Tag: wildlife

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 🤣🤣

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 6 – The Day of The Rhino!

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What can I say ….Berg- en- dal certainly goes against the normal South African trend…in that people perceive things are gradually going down hill….not here in Berg-en-dal…..great chalet …woke up and had a superb shower lovely powerful hot water, my dearest husband made me coffee, then we sat outside eating fresh fruit salad and black cherry yogurt….the bird song and the vervet monkeys thumping on the thatched roof of the chalet along with the squirrels racing up and down near by trees kept us entertained.

As we wanted to head out into the bush we left the dishes from last night and breakfast in the sink. Our wonderful housekeeper had washed them all up and cleaned, made our beds and cleared out the ashes from yesterday’s braii, by the time we got back at midday…what great service.

For our morning drive we decided to head along the tar road and take the gravel road along where we had seen the leopard two nights previously. John got the first spot of the day ..a family of warthogs, digging in the mud for their breakfast…these really are lovely creatures many just call them pigs but their majestic gingery manes and fantastic curled up tusks makes them far more than “just pigs”. They always make me smile…I love the way they kneel down with their front lower legs tucked under them when they forage, very practical and a lesson for short people to follow🤣🤣

We had seen 99+ impalas before reaching the main road. Our drive consisted of seeing the usual array of wildlife. As we traversed the gravel road there was no sign of the leopard or its kill up the tree…however the bush decided to grace us with another spectacular sight. On the far banks of the river were 4 adult rhino and one youngster…WOW!!!! …we so rarely see rhino in the park because poaching has virtually eradicated them. The rangers have worked so hard to try and protect them, they are of course one of the species which is critically endangered . We were so excited, a couple of other cars pulled up and quickly moved on…obviously they didn’t understand the significance of seeing so many of these beautiful creatures all together…we sat along time in awe of these giants.

We continued our circular route around to Afsaal rest area and used the toilets and stretched our legs in the shop. We then drove back to Berg-en-Dal via the tar…suddenly we saw movement in the bushes and low and behold we viewed another large female rhino with her elder calf. This time these had been dehorned so they must have been part of the Parks breeding and protection project….what a great job the rangers are doing.

We got back to our chalet by 12,30 and John made us cheese rolls for lunch. We then had a couple of frustrating hours trying to get on the Internet…..we were not successful for long.

By 3 pm we were frustrated and decided to go for another drive. We stopped at the top of the hill outside the camp and “ping” we had internet…so we loaded some photos and uploaded yesterday’s blog…it was so speedy it took us all of 5 minutes. We drove along the Crocodile River for several kms before cutting up on a different track…again we saw some lovely sights…in particular a couple of giraffe who stood, in the middle of this quiet dirt track, looking at us as if to say “ what right do you have to drive on my track” …..eventually they moved and let us pass. We saw numerous elephants and some very cute youngsters. Our wildlife spotting count for the day was 99+ impala, 39 Elephant, 16 warthog, 4 vervet monkeys , 1 squirrel, 10 guinea fowl, 7 rhino, 6 kudu, 21 zebra, 3 wildebeest, 8 giraffe, 2 common duiker, 27 Chacma baboons, 1 dwarf mongoose, 1 ibis, 1 white backed vulture, 2 red-billed horn bill.

It was a cloudy cool, day with a moody sky which looked like rain clouds, so on returning to camp at 6.00 pm we decided to “ chicken out” of the braii and headed for the restaurant. John had venison pot pie with chips and I had half a grilled chicken and chips. We shared a piece of cake and a portion of ice cream for dessert…naughty but nice… This cost us £22 including our drinks …what a great place Berg- en -dal is.

Tomorrow we head to Lower Sabi Camp.

