We headed north this morning with the plan of at least getting to the Olifants River. The bridge over the Letaba River is washed away and you cannot go past that point. We thought we would go as far as we wanted and then just turn around and head back. We were on the road at 5:40am. It was a slightly misty/overcast morning so the birds weren’t yet as active but we managed to see a rare Montague Harrier within the first few kilometers.

The whole night we could hear lions contact calling. They started just after sunset and when I woke briefly at 2am, I could hear them still. Unsurprising then to us, we came across two male lions on the road about 5 kms from Satara. There were a few cars ahead of us but a very good sighting. At one point the one, got up, walked down the middle of the road and then flopped over in the middle of the road. Literal road block. He only got up slightly when a car arrived to the sighting and heard them and sat slightly up. That gave us an another car an opportunity to sneak past with H driving so close to him that the Landy’s side camera actually showed his paws! We were off to a good start.

There were herds of elephant, zebra & wildebeest and the occasional giraffe to be seen. But then I saw a leopard in the long grass. Just briefly stopped. Then it set off and vanished into the long grass. It is incredible that one moment you can see it clearly and the next it is entirely gone. The car in front of us never stopped and never saw it. It suddenly re-appeared ahead of us and we quickly caught it up and drove alongside it as it walked parallel with the road. After about 5 minutes, our German friends arrived and H informed them it was a leopard and they were greatly excited but took some time to actually see it. Once they did they joined us in the tracking of it. At one point to veered toward the road and just when we expected it to cross the road it vanished. But then our friends pointed out it popped out the other side of the road. It must have used a culvert that it clearly knew was there.

Shortly afterwards it crossed the road this time not using a culvert and then continuing to walk north. It stopped from time to time to scent mark against a bush as it walked. It looked in very good condition so while not really the terrain we would expect to see leopard living in, it clearly was thriving. We must have tracked it for about 1.5 kilometers. Leopards are my favourite animal to see in the wild so spotting it myself and then being able to track it for so long was a real pleasure. It would be hard to beat that.

We stopped on the Olifants River bridge and it is crazy so wide the river is at the moment. What is even more insane is to think that the river was in such flood that it covered the bridge entirely. There is some damage to the barricades and a lot of sand deposited on the bridge but otherwise it seemed fine. There is a lookout over the river shortly after the bridge and across from where you would turn to get to Olifants camp. That turning is closed as the camp is closed. We went up to the lookout to have breakfast up there (and saw buffalo in the river – number 4 of the Big 5) and then we headed back to Satara.

The biggest problem of the morning was where to relieve yourself of the morning coffees. No picnic spot and no camp to go to. I used the bridge when I could see no cars in either direction. A little more difficult for H but we found a ‘relatively’ secluded spot for her and used the doors as barriers for viewing. We both found success without exposure. More successful than earlier in the trip when I tried to do the same thing, was midflow and another car appeared out of nowhere driving straight at me. Managed to stop that one with urgency and jump back in the car only slightly embarrassed. Turned out they were elderly and so probably didn’t notice (or at least that is what I like to believe).

Our record for a trip is 234 birds and currently we are on 229 birds. Obviously much harder to add them now as we have seen a lot but still adding every day at the moment. I think we should safely break the record given we still have a few more days left in the Kruger and then a couple of days on the way home when we have a chance to add a few more as well.

We also figured out last night why only us are braaiing in our circle. The reality is that the bulk of the people staying in this circle are actually Kruger Park staff. The staff village was damaged during the floods (the staff village itself flooded). At the time I said to H that I wondered why they don’t just use the rest camp for alternative accommodation for them and now we know that is exactly what they have done. Also explains why there is someone staying next to us yet they have no car. Mystery solved.

The camp is definitely fuller tonight and more local (South Africans) rather than just foreigners. Our new neighbours are a father/son (older son not young) and they at least attempted a braai tonight. I say ‘attempted’ – if you look at the size of their fire versus mine you will see why I say ‘attempted’. It is embarrassing to think fellow countrymen produce a braai like that. One friend who I sent the photo to in advance of the publication of the blog commented “They’re not braaiing. That’s just peer pressure trying to fit in” 🙂

Until tomorrow … P & H

I see that the video link again didn’t come through if you receive the blog by email. If you read it on the website (templetravels.co.za) then you’ll find the video is there. Otherwise, you will have to satisfy yourself with this photo.

