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The roller is indeed a purple, KDU.

I always enjoy the adrenalin rush when hearing of a great sighting and then FINDING it

07.05.

Today we are driving up to Timbavati Picnic Spot.

We decided to take the same road as yesterday. I think we hoped that the Leopard might still be there.

On the way to Muzandzeni we saw 4 Ground Hornbills. The grass was far too high for decent pics, but we love these birds and it is always a great sighing.

Coming closer to the spot were we saw the Leopard yesterday, there are indeed some cars standing on the road.
Of course we knew that the Leopard was not around any longer, but we were hoping for Hyenas, as we have not seen a single one so far during this trip.
The cars did not stay as long as yesterday and soon we could have a closer look at what was lying there.

The first thing we could see, ears. But these ears were too big for a Leopard.
Then we could detect the shape of a head. Well, to big for a Hyena. And suddenly we knew which animal was hiding in the grass.

A Lioness !

And soon after we found out, we could see that she was not alone. There was a male Lion as well resting in the grass.
It was the very same spot where we observed the Leopard yesterday. But the Leopard was gone, as was the Impala.
Our theory was that they might have snatched the prey from him.
We had quite a good position to observe the whole scene, so switched off the engine and waited for what might happen.

The Lioness was lying under the tree and the male started to come closer. He was limping.
Oh my ,I always hate to see something like this .
He did not dare to step on his right front paw.
Then he laid down. As soon as he did so. The Lioness got up walking around, looking at bushes a bit further away, then returning to her male.


Suddenly we heard a strange sound.
We looked at each other, and asked :
‘Are you hungry ?’
‘No’
‘Are you hungry’?
‘No’
‘Isn’t it your Stomach making these funny noises?’
‘No, it isn’t but I hear that as well!’

By this time we realized that the Lioness had started to purr.
What a powerful sound!
We never heard that before, in fact it never even occurred to us that Lions might be able to purr like cats.

The Lioness kept walking up and down in front of the males face teasing him.

And… suddenly they started to mate.

We could not believe it.

Of course it would have been nice if it all had happened in the middle of the road, because we did not had the best view through all this grass. (just kidding)

The whole scene was fascinating.

Again we stayed for an hour.
At one time a Waterbuck walked into the direction of the Lions, it looked as if he did not even realized their presence. The Lions lifted their heads but nothing else happened. They were otherwise engaged.

Every now and then the purring could be heard, but that was all.

When we saw the limping of the male Lion, Francolin thought, that the leg looked like it was broken. But I don’t think a Lion with a broken foreleg is able to mate.
Or at least I hope that the fact that they mated is an indication that his paw was not hurt too badly.

So we are on our way to Timbavati again.
At the turnoff to the main road we saw this lovely tree with 3 Ground Hornbills.



The drive to Timbavati is pleasant and very green.
We saw Giraffes, Zebras, hundreds of Impalas with very busy males.

Disappointment at the Picnic Spot.
Not a single Bushbuck around. And I was so much looking forward to them. This never happened before, we never visited the PS without meeting them.

After breakfast ( which was in fact by now a lunch) we are again on our way to Orpen.

We saw this Southern White Crowned Shrike

and again Giraffes and Impalas.

On the detour to the main road , the S12 ,we observed a lone Elli having a drink at the Ngirivane waterhole.

As he started to walk off we drove close to the waterhole, to have a look at some Egyptian Geese. We then observed that the Elli came back and started to walk round the waterhole into our direction. He walked very swiftly. And at one point it even looked as he is going to start to run.
We felt very uncomfortable to see this. We did not know if he was irritated by us or if something else might caught his attention.
But we really were not very keen to find out about that .
So we hastily started to leave.

A shopping stop at Orpen and we are on the way back to Talamati .

We were able to see this beautiful Juvenile Bateleur


As we returned later than we expected, we made up our mind that we are going to stay in camp and visit the bird hide later.
Again with all the Visitors at our Cottage we have a lot to see here as well.

Later in the afternoon we are leaving for the hide.
The Bird Hide was packed. But we find some space and what a sighting.
30-40 Ellis at the waterhole.


Trumpeting and these very special gurgle sounds.( I still got goose bumps writing this)

We were told that the first herd had already left, it was herd 2 and 3 right now at the waterhole. Herd number 4 was coming from the right.
It was great to see the interaction of all these different herds.
Later even a single Elli was having a drink ,but just after all the others had already left.

Talking to the other visitors of the hide we learned about the strange behaviour of yesterdays Leopard.
It was a female Leopard with two cubs. She hid them in the grass, not too close to the kill. So she kept feeding on the Impala and returned every now and then to her cubs.
……..wow!