South Africa Safari 2025. Day 5

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We had a lie in at Pestana Lodge due to the previous day being very tiring from the long drive and the exciting game drive. Unfortunately the longed for shower was rather deflating as although it had a huge rain water sprinkler…sprinkle was all it did with a few large drops from some of the areas of the head…why oh why do people think these showers are great…you have to wash your hair even if you don’t want too and you can’t direct the fine spray to the areas you do want too🤣🤣🤣 After a rather disappointing wetting, we headed for breakfast….the least said about that the better…cold and dried up sums it up….but customer relations promises to do better on our return visit…..if they don’t we will be crossing Pestana Lodge off our places to stay and not recommending them to anyone…the jury is still out and we will see if they perform better at the end of out holiday. One of the reasons we have always stayed here in the past is its tremendous location …..the bridge you see from the deck at Pestana is the one which leads you to the Kruger Malalane Gate ….so we are hoping they improve the quality and quantity of the food by the time we return in 3 weeks time.

We headed into Malalane to pick up our perishable consumables…low and behold just 9 days ago they opened a Woolworths – for those who don’t know Woolworths in South Africa is the same as Marks and Spencer’s in the UK…..(many years ago they couldn’t trade under M&S so they traded under Woolworths and it’s stayed the same since )… Great news, their food is always good and we could buy prepared mixed salads, mixed fruit platters, lovely black cherry yogurts, lurpak butter, mini cheese cakes, pork sausages, sirloin steaks etc etc…We bought a bag of ice and put it in the bottom of the cool box, hey presto we have our own on the go refrigerator …… shopping done we headed to Kruger gate.

Once in Kruger we headed up the tar and looped back along the dirt roads…a 5 hour game viewing drive..

After the evening drive the day before we were not surprised that we didn’t have lots of “big” sightings. We did see 99+ impala, 20 warthog, 14 zebra, 83 elephant, 9 giraffe, 9 kudu, 2 lion, 4 steenbok, 1 bushbuck, 1 squirrel, 12 white backed vulture, 1 bateleur eagle, 2 guinea fowl.

As you can see John is keeping a tally of what we see each day- once we’ve seen 100 they get tallied as 99+🤣🤣…..some wonderful sightings.

We arrived at Berg-en-dal camp just after 5pm. We had been allocated chalet no.10. It’s not a perimeter chalet but it is nice and quiet. The chalet is in excellent condition…with everything working. The camp seems extremely quiet, we haven’t seen many people and we’ve heard none of the usual noise of adults chattering and children playing.

Around 7.00 pm we made a braii- barbecue- It was our first time doing this…..although I’ve had plenty of braii’s I’ve never actually made one or cooked on one myself…..so our first attempt scored about 3 out of 10🤣 and we can only get better🤣….but our sausage and mash was very tasty and neither of us have died from food poisoning- yet🤣🤣…Thank goodness for the berry cheesecake for dessert…. Whilst eating we heard the roaring of a lion a wonderful serenade to our supper….A few games of cards later and we were ready for bed……looking forward to tomorrow.

Coming Soon – South Africa, Kruger Park- 2025

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Our long awaited Safari will soon be starting. I shall blog our planning documents as well as our daily activities. Safari doesn’t have to be an expensive activity with top of the range hotels/lodges and racing from one animal sighting to the next….for a true authentic “Bush Experience” done in your own time at your own pace on a budget you are comfortable with. Keep an eye on our site and we will guide you through both the process and our experiences.

Portugal & Southern Spain Trip – Day 9 – Sunday 18th May 2025- Donana National Park – El Rocio.

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A fitful nights sleep was had in our cupboard…too hot without the aircon and too cold with it, even set to 21…. So it was a very rude awakening, having finally gone into a deep sleep around 4.30 am, when the alarm invaded my musical snoring chorus at 6.40 am….does this time really exist ….cant believe that I used to be on my way to work at this time 7+ years ago….But needs must….I quickly showered and dragged on some suitable clothing whilst cursing John for being so awake and jolly at this unearthly time!!!!!
Breakfast was hard rolls which you toast to make them even harder, with nice cheese, ham, Salami, yoghurts, fruit, cereal and some fairly decent strong black coffee. By 7.15 we were ready to go in search of the National Parks office……back along the deep sand road we’d walked the previous evening. It was only about a 10 minutes walk. We queued to get to the ticket desk where we handed over our voucher. We thought we had paid at the hotel but the really nice English speaking parks board receptionists explained we had paid €24 to the hotel for the convenience of them booking it and now we pay €54 for the actual trip….ummm we’ll see if we’ve been ripped off when the Mastercard bill arrives…but we felt this was genuine so we handed over the Euros…cash only…and we were given a ticket stating Lucia 5, and told Lucia would call us to her bus….so we waited outside with the other eager visitors.