We were a bit slow to get up this morning. We had planned to be out at gate opening (5:30am) but managed to only get out just before 6am. It was a clear morning and the birds were active everywhere you looked. It really was the best morning we have had so far from a pure birding point of view. None of the dirt roads are open around Satara yet so we had to stick to a tar road first heading south and then turning east toward Mozambique border. The road goes to a picnic site (N’Wanetsi). There is also a bird hide nearby (Sweni hide) which we hoped would be accessible but unfortunately wasn’t (it is on a dirt road).

The drive there was pretty productive including seeing a hyena on the road as well as black backed jackal. H was driving as I had a very swollen right hand this morning. She had her first encounter with a slightly aggressive elephant right while the hyena was on the road in front of us with the jackal off the side and then a herd of wildebeest walked past too. It was all happening at the same time. We stayed to see if the hyena might try to take out one of the baby wildebeest but he vanished and we can only think there is a den somewhere under the road.

We stopped for a toilet visit, coffee and to enjoy the view from the picnic site. The toilet was probably the most dangerous part of the trip so far. There must have been 5 mosquitoes flying around the urinal bowl. Was trying to make sure I never got bitten while simultaneously relieving myself. H asked me how many I manage to drown. We stop here regularly and this is the first time ever I have seen so much water in the river below. We usually can see a reasonable number of birds – waders, herons, storks etc but this time there was hardly anything to see because there really wasn’t any banks exposed and no sandbanks at all for storks or herons.

We got back to camp around 9am, had breakfast and then went for a bird walk around the camp and managed to add a few more trip birds. There are places in the camp and that totally muddy still. Probably hasn’t rained here in 7-10 days yet it is very muddy to such an extent you cannot walk in the area at all. It just reminds you of the quantity of rain they had.

At about 4pm we went for a quick drive to Nsemani Dam. The road there has only just been re-opened as the dam flooded and severely damaged the road. I hope the picture above gives you some idea of the damage. The power that the water must have been flowing both under and over the road must have been immense given the damage. On the way there, we were looking at some birds in the river and a car pulled up next to us and said (verbatim), “You again. You like birds. We saw a pretty coloured bird.” H said “Oh a bee-eater. It’s a Carmine Bee-Eater.” And then H showed her a picture and German lady said yes that’s it. H is a bit of a mind-reader. They then overtook us and a little later they were stopped and flagged us down to stop and they excitedly told us that they had just seen a Bateleur eating another bird on the road. All the time the German man was telling us, the German lady was holding the map book pointing to a Bateleur. We seem to be their new best friends in the Kruger.

A little earlier back in the camp so got the fire going a little earlier. Ostrich steak salad and potato in the braai tonight for dinner.

Until tomorrow … P & H

We decided to have a bit of later start today as we headed to Satara. Some coffee and breakfast for me (too early for H for breakfast) and then we packed up and hit the road. It is about 90 kms from Skukuza to Satara and we expected it to take between 4-5 hours with some long stops at our favourite dams on route north. It was partly overcast for about half the drive which meant it didn’t get very hot until around 10am when it really did feel like it was sweltering hot (34/35 degrees C at that point).

We saw the same lions as yesterday on the way to Satara. They had moved down the road about a kilometer or so but definitely the same two and still mating. I tried to post a video of the two mating yesterday but it seems not to have come through on the post. I hope it works this time below.

On route to Satara is probably our favourite dam in the whole of the Kruger Park – Leeupan (Lion pan for those needing a translation). And before you wonder, yes we have seen lion there more than once. Not today though. We hoped to see a relatively rare Lesser Moorhen which have been reported present there over the last few days. We probably spent an hour there looking for them but to no avail. We did see another rarity – a Dwarf Bittern – and we added some other really nice birds to our trip list (like Black Chested Snake Eagle). Not a waste of time but still disappointing that we never got the Lesser Moorhens.

We did a quick stop at the Tshokwane Picnic Site and then onward to Satara. It was getting pretty hot and while we did see some herds of zebra, impala & wildebeest, there were no more predators to be found. The devastation from the flooding was evident on a few bridges that we crossed. Carnage might be a better word to use.

We got to Satara around midday but check in is only allowed from 2pm. You still cannot access past Letaba at the moment and our last 2 nights were meant to be at Mopani Camp. That would require us to exit the park, drive right up to Punda Maria (which is at the far north) and then drive down to Mopani Camp. It would have taken us between 6-8 hours (depending on road conditions). That didn’t seem sensible to us so we asked whether we could move our last 2 nights rather to Satara and just stay here for the next 4 nights instead. We were fortunately able to do that and so the next 4 nights will be in Satara.