We stayed for while even after the Ellis had left.


Our last evening at Talamati, we are not at all happy about that.

Tonight we could hear the Hyenas far away once again .

( The rear bumper of our car)

Today was Francolins birthday and we had a slow start.
The drive to Tamboti was not too long and as we were just able to check into the tents at noon ,we took our time.
Maybe the fact that this were our last few moments at Talamati made us even slower.
Savouring the last morning coffee on our veranda we saw one of our frequent visitors at the fence.
A Bushbuck.
I slowly approached her and was able to take a photo.
It was like a farewell from Talamati and we promised to return on our next trip.


One of the Tree Squirrels checked our bags (you never know, there might be something left).


And an Arrow Marked Babbler looked very hungry as well .


Again we were driving our favourite road to Muzandzeni Picnic Spot.
Of course today there were no Lions and no Leopard waiting for us…..
Breakfast and we are off on our way to Orpen.

Requesting for # 40 a few days ago proved to have been a good idea .
It worked , we are once again in ‘our’ favourite tent.

Unfortunately we are just staying one night. Booking quite late made it impossible to make a reservation for two consecutive days. All the Luxury tents were fully booked.

We were quite surprised that the ‘Tamboti-side’ of the road was really dry, while the grass on the other side of the road had the same high, as the grass we encountered all around Talamati and nearly everywhere else.


We unpacked the car and made a coffee.
It would have been a shame to leave again so shortly after the arrival.
We are in a dilemma.
Should we stay or should we go?!
We stayed and decided just to take a small drive later in the afternoon.
I used the time to update the travel report and to write some postcards.
(photo taken by Francolin)
But the beauty and silence distracted me a lot and soon I gave up and tried to absorb as much of that Tamboti-feeling as possible.

This very nosy Crested Barbet was interested in everything that we did on our porch.


Nevertheless at around 3 pm we are on the road again.
Driving the main road up to Bobejaanskrans and stretching our legs at the viewpoint .
From here we could see a nice herd of Kudus, Giraffes and a lone Buffalo lying in the water.

On the way back I discovered this Pearl Spotted Owlet in one of the trees along the main road.


And later right at the turnoff to the Camp we saw these Crowned Plovers.


Inside the Camp fence a bunch of Mongoose played in the last rays of sunshine, so we stopped for a while.


While lighting the braai I checked the riverbed every now and then for some animals , no visitors tonight.
I was so hoping for a very special birthday sighting for Francolin today. But nothing.
But we had been so unbelievably lucky so far that we did not really mind and tomorrow is another day.
Moreover being at Tamboti at your birthday……is there a better way to celebrate?!
Sitting there having a braai and a lovely glass of wine, how wonderful.

Later already in bed we could hear Lions, Ellis and Hyenas far away.
I always think that it is an amazing feeling here at Tamboti almost like sleeping right in the middle of the bush.

At around 11 pm we were woken by a strange sound. And having a look with the torch I discovered a small mouse trying to have a share of our food supplies.
She was shocked as the beam of my torch shone on her and was gone in seconds.
We repeated that ‘game’ again and again for about an hour and then was gone ( or we were too fast asleep by then ).

A note to the "dry" side of the road to Tamboti. When we were in Tamboti, we were told by our guide on a night drive that the now dry section has a concentration of sweet grass. What happens is that a "trophic" relationship develops where the Zebra and Wildebeest graze the grass to a certain height and then the Impala take over, as they prefer shorter grass. It seems then that the dry piece is simply over-grazed.

I think that most visitors who frequent the Orpen and Tamboti camps will agree that there is quite a passage of animals specific to that area, and we have always been fortunate to have herds of Wildebeest and Impala around. Not to forget the Giraffes who browse on the knobthorn which also represent there in abundance. So it's also a matter of "animal traffic" that leaves the area in dry times quite bare.

Thank you Pardus for the explanation.

You are absolutely right we always saw loads of Zebras, Wildebeest and Impalas in the Tamboti/Orpen area.

We saw these 'dry' areas as well during our last trip November 2006 in the Letaba and Olifants vicinity. But it did not strike us as much as this time. Maybe because it was much much drier in total.

But our guide on the night drive from Letaba told us that the fact that we see so many dry patches with just dots of 'sour grass' ( I hope I recall the right name ) in between, is related to the fact that these areas are over-grazed.
The 'sour grass' is the only grass that did grow after the sweet grass is gone.And that grass is of no use at all to any grazer.

I have not seen this grass in the Tamboti area, but now after your post, I can remember that the Olifants area looked exactly the same.

