







The Kumana dam had a lot of action going on with hippies, impalas, zebra and a few vlakkies, but I was thrilled with the birds on show.

This hippy cought us again by him playing dead, but he flicked his ears now and then, just soaking up the mid morning sun.



Some of the bird action with a Grey heron, Egyption geese and a Blacksmith Lapwing. (I'm sure I took more photos of the birds, but they went somewhere......)



Just before the S86 we had a really nice road block. A small heard of 30/40 buffs of all sizes were crossing the road. They were in very good condition.

This bull has an impressive set of horns



and made sure he showed them off.





We turned off onto the small S86 loop and got the buffs again.





Love driving right next to the river and we found these bobbies having there breakfast snacking away on some sausages from the sausage tree they where sitting under.

This one even used his foot to eat his sausage.



The mommy did not share hers with the baby, he was eating some grass.





Then as we pulled away and looked up there was movement in the bush and to our delight it was a Njala bull! This is our second Njala on the trip and we could not believe our luck.







A little bit on and we saw an ellie also having his breakfast, but luckily not right next to the road.



Then we saw some zebras also on their way south.





Still in discussion of everything we saw in only 4km a bakkie stopped next to us and it was YR mite Mgoddard! We were so intreaged by all we saw and forgot to look for other yellow ribbons (YR). We had quick introductions and a bit of a chat as she was going in the opposite direction. She was on holiday and would stay in Kruger for a month!. We told her about the Njala and hope he was still there for her to enjoy.

Back on the H1-3 we stopped at the Mazihi dam and it was just birds every where. Here I saw my first spoonbill in the wild (saw one before in Birds if Eden Bird Sanctuary).





A grey heron on the hunt for a fresh fishy.



This must be the most adorable scene ever, mother egyptian goose and her goslings! (Not so sure if this is an egyptian goose, maybe the mights can help.)



They are already putting their heads under water looking for food.



Still we saw zebra going south every where. I was looking for the Sanparks striped bud shot, but they did not line up as requisted.



Eventually we arrived at Tshokwane and it was busy, tour buses, other game viewing groups and school tours every where. Luckily they came from Sukuza and we were not heading in that direction.



The old figtree boma restored to it's full former glory after the floods January..



Two Yellow-billed kites were trying to make a meal out of the smaller birds around the picnic area. They would dive bomb the starlings, impressive to watch, luckily they did not manage to catch one while we were making brunch. There was one brave monkey that would clean the skottle braais after the people left and he would climb in the tree where the kite were sitting and show his teeth at them. The kites first ignored him but when he got really close they would fly to another branch. The kites kept me so occupied that I forgot to take pictures of anything else....









After Skillie made a lovely brunch we drove to Orpen dam.

Day 4, to continue....

Some where, Some time

Some where at some point in time (not on day 4) we saw this to our pleasure.

Rhino cows are seldom found alone. They prefer to live in small groups.



Rhinos only has 1 calf at a time after a gestation period of 16 months.



The cows are always accompanied by their youngest calf.



When a new calf arrives, the older calf gets chased, but most of the time he will hang around for as long as he can with mom and the new calf.

These beautiful Trrrpies were growing every where along the road!!



Thanks Trrrpie for their botanical name "Esoognom Repus" that we will never remember, we'll just call them Trrrpie's from now on!

Oct 7, Day 4, continue

After we had a lovely brunch at Tshokwane we drove to the Orpen dam up the S32. This was the first time we've ever been here and the view was absolutely breathtaking. It was hot, in the middle of the day and we ducked and dived to stay in the shade. We saw a Goliath Heron and a Great Egret, but they were amongst the reeds and did not present great photos.



A small heard of ellies, moms and little ones, swam across the water, walked way down the bank to go and drink water at their favourite spot I presume.











We spend some time at the Orpen dam lookout point before we left via a short piece of the S35. It was amazing to see how high the debrie from the January floods were, why above road level.

