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It's all about karma....


We left our two big male lions and drove on . 2010 we saw many lions on ths s36 at manzimhlope waterhole, but the guide at lower sabie said to us the s36 was still closed.

We were very surprised to see that the no entry signs were moved to the side of the the road, so it must just have been just reopened today The plan was to drive north untill the s34 or s33 and drive there to the H1-2 again. Little did we know, that all our plans for today will change later . The s36 was in a very very soft shape - we could still see the damage everywhere. We didn't see any animal untill we reached lugmag dam where a nice waterbuck family was waiting for us:



I wondered that there was not much water in the dam . We were still in time to reach orpen untill midday as the problems began. We came to the s34 junction - a big tree there told us - S34 still closed due to flood damage . OK, lets drive 5 km and try the S33 - but there the same again Rookie girl and i now got nervous if there was any road open or if we had to go all the way back . We hadn't see any car for more than one hour now and i wanted to ask at nhlanguleni picnic spot what we could do. 300 meters before nhlanguleni there is a big open area on the left hand side and suddenly rookie girl said - There are wild dogs - all around

I looked left and that's what we saw:



What a luck that all the other roads were closed - All together we counted over 15 dogs - even some small between:




All the dogs were very active and they gave us our best wild dogs sighting ever:




Suddenly we noticed another 2 dogs in the road approaching our car:



They came closer and sniffled around the car:




This one looked a little ruffled:




Now about 10 dogs were all around our car and we didn't know what to photograph first





One after the other dogs came into the gravel road and sometimes they were so close that my lense was too long:





Now everyone knows why they are called "painted dogs" :






This one looked like a bat:




There was still no other car around and before we had to leave i took two videos of this great sighting:





Unfortunately time was running and we had to leave the dogs - think they were there all the day. We entered nhlanguleni for a short break and told the guy about the doggies next to the picnic place - he told us that he chased them away 2 hours ago - i would loved to have seen this

Hope you are not bored of all the dogs, we will have a little bavarian forumitie meeting toaday with flying cheetah and magic guarri ....have a nice sunday!!

We left our doggies and made a short brake at nhlanguleni picnic spot and told the nice guy about the dogs. A few hundred meters later we had another nice sighting on the s36. A herd of buffs crossed the road and they had some very fresh ones between them:



Dad was looking at us:



Luckily the s126 was open and so we could continue our way to orpen on the tar road. The s126 was a bit quiet, but nevertheless we managed to take a nice shot of a woodland kingfisher:





On the H1-3 a biug giraffe bull was having lunch next to the road:






Some people told us about a lion kill furher on, but there were only some different vultures in the trees:






We managed to get tp orpen gate just in time and drove via hoedspruit into the timbavati area that belongs to the kruger park. Our lodge - called the shindzela lodge is about 10 km from orpen and i'd like to share some pics of our 3 days there (if the mods allow it ) .

There are only about 15 guests in the unfenced lodge and it's all about walking. We did one morning walk of about 3 hours every day, a short afternoon walk and a susnet drive. All the following pics are from the walks - it was a once in a lifetime experience to have lions, rhinos, ellies, buffs, a porcupine and four honeybadgers on a walk


Our tent:



Visitor :



The problem in march is that there are many many golden orbs everwhere - the scariest moment was as i had two of them in my face because i didn't see the web:



Ellies from small to big :




Two coloured rhino:




Giant eagle owl




Ellie bull charging us on a drive some hundred meters:



Three ladies thinking of us for lunch:




Another pride we tracked for nearly two hours:






Grimassing young boy:




Brother and sisters:




I can see U!!!




We enjoyed every second and learned very much about the animals, flowers, snakes and trees. Three days laters we entered the kruger park again and our destination for the next three days was satara....

After a last pleasent morning walk we drove back into the kruger park on the H7 towards satara. Weather was a bit cloudy today but nevertheless we had some nice sightings on the tar road:

Giraffe bull next to orpen gate:



Other animals tried to hide behind the bushes, but they were too big to hide :




That one is better , but we see U:




Then we got a nice shot - small bee eater and BIG ellie:



We love those birds - such beautiful colours:




We didn't see much warthogs this time, so this shot was a bit special:




After that nothing for 20 minutes untill we met my favourite stork trying to catch some fish:




I'm beautiful....



Then we reached nsemani dam - one of the best places in kruger in my opinion - there are always some zebras around:



Rookie girl immediately felt in love with him:



Variety of birds:



Always at nsemani:



Hoping for the big catch:




We were a bit early so we decided to give the s100 a chance - one of the best decisions in our trip. The s100 was fullk of animals: Waterbucks, Wildebeests, zebras, impalas....some trying to do a roadblock:




...and our first ground hornbills:





Lots of ellies,impies, zebras later we wondered if there are no predators around as the day got even better....

