A frustrating start to the day…I had written Day 16 blog at the end of the previous day and scheduled it to post this morning…first it didn’t and then it did but the photos didn’t upload…..I spend considerable time writing the blog, I am not a natural with words, but dyslexics can achieve if they try hard and I am an achiever!! ….i have to read it back to John so I can hear my mistakes to make corrections. John down loads both his and my camera to his laptop. Then he selects the photos for the day, and I am proud to say a lot of them are mine, then he sends his selection of both of our shots back to me via messenger and I down load them and then upload them to the blog…..he has an arduous task, in getting them to me, if the internet is running slowly as do I in uploading…..it is particularly frustrating to think you’ve succeeded and then find out you’ve failed !!!! Thanks John for your patience.

Back to Day 17…. We were not really sorry to say goodbye to our only just basic mud- hut…opps I mean rondavel! Although we did spot 2 hippos on the river bank from our veranda.

A yogurt breakfast and then a brief conversation with the maintenance men who were trying, in vein, to unblock next doors sewage pipe….at least we hadn’t had that to contend with…..there was a giant African millipede next to the car which we asked them about, when I lived in Malawi we called them shongololo (or chongololo). The maintenance men told us its name in their language, it sounded very similar.

….and then we were off.

We headed down the 9km tar to the main road…not a single sighting… oh! John had selected Zebra and I had selected giraffe as first spot….We turned on the tar towards Satara. It was a cold morning but slightly brighter than the day before. Our first sighting were 3 warthogs in the riverbed, followed by 3 waterbuck.

Then we almost missed an elephant at the side of the road. You’d think something so big couldn’t hide in a small bush !!!

We turned off the tar to the right on the same gravel road we had taken yesterday. Braving the corrugations we rattled along…. Our first spot was a small group of Zebra..6-3 to John, he gloated he was catching up. Within a couple of minutes we came across a tower of giraffe, 11 in total…a real family gathering. We stopped where we had seen yesterday’s jackals and sure enough we saw a pair of ears sticking up and there was one of the jackals nestled down next to a bush. I was happy… walking along towards this area was a Kori bustard. It was a handsome male with his seemingly thick neck – the feathers around the neck are loose, giving the appearance of a thicker neck than they really have.

On we went and shortly came across three parked vehicles…we quickly saw what they were watching…yeah….a pack of wild dogs and some youngsters. There were some adults laid to the right of the track, who got up trotted around and crossed the road before lying down in the long grass making them vanish from view. The youngsters were huddled together under the edges of a thorn bush, protected from the coolish wind. What a wonderful sight.

We stayed watching for some time, eventually moving in front of the other cars, taking some pictures before moving on out of their way.

Not much further on we came across two male giraffes having a fisty-cuffs….its actually called “ necking”….male giraffes use their necks and heads to compete for dominance.

We were laughing about how wonderfully productive this route had turned out to be, when we caught sight of 3 ground hornbill. These are enormous, sociable, ground-loving birds which are easily recognized. The adult male has an extensive brilliant red face and throat wattles.

We scurried along to Timbavati picnic area…basically because I need the loo…the corrugated road really does shake your insides up!

Not long after my loo stop we pulled up next to a parked jeep. They kindly showed us where to look for 3 lionesses. We saw 2 ..they were watching zebra on the far bank of the river and soon disappeared from sight in stalking motion. We would never have seen these if the kindly couple hadn’t pointed them out and moved their car so we could get a glimpse.

Wow what a day we were having….around the next bend a martial eagle was eating something it had taken up a tree.

We continued on to the tar road which goes to Orpen gate…we turned the opposite way towards Satara.

Stopping at the dam we ate our lunch watching the hippos and their young frolicking in the water, while a hooded vulture watched on.

We continued along the tar sighting an ostrich before we got to camp.

We arrived at Satara Camp at 2.15pm and booked in…Luckily we were allocated C51…we like circle C and have often stayed in a rondavel there before. Whilst in reception we asked about a sunset drive, we had decided not to try for tonight as the windchill factor was high and we thought we’d be too cold. So we asked for the following night but it was fully booked. Oh No !!!!! …So I asked for the night after …our 3rd night and we booked that. I then asked for tonight and yes it was available…so to Johns some what dismay I booked that as well🤣🤣.

