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South Africa Safari 2025 Day 19 – the day of the lion.

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We had a lovely long lie in followed by yogurt and toast. We got to the petrol station to find loads of vehicles waiting and a rather fraught attendant saying “cash only, internets down”. So we went to the front of the queue and paid cash…how long the people who had already filled and now couldn’t pay, would have to wait heaven only knows…it just reinforced my philosophy that you must carry enough cash to see you through infrastructure hiccups….

Off we went before we got to the gate John selected Zebra as first spot and I said wildebeest…….shucks….before we actually got out of the gate we saw a herd of zebra grazing…in-fact we didn’t see wildebeest until much later, although I hastened to add they out numbered the zebra by the end of the day…anyway they put John on 4 wins so the score is 7-4…. Yikes he’s catching me up 🤣

We quickly saw a few giraffe and a rather handsome kudu, who insisted on being camera shy.

We went down the S100 and saw some wildebeests hiding from the heat of the day under a thorn tree/bush.

We were just commenting that the extreme change of temperature …today it was 33 degrees Celsius, was keeping the mammals hiding away from sight…suddenly we saw 2 WBV on a nest in a tree…a lovely sight.

We turned onto the road which links the S100 to the H6….this road is not for the faint hearted .. most the top soil/sand and gravel has gone….you would think that would be a good thing as it can’t be corrugated….but what it actually means is that you’re picking your way slowly across rock…trying to find the flattest way through, without driving over sharp bits or bits sticking up which could damage your tyres or your sump….it is hard driving…no rest for the driver and absolutely no way of using cruise control……on top of this, the road crosses several fords/ pontoon bridges with water flowing over them…some deeper than others…one in particular you get half way across with the water about a foot/30cm deep and suddenly the car drops down another 10 inches/24 cms…I wouldn’t even try it in a saloon car…it certainly makes you think you’re about to end up in the river…but hey Ho we’ve done it several times and I just hold my breath and pray…. I actually stopped in the middle this time to view the impressive bed of purple water lilies…one has a bee on it ….

…..and a little further across we found a young crocodile hiding in the lilies and reeds.

We got to the H6 without incident….we stopped at the dead giraffe and saw a swish of a tail.. and then it turned over it was a lioness and her cub. Lions sleep 20 hours out of 24 hours so catching them awake is always difficult. Lions usually live in groups of 10 or 15 animals called prides. The females are the hunters, if their pride has any males after the hunt the males eat first then the females. When food is scarce up to 80% of cubs can die of starvation as they are the last to get to eat. An adult male’s roar can be heard up to 8km away.

We watched for a while before driving on…we located the hyena den but could see no sign of them…they were obviously in their den..a culvert under the road. Heading back to camp for an afternoon rest we came across some more elephants and Chacma baboons. We pulled up next to a wonderfully sociable wildebeest and ate our lunch in his presence.

Back at camp we rested until 4.00pm when we went to join the Parks Sunset drive. This time we were with Tiani and her truck was full. She set off down the tar towards Orpen gate and turned onto a parks board only road…it ran parallel to the tar. She had a companion with her and they took it in turns to talk about each animal…zebra, wildebeest, warthog and giraffe. To be quite honest it was a little tedious especially as she seemed focussed on sexing the animal other than looking at the more obvious genitalia. She turned back onto the tar and went to the dam. There was a lovely breeding herd of elephants. They crossed the road in front of the truck and there was a tiny calf, which was between a week and a month old.

Retracing our steps we we saw very little until she turned on to the H6. We stopped for a sunset shot.

She stopped at the hyena den and sure enough they were out next to the culvert.

Further on we saw the same lions just off the road near the giraffe kill. A few kilometres further there was a loin on the tar…like the Chacma baboons they often sleep on the tar to enjoy its warmth.

On our return we saw two more lions near the road,

….a few more hyenas around the den and a marsh owl.

The sightings were superb but they weren’t spotted, they were seen because the animals walked out into the road.

Our sightings count for the day was 99+ impala, 1 hoopoe, 1 yellow-billed hornbill, 99+ zebra, 2 vervet monkeys, 13 giraffe, 1 kudu, 32 waterbuck, 2 WVB, 2 bateleur eagle, 25 elephant, 99+wildebeest, 7 lion, 1 crocodile, 1 steenbok, 3 lilac breasted roller, 18 Chacma baboons, 5 hyena, 2 warthog, 1 marsh owl.