Just found a pic that i forgot to post - that was the way of game viewing in our private camp....

It was about 16.00 now and we really wondered if there are no predators around because there was so much impie, wildbeest and zebra food around on the S100. Around the next corner we found the first two cats today:



The lion couple was sleeping and it didn't seem that they will get active the next time, so we decided to drive a bit further as we suddenly heard the noise of fighting buffalos. On the other side of the nwanetsi were a few dagga boys that tried to test their strength:



It was amezing to see the power of those big bulls:





Rookie girl made a video of the fight:



After 15 minutes the buffalos cooled down and the fight was over.

Unfortunately it got a bit dark as we made these pics of a tree full of birds...bee eaters:




Rookie and Rookie-Girl on honeymoon:




Bee eaters and a "Go away-bird"




Around every bend were animals...and the next ones were very special and unexpected - 3 cheetahs :



We sat with them for half an hour and hoped that they will get active - and they did:




It was just our second cheetah sighting in the park - such beautiful animals:





Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to turn around - luck was really on our side as the lions just got active as we came to their spot:



The male was limping and didn't look too good - hope he found something to eat that night


We got into the camp started the braii and talked about our fantastic sightings that day as we had the last sighting...a really strande one - it looked a bit like a crab and was really big and a bit scary




That's all for today - the next day we planned to drive north and try the s90.....

We woke up very early this day made some coffee and watched the hyeanas patrolling the satara fence. Our plan was to head south or towards orpen, but as the other cars drove all right we decided to turn left on the H4-1 in northern direction. And it was a very lucky decision again . We drove very slow as it was still pitch-dark and we noticed four eyes reflecting in the street. That's how it looked like:



Two big male lions were walking in the road and we were the only car heading north - could the day start better??

Unfortunately we could not get the best pics, because there wasn't enough light - but we just enjoyed driving around 1 kilometer with these powerful animals:



They marked their territory and lied down to relax all few minutes:




One of the roadblocks we love:



And the cars got more the lions decided to leave the road and went into the bush:




We left them as the traffic jam started and tried drove on untill the s90 gravel road. I love it being the first car in the morning on that road and the sightings were excellent. First we found 4 kori bustards followed by this jackals:






Then we got witbness of an fantastic spectacle - thousands of queleas



They are like a school of herings - changing the direction all few seconds as some raptors tried to catch them:




The raptors around:




We could watch the for hours and it was one of the things we wished to see on our journey : - one last pic:



The next half hour was a bit quiet untill we turned right onto the s41 where this beauty said "hello" to us:




A nice herd of zebras and wildebeasts with their youngsters :




Time to drink:





I think the zebras are some of the most photogenic animals in the park:




This youngster should write a application for "South africas next topmodel":



Hope you enjoyed the episode - have a nice weekend!!!

Today we had no cat-luck on the s100, but the road was full of animals again. I especially loved this mom with her only child:



Then it was time for gentle giants - this one was really impressive and big but we always felt save and enjoyed his presence:



We stopped our engine and he passed us within a few minutes - perfect kruger


We decided to try nsemani and girivana dam after that. At nsemani we found the local fish eagle calling - for me the most beautiful eagle in the park:



While watching the fish eagle and the waterbucks at nsemani we almost missed this little animal next to us - sorry ellie:




The gravel road to girivana was very quiet until we reached the waterhole where some zebras and giraffes were on their way:




They reached the water at the same time and we enjoyed it to watch them drinking:



The next tower arrived:



Such peaceful giants:



Bum shot:



One after the other giraffes (more than 10 at the end) arrived and they were really thirsty:





We then drove back to nsemani - one of our favourite places in the park - there is always some sction to see. This time the next gentle giant made his way out of the bush towards our car. Such a nice boy he was:



Have to ask aat about him if he is registrated??




But despite all the big animals in the park never forget to take care of the little ones - some are a bit creepy:




......others just beautiful:




Greetings from a lovely sunny bavaria......

Thanks again for all you comments and for travelling with us!!

We had booked a sunset drive today and we still had a good hour left, so we decided to try a bit of the s100 again. And again it didn't dissapoint us

First we found a very nice kori bustard walking in the road:



Then we met Rookie-girl's friend:



The lonely baboon was sitting in the road and had the same problem as rookie-girl - they both had a lot of itching mozzie-bites, so they sat together and scratched themself :




Rookie-Girl told him to take some anti-mosquito spray and after a few minutes we left him alone:





We drove on and had a fantastic sighting a few minutes later. A herd of ellies crossed the road and they had a baby with them.



