Tag: white-backed Vultures

South Africa Safari Day 20 The day of the hyena

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We got up early 6.30am, showered, put on relatively clean clothes🤣🤣, breakfasted, made a pack up lunch and got on our way. It was our last day in Satara…tomorrow we move down to the south of Kruger to Pretoriuskop.

We headed down the tar…I selected zebra today and John selected wildebeest as first spot. It was a cold grey morning a real contrast again from yesterday’s sunshine and heat. We drove some time before seeing some Zebra …sorry John 8-4 to me🤣

Today we had decided to take the S126 which cuts across to the Orpen tar road. It’s a lovely scenic route, with chances to see lots as it runs alongside a twisting and turning river, which has patches of water in it.

We saw a huge amount of varied game around a waterhole…elephants, wildebeest, zebra and impala…a lovely wildlife picture…

We travelled on, the road was not great…unless the parks board spends some money on upkeep of their dirt roads, it won’t be so long before only 4×4 vehicles will be able to handle them.

We came across 2 big lone male buffalo, called dagger boys.

As we slowly picked our way down a hill I suddenly stopped, asked John for the binoculars….there about 400m on the far side of the river was the derrière of a large rhino. It stopped its route march and turned sideways giving us a wonderful view…this is really a majestic creature, reminding us of prehistoric times. A few moments later he continued his route march and completely disappeared from sight…how lucky were we…even John had to marvel at how I had seen it….these eagle eyes still work when they have to🤣🤣

We travelled on to the picnic spot….its unfortunate that I needed the loo…a long drop…defiantly not to be recommended…not only did I have to contend with that but the door had no lock and a lady walked in and caught me on the throne🤣🤣….never mind, I’ll never see her again and I hope I didn’t traumatise her too badly🤣🤣

Back on the road we crossed the main Orpen road. Had a Quick Look in the dam…the hippos and crocodile were all happy and we continued onto the dirt road which comes out on the tar north of Satara…..This road had been graded so it gave us a more comfortable ride.

We passed elephants, impala, zebra, wildebeests and giraffe.

……before long we saw a Kori bustard…its thin greyish neck made us think it was a female as it was very different from the two males we’d seen several days ago.

Around the next bend there were 3 more Kori bustards…a really lovely sight.

Further up the track a car stopped us and asked what we had seen…they were as excited as we were by the Kori bustard.

They told us of a leopard sighting just a few minutes away. However when we turned back onto the Olifants Satara tar road there were about a dozen cars all vying for position…we asked 3 different cars and none had actually seen the leopard…the 4th car said it was no longer viewable as it had laid in the long grass..another almost saw it, moment…..!!!!

We returned to camp and decided to go to the Cattle Baron for brunch rather than eat our sandwiches, they would be ok tomorrow…brunch was great

After a rest we headed out for our usual S100, H6 circuit. The cool, dull overcast weather meant we only really saw groups of the plains animals- zebra, wildebeest, impala and a scattering of giraffe and a few largish herds of elephant.

On the H6 there were some WBV on the giraffe carcass, which is a sure sign that the lions have left …as seen in the pictures above…..( I haven’t worked out yet how to move a picture when I put them in the wrong place !🤣)

We stopped at the hyena den and sat patiently. It was very quiet and our patience paid off as the mum and 2 pups appeared.

Hyenas are nocturnal and have interesting social structures. Their clans are led by a female matriarch, mostly because hyena females have three times more testosterone than males, meaning they are physically stronger and have more aggressive temperaments. The highest-ranked individual in a hyena clan is the alpha female, followed by her cubs. Hyenas are Intelligent, curious, and opportunistic in matters of diet, they are known as the vacuum cleaners of the bush…basically they eat all the left overs from other animals kills….that doesn’t mean they won’t kill something themselves, but they tend to be scavengers.

We watched on our own for quite some time before continuing back to camp.

Our count for the day was 99+ impala, 99+ zebra, 9 vervet monkeys, 1 red billed hornbill 3 lilac breasted rollers, 23 giraffes, 5 yellow billed hornbills, 4 Kori bustards, 7 grey Lourie, 2 bateleur eagle, 2 buffalo, 24 Chacma baboons, 1 rhino, 88 elephants, 1 crocodile, 6 hippo, 4 hooded vultures, 1 tawny eagle, 1 martial eagle, 58 waterbuck, 1 steenbok, 9 warthogs, 99+ wildebeest, 2 WBV, 3 hyena, 7 kudu, 3 guinea fowl……not a bad days viewing.

