After a superb day yesterday we awoke early ..just before 7am. John made the coffee, while I attached photos to yesterday’s blog….the best time to get a quick upload is around 1-2am…but failing that due to being asleep morning tends to be quicker …just 2/3 minutes per picture. My task completed I met with Josephine who had our laundry all fresh and sweet smelling. I gave her 170 Rands (about £7,50) which made her absolutely beam from ear to ear….it was a small price to pay to save me doing it…I hadn’t quite worked out how to dry it and I’ve never had much success at handwashing🤣🤣
We had our last two yogurts in peace…no vervet monkeys pestering us today…perhaps they have the day off on Saturdays🤣. At the garage the kindly attendant washed and polished all the car windows while filling it up with petrol, we showed our gratitude and away we went..
We had decided to go up to the northern end of the Park , to Punda Maria some 76 kms away. John hasn’t been doing too well at naming first spot of the morning so once again I gave him first choice…he chose Waterbuck, we had seen lots around camp yesterday, and I chose Elephant.
We didn’t see much game for about 20 minutes, probably due to the smell of smoke still hanging thickly in the air from the controlled burn yesterday evening.
Eventually we saw a giraffe…closely followed by a few elephant….oh dear!!! I couldn’t help but remind John that I was now 5-1 up 🤣🤣. it was almost an hour later when we finally saw a Waterbuck 🤣
We saw some great sights on our trip up the road. There were a herd of zebra in the dried river bed. We witnessed them drinking out of some holes in the sand we automatically presumed the elephant had dug. Elephant often do this when water is either dirty or in short supply. However while watching the zebra we witnessed two different ones using their front hooves to dig out the holes further…it made us wonder if they had dug the holes from scratch or were just deepening elephant drinking holes. It was a practice we had not seen before. We sat some time watching these ingenious creatures meet their own needs and helping the youngsters get water.
Further along the road a car was pulled up at the side of the road and we focused where they were looking. There were some buffalo to the right but they weren’t looking there. So I asked the lady who told me there were some Eland….and sure enough in the thick bushes we made out 4 beautiful Eland. We haven’t seen these in Kruger for many many years. They are only inhabitants of the very northern part of the park.
The eland is often referred to as the cow of the wilderness. It is the world’s largest antelope. It has the endurance to maintain a trot indefinitely and can jump as high as 1.5 meters. It is known for its strength, stately presence, and spiral horns. The eland is surprisingly agile and graceful. It is a browser which utilises a wide variety of plant species. It can survive without water for periods of time by eating fruits and using their liquid to sustain it. Wow…were we delighted when we caught this fleeting glimpse.
Further up the road there was a large water tank and trough with zebra and elephants milling around. The very strong smell of decay alerted us to the remains of a dead elephant near by. It looked as if it was just the skin and some bones left.
On a mound of earth near it stood a “Jimmy”…….he had a wee and skirted around the carcass before disappearing into the scrub land. Jimmy Jackal – my nickname for a black backed Jackal is one of my favourite creatures…Cheeky, intuitive, sprightly and intelligent. I was ecstatic as we’ve only seen one other so far this trip.
As we continued we came across a small pocket of water with a lot of zebra, a few waterbuck and a couple of buffalo.
Not far from here, on the opposite side of the road, was a huge amount of White backed vultures in the air, on trees and then we saw even more on the ground . We realised it was a feeding frenzy. The ones on the ground were feasting on the remains of a buffalo. There was even a Maribou stork getting stuck in. We could see no signs of the lions who had presumably killed and had their fill of this beast.
Almost walking behind and round the kill was a huge herd of over 100 buffalo obviously going to the water.
We really were seeing a lot. Continuing on our journey we got to a waterhole….it was literally teaming with activity..zebra, impala, several wildebeest’s, a small herd of elephants and would you believe it a herd of 7 tsessebe. All were strolling in to the waterhole having a drink and wandering back away again. We sat along time watching this amazing sight….
We left the main road which continues up to the border post of Pafuri. We turned left towards the gate and camp of Punda Maria. The vegetation was quite dry and we went a fair way of the 20 kms without seeing anything. Then we had a km or two of successful sightings. A handsome bull nyala stood at the side of the road in the shade with 3 females, a young buck and another bull…they really are a handsome antelope…
The males with their yellow stockings and shaggy brown coat with white stripes and patches,…. The female so much smaller with its tan shaggy coat and barcode type white markings and white dots…such a beautiful couple.
We continued to see zebra, giraffe, impala and the odd elephant.
We turned right up to the camp…..oh dear this really hasn’t moved on in the past 35 years… The two rows of terraced tiny rooms standing adjacent to the communal washrooms with their shower, bath and toilet. The communal kitchen stands next to this. The reception, shop and restaurant all housed in the same building at the far end of the camp.
The only difference I could see over the decades is that it now has a petrol filling station. We browsed the shop, used the toilets and left…this is not a camp we would ever consider staying at…just that little too authentic of a bygone era.
We retraced our steps stopping regularly at sightings both new and already seen on the trip up. The waterhole was still a hive of activity. We ate our rolls watching the feeding frenzy on the buffalo carcass…the Maribou stork was gone but a lapped faced vulture had joined the table…this is a rare sighting these day.
We turned up to the water tank and trough where the dead elephants carcass was…we soon realised we had joined a wake or perhaps a memorial service or celebration of life. There was an eery silence from over 50 elephants, spread around the area, in family groups, a respectful distance from the deceased. We felt very privileged to witness this final farewell attended by so many of the wildernesses giants…..with such a huge gathering one may have expected a lot of noise but there was total silence…..we showed our respect by backing away and leaving them to mourn in peace.
Returning to camp we saw a number of the usual wildlife- elephants, zebra, waterbuck, impala, and just before we got to the camp gate we witnessed a male nyala walk across the dry sandy river bed to a tiny pocket of water.
Our spotting count for the day was massive…99+impala, 7 squirrel, 2 yellow billed storks, 5 wildebeest, 2 ostrich, 1 yellow billed hornbill, 2 red billed hornbills, 19 giraffe, 1 steenbok, 1 black backed jackal, 4 eland, 99+ elephant, 99+ buffalo, 99+ zebra, 2 lapped faced vultures, 5 lilac breasted rollers, 24 WBV, 52 waterbuck, 2 Maribou storks, 29 Chacma baboons, 8 tsessebe, 11 kudu, 3 grey Lourie, 9 nyala, 9 guinea fowl, I bushbuck, 2 bateleur eagles, 1 grey heron.
Back at camp we rested until 17:15 then made the barbecue. There was no outside spotlight on the braii so we decided to do it in daylight. However it was gone 6.00 pm by the time the coals were ready to cook on.
We had 8 chicken skewers… we were having it with noddles and sweet and sour sauce. It would have been very nice if I hadn’t of over cooked the chicken…I was anxious to cook it all the way through and over did it….but the meal was still tasty…the cremated chicken effort took my barbecuing skills back down to 3/10 which even John didn’t disagree with.
He kindly washed up and we played cards while eating some chocolate for dessert….i know I shouldn’t but we’d had very little edible food throughout the day and a little tastebud delight was required…followed by an early night.
2 J's World of Adventure 