Tag: travel

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 18 – 1st October 2025- Formidable Viewing

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It’s hard to focus on a specific species when you stay at Satara….you see so much…

We started off by going towards the H6 before we got to the turning we came across a massive herd of buffalo….John said 150+ I thought even more……

Johns choice for first spot was waterbuck mine was giraffe……we saw plenty of the later before we had even turned on to the H6.

We soon came across some kudu and once again a male ostrich.

We went the same route the truck had gone yesterday evening….we didn’t find the hyena but we did find the giraffe kill…evidently the lions were guarding it and laying flat in the grass unseen by the human eye….

We saw some lovely sights…long lines of wildebeests, a scattering of zebra as we headed off to the S100.

Part way down the S100 we came across a pride of lions resting up against an old water tower. The male lion had at least 4 lionesses with him.

Further on we came across a small herd of elephants with an absolutely tiny calf…probably the smallest we’ve ever seen.

Along the almost dried river bank an African Fish Eagle greeted us with its call.

We called back at our rondavel to use the facilities before heading out in the opposite direction….again an interesting route. Just after the gravel road we were going to take we could see an absolute frenzy of activity with dozens of vultures obviously feeding on something we couldn’t see.

We headed up the gravel to circle back around onto the S100… just after a quite deep Ford we came across a secretary bird. It took off and flew a short distance before landing and once again strutting around.

A male ostrich having a dust bath caught our attention.

Finally John saw some waterbuck.

The route was prolific with wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, elephants and a scattering of Waterbuck.

We stopped to have our lunch next to a group of impala and a pair of giraffe…such a peaceful.

Turning back along the S100 we were alone watching 1 lone lioness next to the water tower…the rest were obviously sleeping. We made our way back to camp for a rest.

At 4.30pm we went out again …we decided the H6 was our best bet. No sooner than we had turned on to it we saw a reed buck…took us a few minutes to identify as we don’t often see them.

The zebra and wildebeest were milling about on the edge and in the road.

We saw 3 hyena pups at their den before turning around and heading for camp.

On the main road near to camp we found a troop of Chacma baboons in the road…lots of youngsters were rolling in the road…we can only imagine that the tar was retaining the heat of the day and they were keeping warm.

The temperature rose to 26 degrees Celsius at midday but it also dropped sharply as the sun went down. We had a lovely sunset.

Our daily spotting figures were 99+ impala, 99+ zebra, 99+ wildebeest, 35 giraffe, 7 warthog, 1 grey heron, 2 ostrich, 3 lilac breasted rollers, 2 yellow billed horn bill, 4 hyena, 14 kudu, 1 bateleur eagle, 7 hippo, 50 Chacma baboons, 5 lions, 54 elephants, 50 WVB, 5 spur rowel, 1 grey Lourie, 2 steenbok, 1 Secretary bird, 24 waterbuck, 1 quail, 1 fish eagle, 1 reedbuck, 1 hoopoe.

We went to the Cattle Baron for supper. This time we chose two different chicken dishes….mine was a poor choice…it sounded nicer than it was….John enjoyed his…

Back to the rondavel for a game of cards.

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 17 …Almost the Big 5

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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.

South Africa Safari 29/09/25 Day15 The Day of the Ostrich

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I was awoken in the night by the heavy smell of smoke. I got up and checked our huts roof and those of the huts around us…all ok, so the smell was coming from the controlled burn. I returned to bed and had a restless remainder of the night sleep. We both woke early with headaches from the smoke, we needed the fresher air outside the hut to clear our heads.

Today we packed up ready to leave Shingwedzi. We were sad to leave. It was a great camp and excellent game spotting. We said goodbye to Josephine, who was busy chasing a large baboon around with her rake, because he had stollen her black bin liner full of rubbish…..yes it was as funny as it sounds but I kept a straight face and sympathised with her about what a nuisance the baboons were🤣🤣 But on a more serious note …visitors feed the baboons, we evidenced this when we saw one eating a cut up piece of fruit.

Feeding them is signing their death warrant, because they then become a nuisance, they expect food and they are dangerous wild animals…in the end the rangers have no choice but to shoot the whole troop to keep the visitors safe….so if you do safari PLEASE never feed any animal.

We set off down the road, on the way up it had been a tedious drive with very little wildlife to be seen. I gave John the first choice of what we’d see first and he once again said Waterbuck…they had been prolific in the area, I said I’d have pangolin as that way John couldn’t fail to win and he was lagging 5-1 behind….however John said that he didn’t want a gimme so I selected zebra.

Our first spotting was a large elephant, followed by a giraffe. A little later we saw a large herd of zebra…sorry John, it was several hours later before we saw waterbuck, whom John now declares are not his friends…. 6-1 to me!oh dear! 🤣🤣

We continued along the road….up until Mopani we saw a variety of game at fairly regular intervals.

