Back at Johannesburg again but this time round just staying at the outskirts of town
Checked into our little cottage house at a ulu corner of the city near the airport. Breakfast (bacon! and nice sausages) the next morning and the next part of our adventure begins...
Day 12
Collected our car and a small episode at the airport carpark later, we're ready to set off!
Took a 3 hour drive to our first stop: Nelspruit's botanical garden's restaurant - Kuzuri, which has quite nice an ambience but we were in too much in a rush to appreciate their slow service. Food was not too shabby too. Left after we took the Black Forest cake away and onwards we go!
First view: Kruger National Park! Will never forget the excitement when those impalas leaped across the road just behind the gate (though we will later be bored of them as they are everywhere)
Didn't stop at Berg En Dal as planned as we were short of time but did still see many animals along the way.
Rule no. 4: stop when other vehicles stop
Sunset can wait
Selfie cannot
Subsequently also spotted two more of the big fives: Buffalos and Rhinos! Of course, there were lots of zebras as well, and we saw a hyena lazing around with its cub! Also came across an exotic animal - Nyala - crossing the road and staring at us. While the wildebeest we found were abit too far for us to determine if they were the blue or black group.
Accomm for the night!
Skukuza was huge but we had no time to explore; did drive to the other side from our luxurious tentage for the restaurant.
Luxurious enough? Haha
Hot chocolate for a cold cold night ahead
And here’s to the exhilarating start to the Safari adventure!
Day 13
Morning was panorama route! Left camp early in the morning for the route via Hazyview.
The Pinnacle, not at Duxton
Pinnacle was nice but God's Window had a hazy view indeed; guess god wasn't that happy today and didn't want us to see much out of his windows.
Honeycomb
Bourke Luck Pothole was really nice - like a miniature Grand Canyon with water kind of nice.
Weather ain’t as nice so ice cream’s the way to go!
Three Rondavels were once again masked by a mystic layer of clouds and we could only see its silhouette.
Decided to skip Berlin fall and went for Lisbon fall instead and it was really quite a scene!
Kudos to miss blur for her not-so-blur on-the-spot research to compare the two.
Pancake at the highly recommended Harrie's pancake at Graskop was only alright but the croissant was good, ironically.
Rushed back to Kruger and it's time to hunt again. This time round we were greeted by the giraffes not long after we entered, then a lone hippo munching its way behind the bushes. Many elephants along the way and even a huge bunch of vultures perching on a naked tree. More giraffes and elephants and interesting birds later we met with a bunch of cars parked by the side (and middle of the road) seemingly looking at nothing. We spotted some giraffes and a lone black creature (a scope on the binoculars later we found it to be a lone buffalo looking lost) but nothing exciting.
Oh, unless a warthog running down the street is considered exciting (more cute, I would say).
Say leaveeee
Death is near
Until we were enlightened by the car perpendicular to us, who were in turn enlightened by the car right in front of us with huge scopes and cameras, that they have spotted a leopard across river at the opposite bank. And leopard did we see! Amazing sight though it was just steaming down the river. Further down nearer to our rest camp for the night, Lower Sabie, we found a herd of hippos chilling (almost literally cos they were sneezing here and there) by the sunset dam (and it was almost sunset too).
Spot the hippos
Most exciting notice board ever
Sunset run around the camp and some static workout later, we're ready for the next adventure in the dark - night drive!
Super huge elephant almost 3/4 the size of our tonner truck tried to flip our truck! And let out an angry snort while we were looking at crocodiles at the other side of the road.
This is him, emo-ing by the bush
And this is the damage he caused, a dent at the lower end of the car
The trick to finding nocturnal animal is to shine into the dark and look for reflections of the animal’s eyes, or, simply stalk them haha
Here’s one lionese sprinting past us wariedly, continuing her hunt through the night
And here’s a family who doesn’t give as much fk
We also spotted a Split Hare zig zagging across. And learnt that Vultures are critically endangered. A few Hyenas strolled down the street, and leopard! Casually wagging its tail along the road and crossing in front of use after it had enough of our shit. And then just as we were about to head back to camp and were discussing amongst ourselves to look for Lions tomorrow, we come across a lone lioness hunting for food! And then another two young female ones playing on the road; joined by a third lazing on a trunk. And according to our guide, we have the elephant to thank cos he went one loop and stayed on this side of the camp to avoid him. Final dessert: African fish eagle. And nope: more excitement ahead - two leopard cubs! These are the elusive leopard cubs that have been very rarely sighted by occasional seekers but to little avail. Really just wow! And they were just fighting each other in front of us! Until the Mom came and told them it's bed time. Sort of. Haha.
