Tshukudu
On the way out to Tshukudu, I captured this idyllic scene of Flenter’s Corner, with two giraffes walking near the water (we actually saw one cross the river – which is rare to see – but I didn’t get a good picture of it..)
I also thought it was time to photograph the roads on which I have spent hundreds of hours these last 8 months. This is one of the nice tar roads (with no potholes), leading to Kruger and Tshukudu, and aside from the fact that there are hills all through the landscape, it just looks like a straight line going on forever..
On the topic of roads, both the gravel road and the river road (the two entraces to the lodge) have also been quite the unforgettable experience – this bumpy ride has to be experienced to get what I’m talking about!
Despite my greatest wishes, we sadly never got to see the lion cubs in Tshukudu on my last drive either. But we did get some really good scenes of the elephants and the rhinos surrounding the car.
We found the elephants mud- and dustbathing so I tried to catch Becky (the matriach) while throwing dust in the air.
And of course I was deeply fascinated by Alfred’s antics ^^ He and the other young elephant were goofing around in the mud to their hearts’ content.
The four elephants then continued down the the waterhole where they got a drink of water and then walked in a line around the dam, mirrored by the water beneath them.
At a later stage, we found the elephants again, standing right next to a herd of buffalos and Alfred started jumping up with his front feet on the other elephant’s head. It was the most adorable thing! And he kept doing it 3 times >.<
We of course saw Ntombi as well but she was busy eating an impala so we couldn’t touch her.. I still got some good photos of her but it was sad to say goodbye to her without touching..
Kruger
My last trip to Kruger. And what a sad way to end it. I guess Kruger was as sentimental as I was, at least the weather and the animals all seemed down.. It was cloudy and a bit windy from the morning, but it didn’t take long before the wind picked up and it started raining too. And with that kind of weather, I knew we’d be lucky to see anything because a lot of animals would hide in that weather.
After a while, we heard about a lion sighting on S90 so we hurried there but there were no signs of lions when we arrived.. We continued down that road and at least found some steenbok, zebra, wildebeest, impalas, and giraffes on our way.
This wet little steenbok was actually unusually close to his mate, I just couldn’t fit them both in the picture because they are so camera shy..
Wildebeest wondering what kind of weird creature we were..
Impala male looking his best for the camera.
We heard of a really good sighting of three cheetahs eating a waterbuck just next to the road only 30 minutes from us so we drove down that road but sadly, we were again too late. The cheetahs had left their kill and wandered off, leaving only the vultures left on the carcass.. Both whitebacked and lappet-faced vultures. There were so many of them surrounding the carcass, busy eating, but every now and then, a head would peek up from the feast.
We were pretty bummed about missing out on such great sightings and decided it was time to head towards Satara for coffee. But then finally, luck smiled at us and we had a young male lion walking across the road right in front of us and continuing into the high grass on our left side where he stood for a while watching some wildebeest.
We almost thought he was in stalking mode with the way he was looking at them and then got down, but unfortunately he just lay down in the grass.
And this point, it was raining into the car and my camera lens kept getting wet but at least we got the lion! After a while, he walked off into the bush so we left the sight. We then found some waterbuck and I think it is one of the first times I’ve seen one lying down.
Shortly after, a herd of impalas were doing the same thing. One of them had completely given up, just lying its head flat on the ground too. Nobody liked the weather at all 😦
We had coffee in Satara and then headed off towards Olifants in the hope that there’d be lions or leopards in that direction. We saw neither lions or leopards but did find a hyena just a few meters from the road, lying in the same depressed position on the ground as all the other animals..
It’s such a cute animal, Disney be damned!
It didn’t move much and barely registed when we turned on and off the vehicle right next to it, but finally it moved its head and we got a view of those adorable eyes ^^
Otherwise, we had a good elephant sighting and lots of hippos out of water by Olifants River before we had lunch at the rest camp. After lunch, we had one of the closest elephant encounters I have ever had. They were standing next to the road, eating, so we pulled up and watched. But then one of the elephants pushed over a tree in our direction, narrowly missing us and then the elephant came within a meter’s distance of the car as it started eating from the crown. The elephants weren’t bothered by the car at all because they got close on their terms, but we also couldn’t leave, lest we gave them a fright with the roar of the engine. So we just sat there and observed. They were almost too close for my lens but at least I got a nice (bit blurry) close-up of the most beautiful eye of a baby elephant. It was so cute! >.<
That was our final big sighting before we headed out towards Phalaborwa gate and home to the lodge, fortunately in dry weather..