We couldn’t get access to our hut yet so we went to have lunch at Cattle Baron restaurant and killed some time in the shop and then got our key just after 2pm. It was so hot the only thing we want to do was be in the room with the aircon operating. Somehow time just seems to pass when you’re in a game park and the next thing you know it is braai time. What amazed us tonight was that we are staying in a circle of about 25 huts and while only about a third of them are occupied, we were the only ones having a braai. Our German neighbours, arrived, made themselves a cup of tea and headed inside for the evening. The other neighbours have been inside since we arrived at 2pm and the only reason I know they are there is that I can hear them talk occasionally and they have a cooler bag hanging off their braai place. Do these people not eat?

Anyway, we do eat and so tonight was a braai of chicken kebabs, sweet potato and a side salad. While braaiing the chicken, we had a brief visit from the resident African Wild Cat. Clearly could smell the braai and was coming to see if there was anything available. As soon as he/she saw me, it was gone. Slim pickings for him/her tonight with only us braaiing around here.

Until tomorrow … P & H

Gates now open at 5:30am and we were out slightly after that (5:35am). We thought everyone would be out by then but of the cars in our section (about 10 or so), we were the first to leave. At 10:50am, our one set of neighbours have not been seen. Not sure where they are but car hasn’t moved. And it never moved the entire day. I saw them once when they came back from the shop but otherwise they were indoors the whole day (honeymoon?). The other neighbour (lets call him big neighbour), went to breakfast at 10am. They don’t seem to be in a rush to go anywhere. When they walked back after brunch, big neighbour said to his wife “This is just the perfect life” – yes we share the sentiment.

H and I decided to head down to Nkuhlu Picnic site. It is as far as you can go down that particular road as the road further down is washed away in more than one place. I think it will be some time before that one is open. At the moment there is only one way out of the camp and that is by driving north over Sand River, then east following the river and then cross back over heading south. The lower road on the southern side of the Sand River is also damaged and not driveable at the moment.

It was obvious straightaway that so much more game is visible around Skukuza. We saw loads of impala almost right outside the camp. And then on the one junction we had hyena lying nicely on the side of the road for us to view. Once we crossed the Sand River (the river is almost still going over the bridge), we headed east and a few kilometers along we found two lions mating right on the road. They did it once just in front of us and then after a few minutes the lionness got up and male lion followed and they walked right past me … car off so couldn’t put window up and I thought “better keep straight on walking and focus on your business lions” which they fortunately did do otherwise I wouldn’t be typing this! Then just as they got past us, they repeated the act again. When we came back an hour or so later, they were on the side of the road in the bush and no doubt will continue to entertain the whole day.

On the drive this morning we could see the devastation the flooding rivers have caused. H described it as ‘Eden after the Fall’ this time! The picture below probably doesn’t do it justice. The debris from trees and roots and even concrete & tar from bridges and roads was visible. Even now the river is running powerfully. You can hear it when you cross a bridge. I haven’t mentioned this in the posts before but the quantity of water everywhere is amazing. The bush just oozes water. When we have stopped at times to look at an animal or bird, we notice that the bushveld is actually marshy from the rain. In places there are little streams running across the road and you just wonder where the water is coming from but it is literally just running out of the bush.

The birding continues to amaze us. We are past 200 birds now. Obviously it is slowing down as we already have a lot of the obvious birds though incredibly we still have some relatively standard ones to see. It took us until yesterday (for example) to see a crested francolin. They are usually all over the place but we have hardly seen any ground birds. We can only think it is because of the flooding and they have moved to higher ground or something. We did however see another two Ospreys today. That makes 4 in 2 days. Prior to yesterday, I had only see 2 in my life and now I have seen 6 and 4 in the last 24 hours. It is a rare Kruger bird though right now you wouldn’t believe it.

We got back around 9am, had breakfast and then spent the rest of the day in the camp until around 4pm. I had to do some work today (unfortunately) so it was helpful to just be in the camp. Around 4pm we headed to the Selati Restaurant which has been entirely redone since we were last here. It is now a coffee shop, restaurant and small shop. Really nicely done with a children’s playground. H wanted a lime milkshake and I had a coke float. After that we headed to the Lake Panic bird hide for one more look to see if there was anything interesting.