We ended the day at The Cattle Baron, using their Internet…then back to the rondavel for a game of cards.

South Africa Safari Day 16 The day of the Jackal

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“The day that the rains came” – by Jane Morgan No. 1 on the UK singles chart in 1959 – she died a couple of months ago aged 101….(makes my dad look like a spring chicken at 94 this year 🤣🤣🤣). NO! I am not old enough to remember it, but it seemed an appropriate song to start the day….cold, grey, drizzle…that wonderful smell the bush exudes when it’s been dry for so long and then it gets damped upon.. The temperature didn’t rise to more than 17 degrees Celsius all day and in England we would have called it a miserable grey day….but we’re not in England and in SA it was yet another day for wildlife spotting.

We had a slow start to the day…both of us aching from the rock hard beds…we’re so used to our luxury encapsulated sprung memory foam mattress…we forget how fortunate we are until a bed like last nights reminds us 🤣🤣. But thankfully the shower was powerful enough to massage the aches and pains…

We made a plan and decided to drive the river loops between Olifants and Letaba…that was plan “A”….. John was allowed two choices of first spot today because he is 6-1 down…. He chose elephant and giraffe and I chose zebra….off we went …Oh my goodness!!!! The vibration from the corrugated roads was the worse so far…thank goodness we don’t have false teeth because I am telling you even our jaws were rattling and we’d defiantly have lost any falsies🤣🤣🤣….i didn’t need to bring the “tens” machine with us, these roads shock every fibre within your body….

After 45 minutes without a single sighting Plan “B” was made and we took the circular road back to Olifants…. John was just saying “in 5 minutes time we’ll have been going an our without seeing a single creature, animal or bird”. As he finished talking I caught sight of a Grey Lourie ( now renamed The Go- away bird) . Then 2 minutes later we saw a giraffe standing next to 2 zebra…John claimed the point..6-2 …

Back on the tar we were going to go down to Balule Camp on the dirt…but as I was actually having to use the windscreen wipers, the drizzle was slow steady rain, we hatched Plan “C”. Staying on the tar we saw a nice small troop of Chacma baboons.

Turning down towards Satara we saw a herd of Waterbuck in the rivers shallow channels. Other cars were stopped and it was soon apparent that they weren’t looking at the buck. We asked a car and they said 3 lionesses had been seen……been was the operable word…they could no longer be seen. ….some cars crawled along the road at the edge of the river…we asked again and were told 2 male lions had been seen..yeah! Who started this rumour…no one still there had actually seen a lion….we left them to it.

A little further on we saw a lovely African harrier hawk in a tree next to the road.

As we went over the bridge I spied two magnificent Goliath Herons…they really are majestic…we haven’t seen one since we were with Same Aaron in Botswana in 2023. We spent some time watching them wade in the shallows.

We had been going to turn towards the East and take the road which runs parallel to the Mozambique boarder….but we still hadn’t seen many mammals so Plan “D” was hatched and we turned to the west. It was again a bone-shaker road. After a while we saw a fabulous Kori Bustard….they are very strange looking birds…the largest flying bird native to Africa.

We continued on and as the surrounding area opened up into scrub land plains…and there darting across the plains, across the road and back again were not only one but 3 Black Backed Jackals…..

Black backed jackals are a widely distributed species that are known for their cunning and daring. They are often seen nipping in to steal a morsel from Lions. They have a distinctive call known almost as well as the roar of a lion. They are the most common and best known of all the African carnivores. The name jackal is frequently used to denote the cunning and versatility so typical of this species. They have a dark saddle on the back, which runs from the nape of the neck to the base of the tail. They have a black, bushy tail and reddish flanks and limbs; standing about 400 mm at the shoulder and a meter in total length. Our 3 black backed Jackals were racing around.

A red billed hornbill even photo-bombed my attempt at capturing a running jackal.

I was ecstatic about our sighting as they are one of my absolute favourites.

Shortly after seeing these little fellas we about turned and retraced our steps. On the way back we saw pockets wildebeest keeping out of the rain under a tree.

At the tar road we went straight over on to the Balule Camp Road. We saw quite large groups of impala mostly laid down, keeping warm out of the wind, it had by now stopped raining.

A group of waterbuck grazed at the road side and small groups of zebra hid behind bushes.

We crossed the river on the low pontoon, nothing was on the banks or in the water.