Back on the H1-3 and back at the Kumana dam was this ellie and Sadle-billed stork. I love getting different species in one shot.



This time we took the turn off to the Boabab. We saw baboons and monkeys, waterbuck, impies, but most off all it's a lovely piece of road to drive.



Back on the H1-3 we took one of those tiny loops that just goes to the river bank and saw this Ellie against the afternoon in a water hole. A bushbuck ram came to drink water while the ellie was taking a bath, but I was not quick enough with the happy trigger and missed him, This was the only bushbuck ram we saw during the whole trip AND I MISSED HIM. A Grey heron watched the ellie, hoping a fishy will wash up.





We turned of onto the S125 and then onto the S36. These roads were quite with little to see, but again really nice to drive with beautiful scenery.

We did see some well fed vlakkies



and some zebra resting in the shade.



At the Shimangwaneni dam we saw this White-backed vulture drinking water and I thought that was quite special.





We arrived at the Muzandzeni picnic spot and we were relieved to have a body break.





As you go to the bathroom you can see the western waterhole and there was an ellie and some impies.



To the east is another waterhole and there were ellies too.



It awesome to stand there in the middle of the bush surrounded with ellies and I wasn't afraid at all.



Then we heard a familiar sound, it was a Crested barbet! He was upset about something and made his cak-cak-cak call, instead of his usual alarm clock trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr call.



On the ground was Blue wax-bills catching ants and it was soooo difficult to take pic as they never sit still for more than a second.







The friendly caretaker at the picnic spot told us he heard from visitors that there were lions on the S126 Sweni road and we went back to Satara that way. We saw a few impalas and steenbok, but the lions went somewhere else for the afternoon. Again, what a nice road to drive.

Almost at Satara we decided to make a quick stop at the Msemani dam and found about 30 vehicles on the bridge juggling for space and they we looking at far-far-far away binocs lions laying in the shade. While everybody was staring through their binoculars we saw this quick BBJ (black backed jackal) who came to drink water right in front of us and he was gone again in a flash and so were we.



It was a long day, out from 7h30 to 17h30, with great sightings, maybe no cats and dogs, or wait, the far away lions is cat and the BBJ is dog. Then we saw it all, but most of all we enjoyed just being in the African bush all day long.

Back at camp it was time make the fire, sit back and relax.

The end of day 4.

Thanx Phillip, now I get it.......... I thought Trrrpie found the real name, never mind....... now I get it.....

But since you love my ellies (btw I like Super Elly) and gave me flowers, I'll give you this



with an interesting fact for all the mites:

Njalas love eating flowers and fruit, but they cant reach it. They follow troops of monkeys and baboons and are often found together (like we found this one) and eat their left overs and the flowers and fruit dropped from the trees by their primate friends.
Njala bulls tend to be solitary, but if a bull meets a family group he will investigate if there is a cow in season and stay for as long as it takes.

Oct 8, Day 5

The previous day we found out every thing about the Mananga off road trail. You can not make a reservation before hand, as the Satara manager will first decide if conditions are favourable on the day you want to drive the route. They close the trail when it's raining and it has to dry a out before they open it again. It's not 4x4 road conditions, just the dirt track service roads the rangers use, but you may only do the trail with a 4x4 vehicle in order to get your self out of sticky situations if needed.

We reported 7 o'clock at reception as instructed. It was overcast the morning but not raining and we paid for our permit to drive the trail. The 48km normally takes about 3 hours, but we knew it will take us a lot longer. We received the GPS co-ordinates for the 12 or more check points and you are allowed to start at any point any way around.

Still in camp Skillie entered the GPS co-ordinates and I heard a Spookvoël (Grey-headed Bush-shrike) calling close by. As I grabed my camera I heard the tik-tik-tik of a woodpecker even closer. I found the woodpecker a few trees on and then so exited I thought it was a Bennett's Woodpecker, but after down loading the photos I ID it correctly as an Cardinal Woodpecker. But still a great sighting!



