Super LEEDS: live from South Africa

[Super LEEDS]

Another quiet morning in the bush.... NOT

 

Wednesday 4th June

 

Camera trap caught a genet (I think). Other nights/days had only brought up some resident francolins.

 

 

AM drive: we were first out of camp and came across fresh lion tracks and we were soon on top of the lions themselves. First was the large male of the territory, he's known to be very, very aggressive so it was time for Jack to come and join us - he's known not to tolerate trackers out the front!

 

 

Shortly after finding him, the younger male and a lioness joined him - it was these 3 that caused such a fuss in camp some days ago! It was clear to see, or hear, that they were following the buffalo herd and just waiting for their chance. They got closer and closer and we spotted a hyaena had somehow managed to get its between the buff and the lions and then was very lucky to get away with just an earful from the large male. Not sure where the hyaena got to but it wasn't killed!

 

 

All this was happening on land belonging to a camp specialising on trails or walking safaris, Bataleur Eco Camp. They allow the neighbouring camps to walk on their land but not drive, however this was a special occasion so it was OK'd.

 

The herd caught sight of the 3 and then set about getting into protective formations with some rather large members coming to the forefront. They succeeded in shooing away the cats for now. It was at this point a loud commotion started with lions and buffalo making noises - could just have been buffalo, they sound like lions when they want to! - and we then noticed a leopard running up a tree to the very top. We'd found out soon what he was doing here but for now this was turning into an amazing sighting

 

 

 

 

It was a large cub, 1 of 2, belonging to a female known to reside around these parts and he was terrified. He was looking for a chance to run away and eventually climbed down to be soon noticed by the buffalo who vented their agitation by loud grunts. A few minutes later he was up the tree again for only for a few seconds before this time disappearing.

 

A Bateleaur Eco Camp vehicle passed us and said behind the thicket was a tree with a leopard kill in it so we went to check it out. Impala. This was probably what the hyaena was doing around here.

 

 

We sat waiting, quietly, but no sign of any leopards returning - obviously the buffalo and maybe more so the lions have put them off for now. Just as we were leaving a noticed movement through the bushes around 20 metres away. It was light in colour so not buffalo, Civilised stopped and I checked through my binos to see the large male lion looking at the herd from another angle. We approached slowly as we were seriously off-road by now, and the lion made its way back to the main road to meet the other 2. I got mad props (kudos) for that spot

 

We turned around towards the road to follow him only to spook the leopard cub in deep cover and saw him bound away for good this time!

 

Something else made us slam the breaks in this time once we were on the main track........ SNAKE!!!! Black mamba, oh yeah!! It was crossing the trail and was spooked when we stopped, raising up and almost flying away in the grass.

 

 

We found the younger male and lioness again relatively out in the open with buffalo on one side and impala on the other but they just wanted to rest. No clue as to where the older male had gone.

 

 

 

We moved on to find the male leopard from yesterday again, and he was hunting, again! This time around 20-30 metres away from a bachelor group of impala. Body to the ground, waiting and waiting and waiting. Then we had to leave and I was fuming!! How can we leave? Everyone in the vehicle was willing to forgo breakfast and stick around for what could be a kill but no, we had to go as other vehicles wanted in too. I was quite pee'd off for some time over this, made no sense [first time on ST, an angry face before a leopard pic?]

 

 

Walked back after breakfast which is about a mile away from camp. Spiders and hyaena poo.

 

NOTE: we had an American couple join us yesterday and this was their first ever safari. In 1 pm drive and 1 am drive they'd tracked rhino on foot, great elephant sighting, lions, buffalo and a leopard all in the same viewing, plus a black mamba. Some people eh?

 

Chilled out in the time before and after lunch since this was our last full day in the bush so wanted to soak it in one last time.

 

 

 

PM drive: using my height, I spotted several baboons in the river bed and it turned out to be a large troop. Baboons are rarely seen it seems, this being our best visual, and are also afraid of humans which is just great and how it should be. All sorts going on, sitting, climbing, grooming, mating.

