We decided that we should drive south for our morning drive for two reasons. Firstly, we would shortly be heading north so this was really our only opportunity to head south. Secondly, we could check to see if Crocodile Bridge gate was open for M&O who were arriving later from Cape Town. 

We saw a reasonable amount of game heading out of the camp but no predators. Lots of elephant & buffalo. As we got near Crocodile Bridge we started seeing a massive amount of game including rhino. H and I remember that from previous times we were here – the game seems to congregate in the kilometer near the gate. After a quick toilet and coffee stop at Crocodile Bridge camp, we headed back north but along the dirt road. After a few kilometers we saw a black backed jackal running along the road and we followed it and then it was chased by a zebra and vanished into the grass. 

A short distance further up the road I could see something lying in the road and as we approached we saw it was a cheetah. There are only 120 cheetah in the Kruger Park so it is really nice to see one and to have such a good sighting of it. It lay in the road a bit then got up and walked along the road, crossed the road and then eventually headed into the grass and lay down underneath a tree. If you had driven past at that point you would never have seen it.

We got back at around 9:15am and spent the rest of the day just relaxing and enjoying camp and the river. M&O landed safely just before midday, got their car, went to supermarket to re-stock our supplies and drove into the park. They arrived at 3:30pm and after they had put their stuff down we headed out for a late evening drive. We drove a few dirt roads around the camp and while seeing a lot of elephant and buffalo again, we didn’t really see much else. We ended up at Sunset Dam just outside the camp and saw the sunsetting over the dam before heading back into the camp just before the closing time of 6:30pm.

It was a pretty hot day as the temperature got up to around 33 degrees. It was the first day that S&K enjoyed without clouds. We got a break going and enjoyed sitting around with everyone just chatting and catching up. Missing C who couldn’t get back from the UK because of Covid.

Until tomorrow (or later today if not too tired) …

P, H, S (he started the break), M (he was pretty helpful especially for a long day travelling), K, O, B (she tried to bribe me to get off the bottom … what more can I say)