We returned to the Cattle Baron for a light supper then an early night.

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 14 – The day of the Eland

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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.

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 7- The day of the Giraffe

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We were sad to say goodbye to the so much improved Berg-en-dal…..not only did all the facilities work and the restaurant served good food but more importantly the staff were helpful and charming …so different from the last 2/3 times we visited….this will and can only help to attract the visitors, particularly those who bring large amounts of foreign exchange into the country.

After another breakfast of fruit and yogurt we packed up, left R50 under the kettle for the housekeeper and headed out on our safari drive through to our next camp.

Unlike yesterday we saw absolutely no impala from camp to the main road. We did however see several majestic, skyscrapers, more commonly known as giraffes. So neither of us won the first spot of the morning as I had guessed warthog and John had guessed zebra.

We turned up onto the tar and headed up to the S114 which starts off running parallel to the Crocodile River. When the road branches north we stayed on the Crocodile Bridge Gate Road. We began to see a few impala…infact it was mid afternoon before we counted 99+….the previous day we had seen this number within 10 minutes of leaving the camp…..what a difference a day makes…

It was another grey moody sky, slightly cooler and the drizzle pixelated the windscreen. We were pleased to see the same White-Back Vultures …John now calls them WBV’s….They were once again in a social gathering roosting in tree tops, known as a “committee” of vultures. When there are a lot of them in flight they are often called a “kettle” of vultures….I have no idea why. You often find them in large groups, you can usually tell if they are near a kill because there would be different species of raptures and not all the same. When it’s all the same bird it tends to be a social committee.

We continued along to Crocodile Bridge camp…passing quite a few giraffes. At one point we stayed watching a very young one for ages. It seemed to be all alone and was stood still looking around. Some time later its mother reappeared, much to its and our delight. It galloped across the road obviously delighted to be reunited with its mum.

At Crocodile Bridge camp we used the toilets and stretched our legs in the shop. Unfortunately Crocodile Bridge isn’t in as good order, I couldn’t find a toilet with a lock on the door which actually worked…oh well if someone got an eyeful so be it 🤣🤣. I bought John the obligatory t-shirt…he nearly didn’t get it as I was about to walk out….the shop assistant on the till decided he would serve another person in-front of me even though I had been waiting sometime…I was defiantly made to feel that my skin was the wrong colour. What a shame when Berg-en-dal had really turned a corner and progressed since our last visit.

We didn’t linger at Crocodile Bridge camp and headed up the tar to Lower Sabi. Our animal count was 99+impala, 26 Giraffe, 14 warthog, 68 Elephants, 1 rhino, 2 waterbuck, 29 WBV, 1 African Fish Eagle, 1 Martial Eagle, 5 Kudu, 22 Zebra, 2 Steenbok, 1 wildebeest, 8 vervet monkeys, 3 bushbuck, 27 hippo, 4 terrapins, 1 grey heron, 1 cormorant, 1 crocodile and 2 Quail…..a great variety of wildlife spotting.

On arrival at Lower Sabi we quickly booked in. Our Chalet is No 7 perimeter. It is described as having a kitchenette. The car port is next to the front door and you enter into the bedroom with two singles next to each other, large bathroom with a large shower, a wardroom, two bedside plinths, great air conditioner and a stand for your case. The sliding glass doors open into a room with a table for 4, a fridge, hot plates, microwave , cupboards containing all the required crockery and the third bed. This room has another set of glass sliding doors on to the patio which has a table and seating, a braii stand and it all overlooks the Sabi River. We spent several hours enjoying watching the elephants walk from the far side of the river to graze on the grasses close to our chalets fence.

We lit the braii and this time successfully cooked two sirloin steaks which we ate with salad and rice with an oyster and spring onion sauce. The steak was a little over done but a vast improvement from the cremated sausages 2 nights previously…I gave myself 6/10 although John said he scored it higher….i am determined to have cracked this barbecue malarkey by the time we get home 🤣🤣