Tag: wildlife

Leopards – Kruger National Park – South Africa BEEN THERE GOT THE T-SHIRT

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Let’s start with a contradiction!

Leopards are relatively common in South Africa, and in Kruger National Park in particular. Yet they are rarely seen, so why is that? Well, the leopard is a secretive animal and, unlike the lion, does not live in groups, but is usually solitary. The male and female come together to mate, and then go their separate ways. On top of that, the leopard has one of the best camourflages in the entire animal kingdom.

The leopard is the second biggest African cat, behind the lion, and, generally, kills to feed just for itself rather than a whole pride. It is a silent stalker with most species of antelope its favourite prey.

Following a successful kill, it is common for the leopard to drag its prey up a tree trunk in order to feed amongst its branches. The leopard is a powerful creature often hauling more than its body weight in this way.

It is equally at home to stalk under the cover of darkness and is prone to stalk a sleeping troop of baboons in the hope of isolating one and carrying it off as its prey.

Leopards are creatures of habit and can often be seen in dry river beds silently approaching their prey whilst they are drinking in the limited pockets of water.

They can also take you by surprise by climbing a tree to get a better view of where to find their next meal.

Although found through much of Southern Africa, most of our sightings have been within Kruger National Park in the northeast of South Africa. We have been privileged to have spent enough time in the park for our patience to be rewarded with many magnificent leopard sightings. Although occasionally we’ve had a fleeting view of the white underside of their tail as they retreat into the undergrowth and become invisible.

Each such sighting Is accompanied by an ‘adrenaline rush’ which has to be experienced as it’s almost impossible to put into words. For me, this beautiful but elusive creature is the crown jewel, the ‘must see’ on safari in Africa.

An alternative private Sri Lankan Wildlife and Bird watching itinerary which we investigated.

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Before booking with Rosie Price at dialaflight , 0161-841-8179 or rosie.price@dialaflight.co.uk , we investigated several other itineraries. One which we liked was by Private Tours – Ranil Osando … ranilosanda81@gmail.com

We very nearly booked this but had to wait and in the meantime he got offered another booking so we told him to go ahead as we didn’t want to be hurried….we found him polite and courteous but really CANT recommend him as we’ve never met or done a tour with him..WE DONT KNOW HIM AT ALL…but we wanted to share an alternative itinerary ……. If you like this itinerary then you can choose whether or not you use him or go through Rosie Price who we can thoroughly recommend as a reputable, well known, trustworthy company, she also uses a very well known company in Sri Lanka as the ‘on the ground agent’.

Birds and Wildlife watching tour  (12 days 11 night)

Day 01        

Picked up from the airport

Drive to Negombo city 

Relax few hours after long flight.

Evening visit Negombo fish market

Negombo  lagoon boat tour

Dinner and overnight stay in Negombo

Day 02                                                                                                                                                                    

Enjoy the breakfast 

Check out from you hotel at 05.00 am

Transfer to Anawilundawa Bird sanctuary to spot birds

After the birds watching tour proceed to Wilpattu park 

Wilpattu evening jeep safari (03.00pm until 06.00pm) 

Do Dinner and overnight stay at Wilpattu

Day 03          

Full day safari tour of Wilpattu national park at 06.00am until 06.00pm

Enjoy lunch with rice and curry in forest 

Dinner and overnight stay at Wilpattu 

Day 04         

Check out from your hotel and transfer to Minneriya  nationalpark 

In route stop In Ritigala Forest  Sanctuary to spot some birdlife

Start jeep safari tour of Minneriya national park

(03.00pm until 06.00pm) 