Braai for dinner though through that process I feel like I lost a kilogram. It is incredibly hot but also humid (the humidity is what is unusual). You do nothing and sweat so you can imagine what it was like braaiing tonight. While getting the braai ready, I dropped the braai grid on the floor (couldn’t hold it) and it made a pretty loud noise. H was concerned I had damaged myself somehow (fortunately hadn’t besides bruising my thumb). Very impressed though that big neighbour came over to check whether all was OK. Honeymoon couple – still haven’t ventured out. When it was cooked, it was another lovely meal of rib-eye steak (thinking of my son-in-law while I ate that) salad and potato done in the braai.

Until tomorrow …

P & H

We seem to be getting progressively later and later in getting up and out. Today we only managed to get out by 6am. It had rained overnight (lightly) and it was still heavily overcast and drizzling in the morning as well. Birding becomes more challenging in the rain. We headed to Shitlhave Dam to enjoy our coffee and rusks. On route we passed the spot where we had seen the birds that lead to the leading SA birding experts opining on what the bird was. Fortunately, we both saw and heard the birds again this morning and after hearing the call we now know 100% that they were croaking cisticolas which were lifers for both H and myself. Nice to get the 100% confirmation today.

As we turned off down to the dam we saw 2 hyena in the road and then all the birds started alarm calling which is when they see danger. The hyena crossed the road and went into the bush and we could hear the alarm calling moving with them even though we couldn’t see them anymore. At the dam itself, there was less action and it started drizzling harder. We decided we may as well head back to pack up as we were moving to Skukuza today.

After breakfast we were on the road at just after 8am. It was still overcast and drizzling very lightly. We decided to head up to the Mestel Dam and then keep heading north on one of the few dirt roads that is open. This road takes you north until you hit the Sabie River and then it turns east and tracks the Sabie River the whole way to Skukuza. Maybe it was the cooler morning, maybe it was the rain, maybe it was the the terrain but we definitely saw a lot more game today than we have other days. Yesterday we didn’t even see 1 impala (I am not sure I have ever had a day in Kruger when I haven’t seen an impala) but today we saw buffalo, elephant, hyena, zebra, giraffe, impala (a lot of them), nyala, grey duiker, hippo, warthog & waterbuck. And despite the cloudy conditions and raining we also added quite a few birds to our trip list and we are now approaching 200 for the trip (I am on 196 at moment) and we are now just over 1 week on the road. We did manage to get another 2 lifers for H today and so she has now added 9 lifers for the trip.

You can only check in at 2pm at a new camp and so the route we took aimed to kill time but it also was quite a pleasant and picturesque route. At one point when we were stopped in a flowing river crossing, H remarked ‘This is like the Garden of Eden’. Now I am worried how she knows what the Garden of Eden looks like. But this is the view that she claims is ‘like the Garden of Eden’.

We arrived at Skukuza (which is like the capital of the Kruger Park) at about 12:30pm and as we couldn’t check in we went for lunch and then to shop for a quick browse and then to check in. We have a riverside view bungalow and it overlooks the Sabie River. You can lie on the bed and see the river. Tonight there was a spectacular moon and it rose over the Sabie River. No picture we took could really capture how beautiful it was.

Until tomorrow … P & H

H and I are progressively sleeping in later and so leaving later. We would argue we are adjusting to the gate opening time changing tomorrow. We woke at 5am and left just after 5:30am. The birds were still pretty quiet as the sun only rises at 5:30am at the moment and it was a little overcast again this morning. We had decided to do the two dams as our morning drive – Mestel Dam first and then the Shitlhave Dam. On the road to Mestel Dam, we basically only saw elephant. We spent over an hour at the Mestel Dam as there was constant bird activity and so we enjoyed our coffee and rusks there and the peacefulness (when other cars weren’t there).

We then drove down to Shitlhave Dam and on route saw baboon, kudu and at the dam saw waterbuck. That was the extent of the animals we saw today. The bush is very green and thick and there is water everywhere so I think it is pretty hard to see animals as they aren’t forced down to the waterholes, dams and rivers. The birding has been good though and continued at the dams today and also on our way back. We saw two birds on the way back right on the side of the road which we couldn’t positively ID ourselves. So I sent it to one of SA’s top birders who I know and he wasn’t 100% sure himself so he sent it on to who he considers number 1 & 2 top birders in SA. There ensued a difference of opinion and the conclusion was download the photos from my camera (I just sent them an iphone photo of the back of my camera originally) and hopefully we could get more certainty. After much deliberation, 2 of the experts agreed it was a juvenile Croaking Cisticola and one of them said it was very tough ID as they had themselves never seen a juvenile. Lifer 7 for H and Lifer 3 for me for the trip.