Then I went looking for the Spook and after 10 minutes I found him (first time ever I see one after hearing them for years) near the day visitors aera, But he woun't let me get close, never mind taking a picture. I followed him for another 10 minutes taking many pictures of trees with no birdie in it. This banana bird came to look what I was trying to do and was happy to pose for a kiekie.



Eventually I gave up on taking a picture of the Spook, but at least I saw him. Very embarest, this is the best pic out of the 100 I took of my Spook.....



After figuring out the confusing co-ordinates we were on our way and it felt good to be able to turn of the normal road onto this narrow dirt track.



The trail consists of two parts coming together at check point number 8 where you are allowed to get out of your vehicle if it's safe to do so. We decided not to get out now since it's still early and will do so the next time we get here. Not far after the water hole we saw vultures in the trees and a bit on we saw these guys on the ground with the remains of what was a buff.



I can never tell I they are Cape Vultures or White-backed Vultures, maybe the mites can help and give me some tips what to look for.





This was another first for the life list and the only Lappet-faced Vultures for the trip.



Not to far from the vultures we saw this Brown Snake-eagle right next to the track.
(Pumbaa help me with the correct ID, it's not a Brown Snake-eagle, it's an immature Bateleur, excellent I think, even better since the Bateleur is Skillies favourite raptor!)





Doing the trail you have to do a piece of the S41 and we stopped at the Gudzani dam were we met YR mite Moddy Minder. They were on their way to Balule. We had a quick chat of what we've seen and both of us were really hoping to see some spotted cats.

We really enjoyed the drive on the trail and the best part was not seeing another vehicle the whole time, but saw very little of anything, a few impala, waterbuck, 2 blues and 1 ellie all faaaaar away. Back at check point 8 we had a good look around hoping to see something and I think Skillie only saw the 2 blues far away. The cement dam was full though.

After not seeing anything I had to take pictures of something for my TR.

In the background is the windmill at Malihane (I think that it's name) waterhole.



Skillie looking for any life, near and far.



Skillie posing for the camera.



Just as we finished the trail 5 hours later and turned on to the S90 we saw 2 Kori Bustards! At least we had a good birding day so far.....







Day 5, to continue....

Oct 7, Day 5, continue

Not to far from the Kori Bustard we saw YR mite Moggy Minder's vehicle again and they were looking at something. As we got closer we saw it: Cheetahs!!

There were four cheetah brothers just laying around on a mound in the middle of no where, our day just turned from good, to better, to best!

(The photos quality are not to great, it was overcast and they were a good 100 meters or so away from the road, but I had to post plenty pics as cheetahs are my favourite animal since I was a child and we did not see any during our April trip earlier this year.)



Three of the brothers where playing and rolling over each other.



One of the four brothers were laying more to the left wondering what the others were doing.



One of the three walked over to the one on the left who wanted to play, but no luck.





Then the one on his own walked over to other brothers hoping they were still in the mood to play but no luck again.





Two of the brothers scanned the area and walked off leaving one behind.





The last brother still wanting to play then realized the others were gone.





He looked for his brothers and soon he was off too.







We were in 7th heaven with the cheetah sighting and all this time it was just us, Moggy Minder and another vehicle. We watched them for a good 45 minutes. Moggy Minder where so happy that they saw spotted kitties at last!

We went back to camp, enjoyed a lazy afternoon and kept thinking what tomorrow will bring!

End of day 5

Hi Phillip, thanx for the reply!

Glad you like the little info on the Njala I gave you.

The Mananga trail was awesome to drive and we took our time enjoying the bush. The track goes through the river quite a few times, but is generally very open. Were we came off the trail on to the S90 must be part of the cheetahs territory, they just chose the lime light that day. But there were we found the vultures with what was a buff must be lion territory and could easily be part of the mega prides land, we just missed them by a week or so..... but that must have been something to drive all alone on the trail and to see them!! I would pay the R475 to drive it again without a doubt!

Skillie, eeeww, he must just drive......