Thank you

09.05.

Just after one single night we are leaving Tamboti and heading South again.
Not a very good feeling, as going South always means the end of the trip is coming closer and closer.
A last cup of coffee and while we pack the car, the first staff member empties the bins.
Seeing that we are going to leave he told us, that there are Cheetahs into the direction of Orpen.
A mother with cubs.
He was sure we could not miss them as there must be still cars around.
And he was right ( he was quite exited as well, when he was on his way to Tamboti in the morning they were lying in the middle of the road) , quite a few cars stopped and everybody was looking for the Cheetahs.
It took us a while to discover them in the high grass, but here they were a bit far from the road but from time to time you could catch a glimpse through all the bushes and trees.
Mum was looking at her children and those were playing around like young cats.



What an awesome sighting !

We stayed for about 45 minutes by then the Cheetahs moved further away from the road and you could hardly see them any more.

So now we are on our way to Satara and then after a wee stop there, on to Skukuza.

Lots of Zebras , Wildebeest and Giraffes on the way.

This Elli at one of the dams along the main road


After passing Tshokwane we saw Ground Hornbills with Junior in a tree nearby. Lovely !
These are such gorgeous birds


Late lunch at Skukuza.
We had to have a look at the internet (I forgot to take the phone number of the SAA with us to confirm our flights ), but as well a good occasion to have a quick look at the forum and say hello .

We visited the Campbell Museum Hut.


We very much liked the logo on the old plates in the museum.


And again we are on our way for a small afternoon drive.
Driving the road to the direction of Lower Sabie, there was a lot to see.
Impalas, Wildebeest, Giraffes Ellis.

Baboons


Guineafowls (we call them crazy chicken ) they are always fun to watch. Most of the times it's hard to take a photo ,as they seem to be permanently in motion. But nevertheless we are stopping to have a closer look.


On the way back to camp we saw this lovely Tawny Eagle


And a Marabou Stork in this wonderful light before sunset.


Back at camp we prepared ourselves for dinner at the Selati Restaurant.
We were very much looking forward to that and of course once again we are no disappointed.
What a perfect day!

Tomorrow will be an early start. Due to late reservation it was not possible to stay neither in Lower Sabie nor Croc Bridge. So we are missing out on that part of Kruger. Very much to our dislike.
So we decided to drive to Lower Sabie for breakfast and after that via Skukuza to Pretoriuskop.
It’s going to be a loooong day.

Thank you arks, Jay Pardus and Anne-Marie!

@ Pardus

Yes we like the Baboons. I know a lot of people don't.
Well we do not have to live with them in our everyday live.I believe that sometimes this can be quite a pest.
We always have a healthy respect reagrding the male ( wow, these teeth ....... )
Ok, once they stole a bread from our fridge at Lower Sabie, but that was our own fault we did not secure the fridge in the right way, humans can be quite stupid.

I love the little ones very much they are always so curious and always fun to watch.It is great to see the interaction in the group and all the care between the mothers and juniors.

During our first trip to Kruger we came upon a mother carying her dead little one held tight in her arms. You could easily tell that it was already dead for maybe a few days.And she still did not let go of it.
That was a heartbreaking sight

In this pic I really love the eyes of the little Baboon, they let me melt.

Oops I forget to tell you about (what we thought to be a very funny scene), within our last few minutes before gate closing at Skukuza.

During the whole trip we saw numerous speed controls.
That evening there was a ranger with a policewoman.
The first time we saw that.
Longe before we reached the control we could hear the lady talking.The guy looked very annoyed. We passed the control and once again on our way back about 20 minutes later .
Again we could hear the woman talk long before we saw them.

He looked as if by now he knew that no man can avoid his destiny.
We are nearly convinced that we saw how he secretly looked at his rifle and then over to the Lady.
This poor fellow.
We wondered how long they had already been there .......

We had a very good laugh about that scene

10.05.

Got up early .
Today we are driving to Lower Sabie and later via Skukuza to Pretoriuskop.
A cloudless sky already reveals that it will be once again a sunny and quite hot day.
Packing all our stuff into the car we heard a Hyena close to the camp which made us pack a little faster.
But again no luck with Hyenas.

We are out the Gates at 6.30 am.

It is so lovely to drive along the Sabie River.

We saw Buffalos in the middle of the river, Ellis from time to time.
Crossing the river over the Sabie just north of Nkulu we discovered a Gymnogene in one of the trees, but as hard as we tried we were not able to take a photo.

Instead we saw this pair of Egyptian Geese in one of the trees.


We were very sad to see a roadkill. A Nightjar literally squashed .