The youngster looked very tired and suddenly all the cows got together and the baby layed down in the shade of them - what a great family :




We left them to find the next happy family - Mrs. Fluffy and her mom:




The calf was a bit nervous but calmed down as we switched off the motor. Smile please




There was a big herd of zebras next to the giraffes and two foals gave us a entertaining story. One of them was a bit tired:




Hey you lazy boy - get up and play with me!!




I'm not interested!!




OK, then i'll bite you in your back...




We turned around to get to satara in time. The little ellie was up - isn't he too cute :




Short before satara we met another herd of ellies - these two siblings do everything simultaneous:




I can scratch my ear with my trunk





We left them and prapared ourself for the sunset drive - the best guided drive we ever made...enjoy!

Sunset Drive from satara

Our sunset drive from satara started at 16.30 - and i thought it might be a bit early The car was full and Martin our guide introduced himself very friendly. We took the backseat - as always - and the drive started south. We were a bit disappointed as we passed the H7 and s100 were we had fantastic drives in the past. We never had the best sightings in the area around the H1-6 untill now. After some ellies and kudus a lady on the left suddenly shouted "I see two leopards - no other cars around We all had a close look - it were no leopards , but........two cheetahs:



They walked parallel to the road in the golden grass:



The other one:




We hoped that they might cross they road as they came closer he looked left - no traffic or car - go!!:



What a perfect animal in perfect light:




Martin said they are on the hunt and used the open street to scan the area:



Some impalas started to snort near and the cheetahs stood still:



Maybe we shoul take the easy meal in the sunset vehicle??




But they rather went for the impies and we lost them soon in the high grass:



We drove on and soon had a nice sighting - my very first secretay bird:



And it got better - it was a breeding pair of them :



On the other side of the car was a fantastic sunset:



We then drove to the sweni waterhole and as we arrived we heard a big SPLASHHH - and he was the culprit:



We got nearer to the waterhole as "Harry" the local hippo shot out of the water:




He made clear that it was his little waterhole and he doesn't want to be disturbed - i don't want to meet him on foot :



But Harry needs to go to the dentist :



Now it was very dark and we hoped to see some of the nocturnal animals - and this drive was just perfect. Martin told us to look to the right in the grass...and there he was:




The young leopard was just 2 meters next to our car and didn't move - such a beautiful creature:



We just had 20 minutes left and in this time we found 3 different african wild cats - here is the only good pic:



What a drive, cheetahs, leopard, wild cats, secretary birds...some rhinos between anywhere - thank you Martin for guiding us

We booked another drive on the next evening and thought it can't get better

Hope you enjoy...

After our fantastic sunset drive we had a fantastic sleep with dreams about cheetahs and leopards. Woke up at 04.15 by the roaring or lions - this could be another good day .
We were one of the first cars out of satara gate and decided to drive first a bit around the camp and then southern direction. Nature made a great spectacle today with a fight between the sun and clouds.

First it seemed the sun should win:



Our first sighting today were some grey ghosts out of the fog:



They were still tired:



And as i checked the pictured this one looked somehow sad to me : Does it know whats going on with his friends in kruger ??



We then drove south on the tar road. The clouds came back to eclipse the sun:




But the sun won at the end and gave us great oppurtunities to take pics :



We tried sweni waterhole very quiet - only a saddle billed stork was around:




Kumana dam was full of water - again no animals around but lovely nature shots:




We then tried the baobab loop as it was reopened again for 4x4 vehicles. At the end was a group of ellies with the cuties baby we've ever seen Hi Rookies



Mom was very calm and the baby a bit shy then:



Love this one:




The herd was quite big and we didn't know what to photograph first?? The youngsters??



...or this one??



We drove on and a few meters after tshokwane i noticed a cat crossing the road - leopard But it was to fast to take a pic...that's the only one :



We waited a few minutes for him to come back, but he seemed to be in hurry so we drove on. Family pic of impies and kudus:



We tried the s114 a bit to find the next family:



....and then...my first klipspringers in the park :




Have a nice sunday evening

Here we go again...

We decided to try the skukuza area were we were often lucky with predators in the past. This time we started with some pumbaaa...




Unfortunately the area around the maroela loop was closes, so we tried the loops of the H1-1. Two cars were standing on the side of the road, looking into the tree on the opposite side of the river...do you see something??



We scanned every tree and there he was :



A big lazy male leopard - thanks to the great spotters this day :



We watched him a few minutes, but then the traffic built up and we left. We noticed the immense damages of the january floods at the sabie bridge:



The power of nature:



After a coffee break at skukuza we drove back north. Kruger was so unbelieveable green in march:



Tower-traffic-jam:



Around tshokwane we had a fantastic sighting of red ellies coming into the river:



A massive grey bull was following....