There was a lovely waterhole with drinking tower where elephants were drinking both from the tower and the trough. Buffalo, tsessebe, zebra, impala were all loitering with intent.

Herd of elephant at water trough

A long line of waterbuck crossed the road to join the queue at the trough.

As we progressed we saw another herd of zebra and at the back of the group was a male ostrich. This is only the third ostrich we’ve seen all trip.

 The ostrich is the largest and heaviest living bird. They are flightless. Ostriches are also the fastest running bird, they are able to reach speeds 35 kms an hour Males are typically larger than females, weighing up to 287 pounds and measuring up to 9 feet in height.

A kick from an ostrich is powerful enough to kill a human. They are sometimes referred to as the “ camel bird”. They are heavily farmed and rather frighteningly over a million a year are killed for the fashion industry. They are also farmed for their meat, every part of an ostrich can be used in the farming market- their skin for leather, feathers and meat. There are farms in the Cape area where you can ride an ostrich, sitting behind its neck. However we much prefer to see them in the wild and our sighting was very welcomed. We didn’t see a female with him…when they are courting a mate the males, usually white, legs turn bright pink and they put on a dance display by opening their wings and showing their jet black feathers and pink legs off. The female is a rather greyish brown.

About 12 km before Mopani Camp you cross the Tropic of Capricorn line.

On arriving at Mopani there was a huge herd of buffalo already sitting in the shade. The temperature had reached 33 degrees Celsius.

There was also along line of wildebeest strolling towards a very small waterhole…a few zebra mingled around.

We stopped at Mopani camp for a leg stretch and the loo. It is situated on a dam with a reasonable amount of water in it but there were no animals taking advantage of it. The shop was very well stocked. The camp used to be a delight, but a couple on our former sunset drive said the chalets were very tired and it didn’t seem to have been modernised or even refreshed since it opened in the early 1990’s.

From Mopani to Olifants with the exception of a pair of white backed vultures ( WBV) we saw “diddly squat”…..unless you count anthills. It was a long drive with the cars cruise control locked in to 47kmph all that was left for me to do was steer….it really is a dry area for game. We passed Letaba and headed on to Olifants. The turn up from the main road to camp is 9 km…we laughingly said “ let’s see if the number of animals we spot equals the number of km”…..no it was 9-0 to the kms🤣

We booked in…our hut was a small rondavel, not unsimilar to the Letaba hut….only this time the curtains had been replaced and did meet in the middle. There was only room for one case and the only plug socket was once again next to the sink….(because I didn’t book until April this was the only accommodation available, it’s wise to book 11 months in advance and choose the best accommodation you can afford. If it’s just 2 of you try for a 3 bedroomed hut so you have somewhere to open your bags and cases) . The air conditioning took several hours to cool the rondavel to a comfortable temperature. We did however have a view of the river and we could see two hippo having an altercation.

We headed out for a drive at about 4.30pm. We took the road down to Balule Camp because it runs alongside the river. We saw a couple of elephant in the river…apart from that our circle back on to the main road was once again devoid of any living creature. Once back on the main road we headed along toward the Olifants Camp turn off, suddenly a couple of large elephants walked across the road from the river, stopping on the road edge to browse from the shrubbery. Then more and more came. A car came up close behind me..I swerved on to the other side of the road and reversed next to them. I told them I’d done it because they had got too close to me and didn’t give me the opportunity to reverse at speed if I needed to avoid a stampeding elephant….turns out they were French and didn’t understand a word I said. Another car arrived and I reversed back to them….it was a breeding herd of elephants. A youngster stood on the road kneeled down and punched his head onto the tarmac… a strange gesture and we were uncertain whether it was scared or angry. Finally after 20 minutes they all, seemed to have crossed the road including the youngster. Although two were still feeding on the road edge we followed the French car leaving enough distance for us to be able to accelerate if necessary.

We turned up the 9 km road to the camp. This time it was 9-1 to the km…a giraffe obligingly gave us a nice view. We made it back into camp a few minutes before the gate closes….i don’t know whether an elephant roadblock would have been excuse enough, if we’d been late🤣🤣

Our viewing count for the day was 99+ impala, 4 squirrels, 60 wildebeest, 1 yellow billed hornbill, 2 yellow billed stork, 1 lilac breasted rollers, 11 warthog, 5 quail, 21 giraffe, 99+ elephants, 99+ zebra, 1 ostrich, 1 kudu, 5 tsessebe, 75 buffalo, 47 waterbuck, 1 saddle-billed stork, 13 hippo, 3 WBV.

We went to the restaurant for supper…I had roasted chicken and John had venison steak. It came to £23 which included two Coke lites each. We asked a couple who had come in from the parks sunset drive if they had seen much. We had been toying about taking it the following night. But as they had only seen a scrub hare, a jackal and an owl we decided to give it a miss and save the money for an extra drive in Satara.

We returned to our bijou rondavel for a game of cards and an early night…in beds which could have been made of rock.

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…