 

 

 

 

 

Giraffe with a couple of youngsters, steinbok posing, huge herd of buff again, tailed by the 3 lions.

 

 

 

 

 

Jack jumped in with us and was perhaps a good thing as we saw the large male's temper flare today! There was another vehicle with us watching the male stay low behind the buffalo waiting for an opportunity to strike. Some guy in that vehicle thought it would be a good idea to stand up to move seats at which the lion reacted with a low growl and moved back.

 

Our vehicle moved in closer to the side - the lion is already on edge: hunting buffalo (about 40 metres away), spooked by the idiot and also a bit of a nutcase. He was staring intently as us when someone made a sudden movement in our land rover...... he went beserk! Roared and got up all in one movement, then backed off a distance still watching us. Was over in about 2 seconds but felt like 2 hours.

 

 

It happened on the other side from where I was sat but I saw everyone, even Jack, lean away when the lion got up! Wow. Not good, obviously, but still a keen memory.

 

Civilised predicted the buffalo were making their way to a watering hole on the other side of the dry river and he was right. They soon made their way over and the lion got up and followed at a distance. I didn't get how the buffalo didn't know he was there, maybe they did?

 

At this point, the other 2 of the trio turned up behind the male and made their way over, slowly. The lioness was most keen with the younger male plonking himself down and did his Stevie Wonder impression - or was smelling the female's urine, I dunno.

 

 

 

 

We again had to leave at this point as someone else wanted in so we went to investigate the impaled impala to see if the leopard(s) had returned. As we approached, we could see the cub from earlier in the tree but he was easily spooked, perhaps still on edge from last time and more timid without his mother. You can just make out his silhouette.

 

 

If you look closely, he's looking right at us.

 

 

Back to the action: buffalo gone and 2 lions resting in the river bed with the big boy missing.

 

 

We went off for last sundowners and I tried capturing my last sunset. When will they make a camera for idiots that just takes pictures exactly as my eyes sees things?

 

 

Lions were roaring during our last Amarula sighting, saying goodbye. We found ourselves in the middle of the buffalo during the night drive and just switched off the engine and all lights. What a smell! if you shut your eyes and listen, sounds exactly like a bushfire. Civilised encouraged everyone to cup their ears - amazing.

 

No other noises during the night, just hyaena again at around 5.30am.

Edited June 8, 2014 by Super LEEDS

[Super LEEDS]

Thursday 5th June

 

The American gentlemen in our vehicle requested rhino from Civilised just before departing for the am drive. I regret to saying, "hold on, its our last drive, can we have cats please?" as the other vehicle saw 3 leopards altogether on a kill - a mother and fully grown cubs.

 

The funny thing is, we actually came across the scat and tracks of the 3 cats but couldn't find them so radioed it in for others to follow-up on as we searched for rhino.

 

We couldn't go back to see them as it was in the central region so shared by lots of camps and we would have been at the end of the queue but if we had stayed around then our luck would have been in.

 

We had 2 rhino calls, the first wasn't great as the crash of around 3 or 4 had moved into someone else's traverse and the second was a dead lead for us.

 

AM drive: zebra, giraffe, white rhino, pearl spotted owlet (hooting away), tawny eagle, golden orb spider ON CIVILISED'S HEAD!, hooded and white-backed vultures together, spooked baboons in a tree.

 

 

 

 

At the morning coffee stop at a dam, we found lion tracks and the remains of a carcass. Jack and Civilised studied it and concluded hyaenas has killed an impala and eaten it here and the lions were just following up and probably didn't get anything to eat.

 

 

On the way to breakfast we stopped for dwarf mongoose.

 

 

And that was that.

 

Our Seasons in Africa transfer was waiting for us, apparently we were late. We got our luggage and set off to our Ashtons shuttle to Johannesburg. Highlight being me spotting another black mamba crossing the road. Our Seasons In Africa driver talked all the way telling us interesting stories about the Kruger region, its people, the tribal wars fought here, fruit and veg farming. He was so into his narrative that he didn't see the snake until I shouted and slammed on the breaks, this spooked the mamba and it took off at lightning speed. Awesome

 

Nothing interesting on the way back to OR Tambo, we ate at the Mugg and Bean. Bought lots of Amarula. KLM flight was great again. Schipohl airport is ok but Amarula is double the price here had McDonalds......

