Hyena Highlights (and more!) in Sabi Sands & Kruger

[Atravelynn]

At last the hyenas come out in force and bring with them a honey badger!  The sound of that  screaming youngster  immediately took me back to a bathtub rubber duckie toy I had as a little kid.  Same screechy sound.

 

The video of the eles drinking  was great, so were the stills. 

 

Then the cats on top of all that!  And a bonus???

 

 

[LarsS]

On 6/4/2019 at 11:57 PM, The_Norwegian said:

great great stuff! And so lucky to see Quarantine male leopard, do you know  wich property you were on for that sighting? Xidulu, Tiyani, beautiful girls, now with cubs I might add :-) Quality-time at the hyenaden with the elephant plains-clan, awesome stuff! The cheetah, is that the thornybush-female? Great report, love videos, I have to try to film a little more next trip, its great to have some moving pictures :-) what a great stay you had indeed! 

 

Glad you enjoyed it @The_Norwegian  

 

I can't recall on whichproperty we were when we saw him. I wanted to say that at least I know it wasn't on one strip of land, but I'm not sure which anymore. Could it have been Cheetah Plains may be? Does anybody here know as now it's mostly speculation? Aparantly Arathusa and the other lodge are having a dispute for years and the other lodge didn't gave Arathusa traversing rights to their property any longer. That's how we missed out on the cheetahs the first time, they moved onto that property. A shame I can't recall anymore which lodge it was. Apart from that moment of being unlucky, it wasn't an issue at all as you can see from all the sightings we have.

 

The cheetahs are indeed the cheetahs from thornybush. The guide told a bit of a funny story, but also an unfortunate one, especially for Thornybush. Thornybush was one of the last properties to break down their fence. Which in the long term probably is good, but in the short term their land was sort of raid. Their cheetah(s) immediately moved out, enjoying all the extra land to roam. Elephants soon discovered this new unspoiled land full of fresh trees. (Thornybush didn't have many ellies) Soon, all the trees were given the elephant treatment before they moved to another area again. Thornybush was left behind with no cheetahs, no elephants and a barren landscape.

 

Would be nice to see your videos. Especially for some sightings video can tell a more complete story, for example when sounds is an important part of the sighting. I just enjoy both of them and where I love to make videos, my wife takes pictures all the time. (She even sometimes gives me a bit of a hard time when I take a picture with my camera  )

[LarsS]

8 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

At last the hyenas come out in force and bring with them a honey badger!  The sound of that  screaming youngster  immediately took me back to a bathtub rubber duckie toy I had as a little kid.  Same screechy sound.

 

The video of the eles drinking  was great, so were the stills. 

 

Then the cats on top of all that!  And a bonus???

 

 

 

Thanks for your enthusiasm @Atravelynn!

 

The bonus is coming tonight, have to work first now... The title is hyena highlight, so you might guess about what animal will make an appearance in the bonus.

[Kirstine]

It looks like a great trip! Amazing leopard and hyena shots! You have definitely made me want to go find a hyena den. Have never really looked for hyenas before, but I see that I have been wrong.

[LarsS]

10 hours ago, Kirstine said:

It looks like a great trip! Amazing leopard and hyena shots! You have definitely made me want to go find a hyena den. Have never really looked for hyenas before, but I see that I have been wrong.

 

I must admit, a hyena wasn't the first animal I thought of hoping to spot on my first safari. But since I saw one, I'm really enthusiastic about them. They don't have the best reputation, but I think they're interesting animals and often busy doing something. A hyenaden ofcourse is an extra special sighting, hope you get to see one one day!

[LarsS]

As I mentioned in the video, we headed to Graskop. Here we wanted to stay a few days and explore the Blyde River Canyon. I was really excited to add another experience apart from safari. I prepared well, chose Graskop because it's not too far from many of the sites we wanted to visit. We underestimated distances on another South Africa trip and therefore had no time to visit the canyon before. I put Pinnacle Rock, God's Window and Three Rondavels on the must see list, made a reservation for a boat trip and found a route which would take us along a few waterfalls. We had at least 2 full days, so enought time to make the most of it.

 

 

Then this happened:

 

 

Yup.

 

What to say about this view?

 

You might think, luckily you planned two full days. But this was the weather for our stay and it wasn't going to change.

 

We arrives in Graskop in the late afternoon. A bit tired of the safari and driving, so we decided not to visit the canyon that day. It turned out to be the day with the best weather. But mind you, the best weather means it was dry for half an hour when we arrived and then it started to rain.