Dinner and overnight stay at sigiriya

Day 5            

After breakfast you will be transferred to kithulgala village 

Do a birds watching and nature trail of Kithulgala

Dinner and Overnight stay kithulgal  

Day 6         

After breakfast you will be transferred Nuwara Eliya  

In route visit Tea Factory Tea plantation 

In the evening city tour 

And enjoy Gregory lake

Dinner and overnight stay Nuwara Eliya  

Day 7          

Check out from the hotel after breakfast 

Transfer to Nanu Oya train station 

You will be pick up from Ella train station by  our guide 

Do a nature trekking of Ella village 

Climb little Adams peak mountain to spot a 360 breathtakingview

Dinner and overnight stay Ella

Day 8              

After breakfast you will be transferred to the most popular Yalanational park

In the evening (03.00pm till 06.00 pm) jeep safari  Yala national park 

Dinner and overnight stay Thissamaharama

Day 9            

Start the full day safari tour of Yala National park 

Breakfast during the tour 

Enjoy lunch with rice and curry in forest 

Dinner and overnight stay Thissamaharama

Day 10            

After breakfast you will be transferred Sinharaja Rain Forest 

Relax in the evening while enjoying the nature around Sinharaja

Dinner and overnight stay Sinharaja

Day 11                  

Do the 2 hours morning bird watching trail 

Started at (06.00am)

After the Bird watching trail back to the hotel 

Take a refresh and leave for your last destination of your trip Colombo

Dinner and overnight stay Colombo 

Day 12                   

Say Good bye until see you again 

Transfer back to you a return flight back home from Colombo after and amazing tour of Sri Lanka

Inclusions:

• Air Conditioned Private Car / Family Van / Mini Coach or Luxury Bus

• 4 & 5 Star Hotels & Resorts on Half Board basis

• Certified English / German speaking Professional Friendly Guides

• All Costs related to all tour excursions, Entrance fees of all UNESCO Heritage sites, Safari Jeep and other mentioned all tour activities are included

• Unlimited mineral water bottles for the entire tour

• Unlimited mileage throughout your tour

• All Government taxes & tariffs are included

• No Additional Charges

Here is the package price for tour and its includes

. Accommodation in nice and clean guest house rooms with A/C, Hot & free WIFI

. Breakfast and Dinner  

. All Entrance tickets for the attraction

. All activity charges 

. Airport pickup 

. Safari Jeep

. Insurance 

. All expenses for the High Way

.You can try any kind of fruits during the tour absolutely free

                Per  person 1644 USD THIS WAS THE PRICE FOR FEBRUARY BUT PRICES ARE INCREASING RAPIDLY SO I SUSPECT ITS GONE UP ALOT.

Exclusions:

• Additional meals & beverages outside of the booked meal plan

• Visas & Flight Bookings

• Expenses of personal nature

• Tips & Portage

What to Pack for Sri Lanka

• Sun Creams

• Hat or a cap

• Slippers, Sandals , Jelly Flats

• Camera, memory cards & spare batteries

• Hiking Shoes

• Rain Jacket

• Back Pack & a Day Pack

• Warm Weather Clothes

• Sun Glasses

• Bathing Suit

• Mosquito Spray

• Sarong or wraparound skirt

• Travel Diary or a travel book

Special Notes

• Rooms are subjected to availability at the time of booking confirmation

• An advance payment of 25% of the total tour price is required at the time of the booking confirmation & the balance payment should be settled 15 days prior to the arrival

• Alcohol will not be served at any hotel or any restaurant on POYA DAYS (FULL MOON DAYS)

• The Standard check in time of Hotels in Sri Lanka is 14.00hr

• The Standard check out time of Hotels in Sri Lanka is 11.00hr

Day 13 to Day 21 …including Day 16 – John’s 70th Birthday 

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From Nata we drove to Kasane, returned the hired vehicle to the airport and got Chobe Safari lodge to pick us up to take us to the hotel. We were here for 8 nights in our  favourite Kasane accommodation……Chobe Safari lodge. Ive been going there for the past 35 years, both my parents and my son have had the pleasure of enjoying it. Over the past 11 years it has been my husbands favourite place to holiday. 

We take their safaris which are reasonably priced at US$45 per person for 3 hours. This year we arranged 7 half day(6 hours) safaris from 12-6pm. Dorkus, head of activities, kindly arranged it for us ….by booking all 7 days it was agreed with “Bush Trackers”, the Safari company the lodge commissions, that we would just pay for the 2 of us and we didn’t have to pay for a 3rd or 4th person. Dorkus (who always sorts our problems out for us, whether they are activity or hotel related, I secretly call her the General Manager, as she really provides excellent customer service far better than the Accomodation/bookings manager does !!) also arranged for us to have the same driver each day…his name was ‘Same Arron’, a young 24 year old driver and guide …..he was brilliant. He gave us the best Safari adventure we’ve ever had, which is the highest praise we can give. I never drive in Chobe as it takes a level of skill I’ve never had….the last time I drove in Chobe was some years ago, I got stuck in the soft sand and after several hours waiting for another vehicle to come by( no cell phone signal) they tried to help us and ended up having to radio for help…it took 3 vehicles to get us out, a lot of digging, use of metal planks and jacks…..I swore I’d never drive it again…and I haven’t…