Then it's back to our huge hut (cos its for three with three single bed); rather well equipped though - I had the chance to finally make my coffee...
Day 14
Breakfast with a view and we spotted a roaming crocodile just streaming down the river.
Could wake up to this view everyday...
And this breakfast too!
This is us last night with our sightings. Jelly yet?
Lots of birds. Velvet monkeys. Blue Wildebeest. Vultures. Nyala. Break at Tsokwane with the velvet monkeys. Waterbuck! 10 over cars waited for a group of waterbuck and zebras queueing up to cross the road. They were smart, the fowls not so.
Major road hazard who doesn’t seem to understand the law of physics, dashing out just as our cars past... and so, roadkilled one of them :(
Hello there, why’s your face so black?
Poorh poorh, move along!
Time for selfie, but the car is moving...?!
Drove for the whole day and it’s sunset now~
Hello there, you buff things
And our rondavel for the night
Wanted to braai but the bungalow (most expensive of the four nights, mind you) has zero amenities for the braai other than the pit; we decided against it since it wasn't worth getting everything for just this one braai. Satara camp was generally forgettable: kitchen had nothing other than a rusty induction cooker and a hot water dispenser; restaurant was under renovation with only an interim menu and wine list that's mostly out of stock; room has no cutlery; and worse still, there isn't a proper power point in the unit! Granted the Rondavel was nice and clean but that's about as much compliment I can give.
Day 15
Breaking dawn
Load and ready!
Here we go! Rare opportunity to walk on this land with our guides armed with one bullet each. What can that one bullet do when the pride attacks though...
Dead or alive
Paw paw tail paw paw. Crocs moving house
Hyena. Porcupine quilt. Buck with white butt. Tawn eagle. Dead sparrows. Crocodile trail. Rhino prints. Buffalo poos. Lots of treasure walking through the prideland on foot - once in a lifetime experience!
Switch out of the 4x4 for our sedan car and headed further up North but was greeted with nothingness after nothingness and even mistakenly spotting a wildebeest as a buffalo. Then suddenly after turning out onto the main road - poof - a HUGE herd of Buffalos: probably nearing a hundred.
Boom. All chilling (camouflaging) in the shade
Oh, and caught zebra crossing too. The legit one.
Turning into the Timbavati loop, we encountered our first ostrich in Kruger and it was huge! But it was nothingness once again until a bushbuck by the toilet at Timbavati. And a moth.
This huge moth. Got attacked by it but the hornbill saved the day - first kill we have encountered on this trip haha. On hindsight, the moth probably came to me for help cos it sense danger... oh wells
Spot the hornbill that “saved” the day!
Super huge elephant crossed in front of us after a shower under the hot sun. And then a super huge kudu chilling by the roadside. Further down, saw a large crocodiles chilling by the bank, then another tawny eagle, kudu, and baboon family chilling again!
One last tour before our safari journey ends and it turns out to be a private tour!
Something about this view that charms
One last sunset
Private sunset tour. Pretty trees only in this area and they are elephant's favourite (even the roots are sought after). And the guide taught us that Giraffes' sex are identifiable by their horns: male ones are longer thicker with a larger ball. Olifant river is the largest in the park, going all the way up to Mozambique. And Lions avoid waterbuck because of their odour.
Saw Zebras, small spotted genet, 3 Hyenas, one ran away from us, crocodiles in the river chilling with water bucks, spring hare with the black tail jumping like a kangaroo, Bushbaby on the tree, Elephant family but we had phobia of it, Nightjars playing with us on the trees looking right back at us.
Day 16
Not too bad a view at Olifant. But nope. No elephants. There’re some girafes in this photo if you can spot them...
Left Olifant early in the morning just after sunrise for Letaba. Breakfast was super filling and the curio shop was better equipped than we imagined. After the elephants and giraffes said their goodbye, it's time for us to part.
Till next time, Safari animals.
