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Well one day I will be lucky

Confirmation, there IS a pack of 6 doggies around Punda Maria camp as we speak.

The reason Wild Dog numbers are declining in the North is because the increase of man made waterholes has brought more buffalo into the north, since there are more buffaloes there then there are also more lions.
Lions are the number 1 cause of death to wild dogs and their pups. So it's hard for them to breed.
This is all according to the wild dog research from the EWT. But then why are there in the South as there are lions there too? They are trying to find out.

Thanx Ossendrywer!!

Thanks for that oss!
It seems we have much to learn about wild dogs yet

Magnificent photos, Bart!!

Ndloti, how lucky can one individual be!!

We also saw Roan on this road the last week in Sept. Unfortunately this guy was very skittish, and did not allow for any photo opportunities. And no Narina Trogon...

But we did also have a lovely leopard sighting - just South of camp on this road...









We spent an hour and a half with him - nothing skittish about this beaut!

had a lovely leopard sighting in september, north of Punda camp about 1km south of turnoff to Pafuri border crossing. It was short but sweet as there was no other cars there we saw it for about 10 min before moving off into the bush.

While staying at Punda in October I had the most fantastic Sunset drive ever.
First Thomas stopped to let a huge herd of buffaloes crossing the road.
Then we saw Elephant, Zebras, Kudus, Nyalas, Sharpe's Grysboks, Steenbok, Klipspringer, Common Duiker etc.
Suddenly a movement next to the road, a Leopard, wow, he then crossed the road, came back again, stalked Nyalas and we watched him for more than 30 min.
Just awesome.
With the spotlight on I saw another leopard, Scrub Hares, lots of Spring-hares, Hyena and finally a Bush baby walking on the telephone pole close to the Camp.
Looking forward to our next trip in April/May!

Wonderful sightings! Shingwedzi is one of my absolute favourite areas of Kruger; no "Southerner" can persuade me that there is less game in the mopani veld!

As a result of the drought in the north, Klopperfontein Drift has recently become a magnet for lions. I had quite a few sightings there both last month and at the beginning of this one. I suspect that there were lions around almost continuously, even though they were not always to be seen. Klopperfontein is tricky, there are lots of places for lions to hide and even when they are not really hiding they are not necessarily that easy to spot.

I do not carry a camera, so my apologies for the poor quality of this cell phone image, but in the picture below three young male lions are lying on the ridge beyond the waterhole (see arrow).


Now these lions were lying right in the open and quite obvious (the wide-angle camera shot is a bit misleading in this regard), yet the occupants of several vehicles never spotted them. They made the common mistake of driving down to the loop, staring at the water for a few seconds, and then driving off again. I'm happy to point out hard-to-see animals to others, but for those who are not willing to put in a minumum of effort it is just tough luck.

Here is some advice for those not familiar with Klopperfontein Drift:

- as you turn on to the loop, stop before you descend down the slope. Carefully study the rocky ridge on the northeastern side, preferably through binoculars. Lions like to lie amongst the rocks, from where they can keep an eye on drinking animals.

- down at the waterhole, the tangle of bush and rocks under the trees on the far side should be carefully scrutinized. The donga itself runs east and then turns north. It is rather deep in places, and those hollows that do not hold water are big enough to hide whole prides of lions. The tree-line (mainly Apple Leaf) on the rise along the southern bank also offers excellent concealment.

Klopperfontein Drift is one of these places where patience may well be rewarded, at times even in the heat of day, although early morning and late afternoon are best. I've seen lions leap out of a donga hollow right under the noses of an unsuspecting herd of buffalo, as well as come loping out of the tree line as soon as the thirsty buffalo have shoved their muzzles into the water.

Just because there is nothing going on at the waterhole, it doesn't mean that there is nothing to be seen. And even if there is nothing to be seen, it doesn't follow that there are no predators or other animals around.

Johan

Wow, thank you johanrebel.
We were there last year Dec and did exactly the thing we should not be doing, but again it was our first and the water level was extremely low - not much going on. We will be there around the 25th - 27th Dec and your tips will come in very handy.
I love to do research before I travel, hence will definately apply the suggestions given. Thank you for enriching our experience.

Noted, however, if Lourens Botha at "Phalborwa Gate sightings" can do it, why not others.

I found 3G / 2G connection at Punda and Shingwedzi quite stable.

My suggestion still stands : SanParks should enable field guides to share their experience on this forum.

Len

For those in the Shingwedsi area, do not miss thongonyeni ( not sure of the spelling) on the Capricorn loop (S144). It is paradise.. I know it is a little bit far... But around Shing it is very dry! Up north of Shing it looks better so all the elephants breeding herds ( for those in Punda) are between babalala and Shingwedsi. We were on the 21st for 1 night at Punda, and had amazing sightings. A leopard 8 km for Pafuri gate, and a leopard mom with a tiny baby 2km for Punda. Also A broadbilled roller feeding a baby on the Mahonie Loop!

Okay to come back to Shingwedsi, It is very dry and quiet at the moment. My best sighting was ELand 8km north of the Shing bridge.. And side-striped jackal on the night drive last night..

At Thongonyeni, you can stay for the day!! But the best time is round about midday!! Yesterday when we were there, we had 500 buffalo, 100+ elephant bulls (including Tuskers)!, 500+ Zebra, Wildebeest, 50+ white storks, wooly necked storks, tsessebe, ostrich... I will post photo when I am back, Since I am writing this Letaba.. But photos do not do justice, to this spectacular!!

This morning we were there around 10:00 and we had 50+ elephant bulls. ( Including 6 tuskers, 200+ zebra, storks, wildebeest, ostrich, S kori bustards, buffalo, etc. We had the nicest inter action witj a young martial Eagle dive bombing a kori bustard... Not sure why.. But spectacular.. If you are in the area, make sure you visit this waterhole!!

Thanks for posting those incredible sightings Mads, that area is certainly the one to beat!

Greeting to all. Anyone been up Punda Way in the last month? What is the area like after the floods and good rains in January/ February?