That evening we decided to take the sundowner game viewing cruise. We do like this cruise and always do at least one when we visit. However, we often find it a bit of a booze cruise which isn’t our style….This time we were fortunate and we set off on a smaller boat watching the big groups go out on the bigger boats. We took to the Chobe River, passing our Safari Room accommodation.

We spent a very pleasant 3 hours, with a good safari guide pointing out the wonderful sights, both on the islands, in the water and on the main river bank.

Of course the most amazing wildlife viewed when on the water are the elephants, who swim out to the islands for the sweeter grass, their trunks acting as snorkels, they can often be seen in Lily pad areas pulling up the sweet roots… it is a sight second to none.

One of the most fabulous sights when you are on a boat on the Chobe River is the sun sets… they are always different and always mesmerising.

Just when you think the day is done… on the river bank another awesome sight…

Over the next 7 days ‘Same’ showed us some wonderful sites, taking us in all sorts of directions across the park, to places we had never seen before. It was exciting, thrilling and the wildlife was magnificent. 


Day 16 

On Johns birthday he received flowers in our room and a card from the hotel they were trying hard to make amends for a mix up with our room when we booked in ….they had allocated us a river view room which had been totally unsuitable – you had to stand on the dressing table chair to reach the aircon unit to adjust the temperature, there was no remote control, the toilet was, what we in the UK install in schools for small young children..not good for a 6ft2, 70 year old man..these rooms were being renovated…only the one we were given was still awaiting renovation….I had complained and the Accommodation/bookings Manager had been far from helpful (very unusual for this hotel, it is the first time we’d come across this in all the years we had been visiting). I spoke to the customer services assistant who tried her very best but was obviously intimidated by the Accomodation/ bookings Manager…..we’d ended up sitting on the sofas near the activities office waiting to be allocated a different room …our wait was 5 hours !!!!!….. Unacceptable by anyones standards…a waste of our holiday time.

Dorkus had seen us there and realising I was upset came to enquire what the problem was. She quickly went away to sort it out and came back telling us the number of a Safari room we would be moved to and she told us it was just being cleaned. 10 minutes later she came to tell us she had arranged for us to get the key from reception and our bags were being transferred as we spoke…we had a lovely room, the same as we have always had…

Dorkus, saved the day and was definitely our hero from then on……why the Accommodations/bookings  Manager couldn’t have been more professional and done this 5 hours earlier is unknown…she seemed to be power crazy…..we felt very sorry for the Customer Services advisor…however I digress….Back to Johns birthday, day 16 of our adventure.

The card and flowers were a nice touch. At 12 noon we waited in reception for ‘Same’…he appeared and said he was sorry he would be 10 minutes late…”no worries” we replied…..He arrived 10 minutes later with a parcel which he gave to John and wished him a happy birthday….wow…John opened it and it was a wonderful wooden carving of Africa with the Big 5 carved out..it was fantastic a real generous gift we were both very touched by the gesture and the gift, which now hangs proudly, at home, on our living room door. 

We set of on the 6 hour Safari….Same booked in at the main gate then continued to drive the tar road which goes towards Namibia…We’d not been along this road on Safari before…we encounter some elephant, before Same turned off to the right onto a little used track through thick Bush land…

We spotted a Sable antelope at a distance along with a couple of elephant. After some time we turned right again and noticed a solar panel and pump. This evidently is one of very few in Chobe, as the Parks management prefer the animals to naturally migrate to and fro according to where the water is. Not far from here was a small waterhole being fed from the pump. It was teaming with elephant…they were drinking, bathing throwing mud around…taking absolutely no notice of us.. the smell, sounds, sight was amazing, we even got included in a bit of a mud bath!!!