 

The next day at breakfast the fog was in town. Still good hopes for the afternoon as we believed it would clear as soon as the sun would be higher. We walked around town a bit, drank a coffee, bought some souvenirs, had lunch and then it started to get less foggy and we decided to get in the car. Hardly did we leave town or the view was like the picture above. We actually drove to Pinnacle Rock, which were probably the scariest 4km I ever drove.

 

I believe there was a gate where you should pay an entrance fee. We drove up to the ticket booth and couldn't read anything, it was that foggy. We turned and drove back to town. Tried again later, but it never cleared.

 

That's that for panoramic routes in South Africa for us probably. First time for the canyon we made a mistake, but also drove the garden route on that trip. Which basically was only driving as fast to Cape Town as we could. Temperatures dropped to 9C and it was raining all day. And now this fog.

 

I'll make sure to give you a headsup in case we do a scenic ride in SA again, so you can make other plans for that day  

 

 

Changing plans: what to do and where to go? Weather maps learned us there was bad weather in whole the region. I think there's not a lot to do in the region apart from wildlife and the canyon&falls. So, we headed to Kruger NP. Booked a room for two nights at Sabie River Bush Lodge, located on a river with Kruger on the other side. Hippos in front of the lodge, which was great. And a short drive from Phabeni gate where we went in for a full day selfdrive safari. It was a bit rainy and drizzling, but still good to be out in the bush (especially in a closed car).

 

An extra day on safari as a bonus, how unlucky!  

[LarsS]

As soon as we arrived at the gate, we were excited about spotting wildlife and forgot completly about the whether and just wanted to make the most of it. Pictures however did notice the rain, so they're not all of the best quality.

 

How could it be a different animal than an impala as the first sighting?

 

 

A fish eagle up in the tree. A good picture to see the weather conditions on this day.

 

 

A mother with a younger elephant. This was the the best picture of the youngster. Though not a very young ellie, she stayed behind her mother.

 

 

 

Male kudus are always a nice sighting

 

 

A buffalo and zebras crossed the road in front of us. No need for the animals to watch traffic, as it was very quiet in the park. Hardly any tourists and cars. We didn't expect a lot of wildlife, but as you can see so far and in pictures to come, it was actually a pretty good day.

 

 

 

Giraf feeding on the tree

 

A female kudu also enjying the fresh wet leaves.

 

 

We then stopped at a small lake or a big waterhole. We spotted two fish eagles here.

 

 

 

 

And a very muddy croc

 

 

A little further we spotted this elephant, digging in the ground for minerals at the roots of the light vegetation.

 

 

 

In my experience you see girafs all over the place in Kruger. We saw quite a few of them on this day. Other drives in Kruger I've seen many as well.

 

 

A warthog digging in the ground along the road. We stood still next to it, approx 5 metres. It was a nice guy as he didn't bothered us at all and just let us watch him.

 

 

On the other side of the road this bird sat in the tree, we discoverd it just before we wanted to move on. Is this one called a go away bird or is there another name for it? Feels more like a nickname.

 

 

 

 

Sightings were getting more and more varied. We also found these vultures with a nest.

 

 

 

I think we have never not taken a picture of a zebra.

 

 

 

More birds: a fish eagle in front. But what is the other bird? Is that a younger fish eagle and therefore looks different or is it another bird species? Hard to tell as the view is obstructed. Anyone knows?

 

[LarsS]

I'm gonna interrupt the gamedrive a little bit, as I want to end this TR with something special. A few photos of the safari tent at the lodge.

 

Safari tents facing the river

 

And inside the tent. The tent actually had an indoor and an outdoor shower. Always nice to shower outside, even when it rains a little bit.

 

The tent was pretty comfortable, had an airco in it as well. But most important, it kept us dry that night as a thunderstorm erupted.

 

 

The river view was really nice with a group of hippos going in and out of the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LarsS]

The last photos of this trip. What better way to end it with a last hyena highlight?

 

When we were driving towards the gate to exit Kruger, another car stood still at the side of the main road. Not clear what there was to see, so we stopped next to them to figure it out.

 

Apparantly there was a hyena with a cub in the drainage. A really young cub who was allowed by his mother to go out and (learn to) walk around a bit. This cub looked just a few days old. Such a cute tiny ball of fur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for this safari trip report. We absolutely had an amazing time with a lot of really special sightings we will never forget!

 

 

Edited June 6, 2019 by LarsS

[Hads]

@LarsS - bummer about the weather closing in on you guys.

On a positive going back on Safari is always good - great photo's as well.

The safari tents look very nice overlooking the river and hippo action.