 

I didn't have time to check the camera trap after the last night at Tanda Tula so went through the memory card when back in Leeds. I only got a vervet monkey, a bird I believe to be a francolin.....

 

 

 

oh, and this little fellow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE END

[PT123]

Fantastic report Leeds!!! I don't know if I would have gotten up and lifted the tent flap to locate the lions or just pulled the covers over my head. Good thing you warned the guy bringing the morning tea. Also, fantastic leopard and rhino sightings as well.

 

I can relate to the experience that you described in your last post (above) about a large male lion reacting to movement as I had a similar experience with a grumpy male that locked eyes with me and was emitting a series of low warning growls one time in the Mara. You can really see in your picture of him that he is locked in.

[Super LEEDS]

Appendix

 

My thoughts on things.

 

Kruger Camps

 

We just couldn't stop comparing South Africa with Kenya. On our first ever drive we noticed this is this thick bush but then thought "OK, so is Tsavo" but where as in Kenya 'seeing nothing' means seeing lots of antelope, gazelle, zebra, oryx, buffalo, elephants and no cats, here it means literally nothing. Which is exactly what we saw for long periods of time, obviously the dense bush doesn't help either.

 

Once we got over this, I think we understood its not Kenya and obviously each sighting meant more.

 

The Camps

 

Africa On Foot

Great idea of walking in the morning and seems quite unique in the area however in practice we only got 1 full morning walk during our 3 night stay due to fog [though we did get out for a bit later on] and also because we were following up on what we thought was a kill the previous night and we walked after driving to the location, a short distance into the bush and back out.

 

You don't see much on walks unless your un/lucky. We knew this so wont hold this against the lodge at all. What I would have liked to see more of was stopping more regularly so we can learn about tracks and poo instead of just trekking what felt like endlessly at times.

 

When we first went on a game drive, we weren't exactly happy. As stated, we had to sit right at the back - which is an experience in itself! - and found it hard to make ourselves heard for questions to the ranger. Was there anything AOF could have done about this? Maybe not, maybe told the other guests to shut up during the drive, its tough. We soon learnt we have to be first to the land rover to get the best seats (for us, just behind the guide).

 

On top of this, we were hardly seeing any animals for long periods and we were just driving and driving.

 

Its hard for me to even say this as we loved our time here as well as all the team at AOF, they made us welcome and Faffa is a good ranger and a great guy. The guides work extra hard here as they have to serve guests during meal times, make sure everything is running well etc as they only have 1 maintenance guy, Alfred, who works for nThambo too, and about 4 other staff who cook and clean.

 

@@Jochen I forgot to say in my TR that we met Jan here, your friend, now at Klaserie Camp.

 

Would we go again? Mos def. We thoroughly had a great time. This could have been because after the first night there were only about 5 guests in total so you could spread out in the vehicle. Despite the pants wifi, the food here is DIVINE.

 

All you have to do is follow them on Facebook to see what kind of sightings they have on a regular basis. Its all about luck.

 

Shindzela

Similar to AOF in that its a small setup so quite intimate. They don't use trackers and I forgot to ask why not.

 

This place was the cheapest camp of our trip. AOF is relatively cost-effective anyway so it goes to show you get a great deal here. OK we didn't get a great rhino sighting but it was 'only' leopard that we didn't get here - 2 exciting wild dog sightings instead, also walking into the middle of a big buff herd.

 

I've already made it clear but we didn't seem to have much luck with Vaughan, who has now left, but had a great final day with Sam which made us feel somewhat sad to be leaving as we had only just begun.

 

Would we stay again? Of course.

 

Tanda Tula

Great tents.

Great food.

Great wifi.

Great AWESOME sightings.