We sat overlooking the water to eat our sandwich before heading back to Olifants camp. We were almost back to the tar when I almost drove past a massive elephant just munching on a bush at the side of the road. We had a quiet conversation and he continued to enjoy his snack while we slowly passed by.

A few metres further on was a much smaller elephant who had obvious aggression towards us…shaking his ears and stamping his feet…we accelerated passed tout de suite, without incident.

Our viewing count for the day was quite low 99+ impala, 2 lilac breasted rollers, 1 grey Lourie, I African fish eagle, 1 African harrier hawk, 6 giraffe, 25 zebra, 2 Goliath herons, 8 baboons, 1 yellow billed hornbill bill, 3 red billed hornbill, 17 waterbuck, 3 black backed jackals, 18 wildebeest, 3 elephants.

Back in the camp we spent the afternoon resting before going to the restaurant for supper. It was heaving as no-one wanted to braii in this inclement weather. We both had burgers, I had chicken breast and John had beef, a Diet Coke each and ice cream to round it off…all for the princely sum of £17.00.

We wandered back to our hut using torchlight then snuggled down for the night…too cold to sit outside and play cards and no room inside.

Tomorrow we head to Satara.

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 13 – The day of the Tsessebe.

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“Oh it’s such a perfect day
I’m glad I spend it with you
oh such a perfect day you just keep me hangin on
you just keep me hangin on” …

….That’s what you do Mother Nature…..and then you deliver, time and time again. ……half way through this perfect day we both burst into song….after all, the birds, wildlife, trees and plants aren’t going to tell us to shut up are they. It was a lovely bright day with temperatures back to around 26 Celsius.

We had a slow start to the day…both showered and hair washed, clean cloths and just a small pot each of yogurt for breakfast, supplies need replenishing. John made rolls for lunch while battling to keep the vervet monkeys off the food and out of the kitchen…if it wasn’t the monkeys it was the glossy starlings and the squirrels….quite a sight to see John “sshhhing” them away…one monkey distracted him while another sneaked in behind …eventually he succeeded. I had in the meantime been sorting out the dirty washing ready to go to the laundry.

Our house keeper arrived just as we were leaving. I asked her where the laundry was and she pointed but then she said she would do it for me. I asked how much and she said anything I wanted to give her…so I said 150 Rands ( £6) and she beamed from ear to ear…I gave her the detergent and she said she’d bring it all back tomorrow morning…bless her. When we got back at lunchtime she had decorated our beds with the towels and leaves and pods and she had put a glass on a doily full of flowers next to our beds….Josephine you are a lovely lady.

With the washing taken care of it meant we could go out game spotting much earlier. We went out of the back gate and headed along the river side….wow…it was prolific for game…within 10 minutes we had driven 2 kms and seen 8 different species……our first sight was a squirrel just as we left the camps gate. We saw loads of waterbuck, giraffe, elephants, small groups of dagger boys – old male buffalo, zebra, kudu, hippos, and of course we soon counted 99+ impala….for an area which has a reputation of being devoid of wildlife it was our most prolific day game viewing so far this holiday.

We spent along time looking up a tree with 2 other vehicles who informed us there was a leopard sleeping up the tree……if it was it was buried deep in the foliage of the tree …as you know leopards can sleep for along time and we decided to leave her to it.

We retraced our route back to camp. On the way back we came across a magnificent specimen of a bull Nyala…a very handsome male…he seemed to be on his own with no harem.

On arrival at the camp it was once again a hive of activity…bus and mini bus loads full of school children and locals. It was “heritage day” earlier in the week and we think the park drops the conservation daily fee for locals during the week. As we drove through camp I stopped and commented how beautiful a lady looked in traditional clothing, she wanted us to take her photo which we obligingly did…

We stopped at our chalet for a quick loo break before heading out of the front gate….lo and behold on the opposite bank of the river were two tsessebe antelope.

The tsessebe has a strange name which is fitting for its rather strange look. It is larger and somewhat different in appearance than the other two animals of the same genus (blesbok and bontebok). Both sexes carry horns which are more splayed, and a black (rather than a white) blaze marks the face. The tsessebes upper parts are dark reddish-brown with a distinct purplish sheen and paler belly. They have a characteristic shoulder hump which is higher than its rump. The tsessebe is reportedly the fasted of all antelope and it can reach speeds of up to 90 km. It is a grazer and is often the first to arrive on areas after a burn as they specifically like fresh growth and shoots.