[Peter Connan]

You had some really great sightings Lars!

 

You are correct about the juvenile fish eagle.

[LarsS]

5 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

You had some really great sightings Lars!

 

You are correct about the juvenile fish eagle.

 

Thanks for confirming the juvenile fish eagle. Adults are so easy to recognize, but I doubted about this one. Don't think I'd seen a juvenile before, or at least wasn't aware of it.

[Peter Connan]

They are quite variable and drab-looking compared to the adults aren't they! 

[LarsS]

13 minutes ago, Peter Connan said:

They are quite variable and drab-looking compared to the adults aren't they! 

 

Yes indeed, wouldn't have surprised me if it were another species. Perhaps the ugly duckling of safari?  

[Atravelynn]

Good that you did not let the rain stop you.  It must have let up because I did not see any beads of water on the Go Away feathers.  Sometimes, I think the antelope are actually more relaxed in the rain.  One more reason for the hyena title!

[michael-ibk]

A great trip - and report Lars, thanks so much for sharing. I´ve often heard how good Saabi Sands is for Leopards, and you have proven that again. Incredible to see so many of them and so relaxed.

 

Your first video made me nostalgic because of the Mugg&Bean intro, such a familiar place for so many of us, I wonder how many Safaritalkers have passed through there over the years.

 

You know, I spent considerable efforts in places for the off-chance to find a Nyala, and here you are sitting on a bench with all of them around you!

 

I´m sure the Elephants at your pool were an incredible experience, I would have loved that as well.

Fantastic Hyena interactions, I´m very fond of them myself, and the youngsters are always cute.

And to top it all there´s that Honey Badgers sighting. Never had such a good one myself!

 

The birds you asked about - yes, a juvenile Fish Eagle. And Grey Go-Away-Bird is indeed the absolutely scientific name.

 

And never thought I´d say this on a report - love your toilet! ;-)

Edited June 9, 2019 by michael-ibk

[LarsS]

 

On 6/7/2019 at 8:42 AM, Hads said:

@LarsS - bummer about the weather closing in on you guys.

On a positive going back on Safari is always good - great photo's as well.

The safari tents look very nice overlooking the river and hippo action.

 

25 minutes ago, Atravelynn said:

Good that you did not let the rain stop you.  It must have let up because I did not see any beads of water on the Go Away feathers.  Sometimes, I think the antelope are actually more relaxed in the rain.  One more reason for the hyena title!

 

The weater certainly didn't stop us, although it was a let down for the panoramic route, I immediately enjoyed the prospect on going to Kruger as well! Deep down, may be I was even happy with the fog? The rain in Kruger probably made it a more private drive opposed to a clearer day when more tourists would visit the park? It was grey all day, sometimes a drizzle, sometimes rain and sometimes it was dry. May be just good enough for the go away bird to stay dry between the leaves of a tree.

 

And @Atravelynn, you asked me about costs and how much is was per hyena highlight. I think you agree with me that is was priceless!?

 

 

24 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

A great trip - and report Lars, thanks so much for sharing. I´ve often heard how good Saabi Sands is for Leopards, and you have proven that again. Incredible to see so many of them and so relaxed.

 

Your first video made me nostalgic because of the Mugg&Bean intro, such a familiar place for so many of us, I wonder how many Safaritalkers have passed through there over the years.

 

You know, I spent considerable efforts in places for the off-chance to find a Nyala, and here you are sitting on a bench with all of them around you!

 

I´m sure the Elephants at your pool were an incredible experience, I would have loved that as well.

Fantastic Hyena interactions, I´m very fond of them myself, and the youngsters are always cute.

And to top it all there´s that Honey Badgers sighting. Never had such a good one myself!

 

The birds you asked about - yes, a juvenile Fish Eagle. And Grey Go-Away-Bird is indeed the absolutely scientific name.

 

And never thought I´d say this on a report - lovey your toilet! ;-)

 

Thanks Michael! Have been twice to Sabi Sands now and if leopards is what you want, I can't think of a better place where you can have such great quality sightings.

 

The M&B surely must be a popular place for everybody here to eat and drink something. At Lower Sabie M&B was/is the camp's restaurant, really enjoyed that during our stay a few years ago.

 

And I never thought to receive a compliment about my toilet

[Atravelynn]

Priceless indeed!

[LarsS]

You've already seen pictures and a some footage in my vlog of the elephants drinking from our pool, but since it's World Elephant Day today, I posted a video all about this experience today and thought to share it here as well for those of you who can watch ellies all day. Such an incredible experience!