Family meeting:



That's why we love kruger :



Bye ellies and thx for entertaining us:



Around kumana dam was a nice variety of birds, a heron and a saddle billed stork:



We still had a few minutes before our sunset drive and drove into the s100 again. The wildebeests wanted some toll:




And then we had the sighting of our drive - an ostrich with 11 nearly full-grwon youngsters - well done daddy!!





After this nice drive we met our guide martin agein for the sunset-drive....

Before we started the sunset drive here is another pic of the ostrich youngsters on the s100:



Then our drive started. Martin is one the best guides we ever had on the drives. He explained a lot about the nature....here what you can use if you need a toilet break in the bush :



Soon we found this somewhere:



I like the area around satara - it's so open and even in march you can see hundreds of meters in the bush:



Next sighting was a shy jackal hiding away from us:




Then it was quelea-time - what a spectacle thgis was. They were everywhere....




Sometimes very close to us:




Just stunning - and they never crash into each other :





We made neaarly hundred pics of them - this is the last one, i don't want to bore you:




We drove on and a few minute later i had my first good secretary bird-sighting :



And it was not one - they were breeding :




Hope you enjoy it ...have a nice sunday evening

Our sunset drive with Martin took went on and we enjoyed the beautiful unforgettable impressions of the african sky:



After minutes without animals we noticed two lions crossing the road in front of us. We came closer and found this:





A pride of about 10 lions with two big males killed a buffalo only 5 meters next to the road

It was interesting toi see that only the two males were allowed to feed on the dead buff , every other lion was immediately chases away by one of them:



The two dominant males:



We decided to stay there and watch the sun going down:




As the sun nearly lost the fight against the day we noticed three rhinos entering the scenery:



The bull of them smelled the dead animal and it was clear that they were not happy with it. He turned round and had a look for the lions brothers:



It was dead silent in the truck and everybody holded one's breath as the rhinos came closer. But the lions were not in mood to fight...




The kings of the jungle had to flee:




The rhinos seemed to be satisfied, this was the last stand off, before they left:



This was definately our best experience in kruger the last years, if you want to see it on video and have 8 minutes left - watch here :



Have a nice sunday

Last episode of our honeymoon trip...

After our fantastic lion/rhino sighting we drove on and enjoyed the sounds of the bush. Our guide Martin managed to find two african wild cats - unfortunately too dark for a pic.
Just as we wanted to turn into satara camp he stopped the vehicle and told us to look carefully...everybody was scanning the bush, looking for the reflection of some eyes...nothing
He laughed at us and said Not that far away!!...and there it was- one meter next to the vehicle



The puffadder didn't move and used the heat of the road to warm herself up - it was a beautiful animal - about 1,3 meters long:



This was put last sighting on the sunset drive - if you are ever in satara - do a drive with Martin!!

I didn't sleep to well this night - last day in kruger and a long time to our next visit
We left satara in the early morning, first onr at the gate and wanted to try the s100, s41, h6 before leving the park via malelane.

The sunrise was stunning.



We turned into the s100 - and suddenly felt like in a bad thriller called Horror in the fog



Sometimes we were not able to see 5 meters, a fantastic experience for us in the wild although we found no single animal on the s100

We had to be at Johannesburg at 17.00 to reach pur flight to mauritius, so we were not in big hurry travelling south. Just relaxing and watching some common game, we didn't take much pics untill we reached the kruger tabletts

It was at about 09.30 and no other car around:



The group had just laid down and we parked about 10 meters next to them. What a nice sighting on our last day:

Don't look at me - i'm tired



The young male:



As a few other cars arrived we left them - this was our last of many lion sightings this trip:



We passed skukuzza and i wanted to try the s65 that we didn't drive untill now. It was very hot now and we had no high hopes to see something special as we reached two cars on the side of the road. We looked around, the grass was very high - nothing to see. I asked the friendly guy in the other car and he told us that there are about 20 wild dogs just 15 meters in the bush We waited about half an hour and saw their ears and two pups for seconds, unfortunately no pics - just this



On the tar road we noticed a snake in the middle of the road - not moving:



I think it is - sorry it was - a olive whip snake. 10 seconds after i made this pic a SUV drove over the snake with full speed although i was taking pics outside my window. I hopoe the snake was dead before - if you look exactly at the skin it looks damaged .

We continued south and at a bridge we had a wonderful ellie sighting - lovely kruger:



The last hour before leaving the park it was very quiet in the car - i think everybody knows the feeling comming closer to the exit gate. Heavy hearts....

A few km before malelane gate we had one last roadblock - i love it - and with this pic our 2012 TR ends:





We left the park and had a nice drive to Jo'burg in order to fly straight to mauritius for 8 (rainy) days - it was a fantastic time too, but very very different to kruger. Thanks everybody for following this TR - hope you had a little fun with it