We are stopping at Nkulu for a coffee and a look at the birds. What a difference to November.Then by now the Picnic Spot would have been packed, now in May it was nearly empty .

Vervet Monkeys, Pied Kingfisher and Cormorant.

Wonderful, it was very hard to leave such a peaceful atmosphere.

Here it suddenly occured to me how many different types of tree barkes there are. So I took some photos :


South of the S21 we stopped to observe a Raptor on one of the trees.

We stopped the engine.
The raptor was scanning the area ,when all off a sudden a second one came and pushed him from it’s branch. Wow, that was way too fast and I was just seconds too late to take a decent photo.
But I think this pic shows how fast everything happened.


Standing there we hear a familiar sound. We new in an instant what it was,a purring Lioness. So we very slowly drove up and down the road, but no chance the bushes were just too thick .
We laughed about our ‘Lion hearing’ and drove on to Lower Sabie.

We enjoyed a small brekkie on the wooden deck and absorbed this wonderful view. But it was time to leave, as we still had a good drive till Pretoriuskop.

Of course we did not leave before driving a small detour over the bridge south of the camp. But ….no Kingfishers, Herons or other birds today.

A short stop at Sunset Dam


Now we are finally on our way to Pretoriuskop.

We had a lot of Elli traffic today. Another stop on the bridge over the Sabie , but of course no sign of the Gymnogene.
But a small traffic jam on the bridge and one of the guides in a Safari Vehicle showed us a Lioness on one of the sandbanks just seconds before she disappeared behind one of the bushes.

We passed a point on the main road where we had met a male Nyala during our last stay.
Not having the time to finish the word Nyala these ladies stepped right into the road.


Close to Pretoriuskop we came across two Rhinos fairly close to the road.


The check in was quick and easy.
We had one of the family huts, # 111 very private,very speacious, close to the fence and with Impalas direct in front of our hut .


Within the camp we observed this nosy (or thirsty?) Vervet Monkey


We are already quite late and so it is just a very short drive around the camp.
Dinner at the restaurant was good as usual.

On the way back we discovered that the todays film was still showing.
So we stopped and watched the film till the end.
Kim Wolhuters ‘Tjololo’.
It was such a special atmosphere and to watch a film like that in Kruger, under a clear sky with all the other bush sounds in the background, was just awesome.
We have never done that before, but already decided now that we will repeat it sometime during one of our next stays.

A coffee on our veranda .
Tomorrow will be our last full day in Kruger.

11.05./Part 1

Today a part of our trip arrived we never really like.
The last full day…..
Again we started early.
Our aim today were the Albasini Ruins.
Taking the S7 (including the Shabeni Hill Loop) further on the S3 and S1 to the ruins and back the complete S3 via Mestel Dam and the Numbi Gate.

Along the road there was a lot to see.

Zebras


Dark Chanting Goshawk


White Rhino and much more.

The ruins were very interesting, even more as Patrick Khosa ( I hope that I remember his name right) gave us a very interesting tour around the ruins and their history .
(both pics were taken by Francolin)

We had a closer look at Phabeni Gate and it’s really friendly staff, and were soon heading back to the direction of Pretoriuskop.

In the P’kop area we saw more Kudus than during the whole trip.
(look at those eye lashes… )

And another new bird for us.

A Coqui Francolin.


Before finally returning to the Camp for a noon break we took the Fayi Loop. The last time we had been lucky and met some Sable there….
But not this time .

Nevertheless it is still a very pleasant drive with beautiful landscape.

Thank you Pardus for your compliment !



I love them ,they are so elegant animals.
However I am not sure at all what I like the most. These huge ears,the beautiful brown eyes with these enormous eye lashes or these (as you said) ''lipstick'' lips.



We were very surprised to see them it was our very first time, and they were gone as quickly as they appeared.



I am not keen to end this trip report.
So I devided the last full day into three parts (so a few more to come) and not to forget the last half day of our trip. Where we had another awesome sighting just half an hour before leaving Kruger.
So you see , this was not at all the last installment

11.05. / Part 2

We had lunch at the take away restaurant and enjoyed a coffee later on our veranda.

Here we observed loads and loads of birds.

Some Southern Black Flycatcher visited us

Even checking the braai.


Woodpeckers were around


A Blue waxbill thinking if the feather of a Guineafowl can be of any use.


Groundscraper Thrushes were roaming the area.


And again another first, a Grey Headed Bushshrike (but no good pics, as he was way too busy to hold still for even one second )


Seeing all these wonderful birds just all around the hut makes the decision even harder ,whether to leave for another afternoon drive or not.
But as it is our last afternoon we are on the road again very soon.