Driving around the back of the elephant we noticed a large breeding herd of Sable Antelope laid down and grazing in the shade of the trees. These are Johns favourite antelope, actually probably his favourite species of wild life. ‘Same’ knew this and also had prior knowledge of where this big herd are often found, he had kept this treat for Johns special day.

We had never seen a breeding herd before and we sat there amongst the elephant watching them and these amazing Sable for well over an hour….what a treat a real special moment, another once in a life time memory made….Thank you so much ‘Same’, you really are an unbelievably kind, considerate, polite young man.

We continued the rest of the days Safari with more great wildlife spots. 

Supper back at the lodge afforded us another bouquet of flowers on the table. Our meal ended with a birthday cake being paraded through the restaurant and the kitchen and serving staff serenading John, around our table, with several local songs and a robust version of Happy Birthday whilst beating a drum and dancing…..was John a bit embarrassed? Well! Of course he was but it had to be done…a lovely memory had been created of a very special day.

Day 17 to 21

The rest of our Safaris with ‘Same’ were all eventful and memorable…we saw great prides of lions, herds of buffaloes, both towers and journeys of Giraffe, we got warned off by 2 not so friendly bull elephants, watched swimming, bathing, mud-throwing elephants, saw no-end of wildebeest, zebra, impala and one of my favourite Puku (native to Chobe)… It really is our heaven on earth

Our 8 days flew by and far to quickly, soon, it was time to say a tearful goodbye to Same Arron, Best ever Safari guide/driver, and we had  a bear hug from Dorkus, in our opinion Chobe Safari Lodge’s most prized employee. Then it was time to head for the airport with heavy hearts and the hope that we would be back in two years time……the only thing which could prevent us is the cost as it is getting more and more expensive but to date it hasn’t stop us exploring Botswana and it’s wonderful wildlife…you just have to be a bit more organised and cross reference prices so you don’t pay a fortune. Having said that this was a Celebratory Trip and we did once in a life time activities ..so we did spend a fortune…but Botswana can be seen a lot cheaper by doing less and not staying as long…our next trip will be more the norm for us…just a visit to Chobe and hopefully Chobe Safari lodge as long as it hasn’t priced itself out of our reach.

Our Botswana Adventure was over for another year… we flew back to South Africa to continue our Safari by spending time in Kruger National Park…if you would like to continue to follow our adventure you’ll find the blog under South Africa. Thank you to all who have followed this amazing trip, we hope you enjoyed it.

Another special moment – Leopards in Sri Lanka

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Let me say at the outset that Africa is in my blood. It’s our ‘go to’ holiday to experience the adrenalin rush of sighting something both rare and spectacular! In my book, there’s nothing to beat seeing a pack of Wild Dogs out on a hunt or a Cheetah trying to finish its meal before another predator comes in for the steal.

Then there’s the Leopard. One of nature’s masterpieces, not least because of its ability to blend in with its surroundings. It has the perfect camouflage.

So why am I talking about Leopards under a Sri Lanka heading?

After our stunning adventures in Africa in 2023, we decided to experience something different at the start of 2024. Sri Lanka was our choice, and it didn’t disappoint!  A little research before heading out on safari on this lovely island told us that both Yala and Wilpattu National Parks were ‘good for Leopards’. There are no Lions in Sri Lanka, and unlike in India there are no tigers either, so the Leopard is therefore very much the king of the jungle here.

If the theory of wildlife experts is to be believed, these two national parks have the highest density of leopards in the world. That may be so, but Leopards can be well hidden, and as we set out on our safaris we realised the dense vegetation, the jungle, of Sri Lanka’s parks was not going to make it any easier than in Southern Africa. We know from experience that sometimes you can safari for days on end and not have the privilege of even the briefest of glimpses of a Leopard.

What was the chance of seeing one on a full day in Wilpattu? This park is quieter than Yala and, therefore, I felt it would give us a better chance. Our driver new our mission and, with our travel guide Suminda, we embarked on our full day’s drive. There were hardly any other safari vehicles around so little or no ‘intelligence’ to aid our quest.

