Letaba Day 2
February 8, 2020

Another day at Letaba, another run in with elephants. H now has a new view of Letaba and it has fallen from second best camp in Kruger now. Not sure we will be able to stay here again soon! We decided to go north (to avoid elephant in south). It rained last night and so we aimed for a slightly later start. It was still heavily overcast though and the bird life was unfortunately non-existent. Shortly after turning off the main tar road onto the dirt loop we saw our first elephant. No problem with the first few we saw actually but then we met a family and the family decided to walk down the road. Again, no issue except that suddenly the very young one needed to have a nap and just lay down in the middle of road and the rest of the family formed a protective curtain around the baby. All that would not be an issue had it not then been for two other elephants in front of us starting to fight and then some of the elephants that were behind us appeared out of the bush basically boxing us in!

Felt a little like a test again. This time I decided to do a U-turn and get out of there as quickly as possible. Made the U-turn without an issue and at least the two fighting ones and the family seem disinterested in us. We just had to then get past the other two (which were behind us) and as we drew level with them the one did a mock charge but fortunately we were basically past him and already toward the safety of another road. We abandoned that road as well which basically meant we only had west left as an option so we did that instead. There is a nice watering hole on that road and so we stopped there for coffee and noticed probably a close to 100 terrapin swimming in one corner. Never seen that ever before. Also a lot of hippo in the dam making a lot of noise. Much safer than elephant charging us and much less stressful watching all that activity rather.

It remained overcast and rainy for much of the day. Fortunately it was much cooler today as a result (still in the high 20 degrees C though). It pelted down with rain at stages today and some impressive thunder at points as well.

We went out again late in the afternoon for a short drive and while we did see a reasonable amount of game and birds, we didn’t see anything new and no predators. Tonight is our last night in the Kruger before we head home tomorrow. It has been an extremely relaxing time (as always). Until last night we had seen at least 2 of the Big 5 on every game drive we did. Last night broke that record and then on this evening’s game drive we didn’t see any of the Big 5. It has been another rewarding game viewing trip though and we still have a reasonable drive tomorrow AM to allow us to add to what we have seen.

Until tomorrow!

P & H

2 thoughts on “Letaba Day 2

  1. You’ve had an amazing time, though I wouldn’t like those two experiences with the elephants!!
    Enjoy your last day and come home safely.
    Joy xx

  2. Crikey! Who’d have thunk it? Lightning never strikes twice. … After our scary elephant encounter in the Kruger in July, I will never feel complacent around elephants again, especially after your two encounters. Get home in one piece, you two!

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