Our flight was leaving Hoedspruit airport at just before 2pm so we aimed to get to the airport around 12:30pm. That meant leaving between 6-6:30am from Letaba as we wanted to the majority of the drive in the Kruger Park. It was cool and drizzling the whole morning. Not great weather for birding but good weather to see predators (or so we hoped). We stopped for our last morning coffee aside the Olifants River and then...

We woke this morning to rolling thunder in the distance. H had decided to go for a run before we went out so she was up and running by 6am and we headed out when she got back. The lightening and thunder stayed in the distance and while it remained overcast the whole day, it has yet to actually rain. We did the drive north and to the bird hide (Matambeni) which overlooks a portion of...

The rain did clear overnight as predicted. H and I planned to head north to Mopani and the idea was to try and do as much birding as we could possibly do including covering off a few dams and waterholes (for waterbirds) and some river frontage (in hope of seeing an owl or two). We did see another black backed jackal on the way but no other predators again today. The birding was more successful with...

We had seen the weather forecast and it had said overcast and rain the whole day. We decided to sleep until we woke instead of needing to get up at a particular time. H also thought it would be a good morning for a run (and it was). I (of course) woke for the first time at 4am but managed to persuade myself back to sleep. H was up and out running by 6am. The weather...

Today was the last day that M, O & I were with us. Their flight from Skukuza airport was at 11:30am so we needed to get them there by 10:30am. We decided to let I sleep in a bit and only leave around 6:30am. We had planned to take the slightly longer drive to Skukuza but heading north on the dirt road and then east from Phabeni gate to Skukuza. It was a good call -...

This morning we went out slightly later again as the first 15-30 minutes of the drives had generally not been productive and so we thought between that and letting I sleep in a bit, we may as well head out later. Our plan was to take the main road east to the Shitlhave and Transport Dams in the hope of seeing some water birds at least to add to our trip list (and maybe a lifer...

As the sun is only rising close to 6am, we decided to only head out at 5:45am this morning. A few more minutes for I to sleep in the morning. H went in to wake her up and first thing she said was 'Oh Man' (in an American accent). She is quite the little character. When she tires of all entertainment from the vehicle occupants, O & M resort to some screen time on the iPad...

At about 2am there was a MASSIVE thunderclap and that marked the start of huge thunderstorm. The windows of our chalet rattled. The thunder and lightening were close together and it was clear the thunderstorm was right over us. It bucketed down with rain but by the time we woke for our morning game drive it was clearing and soon the only sign of the thunderstorm was that the dirt roads had puddles on them. It...

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...

We were up to leave again at 5:30am which with an 18 month old is pretty impressive. We wanted to go down south to Crocodile Bridge camp as a rarity (and what would have been a lifer for all of us) has recently been reported there. We didn't have high expectations as no one had seen it in the last few days. It was about a 90 minute drive down and while we saw a reasonable...