Great tracking.

Great location.

 

So what's our problem? A few things

 

That night the lions were roaring close to camp just after our game drive I pushed and pushed for us to jump into the vehicle - something AOF advertise and something Shindzela may have done - and go find them. I just met with excuse after excuse: dinner time, they may have done, they may been deep in the block... what a load of blocks!!

 

Why couldn't we go back out? Are we not here for safari? The animals? This is what made me think perhaps safari is just part of the package and they don't really get it. Hard to explain since it contradicts with the great things pointed out above. Tie this in with having to leave he hunting leopard and you'll see what I mean.

 

Obviously, those people they perhaps market themselves to, wouldn't care or know the difference. They just want their wine at 7pm and gourmet 3 course meal at 7,30pm before cognacs at...... etc.

 

Easy response to this is "well, Leedsy, why stay there in the first place?!"

 

Well, despite people staying here then going on to Singita (£900 pppn) and Chitwa Chitwa, Tanda Tula is not in the same price bracket, its much cheaper, so I didn't get the feeling it would be 'that' kind of camp. Also their traverse in Timbavati is huge.

 

At all our camps, meals are taken together with all the guests on a big table. At AOF and Shindzela, we were lucky in meeting some really nice people and had lots of great conversations. At Tanda Tula, this wasn't the case. Obviously, not the fault of the camp, but again, its how the clientèle they bring in. The conversations were hardly ever based on safari or wildlife but just random c**p about their own lives which I don't want to hear! The first night was worst so we learnt where to sit

 

Its hard to quantify this, maybe we just felt out of place at times when not in the vehicle.

 

This is of course just my opinion. I can almost guarantee those people didn't like my company either, especially when I stopped listening to them

 

Would we stay there again? How can we not?

 

Sun Safaris

 

Excellent to work with, their pricing is cheaper than the rates on the camp/lodge websites. Nuff said.

 

South Africa

 

Would I go again? I think so, yep. The animal sightings we've had before, have been just that. This trip, we had interactions, witnessed different behaviours which have all enforced the experience much more.

 

For example, we've seen lots of lions sleeping. Now we've had one roar at our vehicle, kill a nyala outside our tent, attempt to hunt buffalo. For some reason, I would find it hard to get this close to them in Kenya, other than say in a Mara conservancy. May be its all down to the L word again.

 

Sightings

 

4 leopards, 2 seen twice, 1 with a rhino

Few lions, seen multiples times

Great elephant experiences

Wild dogs 3 times, 2 running, 1 of those after prey!

3 snakes - all venomous, 2 were black mambas so just a tad dangerous

Ratel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Some vids:

 

 

Edited June 8, 2014 by Super LEEDS

[Super LEEDS]

Encore

 

I know you've all been waiting for this, my greatest spot of the trip. You know, when I said it deserved its own post?

 

It was our second night at Shindzela and we'd just finished dinner, some guests were around the fire and the wife and I needed to get some stuff on charge in the main area. I always shine my torch all over the shop when the opportunity arises and I'm sure others think I must be mad.

 

This is when my 'always on safari, and I mean ALWAYS' OCD really paid off:

 

 

 

Lekker.

[Tdgraves]

Did you ask why they go out so late/ if you could leave earlier? What time was sunrise?

[Super LEEDS]

Yep, but seems whatever they say is set in stone.

 

It was really light at 6.30am, 6am start would have been perfect.

[Tdgraves]

Hmmm, I can see why you were annoyed. Most places want you to get out early. We had a similar thing on our first day in chongwe river camp, lower Zambezi. We were told that they left at 6am. Then we were told that we would be leaving at 6.30 to accommodate the other couple sharing our vehicle. They eventually rocked up at 6.40, when the light was already golden. I was not amused, however, when we complained to the lodge staff, we were given a private vehicle and left at 6am. Shame your lodge management weren't as accommodating.

[Super LEEDS]

Its difficult. I mean it sounds like I'm being ungrateful as we saw more than we'd ever experience on multiple safaris but you can't take away the fact we're there for the safari and safari alone. On top of wifi and Amarula of course.