It was to be around the middle of the day when we ‘got a sniff’. A tip off from another driver led us to one of the best-known locations for Leopards. We were rewarded with a clear sighting of one of these most beautiful animals and, what’s more, we were able to watch it at close quarters on and off for almost an hour…………It strutted about both in a clearing and in the jungle….at to one point it made a half hearted attempt to chase a wild boar…………And that familiar African ‘adrenalin rush’ came flooding back!! We felt very privileged. 

Day 11 & 12- Nata Lodge and The Sua (Sowa) Pans

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Day 11

We prepared to leave Maun…..we paid the food, drink and laundry bill at The Safari Lodge Maun…the accommodation had been pre-paid…we were a little aghast at the laundry bill and made a mental note not to do it here again if we ever re-visited. The hotel had been great…we had, had a deluxe double which had a little patio overlooking the almost dried up river bed which was great for people watching and watching cars being washed in the tiny pockets of water which remained…the Botswana people are never short of enterprising ideas to solve environmental problems…

From Maun we drove back towards Kasane, we were stopping for two nights at Nata lodge, which sits on the Sua (Sowa) Pans . We had often thought of doing this, when we used to drive through to Chobe from Mafeking or Johannesburg in South Africa. It had quite a reputation as being a nice place,  but we were always in a rush to get to our beloved Chobe. 

Nata Lodge is in the same group of hotels as Chobe Safari Lodge, the group is known as “Under one Botswana Sky” …the three hotels which we are familiar with in this group all charge much the same for accommodation and activities. 

The drive from Maun to Nata was uneventful, a few herds of elephant drinking out of water pipe access holes, a few herds of zebra on the road side, a stray Jackie strutting his stuff down the middle of the road….just the sort of thing you expect to see on one of the countries main tarred roads!!! 

On arriving at Nata Lodge we booked in and went to our room. It was a wooden structure on stilts. Although quite dark inside it was similar in layout to the Chobe Safari lodge rooms- large bed, desk, arm chair, open bathroom area with sink and freestanding bath, separate toilet and separate shower. The only difference was that the shower was outside…which is great when the weather is fine but not so great when it rained cold, dirty/sandy rain. I guess it exfoliates your skin all over your body fairly cheaply and gives your hair a golden sand tint!!!!!! 

We rested during the afternoon, rather frustrated that we couldn’t get WiFi in our accommodation neither the hotel,or our own router gave us a signal.  We finally went to the bar area where we managed to get an intermittent signal. We had our evening meal in the open restaurant.

It was fairly full of a large tour groups, who seemed to be given preference over us lone travellers…….This continued over the two evenings and mornings we were there…we defiantly felt like second class citizens.. a never again experience, after all we paid more for our meals than tour groups did and we should have been given good attentive service.

Day 12 

Today we relaxed, spending our time reorganising the packing, photos, writing blogs and finally going to the bar to upload using the weak internet…John walked the grounds photographing birds and we both became fascinated by a woodpecker in a nearby tree. 

At 3.00 pm we climbed aboard a Safari vehicle, with 4 other couples. There were 2 other vehicles full of a big group of German tourists. We were going on to the Sua ( Sowa) pans where there is a resident large flock of Flamingos, along with some pelicans, and the usual wildebeest and zebras who live and transverse the pans.

We were allowed to alight from the vehicles and walk to the edge of the lake. Although the massive flamboyance of flamingos was a distance away it was a truly fabulous sight, a hue of pink. Some were flying in and out, pelicans were closer by observing us. 

It was idyllic, or at least it would have been if it hadn’t been for the two other vehicles of very noisy tourists who set up a cocktail bar between the Safari vehicles and loudly proceeded to have copious amounts to drink.

They continued to party for well over an hour, even dancing…we asked our driver if we could please go but he said not until all our group was on the vehicle…so 3 other couples and us waited for one couple to finish their party…we returned to the lodge, passing more wildebeest as the sun went down …..

We were quite disgruntled, as this noisy, boozy crowd was well below the standard of Safari we expect…we were so disappointed. 

Our disappointment continued at supper, when we were given a table in a very dark area, the service was so slow we had to keep asking..’can we place our order please’, ‘Excuse me please but where’s our food’, ‘could we see the dessert menu please’, ‘Excuse me, is our dessert coming before breakfast!’ ……there was another couple of independent travellers who also seemed to be invisible…….We returned to our room wondering why we had booked in here…this was defiantly a never again experience…