As we watched these rarely seen beauties another car stopped and asked us what we were looking at. We told them and they drove straight on, obviously neither appreciating the rare sighting or the beauty of this magnificent creature.

We continued out to the S53 where we had seen the lions yesterday. On the way we saw a lot of white backed vultures, elephant, zebra and a lone wildebeest. The S53 was no longer lion ridden, there was no sigm of them. Not far from where they had been, a group of Chacma baboons happily sauntered across the track. The thick undergrowth and vegetation makes spotting a challenge and photo opportunities near on impossible…

On our way back to camp we spied a very elegant martial eagle in a tree close to the road.

We watched aline of zebra cross the dry river bed and disappear into the bush. Stopping back at the tsessebe we decided to eat our lunch. Back in camp it was time for a rest.

Our spotting count for the day was …we don’t include the sunset drive spots because it’s too difficult to record bouncing up and down all the time.. 99+ impala, 65 elephant, 6 squirrel, 13 warthog, 58 zebra, 63 waterbuck, 13 kudu, 21 giraffe, 6 yellow-billed stork, 48 buffalo, 2 yellow billed hornbill, 2 quail, 8 spur-fowl, 37 hippo, 1 grey lourie, 1 nyala, 1 African fish eagle, 21 Chacma baboons, 2 saddle-billed stork, 4 tsessebe, 3 vervet monkeys, 1 wildebeest, 9 WBV, 1 lilac breasted roller, 1 martial eagle……what a prolific game drive!

We wandered across to the carpark for the sunset drive at 4.15pm. I was immediately pounced upon by some colourfully dressed ladies who wanted their photos taken with the white, blonde lady….i was grateful when another couple joined us and shifted the photographic lime lite to them. It was a strange experience.

When the small 10 seater Safari vehicle arrived we quickly jumped on. While the driver did his paper work another group of local visitors jumped on the vehicle to have their photos taken on a Safari vehicle with the white people…it was all a bit overwhelming and surreal. We were glad when the driver returned along with 2 more guests who sat on the row of seats infront of us. Delight introduced himself, reminded us of the Safari vehicle game drive etiquette and informed us that the extra two people were also game rangers/ guides from one of the local 5* reserves. Great we had 3 guides instead of just one. We set of for out 3 hour drive with high hopes.

Delight followed the same route we had been in the morning. We saw some lovely sights along the river banks . Including 2 more tsessebe. He stopped several times to talk about both lion and impala scat- poo!! We went to where the leopard had been seen but the remaining car said it had already left the tree and disappeared into the undergrowth. We did however catch sight of a fish eagle.

On our return trip a large eagle owl was seen in the twilight.

We went some time before sighting a Scops owl at the edge of the road. It flew into a tree and we watched it for a while.

A couple of adorable bush babies were seen leaping around the bushes. Quite close to camp we saw a raging bush fire but Delight assured us it was a controlled burn. The Parks board does have areas they burn from time to time. They keep it under control by putting in firebreaks. It is so the earth regenerates and it allows seeds to germinate and fresh growth quickly appears. This is the time of year they do this, just before the rains begin.

On returning to camp we tipped Delight and thanked him for a very enjoyable 3 hour drive. We decided as it was 7.45pm we would eat in the restaurant. We both had pies, I had chicken, John had venison. Thankfully they had vegetables which were delightful, a mixture of cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, mange-toot, courgette, peppers and corn….i think it was frozen but it was very welcomed. Our meal cost less than £15 for us both. We returned to our chalet happy and tired….an excellent day in the bush….oh what a perfect day…

South African Safari 2025 – Kruger National Park – Planning Document, Itinerary and costings.

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We are raring to go and lots of people have been asking for our plans. I have to admit that i am pretty proud of myself for bringing this in on budget…. John told me maximum budget was £5,000 not our usual £8000/10,000 …it was a challenge I couldn’t resist……

Those of you who know me know I don’t do “slumming it”… I like my comforts…. I wont share a bathroom so everything has to be ensuite. I have to have air-conditioning in hot climates and I wont camp where creepy crawlies could get into bed with me !!!!! But none of that is a problem when you visit Kruger National Park in South Africa. We have been many, many times…c;oclcking up over three and a half years of accumulated time spent in Kruger…so you could say we know what we are doing.

