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The S100 has delivered the goodies time and again for SO and me.
Most sightings of lions in veld and river bed was because we would notice particular nervousness in other animals, we pull off to the side of the road then patiently start waiting.
There is a lovely little loop next to the river where we pull off for some coffee and rusks, and here we were once suddenly surrounded by a herd of (blessedly) calm elephants.
At the same spot monkeys entertained us no end with brand new babies learning to jump from branch to branch etc. and big ones coming down from the tree sliding down the stem as if they are surfing.
Another time a Fish Eagle swooshed down right next to us, perched on a branch a couple of meters away, gave its awesome call nearly right into our ears...
These are just a few incidents.
You know what, it is watching, noticing, waiting.
The S100 will give you what you want.

We have been "blessed" everytime that we went on the S100.
In may this year, we saw lions 3 times in one morning on the S100, a leopard with a impala in a tree, and a whole bunch of hyenas, elephants, rhino, about 10 million buffalos and general game, all in one morning trip, (which is almost the same as all the other times we've been on the S100, except other times there may be a million buffalos less ) and NOT ONCE have we not seen lion.

We have never been disappointed in the S100.
Maybe just our luck.

last time i drove it, turned onto the road and thought of cardboard cutouts

IMO the S100 must be the most over rated road in the Park.
Except for one year, many years back, where I could actually touch a pride of lions that had just eaten, the road has not offered anything spectacular.
I must admit though, that the birds sometimes make up for the lack of anything else exciting.

The S100
Is a road for people who like allot of dust and sun in there eyes.
Did the road 4-5 times and only a few general game.
Even the impala were scarce on it.
To me its not a nice road.
I know some have seen allot.
We drove it very early and very late during the day and absolutely nothing.
Every time we traveled it it was a convoy of around 10-15 cars.
Do you want to know your visibility :huh: :huh: :huh:
Have a look...



So go and enjoy the S100 I am finished with that road.

I am a fan of the S100!! as we saw lions by day and als lions on the night drinve!! (female with 3 cubs on night drive)
Followed the mother and cubs for close to 20minutes as they were walking down the road!!

Hi Ils!
I've also always liked the S100. Even when we don't see much, it is a nice road running all along the river. It's a road of "expectation".

We have driven the S100, and been on two game drives (morning and night) on it.
While we haven't seen big cats, Buff or Rhino we have seen a lot of game, including Genet, Civet, AWC, many birds, including a Verreaux's Eagle-Owl and African Fish-Eagle.
We saw lots of Ellie's including this group

Any of the roads in Kruger can be a bust or a goldmine, just seems to be the luck of the draw.
We are birders, and often times while stopped looking at birds we get the opportunity to see other things that everyone else passes by.
We have spotted lots of Mongoose and on three occasions seem Honey Badger while stopped to view birds.
The funny thing is, if you don't want to share a viewing, tell anyone who pulls up that you're watching birds and almost all speed away as fast as they can!

I literally spotted this Cheetah in my rear view mirror as it was crossing the S100.
After I reversed I managed to get this photo before he went down to and crossed the Nwanetsi river.
Please forgive the quality as it was taken in low light (5h30 in the a.m.).
This was on 20 Jan 2010.
I was the first one on the S100 and the car behind me only arrived after the Cheetah had disappeared on the far bank.
This incident happened approximately 6 kms from the S41 intersection.


The film speed was 1/40 sec.

I have been to the S100 post numerous times and mostly get posts where people complain about the sightings, dust etc. on this road.
The only thing I can say as an ecologist and environmental scientist is that the dust is normal for this - or any other road on basalt geological formation - gravel road, especially considering it to be on an alluvial floodplain next to the Nwanedzi River.
The sightings have never disappointed me on this road, even in the middle of the day I have been quite lucky with leopard and lion sightings (winter and early spring mostly).
The secret to this road is still time of year for me.
Winter and early spring is always good considering the water availability to game in the Nwanedzi river and waterholes on the road.
However, the sightings will still be dependent on the amount of time prey species stay in the area -
for example if the floodplains gets totally overgrazed the game will move away and the large predators will follow them (not necessarily out of the area completely considering that lion and leopard are territorial) to adjacent areas with higher prey densities.
The best time of day to drive the s100 in the cooler months would be from 7h30.
The temperatures around the river is still too cold by then and the game species will move to slightly higher ground (plateaus on hills etc.).

During the warmer months I have ALWAYS had success during the month following the first rains.
The new young grass sprouts on the floodplains attract many prey species and with them the large predators.
The secret to this time of year (December, early Jan) is early morning -
don't expect too much when you leave later since the dust do in fact play a role, although the heat definitely plays a much bigger role.
Either leave very early or an hour after opening time [by that time the early dust have settled and the animals that was hiding in the Nwanedzi River (the closest available shelter) will come out and move to their feeding grounds - if the predators haven't got hold of them in the riverbed].
I must say I had success on this road early morning or late afternoon in summer or winter even with high traffic densities and dust -
so all in all it is still luck - the only thing that I always say is you make your own luck.
When you sit at one of the waterholes on the s100 have a look at the reaction of the prey species in the area.
They know that the predator densities in the area are quite high and the slightest hint of a predator will make them give the alarm call.
I have often driven the s100 (with open windows), and then suddenly hear Vervet monkeys alarming (they never alarm without due cause).
I will then stop and immediately switch of my engine and wait.
The hit rate for me doing this is very high - often the predator walk in the riverbed and you can't see it but just keep watching the monkeys.
Leopards often get irritated by the Vervet alarm calls and get out onto the bank and whala - your sightings. Now that is NOT luck.

So all of you that keeps on moaning about the s100 - go give it a go next time and hope the info will come in handy!

Cheers
Katmal

Hmmm…I would say it is all about being at the right spot at the right time….and if the “time” is too late because you spend hours on trying to beautify yourself before hitting the road….well yes, then the S100 will be barren

S100…11 Jan 2010…05:50am
Apparently another ‘mite drove the same road a bit later that morning and saw nothing.

OK OK... lets see if I do have some highlights of the S100...

I love the S100, dust or no dust!
It has always been very good to us with sightings big and small morning, noon and night.
Everyone has a favourite road or rather roads they like a bit more than others for different reasons.
At least everybody is not on the S100 at the same time all the time then.
Hang on S100, we will be there on 2 - 3 April! I will report on what we see....

Last few times we were there it sure felt like it.
No where on the road were we when you cannot see less than 8 cars around you.
One stage we counted 15cars and dust as far as the eye can see.

we've had many great sightings on the S100 over the years, including lion cubs and a separate lion kill on one drive in July 2009.

these days I will rather drive another road due to the high volume of cars and the general attitude of the motorists driving this road, although I usually try to drive it at least once when we are in the area.