While we were trying to see a bird (and parked on the opposite side of the road), we had a car drive past and stop next to us. Our first thought is always that they want to know what we are looking at and we have to tell them birds and then they drive off disappointed. So H was just about to do that when they people seemed overly friendly and we realised it was actually my colleague from Australia, his wife and her sister. We knew they were here in the Kruger Park but didn’t expect to see them and certainly not randomly on the road back to camp. We did a quick catch up to hear what they had seen and fortunately no other cars came past while we caught up.

We decided to spend the rest of the day in the camp just relaxing. We both had a late morning/early afternoon nap. Somehow the hours seem to just wile away while here. Soon it was braai time. Tonight – lamb ribs on the braai. And man were they good. Along with a potato done in the coals. It was so good I said to H that it is 50/50 whether the potato or lamb were better. She was having potato and was skeptical of my view and so I gave her a portion of the potato and she actually agreed with me. It was finger looking good even though it wasn’t KFC.

Until tomorrow …

Despite the encouragement from Brett and other drinking neighbours to leave at 4:30am because we would see nightjars on the road, H and I got up slightly later than previous day but still managed to leave at around 5:15am. We have gotten more efficient and into our rhythm. It was overcast which is never great for birding and the bush was very quiet for the first few kilometers while the sun was coming up. The sunrise was spectacular though.

The plan was to head east again but to just visit the two dams on the road and then to turn back to camp again. Coffee stops at each dam. We had noticed yesterday on way back that the second dirt road in the area was now open down to the Transport Dam. The first dam though is the Shitlhave. Not much action there except some hippos have a morning argument. After finishing our coffee we headed off to the Transport Dam. On route though we noticed that one of the other dirt roads was open. It is basically a short cut off the tar road and we thought we should take it.

It started off somewhat rutted and we met one car coming in the opposite direction and so assumed he had come from the other side. We then got to a guy in a Toyota Urban Cruiser who started to reverse toward us so we let him reverse and assumed he didn’t want to go further because of the potholed road. When we got to where he was at, we realised why. This road was now a 4×4 route and not a standard road. No chance anyone without a proper 4×4 was going to make it through. Fortunately, we have Landy and this was really only a minor challenge. We really couldn’t understand how KNP could have opened the road because if this was what they considered passable for open, we would hate to know what the closed roads look like! But when we encountered the grader that we had to bushwhack to get around, we started to think that the road should not have been opened but someone must have moved the closure. When we got to the end of the loop, our conclusion was confirmed as that side was firmly closed and we had to drive around the closure to exit back onto the main road. Unexpected 4x4ing but probably the days highlight.

Onward we went to the Transport Dam which turned out to be very productive for birding in that we saw a rarity for the Kruger Park – a rufous-bellied heron. Was also a lifer for Helen – call it an anniversary present for her as today is a our 33rd wedding anniversary. Talking about lifers – H now has 6 lifers for the trip. She is now closing in on my son (S) as she is now on 529 lifers and he is on 540.

We headed back for a late breakfast and then spent the balance of the day in the camp until just after 4pm when we headed out again to the Mestel Dam which is north west from the camp and on one of the only open dirt roads in the area. This time it was definitely open and newly graded. The dam was a hive of activity with elephant and waterbuck there when we arrived and the birds kept coming and going as well. We have added significantly to our trip list and I am now on 174 unique birds for the trip.

Dinner of braai’d chicken wings, venison sausage, sweet potato and mushroom washed down with a nice Kudu lager, G&T for H and some pinot noir. The other good news for the day was that some more roads and bridges are being re-opened and so now Satara camp is accessible from Skukuza again. I went shortly after we got the news to see if we could change our reservation and luckily we have managed to do exactly that and now we have some nights at Satara camp as well.

Until tomorrow … P & H

PS: Unfortunately no entertaining neighbours tonight as both sets have left and no one took their place.

Gates open at 4:30am until the end of the month. Sunrise is only at 5:30am so that means it is still pretty dark at 4:30am. We believe you need some light to see the game and the birds aren’t really active either until around sunrise. We planned to head out at 5am but we were a little disorganized and only managed to get out at 5:10am.