With the help of my “go to team” at:

DialAFlight Maisie Morton and Sean – +44 1618418179 http://www.dialaflight.com

I got superb prices for our flights. If you decide to use them please tell them that 2jsworldofadventure recommended them, they will then give you the best possible price. The trick is to be flexible with your dates. If you want a really cheap price ask them to look at indirect flights – these often involve a change in Addis Ababa or Rwanda. The only reason we don’t do this is because the flight change and lay-over are at inhospitable times…we are aging and need our beauty sleep. So we fly direct… this time we found British airways on a certain day were incredibly well priced….So a big shout-out for DialAFlight – Thanks Maisie and Sean.

Through experiences earlier this year, when we hired a car to drive around Portugal and Southern Spain, we have found Holiday Autos to be tremendous value. Our car hire in both Iberia and South Africa is less than half the price of hiring direct and you still collect the vehicle from a top brand name. We also took out both times the AXA fully comprehensive car insurance as an additional but with-in the price I’ve put on the planning document.

I’ve included in our trip all our favourite Kruger Camps plus a few luxury nights at the start and the end of our Safari.

Hope you’ll find the planning document useful and feel confident in doing a Do-It-Yourself Safari in the future. If you have any questions just email me on 2jsworldofadventure@gmail.com and i will do my best to help answer your queries.

Travels in 2025 are just commencing

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We have had a shaky start to the year with many trips being postponed, cancelled or just not booked….Why?? John has had to have 2 eye operations which had to be spaced a month apart and then another month awaiting his all clear and new glasses…… But Thank goodness we are about to hit the road again.

So whats booked ???…….

PORTUGAL – We are off to Portugal and Spain in May. We have only booked a skeleton trip, because we want the versatility and flexibility to do what we want when we want…. SO… we have booked flights with EasyJet from Luton to Faro – £398.22 for us both with hold luggage and seats. In Faro we pick up a Ford Kuga from Avis booked through Holiday Autos for 18 days £680.47 including Premium Cover. We drive to Baia Da Luz Resort where we have rented a one bedroom apartment for a week for £642…… after that who knows?…… We may extend for a week or we may go straight along to Donana National Park in Spain…this park is home to the Iberian Linx. We are, however, not delusional, as we are aware that a sighting of this critically endangered species is about as rare as seeing a tiger in India or a Pangolin in Africa….. But we can live in hope and the park is also well known for its storks and flamingo.. Near the park is a quirky town which looks like something out of the wild west…but more about this if and when we get there. Moving on from here we could spend a few days exploring Seville and Cordoba…..but we will see… if you’re interested follow our blog starting mid May.

SOUTH AFRICA – We are off to South Africa mid September for a month. As usual I have started this planning by booking our time in Kruger National Park. I book directly with the Park at http://www.sanparks.org … its very easy to navigate and you can put the accommodation in your basket and work your days around what is available. There is no point booking your flights first, because if you can’t get the accommodation there’s very little alternative. I’ve booked ensuite Chalets/rondavels for 21 nights at a cost of £1649.08. We are, as usual, starting at Malalane Gate in Berg-en-Dal rest camp, then Lower Sabie, Satara, Letaba, Shingwedzi, Olifants, Satara, Pretoriuskop and finally Berg-en-Dal. I have not paid the conservation Fees because if you’re in the Park longer that 10 days its much cheaper to buy a Wild Card, which gives you a years free access to all National Parks in SA. Having secured our accommodation I then booked the flights. As usual I got quotes from 4 different companies….. and again as usual DialAFlight gave me by far the best deal…. a big shout out to Rosie Price and her team (tel. no. +44 1618418179), in particular to Maisie Morton…what a girl…gave me the sort of price which keeps me going back…lots of our family and friends as well as our Blog followers have booked with them and everyone has been given an excellent price. We have booked direct flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg for a total of £1375 that’s £685 per person including hold baggage……wow… The trick to getting deals like this with Rosie’s team is to give them some flexibility with flight dates so they can select the cheapest days for you to fly…..We are once again truly grateful for the service they give us. I also know that the dozens of our readers who did a Sri Lankan trip similar to ours with them were all delighted. Well!! that’s as far as I’ve got with the booking. I haven’t booked a car in RSA yet because I want to see how Holiday Autos works out for us in Portugal, they are offering a great deal in RSA…

I will post both these two trips individually as blogs and with planning sheets when I have done a bit more planing… For now its cheerio and thanks for continuing to follow us. Your support is very appreciated.