11.05. / Part 3

We took the Voortrekker Road for this drive.
It was the first time during this years trip and it was such a difference to the very first time in November 2005.
Then it was so very dry , but now it is nice and green with a dense vegetation all along the way.
Bee-Eaters

Rhinos, Ellis, Dwarf Mongoose

and this great landscape.
We drove the road for a while and than returned to the direction of Pretoriuskop again.

Here we witnessed the worst example of speeding during the whole trip.
We saw many speed controls on the tarred roads, but here on the gravel road a red 4x4 vehicle passed us in a speed I would rather call insane .
Driving like that he could not possibly stop for any animal, no matter if big or small. But he even took his time to wave at us friendly while passing. We had to stop the car, because we were not able to see a thing for a few minutes.

Still it was far too early to return to the camp finally. So we passed the camp and went further on the then S7 and the Shabeni Hill.
The main road to Numbi was busy, at least it was Friday evening.
But as soon as we reached the S7 there were no other cars around.
We took our time to make the best of the last evening drive and just at the moment we decided to return to camp we discovered a Reedbuck

and finally I managed to take a pic of a Common duiker.
( I was able to take this photos just before the light go too bad for any decent pics)

It was getting closer and closer to gate closing time and so we had to leave for the camp.

Back at camp we prepared ourselves a last time for dinner at the restaurant.

Later sitting on our veranda for a good night drink we got a bit (I understate…), very wistful.

Like always on the last evening……

But we are leaving Kruger (via Numbi Gate) just at around 10 or maybe 11 am.
So still some time for a farewell drive .

12.05.

So this is going to bet he last part of this years Kruger Trip Report.

Not too late we packed everything into the car, as we wanted to use the last few hours in Kruger for a last short drive.

After stowing away the last bag I somehow managed to forget about the fact that in a few hours from now we are already sitting at KMIA and tomorrow at the same time, we will be back at home.

We thoroughly enjoyed the time left.
Like yesterday we were heading to the direction of the Albasini ruins.
Our plan was taking the main road to the S7,driving the S3 to the northern direction just before the turnoff onto the S1 and then heading back to the main road. Having another short stop at P’kop once again and after that finally heading to Numbi Gate and out of the Park.

Yesterday the route had some wonderful sightings in store, but although we ‘just’ met some Zebras today , it was a very nice drive.
(seems to be in a very good mood…)

Heavy hearted we were driving back to the main road and turned left to visit the camp one last time.

All of the sudden I saw something from the corner of my eye.
A movement quite a way into the bushes.
And in an instant I was absolutely sure what I was looking at….

Sables!

Francolin (as always) was in charge of all the equipment, so I asked her to hand me the binoculars, no, better the camera, no, better not that one, please the one with the big zoom lens…all at once .
I just could not make up my mind....

We were so excited that we finally found them(I think my hands even trembled a bit ).

It was a whole group of Sables. Maybe 4-5 females, we could see one junior and one very impressive male.


It was not easy to take any decent pics through all this vegetation, but being there all alone with these magnificent animals gave us the chance to find the best possible position.
Constantly driving forward and reversing we observed them for about ¾ of an hour.

What an incredible sighting.

After that period of time they moved further away from the road and moreover deeper into the bush, so it was time for us to leave.

What an ending to another fantastic trip to Kruger.

Very slowly we were making our way to Numbi gate.
Feeling very sad as we are passing the gate (I have to admit that I even shed some tears ), Francolin tried to comfort me: ‘You have to leave to come back’.

And you can be sure we will return….

------ The End------

Plans for Kruger in 2008 are already in our mind.

We liked Kruger in May, it was something completely different to the hot and humid November.

But we love Kruger at both seasons.

We were hooked from the first moment of the very first trip, and we got the feeling that every time Kruger reveals something new to us, as if to make sure that we will return again and again.

There are so many things to discover.
Not only the Big 5 , but all the small discoveries along the way , like Mongooses, Dragonflies, flowers, the bark of a tree, etc.
These, and not forgetting the silent moments, add so much quality to a trip to Kruger and enhance the joy of travelling through such a delightful spot of earth.

Thank you all for your very kind comments.

I hope it was as enjoyable to read the report, as it was enjoyable for me to write it.

Now we are already looking forward to our next trip to Augrabies and Kgalagadi in October/November.

In the meantime it is my turn to savour the trip reports of all the lucky forumites, that have the chance to spend their time either in Kruger or Kgalagadi.

If you would like to see more of my Kruger photos (no, you have not seen all of them yet ), have a look
here
or here for a slideshow

Katy