We changed camps today so we decided to leave a little later (around 7am) as you can’t check in usually before 2pm. H went for a run before we left. Our body clocks now are attuned to waking us up before 5am it seems! It is also the coolest part of the day so if you’re going to run it needs to be early morning. Unfortunately it was load shedding from 5-7:30am and so no kettle for coffee which then necessitated boiling water on the gas stove instead. But the starter for the gas is electric too so no way of actually lighting the stove and of course we didn’t have matches either. I resorted to use a firelighter match (yes there are such things) and just hoped I didn’t blow myself up or burn myself in doing that. Fortunately I managed to avoid both of those issues. We ate breakfast at the house before heading out.

We decided to go via Skukuza (north west) and then back down to Pretoriouskop (which is south west of Skukuza and almost due west of Lower Sabie but no direct route between these camps). The Lower Sabie to Skukuza road is known to be one of the best roads in the Kruger to see Big 5 and is especially good for seeing lion and leopard. We saw none despite stopping at a group of cars and them telling us a leopard was there a few minutes (or seconds earlier). Outside of Skukuza there is a bridge over the river and despite it not being on our direct route M asked that we just drive over and back again before heading on our way again. On the way over, a game truck told us that if we turn right over the bridge and drive 600 meters there is a leopard in a tree. He said ‘you won’t miss it because you’ll see the cars’. So we raced off and on arrival asked one the cars and they said it had just climbed down from the tree and walked off. We honestly couldn’t not believe it.

We headed to Skukuza for a quick stop and stretch of the legs. M had called Pretoriouskop camp and they said they would let us check in early and so we headed off to the camp. I (the 18 month old I …not the me version!), was getting a little fidgety so we basically drove that road near to the speed limit (which is 50 km/h). We saw a collection of cars and slowed down and finally saw a leopard. Fast asleep on a rock in the shade. As it was clear it wasn’t going anywhere soon, we watched it for a few minutes and then continued on our way down to Pretoriouskop. We arrived at 11:30am and on check in they said our chalet would be ready only at 12pm so we had a quick (and early lunch) and then got the key, unpacked and put I (18 month old again!) down for her afternoon nap. We did some birding from the patio and added to our respective lists. I (the person writing) am on 167 birds now for the trip and H is over 170 with some ridiculous number of lifers.

We decided on no game drive this evening. H did some painting with I (18 month old) and then later we ventured to the pool area to allow I to swim with M and the rest of us did some birding. H decided to have a swim fully clothed as the water was very warm and much to the delight of I (I am now hoping you’re understanding when I refer to I which I, I am referring to 🙂 ).

We discovered as the sun was setting that the kitchen light was not working so we reported it and the maintenance guys pitched up with a wobbly ladder to fix it. It took them some time including swapping who was on the ladder. I just kept thinking about those jokes of how many people does it take to change a light bulb. They finally managed to get one bulb working and we accepted that was sufficient and they could sort it out properly tomorrow.

By 8pm we were all tired and read for bed and so I am finishing off this blog post and then going to hit the send button and turn the lights out and go to sleep. Fortunately the generator is working at the camp and so we have power despite it being loadshedding currently.

Until tomorrow …

I, P, H, M & O