Some where, Some time....

We saw this unbelievable sight during our trip and we watched them for more than 2 hours.

White Rhino cows without calfs will often walk two-two together. Young adults will also form groups of the same sex up to five strong. Where water and fodder is readily available, cows with calfs will form groups up to ten. Cows territories mostly overlap each other and are not defended.























More pics of this awesome sight will follow later.....

Oct 9, Day 6

Today we decided to do another road trip to Olifants. It would be a long day again and we planned to make brunch at Timbavati picnic spot, visit Ratelpan bird hide, have lunch at Olifants and back on the H1-4.

It also turned out to be our best unmentionable sighting of the whole trip, we did not see that much the rest of the day, still a few great sightings though, but the high from unmentionables lasted all day!

It also turned out to be a good birdie day!

The Timbavati Boabab tree.



The banana birds were just waiting for me to take their kiekies!









Love the look on this Red Chilli bird's (Re-billed Hornbill) face.



Timbavati's resident Bushbuck ladies, Skillie calls all bushbuck "Picnic bokkies".









Skillie scanning the river bed beneath the picnic spot with a banana watching him.



After a terrific brunch Skillie made and the 100's of kiekies I took of the bananas we left for Ratelpan bird hide. We were the only people at the hide and spend more than an hour there.

This Goliath Heron was right in front of the hide and stole all the other birds thunder. He was hunting standing dead still like a statue, but it seemed that he did not see anything to his taste.



He saw something in the reeds, maybe a froggie, but that also seemed not to his taste.



A beautiful Black-winged Stilt (afrikaans Rooipootelsie) were feeding off to the left on some water bugs and it appeared that he was catching them quite easily with that needle thin beak.



Skillie calls them "Ballerinas".



Then a Wood Sandpiper (afrikaans Bosruiter) came to take his share of what the ballerina was eating.



A Green-backed heron appeared from behind the the reeds and walked slowly up and down with that huge funny feet. He was also hunting, but did not catch anything while we were there.



We watched a Fish eagle far off to the right, hearing his call all the time. He was fishing, sitting on a branch and dived every now and then trying to catch something, but unsuccessful. After about the 5th time he caught a fish and almost immediately was joined by another Fish eagle. To far to take pics, but we enjoyed watching "binocs" fishing. A Pied Kingfisher (afrikaans Bontvisvanger) passed the water in front of the hide a few times. He would hang a second or tow in the air before he dives in the water, he also missed every time. It was clear that the water birds had to work very hard for a meal. Also from the hide we saw Three-banded Plovers and a Blacksmith Lapwing.

I thought we saw so much already and could go home now, but me and Skillie love the view from Olifants camp and one never know what the drive all the way up there could show.....

Day 6, to continue....

Oct 9, Day 6, to continue

We left the Ratelpan Birdhide and drove along the S39 to meet up with the H1-4. On this piece of road we did not see that much, but had one great sighting in my book.

On the way we stopped at the Piet Grobler Memorial plack.



Past the Roodewal waterhole we saw what I'm always looking for at any rocky landscape: Rockies (Klipspringers)! First we saw the female standing on the side of the klipkoppie (small mountain of rocks), it was awesome! She was standing there dead still like a statue, to beautiful and took her pics. Then just as we pulled off, Skillie saw the other Rocky, the lady had a man. I had to look a few times before I spotted him too, he blended in perfectly with the rocks. He was also not moving a hair, to beautiful and took his pics too. Normally when we see Rockies, they are on top of the klipkoppie on top of a big rock and not this close to the road. This was nothing more the 20 meters.

First we saw the female Rocky



and then the male Rocky.



I was a nice drive the S39, quiet and not much traffic. Though we did not see that much it was enjoyable. It was also getting drier and drier going north and it seemed like no rain has fallen in this area yet. Next to the Olifants river was the only vegetation and life. Just before I thought the ellies all stayed at Satara, we saw these 2 behind a beautiful old fig tree on the opposite side river bank.