Our order of seeing animals this morning was (1) elephant (2) leopard (3) hyena. We hadn’t even had a chance to see impala. The leopard was a fantastic sighting. On the side of the road and then he walked down the road and scent marked a few bushes on the side of the road before finally walking 90 degrees from the road into the bush and vanished. One of those Kruger moments – pure timing and a special sighting. Leopards are probably my favourite animal to see in the game park. We did see 4 of the Big 5 today – just missing rhino.

One of the ‘problems’ we have at the moment because of the floods are that no dirt roads are open (or very few to be precise). The flooding has damaged many of the roads and they need to re-graded to enable them to be safe for tourist travel. In addition, some of the bridges are washed away. So if you stay in the south and east of the park (like we are doing) then you really only have two tar roads you can drive which for us is east toward Mozambique and then south down to Berg-en-Dal camp. That is what we did today. It is a long drive though and as you have to drive there and back with no alternative way to return to the camp, we only got back after 1pm.

The other ‘problem’ is since everyone is restricted to the same two roads, the volume of cars and traffic is much higher than usual. In addition, at any predator sighting you are competing with the OSVs (open safari vehicles) who collect guests from outside the park and bring them in for a day sighting. The drivers are generally tip remunerated so there is obviously a big desire to ensure that their passengers see the game and it doesn’t really matter whether other people (like us) get blocked. There were two sighting of lions today where that occurred. At the 2nd sighting (we didn’t even bother to stay to try and see them) there were around 12 OSVs parked off and blocking any viewing really from other cars. To be fair, all the drivers we have engaged with have been very polite and pleasant and they have been very disciplined in not blocking the traffic but it still is something we don’t really experience in the north of the park (and hence why we prefer the north). Even a sighting of Bateleur with a kill had about 10 cars backed up.

We had some drama in the camp tonight when war broke out. It was a trifecta. A troop of vervet monkeys was around and one of them decided to chase and catch a squirrel. Incredibly it managed to do that and I thought it was going to eat the squirrel but it basically traumatized it and then let it go. Then it re-caught it again (or another one). H was not impressed and jumped to the defense of the squirrels. Then when the vervet monkeys left, a woodlands kingfisher (yes that’s a bird for all the non-birders reading the blog) started to attack the squirrels. Definitely felt like they were being ganged up on!

Finally, I forgot to tell you yesterday about our neighbour. On arrival back from his evening game drive, he comes over and introduces himself and then I get his life history including relatively recent divorce, career, his camera equipment value, that he believes you must be out of the gate at 4:30am, that he has seen wild dog everyday he has been here etc etc. Between last night and tonight I am not sure there is anything more we need to know about Brett. When he exhausts conversation with us, he heads over to our other neighbour (lets call them the heavy drinkers and late eaters) and updates them on his days sightings and why they should have driven behind him as they would have seen more if they did (not kidding – actual overhead conversation). Other neighbours are quite chilled from alcohol consumption (drinking wine in gin glasses). They only started their fire when H and I were already sitting down to eat. And boy was it a big fire. Must have had 20 pieces of wood on it (not exaggerating). It is 8:50pm and they are just eating now. At 8pm when H and came inside the chalet that fire was still going strong and nowhere near ready to braai on.

Saying of day (repeated numerous times by H and me) … “Restricted Kruger, even with annoying OSVs, is better than no Kruger” …

P & H

The plan this morning was a quick bird walk around the property and then breakfast and then head out. It was a cooler morning (around 19 degrees C) and so it was a lovely walk around the country estate before breakfast. We added a few more birds to our trip list. Breakfast was a full buffet with the one of the biggest omelettes I have ever had. Glad we did the 30+ min walk before breakfast! We were on the road by 8:30am and we have a 6-hour drive ahead to get to Pretoriouskop in the Kruger Park.

The drive took us through Krugersdorp then round the outskirts of Johannesburg, Centurion, Pretoria, eMalahleni (old name Witbank), Mbombela (old name Nelspruit) & White River. The drive went very smoothly and the road condition is very good most of the route. Some potholes on the road from Mbombela to White River and then onto the Numbi gate but generally the roads were in good condition.

No ironic songs today unfortunately because H and I actually only listened to the ‘Rest is Politics‘ podcast. My favourite line in today’s podcast was ‘It is also best to get as close as possible to the truth’ – it seems actually just being truthful isn’t something that politicians do (not that any of us are surprised by that).