Sure enough at 8.00 am a couple of drivers arrived and shouted out their names. They were taken to the 24 seater 4×4 high tyred buses. Then a nice young lady came and shouted Lucia and we hurried after her to another identical bus. The number on the ticket was the number you were allowed to board the bus and choose which seat you want. We selected two seats next to a sliding window which we could open, so that John could stick his camera out of it…….

Lucia gave the commentary in Italian, Spanish and, thankfully, English. She told us the town of El Rocio had 1000 residents. In June they have a religious week/ festival which involves over 1 million visitors and 100,000 horses….Wow, unimaginable. She informed us a lot about the National Park. For the first time in 15 years the heavy rains had filled the marshes and the horses and some birds had retreated into the forest section of the park because the water was so high in the marshes. We saw a heron nesting in the wooded area, which she said was unheard of. We soon came across a couple of groups of deer browsing in the forest. There seemed a lot of excitement about seeing rabbits…they evidently are the bottom of the food chain for foxes and lynx to survive. But the rabbits survival had been threatened by the eucalyptus trees which drain the moisture out of the soil and prevent the natural undergrowth, which rabbits feed on, from growing. So the eucalyptus trees had been felled with only two remaining. Their stumps were moved to another area where the dead stumps were placed as a memorial to the trees and a good breeding ground for the rabbits. Lucia pointed out many species of birds including the black kite and the many storks, herons etc.

Before continuing into the wetlands Lucia explained that farmers were allowed to graze cattle and sheep etc and that they belonged to farmers where as the horses were just wild. The horses were managed by the parks board. We continued along a causeway which the farmers had built, across the marsh land, to make access to their cattle easier.
We stopped and stretched our legs on the causeway. There were dozens of different species of birds, flamingos, ibises, little and greater egrets, several types of heron, loads of different ducks like the poacher, teal, coot, moorhen , grebes, plovers and even the endangered Marbled teal……an ornithologists’ paradise.

We continued along the track to a visitors centre. This had toilets……but take your own paper!! ….. a coffee shop and a huge glass viewing area overlooking some Lakeland. We learnt there were over 4000 nesting birds in this area alone. Lucia set up her telescope and I managed to get a picture through it of a couple of flamingos….

There were plenty more pictures taken to capture the moment

On walking back to the bus we noticed not only the vibrant flora but also a stork nesting on an electricity pylon. There was a chick in the nest.

We were just about to re-board the bus when we heard the thunder of many hooves….it was a “Round-Up” with “Gouchos “ driving them along the road….there must have been 200+ horses and 4 herdsmen. We followed them down the road and they were driven into a corral through some water. Evidently they will be divided up into different areas from there.

On our return to El Rocio Lucia told us that the cork tree was now protected, not least because the Lynx often have their cubs in holes in the cork tree because it helps regulate their temperature. She told us there were several hundred Lynx in the park…she had seen one the day before.
At the end of our 3 hour tour we went back into the office and booked the 5.00 pm tour the following day with Lucia again. It had been a splendid experience. We wandered back to our hotel along the lake shores promenade which was a lot easier than trudging through the deep sand. The square in front of the hotel was again buzzing…a hive of activity…

We had a bite of lunch …a hamburger or so it was described but a rubber frisbee would have been a more accurate description. We wandered back to our cool, quiet hotel stopping on the way to chat to a very pleasant Australian couple who had been on the same bus as us……they are visiting Kruger South Africa at the same time we are later in the year…perhaps we’ll run into them again. After siesta on the terrace and a few games of cards we went in search of an earlish evening meal. We ordered grilled chicken which came with fries….unfortunately it was very tough and my gums are struggling with all the hard food and also the lack of vegetables…but hey Ho….a huge horse rode in behind John and breathed down his neck while his well manicured very smart rider had a fantastic brought to her.

What a surreal place this is…very busy, but an experience we wouldn’t have missed for the world…. Looking forward to tomorrows venture and fingers crossed for a sighting of a Linx.