This was one of those small loops that ends at the edge of the river bed and I liked the no entry sign almost buried in the sand.



We love stopping on bridges and get out of the vehicle between the yellow lines. In April we stopped here at the Olifants river bridges and the railings were all broken and twisted from the force of the January flood waters. That must have been a huge mass of water to come up this high over the bridge. The railings have since been repaired and the bridge looks great again.



This is the wide view from the bridge.



From the bridge we saw ellies off to the east in the distance..



We saw hippies having a midday tan off to the west.



There were a pair of Fish eagles having lunch on a rock in the middle of the river bed.



A Goliath heron was pruning himself.



Eventually we arrived at Olifants camp and it was hot, the thermometer in the hilux indicated 38 degrees. We went straight to the restaurant and had ice cold refreshments.

The Red-winged starlings were getting just as hot, some sitting with there beaks wide open.



They have very good manners, at least they wait until your done eating before they help them self.



After lunch we went down to the viewing point and this was the view.





This is the little bronze ellie watching over the guests.



The little guys seemed not to mind the heat at all, still foraging non stop.



We've never stayed at Olifants, but this is the view from the rondawels (bungalows) if you were sitting on the stoep.



Before leaving Olifants we had to refuel, but there were no diesel or petrol at the service station, luckily Skillie filled a few jerry cans before leaving Pretoria just in case the transport strikes would continue. As we left camp, the fuel tanker drove in at the gate.....



It was time to go back and we stopped at the N'wamanzi look out point. There were a few kudu on the opposite bank and waterbuck in the river.



Back crossing the Olifants river bridge again, the ellies were a lot closer.



The H1-4 tar was very boring to me and the people on the tar roads don't greet......Near the Nyamarhi waterhole we saw these guys and I was thrilled. Just at lunch I said I would love to photograph Ground Hornbills and here they were! Only 2 of them and right next to the road. The one was trying to eat a small tortoise and I could not tell if it was still alive, but never less, the hornbill could not crack the shell. He picked it up and threw it down a couple of times, then just walked away.













Now for the rest of the drive down the H1-4 I'm sure we passed lions, leopards, cheetahs and wild dogs all on the left, but I won't know for sure as I fell asleep........

Skillie turned of onto the S127 as he said the tar road was also making him sleepy. We did not see much, but we appreciated the body break at Timbavati again.

Down the S40 we did not see much either except for another great birdie! This Red-crested korhaan was walking away from the road and we just caught him in the last light of the day.





It was the end of another great day in the African bush we love, no cats and dogs, but AWESOME birds!

Hi Hilda, thanx for the reply!

These Rockies were indeed hard to spot, as we were watching them, a vehicle from the front drove right past them, looking looking, maybe thinking we were crazy staring at the rocks. The next vehicle we stopped and told them were the to look.

These are some of my cell phone pics in April, when the flood damage was still very visable.

The Olifants bridge with my best friend standing there looking for birdies.



The Balule bridge, that I believe is still the same.

Some where, Some time....


We sat watching these big grey guys for a long time and they came quite close. We could hear them communicating with each other. They made different high pitched moaning sounds, almost like whale sounds. The younger ones were more vocal, almost like they where impatient. Rhinos do communicate through sounds and when a bull has to go through another bull territory to get to water, he will make these high pitched moaning sounds to show that he is submissive to the bull who owns the territory.

Oct 10, Day 7

Around 2 o'clock the morning the HB woke us up going through trash and Skillie went to investigate. He was underneath the Hilux with some loot and was not afraid of us or the light at all. It was great to see, but sad that he has become a problem animal.

We met another YR mite, deesmith, they were camping just across the road from us and we've been chatting ever since .

We saw lots of everything today!! We stayed around Satara were it seems everything are happening...........