 

We had couples that were late for every drive for 2 and half days running. Wound me up - the ranger had to fetch them a few times.

[Marks]

Wow! Excellent honey badger sighting. I understand why you saved that for last!

[Sangeeta]

Very useful thoughts on things. I think you've captured the 'feel' of each camp really well.

 

Super leopard sightings - I could not see it in the rhino pic however hard I looked!

[pault]

Too much to catch up on for now, but the names are excellent and the night with the lions sounds like a fantastic experience. Magic!

[Johnmac]

Hi @super-leeds

 

I am following in your footsteps!!!

 

In fact I think that our paths may have crossed at the sighting of Lions mating in the Timbavati,your Tanda Tula Landy pulled out to let my Ulmlani Landy pull in.

 

Just catching up with your post,excellent work,looks like you had an excellent trip with some great wildlife sightings.

 

Fascinating to read your opinions and experiences of the 3 lodges.

 

I am also having a great time,currently sat on the sun lounger at NThambo,soaking up the winter sun on my last full day in the bush.

 

You definitely had better Leopard sightings than me to date,great photos. I have 2 drives left to try to match your Leopard sightings. Fingers crossed.

 

Cheers.

 

ps.. The Honey Badger at Shindzela is still the local after dinner entertainment..........

He walked up to the fire after dinner on my 1st night there, I had a staring competition with him for about 2 mins before Johan came to the fire and ran him out of camp!!! The sight of Johan a big guy as you know,chasing after the Honey Badger was priceless!!!!

[Super LEEDS]

Very useful thoughts on things. I think you've captured the 'feel' of each camp really well.

 

Super leopard sightings - I could not see it in the rhino pic however hard I looked!

 

@@Sangeeta you're right! The image quality is reduced so I should have included a link to the original.

 

Here you go:

 

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Kn11SuygdRFTO0Kf6O94TPyaIvnfWD10Y3_7bULGgNhJu9jzmbD3owz214Y-HU6aAbK8xIQGKlc

 

You should be able to zoom in clearly now

[Super LEEDS]

Hey @@Johnmac

 

I'm still in the anger-phase so don't want to hear you're still out there Ah! I do remember leaving to let someone else in, there was a Simbavati vehicle there too. Nice ST get-together without fully knowing.

 

Hope you've managed to see Isaac's powers in action at nThambo!

 

@@Jochen asked me to kick Johan....... I decided against it.

[Johnmac]

Wise choice,I think that if Johan were to have kicked you back you would not have needed to take the klm flight back to Amsterdam.As his boot have launched you into orbit with a hard bumpy landing in Amsterdam.......

 

I am a very lucky person,I am the only guest at NThambo,so I have Isaac,Mike(ex Shindzela) and Dewalt a grade1 guide new to the area, my 3 personal guides!!!

 

We went looking for 2 of the male lions this morning(they were calling out for the females through the night,the lions here are in a state of flux at the moment)tracked them down to very thick bush area by Landy,then went into the thick bush on foot looking for them,thrilling experience. In football terms though it was NThambo 0,Lions 2. They did not want to be found. 1 of the males appears to be carrying an injury/sickness and is limping around at the moment and is quite aggressive,the guides want to find him to see how he is progressing.

 

So we chilled out with a herd of Ellies,with Isaac talking to the youngsters when they played at mock charging the vehicle. Epic....

 

Suppose I may have to do some TR homework when,if I get back...................

 

It was yourself and the good wife,I saw then. SafariTalk ships in the night.

 

Cheers

[Kitsafari]

Long quiet drives but interspersed with some fabulous sightings.! Honey badger - precious cute precocious animal, lions next to your tent - precious again. Rhino chasing leopard, wild dogs soaking in the puddle. You had quite an adventure. I would have jumped into a vehicle to see the lions in the night with you too.

[Jochen]

Hey @@Johnmac

 

@@Jochen asked me to kick Johan....... I decided against it.