We soon found our chalet…this time we had a full kitchen and the rondavel was quite roomy. I rummaged through both cases finding a pair of jeans each for us. For John a polo neck to go over his tshirt and another tshirt to go over that, and his fleece, a pair of shoes and socks. For myself a cami vest, a long sleeved vest a cardigan, my fleece and a scarf….and because I am my mothers daughter – intuitive and resourceful, I also put 2 new hankies in my pocket so I could use them as earmuffs inside my headscarf….let me tell you they worked an absolute treat and my head and ears were as snug as a bug in a rug🤣🤣

Off we went on our sunset drive, John was still mumbling “waste of time….too cold to see anything..” Patrick was our driver…over the years he’s taken us many times…he has a wicked sense of humour and is a great spotter and guide…what’s more the truck wasn’t full so I moved to the double seat infront and Patrick really took the Micky when I said it was because my husbands “butt“ was too big 🤣🤣

Off we went, he started on the S100 then turned round and went on to the H6… a road which goes up to the Mozambique border. We hadn’t been going long when he stopped…there was a whole pack of hyenas, both youngsters and mature adults, both sides of the road.

We haven’t seen many yet, this holiday so it was a real treat.

Not much further along the road was the stench of death and our guide pointed out an elephant which had died of old age. He said the hyenas, jackals and vultures would soon dispose of every sign of it.

On we went and suddenly out of nowhere an adult rhino strolled across the road…what a treat. We’ve never seen rhino near Satara before. Within 5 minutes it was completely out of sight.

A while later we stopped again and about 80 metres from the road was a dead giraffe with lions feasting on it. As it was dusk it was difficult to focus on. We could see a lioness and several youngsters.

At this moment a young man on the truck dropped his phone out onto the ground. Patrick then spent a considerable time shifting the truck, moving the phone with a firebeater, shifting the truck again so that it was between the lions and the phone. He then stepped down from the passenger side and retrieved the phone. What a palaver, Patrick did so well and the young man didn’t even say thank you….so I thanked Patrick for being so kind. We watched the lions a little longer before heading back in the direction of camp…it was by now very dark and people were using the spotlights.

We passed the elephant carcass and our driver took us close to it so we could watch the hyena arriving for their supper….sure enough they did.

Continuing on ……Suddenly Patrick stopped the truck and right down in the grass on the verge of the road was a young female leopard. We watched it walk along the road and disappear back into the bush for nearly 10 minutes.

By now John was laughing and whispered in my ear “ who said we wouldn’t see much” …this was probably the most successful spotting day we have ever had and we will certainly remember it forever.

Even after the leopard our spotting wasn’t over, we had clear views of 3 different marsh owls both sat in the road, on a tree and in flight….wow.

Thank you Patrick for a marvellous drive, thank you John for forgetting to be cold and thank you Mother Nature for showing us your treasures.

Back in Camp we said goodbye to Patrick…he had certainly earnt his big tip.

Our viewing numbers for the entire day including sunset drive were 1 millipede, 99+ impala, 3 warthog, 8 steenbok, 24 hippo, 2 jackal, 1 Kori bustard, 5 WBV, 17 waterbuck, 15 elephant, 54 zebra, 36 wildebeest, 30 giraffe, 8 wild dog, 6 yellow billed hornbill, 1 quail, 1 grey Lourie, 2 African fish eagle, 1 bateleur eagle, 1 lilac breasted roller, 7 lion, 3 ground horn bill, 5 kudu, 1 crocodile, 1 ostrich, 1 martial eagle, 1 rhino, 1 leopard, 3 marsh owl, 1 hooded vulture, 11 hyena, 1 African wild cat.

We scurried to the Cattle Baron restaurant and ordered Chateaubriand flambé in brandy with chips, butternut and spinach and mushroom sauce …it was superb, we rounded it off with ice cream…..all for the superb price of £28.00 for us both….

We went straight to bed, it was too cold to sit outside playing cards…we were very happy, very grateful and very well blessed.