At the Nsemani dam we were used to by now that there was always something to see. As we got to the bridge, we were told there were 2 leopards, but they are gone now. We decided to take the small loop on the opposite side of the dam and maybe find something there. We could not see anything but sat a while. Another 2 vehicles arrived and we all waited. All of a sudden the leopard jump out of a tree (where no one looked) on the opposite bank and walk slowly in almost prefect view all along the bank until he went around the bend. Awesome sight, only problem, I forgot to take any pics as the excitement was to big! Then we went back to the bridge as we were on our way to Muzandzeni on the S36 to make brunch. Still a few vehicles were looking for the leopards and we stopped just to have a look. Then I spotted the other leopard laying down behind the reeds. A minute or two later he leppie got up and went to drink water, then sat a while, looked around a bit and vanished! Awesome and this time I got some pics.


The leopard laying sleeping barely visable behind the reeds.



Leppie got up moments later, drank water (missed that pic) and looked around.





Turned around and leppie was off.





We were thrilled, we saw leopards, after days of no kitties and actually 2 of them!

At the same time a large herd of ellies (think it's the same sun set heard) came to drink water, big ones, small ones and teenagers.





The ellies were every where, from the left and all the way to the right.





It was like more ellies came from nowhere.



The teenagers were having some fun and the toddlers played in the mud.





Day 7, to continue....

Oct 10, Day 7, to continue


After the leppie and ellie action at Nsemani Dam, we left the huge crowd on the bridge and headed for the Mzandzeni picnic spot. We just turned on to the S36 and a heard of zebbies and a few long necks wanted to crossed the road.







The mama zebbie of this fluffy brown baby was quite protective and tried to keep him away from the road.



This shot I like of the other long neck crossing the road behind us.



Then they were all on there way with the beautiful african bush as backdrop - just love it!



Brunch was way delaid after all the leppie and ellie action at Nsemani dam and we intended just to make a quick stop at Rockvale waterhole since Skillie was really hungry by now. We stopped for a few minutes and 50m on I spotted this lady leo laying about 50m from the road, there goes brunch again....

She looked around a bit,





liked herself a bit



and then did the thing leo's love to do.



We were so happy to see more cat, we thought why would she be alone, her family must be here somewhere. We drove up the road slowly, looking, turned around, back to the waterhole, but no leo-family around.

We did find zebbies at the water that wasn't there 5 minutes ago



and drinking water with a Hammerkop.





We thought maybe the lady will be interested in the zebbies as the wind was in her favour and went back to where we saw her, but it was clear that she was not as hungry as Skillie, we sat a little while and left for Muzandzeni to make brunch when another vehicle arrived.



Luckily we saw nothing "wow" on the rest of the way to Muzandzeni, as Skillie would not have stopped and it would have haunted me forever!

As we got to the entrance of the picnic spot we saw these ellies on their way to the eastern waterhole.



The big ellie must be quite old and had a broken tusk,



but the other tusk was quite big and was good trunk rest.





I got the top edge of the 3 feet high log barrier in some of the pics to show how close they where.



Then instead of drinking water they first had a dust bath.







We like this little picnic spot in the middle of the bush so much after we stopped here a few days ago and just had to come and make use of it. Skillie made a fabulous brunch as always.



While we were eating some blue wild-beast arrived at the water, but the ellies tried to chased them away, did not like them at all. When there were more of the blues, they had a stand of with the smaller ellie bull and he just left, walk off into the bush. No pics as my hands and mouth was full...

After a while a huge heard of zebra arrived at the water and amazingly the big ellie bull did not mind them at all and drank water with them.







After a long time with the zebbies he also walk off in the same direction as the other bull.







When we were here the first time a few days ago we saw the resident crested barbet and today we spotted the other one, they were a couple!! (not great pics, but had to sneak some birds in)



After showing the CB's to the OSVs we left and found the smaller ellie who could not stand the blues, at the other (western) waterhole.



And luckily we saw the ellie and stopped, as Skillied spotted a tree agie and he loved having his kiekie taken.





We decided then to take the S126 Sweni road back to Satara as it is a beautiful road to drive.

Day 7, to continue