 

Well, I'll do it myself then. I'll be nearby in September. We'll probably head out to Josmacs bar over noon, have a quick beer (or seven).

[Jochen]

...but where as in Kenya 'seeing nothing' means seeing lots of antelope, gazelle, zebra, oryx, buffalo, elephants and no cats, here it means literally nothing. Which is exactly what we saw for long periods of time, obviously the dense bush doesn't help either.

 

@@Jochen I forgot to say in my TR that we met Jan here, your friend, now at Klaserie Camp.

 

K... I finally had the time to read your report in detail (been a bit too busy, and read too fast last time).

 

First of all; you cannot believe how similar your comparison on Kenya vs Kruger is, to my own comparison of Tanzania vs Kruger. Our experiences are very much alike!

 

What you say is absolutely true; it's not the amount of sightings, it's the quality of them. If I look at your list; there's incredible stuff on there:

 

- 3x wild cat

- lions in every camp. One time with 4 cubs. A mating! And then a kill next to your tent!

- three snakes of which 2 black mambas ...in winter!

- 2x wild dogs (one bad sighting, one good sighting)

- lots of hyena incl 2x with pups.

- you scored good on rhino too, especially with those 5 together. You had to wait for a good sighting a long time though.

- lots of leopard sightings. A few were perhaps not that good in terms of photographic opportunity. But others were great. and then there's that cub...

etc

 

You certainly can't complain!

 

It's also amazing how different everyone's result is, even when going in the same season. For example; we did not see a shindzela at all this time. And we still need to see our first mamba, though we even been there in the summertime.

 

--

 

Great you met Jan! Did she name me by my nickname ("the awful man")? (Long story but very funny)

She's unbelievable isn't she? Still going strong at that age.

 

Also; great to hear Mike is now at nThambo. We had him the previous time at Shindzela. Hopefully we'll see him in September.

[Super LEEDS]

Hey @@Jochen thanks for the reply and reading the report.

 

You're right, so different, I can't say better (than Kenya) but can not complain. The things we saw (and heard!) blow just about everything we've done in Kenya out of the water. I'd definitely go again given the chance, without a doubt. Glad you can understand and support my thoughts on this - its hard to put into words without sounding like an idiot, or an ungrateful idiot.

 

3 x Wild dog btw, 1 @ AOF (7 dogs, Skukuza pack), 2 @ Shindzela (1 quick sighting and 1 nice jog )

 

Sorry, I might be confused over Jan. I'm talking about the bloke, was a guide at AOF, you gave him a camera. He was at AOF with his wife on a break from Klaserie Camp which they now run together. Not own, just the managers.

[Treepol]

@@Super LEEDS thanks for a trip report live from the field.

 

I was pleased to hear that Sam is doing well and still working at Shindzela. He was our guide in 2010 and I remember his broad smile and infectious enthusiasm. I had heard that Gertie had left Shindzela, its good to know that both she and Mike are working at camps in the same area.

 

Great tales of the Shindzela honey badger and close contact with lions.

[Jochen]

Sorry, I might be confused over Jan. I'm talking about the bloke, was a guide at AOF, you gave him a camera. He was at AOF with his wife on a break from Klaserie Camp which they now run together. Not own, just the managers.

 

Wow 3x wild dogs! I have friends who go on safari every year, yet they've never seen them!

 

Oh you mean Janneman! I knew he was at Klaserie Camp but not that he was the manager. Hope I get to see him in September.

[TonyQ]

@@Super LEEDS

really enjoyable report with great sightings + very useful having your thoughts about the camps and about the area generally

Your wife is right... they are cute!

[Bugs]

Just finished your report. Glad you had good fun and thanks for sharing.

 

We have just come back from Kruger, and must have missed you by a few days. I can't believe that we saw the same buffalo with that droopy left horn. What are the chances? Unless there is another buffalo just like it elsewhere.

 

I must say that I was pretty impressed with Kruger Park. We haven't been there for a few years.

[Super LEEDS]

Hey @@TonyQ thanks for reading and your kind words.