We stopped at Mbombela for groceries for the next 10 days. It is incredible how the town has grown over the years. H and I have been coming to Kruger Park for our entire married life and when we first visited Mbombela it was just a town. Now it is actually a city with multiple malls. It is now home to around 1 million people. We headed for Woolworths and found a really good / large one. It was then lunch time and that meant one thing for me – KFC – my first one in about 18 months! It has become somewhat of a tradition for H and I to have KFC before we enter the Kruger Park.

We have driven past numerous school children the last few days and today was no exception. They were coming out of school just as we finished shopping and all along the route into the park we passed scholars. It was very pleasing to see how together most of them were and how many books they were lugging around. What did surprise us though was the number of students who were wearing jerseys (or jumpers dependent on where you live in the world) and some even with jackets (and/or leggings). It was 32 degrees today!

We arrived the Numbi Gate at about 3pm and after completing the entry formalities we headed to the camp which is only 8 kms from the gate. The park is incredibly green and lush and we only saw impala between the gate and the camp. We weren’t bothered by that as it was afternoon and hot and not the best game viewing time anyway. We will see what tomorrow brings.

A beer, a braai, a glass of wine (or two) and the sounds of the bush … what more could one want to finish off the day.

Until tomorrow … P & H

PS: Shout out to our Edinburgh based reader for calling the blog ‘Buzzing Temple Travels’ … might have to rename the blog!

As we get older it seems that we are starting to wake before sunrise – which was the case today. The gates only open at 7am in the park and we planned to leave as they opened. Waking up early gave us an opportunity to have some coffee and breakfast for me (too early for H) before we packed up the car and headed out. We decided to do the slightly slower option and to drive through the park heading north before exiting at the north (Lilydale) gate. We stopped at the bird hide (Stofdam Bird Hide) which if you can translate Afrikaans doesn’t seem promising as the literal translation is Dust Dam. However, while there was only a little water in the dam, it was right in front of the hide and the bird life was prolific. In addition, we saw jackal, warthog, springbok and wildebeest come to drink in the two occasions we visited it. No lifers this am, but a reasonable number of new birds for the trip.

We had a 6-hour drive once we exited the park as we continue to head north. The route took us through Kimberley, Warrenton, Christana, Bloemhof and Wolmaranstad. Probably not places many people have been to. This is diamond mining territory and all of these towns were either founded or exist because of diamond mining or the diamond trade. We had a bit of irony today because as we entered Kimberley the song ‘Del a Rey‘ which is about a Boer who helped defend and free Kimberley when it was under siege from the British. And then one of the next songs was ‘Diamonds as your skin‘. As you can see, the irony was not lost on us. Warrenton also has significance for the family as my Dad lived there as a child and (if my memory serves me correctly, he started school there). Finally, Bloemhof won ‘Dorp of the Year 2025’ (for foreign readers that means ‘Town of the year’. Why was hard to tell when we drove through it though H said ‘You can see they’re trying’. The fact that they had a 6-lane main road (not kidding) was what I couldn’t get over.

After Wolmaranstad the roads became a little bit sketchy. The R30, R507 and then N14. The R30 and R507 had potholes galore. Waze had the occasional warning but in reality it could have done it the reverse way around and just warned you when there weren’t potholes. Then the N14 was like riding a roller coaster except I was at the steering wheel. I didn’t know that tar roads could be corrugated but clearly they can. We crossed from N Cape into North West province and then into Gauteng and then back into NW again and then back into Gauteng again. The N14 in Gauteng was decidedly better than the portion in NW province. Not sure either provincial government is very organised but seemingly Gauteng is doing better simply by looking at the state of the roads.

We arrived at Mount Grace Hotel & Spa around 3pm which turned out to be perfect timing because just before 4pm a thunderstorm rolled through. It was a pretty impressive display of thunder and lightening. I love thunderstorms on a hot summers day. It brought back childhood memories for me. H & I stood outside on our stoep (another one of those unique SA words) and watched and listened. At one point the thunder was so loud we both jumped. As fast as it arrives, it also goes and within an hour it had cleared and H and I could do a walk around the whole country estate and adding to the bird list (which now stands at 83).

Dinner in the restaurant along with some very jovial and loud conference attendees. It wasn’t disturbing or distracting – it was just lively!

Until tomorrow … P & H