Mala Mala - Sabi Sands - SouthAfrica - June 2021

[TravelMore]

Hi All,

Leaving in 3 days, better start packing what's important.  Renting an extra lens this time, a 70-200mm f2.8 for dusk.  Last time, I had to rely on my 85mm f1.8 or fortunately, there was usually another vehicle to take turns side-lighting the sighting if it was dark enough.  I sort of wanted to rent the 135mm f1.8 for the extra stop, but I really lean towards "zoom" lenses. The 70 may come in handy as well. 

 

Getting a PCR test tomorrow.  

 

Am I excited?  Yep. 

 

[Biko]

Have a great trip!

[COSMIC RHINO]

Enjoy your safari

[TravelMore]

14 hours ago, COSMIC RHINO said:

Enjoy your safari

Thanks Cosmic Rhino.  ⏳⏳⏳

[Wildship]

One of my favorite places. You will love it, have a good time.

[TravelMore]

2 hours ago, Wildship said:

One of my favorite places. You will love it, have a good time.

THX! Have you heard about the Northern Avocas pushing the Gowrie (Birmingham) boys out?

[Tom Kellie]

~ @TravelMore:

 

What a terrific plan!

 

Thank you so much for the image of your camera gear.

 

Sabi Sands is such a joy!

 

May your sightings exceed all of your expectations!

 

          Tom K.

[COSMIC RHINO]

I am not sure if I mentioned this before 

 

it gets very cold early morning  and in the evening. 
 

open vehicles which basically have no metal above the height of the seat let all the cold air in

 

you  take a fleece jacket and there are blankets in the vehicle 

 

it would be a good idea to take thin gloves to  use with your camera so you can hold still

 

I  have used Thinsulate gloves which give warmth whilst still being able to use the camera controls

[Wildship]

 I did hear that they are deeper in there territory, saw one of the males in 2016.

[TravelMore]

14 hours ago, COSMIC RHINO said:

I am not sure if I mentioned this before 

 

it gets very cold early morning  and in the evening. 
 

open vehicles which basically have no metal above the height of the seat let all the cold air in

 

you  take a fleece jacket and there are blankets in the vehicle 

 

it would be a good idea to  thin gloves to  use with your camera so you can hold still

 

I  have used Thinsulate gloves which give warmth whilst still being able to use the camera controls

Yip, will have 4 layers on in the morning, 1 short sleeve, 1 long sleeve Under Armour Cold Gear, 1 Heavy fleece hoodie, 1 windbreaker (I found the windbreaker is fantastic for breaking the wind if the driver needs to take off!  Winter hat, gloves, gaiter.  Gaiter can be used as a headband as well.  They gave us hot water bottles last time.  I took 2, one for each side of my lap    

 

The 70-200 came and I think it's all going to fit in the medium peak packing cube I love so much.  But the 24-70 f2.8 will have to stay behind.  

[LarsS]

What a great prospect to travel again! Have a great time in Sabi Sands with lots of close encounters, I'm sure you will!

[TravelMore]

Thanks @LarsSHoping this will be part of the welcome committee!

[TravelMore]

Cheers!

 

[TravelMore]

Long layover in Doha

 

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by TravelMore

[shazdwn]

Have a great trip.  I'm so jealous, we are still locked up tight here in Australia with no signs we will be let out anytime soon.  Even my Jan 2023 booking is starting to look dubious 

[Wildship]

The best place for Leopard.

[ForWildlife]

7 hours ago, Wildship said:

The best place for Leopard.

For a leopard to live or for a tourist to see a leopard?

Certainly one of the places with a very high chance of seeing a leopard.

[Wildship]

Live could be dangerous with lions, wild dogs and hyena all around.

[TravelMore]

Hi, I'm back and been dealing with traveler's remorse that once again it's all over 😥

 

But as always, it was fantastic. I will try to drop at least a couple photos or a video every couple of days. I'm going to be awfully busy, too much on my plate, most of which I'd rather not talk about. So, I might take some shortcuts posting links to pics my son or I dropped on instagram until I can get together with him to consolidate pictures. We very much play the tag team so one of us can put the camera down occasionally. 

 

Speaking of cameras, I took TOO many lenses. The 100-400 f4-5.6 lives on my a7riii. The 85mm 1.8 lives on the a6500. I did try changing to the 70-200 f2.8 on the full frame camera when it got dark.  But the f1.8 made a big difference AND the 100-400 was fine when the spot light was on so after 2 days I didn't bother.  So when I return to South Africa, I need to re-read my own advice and pare down.

 

So a little backgound to this story. When we plan vacations, I'm all about the destination, my husband is all about the journey. When smaller air carriers started having difficulties and and ceased or reduced their service, my husband charted a private plane to get us from Tambo to the Mala Mala air strip. He cited: reliability, our choice of arrival/departure times, no luggage restrictions, and "arriving like rock stars". I know it's something he always wanted to do so I was onboard! (Pun intended). As long as the international flights were a "GO!", we would get there. We used Federal Air, Adri coordinated the whole thing and she is Very Helpful!  

 

 

MM has 20 km of Sand River frontage (which we all know, water = wildlife).

 

Our Ride & Incoming view 

Edited June 26, 2021 by TravelMore
insert pics instead of links

[TravelMore]

My dream come true.  First game drive.  We spent a lot of time here because it was Major Tick off the Bucket List!  I would have been happy with one, but we were blessed with three cheetah. These are straight out of camera only with a little cropping.  

Edited June 26, 2021 by TravelMore

[TravelMore]

On 6/10/2021 at 10:07 PM, shazdwn said:

Have a great trip.  I'm so jealous, we are still locked up tight here in Australia with no signs we will be let out anytime soon.  Even my Jan 2023 booking is starting to look dubious 

I hope not!  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[Toxic]

Beautiful shots, @TravelMore! I'm so glad you had a great time and ticked cheetahs off your bucket list.   I look forward to seeing more of your photos and hearing more of your stories, even if they are links!

 

[TravelMore]

Found a Video of the cheetah.  Sorry life has been so hectic!  @Toxicthank you!  I could have stayed there all day but after about 40 mins, we gave them up so someone else could have a chance

 

 

[TravelMore]

Coming back from the cheetah sighting it seemed to get dark pretty quickly.  This fella was lying in the road.  He laid there for quite a while and watched us as we had stopped a respectable distance away.  He eventually came over to see what we were all about.

 

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by TravelMore

[TravelMore]

After we left the hyena, we came across a leopard that was obviously hunting.  We followed it for about 5 minutes.  I'm going to post what that looked like here, and later when I get to my son's house, I'm going to upload a video he took.   The leopard tries to make a kill.  We can't see it but we can certainly HEAR it.  So, stay tuned....