I thought I saw a Ghost - Kruger self drive January 2023

[Hads]

Mum I thought I saw a Ghost ......................................

Well let's go have a look.

[Towlersonsafari]

well this looks like fun @Hads

[Hads]

It was fantastic to be back in back in Africa to visit my wife's family again after a 4 year absence.

This Kruger trip was extra special as I got to take my wife and kids. This was our first family trip to Kruger.

Joining us was my Mother and Father In-law  (MIL & FIL) and my sister and brother-in-law (SIL & BIL) and their son.

It was a real family Safari.

The trip was similar to my last Kruger trip with my Father in law back in January 2019 (or could have been December 2018 - I will have to check the dates).

Trip dates were from 16-24th January 2023.

2 Nights Shimuwini.

4 Nights Satara

2 Nights Lower Sabie.

 

[Kitsafari]

No pics so far, has the ghost passed now? 

[Hads]

Hi @Kitsafari - pics will be coming soon.

I have decided to finish off the Imfolizi & Drakensberg Report first.

[Hads]

Afternoon All,

Huge apologies in the delay in getting this report going again.

I will slowly get the start of the trip kicked off.

We entered the park at the Phalaborwa gate mid afternoon.

We were heading to the beautiful Shimuwini Bushveld camp for 2 Nights.

On the way North to Shimuwini we stopped off at the Sable hide which had plenty of water and then took the S132, S133 and H14.

White faced ducks where our first sighting along with some lone Ele's.

 

 

 

 

White faced ducks at the Sable dam

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

Shimuwini Bushveld camp is one of the most beautiful camps in Kruger, set on the banks of the Letaba river with a permanent water hole in front of camp there is always plenty to see from your chalet.

The hide in front of camp is also very pleasant to sit and watch the world go by.

Chalets in front of camp

View from the hide

Weaver colony at the hide

 

Always plenty of waterbuck along the river.

Our first "kill" of the trip on the drive into Shimuwini.

 

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

In our group of 10 we were lucky to have 3 vehicles with us.

Every morning that allowed myself and my eldest boy to get up at 4am and head out the camp gates by 4.30am.

Our first morning we headed Northwards along the H14 and onto the S50 and S143 tropic of capricorn roads around Mopani.

Each morning we were lucky enough to see Hyena .

The amount of plains game on these 2 dirt roads was fantastic, there was hundreds of Wildebeest, Zebra, great sightings of Tsessebe and big herds of Elephants.

Hyena just a km or 2 from camp.

 

 

S50 Ele's

Ele's near the Nshawu Marsh

 

Plenty of Ostrich also in the area.

 

 

Wildebeest calf

 

 

Wildebeest with a wound under the eye.

 

 

Open plains on the S143 tropic of Capricorn road

Steenbok

Tihongonyeni waterhole and water tank area - we sat here for a good 45 minutes watching the world go by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

S50 - ELE Trunk leaving track on the dirt road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

Apologies I have been very slack on getting my KNP trip report finished by spending too much time in the Botswana section reading other Safaritalker reports  .

I am still up in the Shimuwini and Mopani camp area's.

After watching the Elephants on the tropic of capricorn road we went to Mopani rest camp for brunch. Great views looking over the Pioneer Dam.

 

 

Night Jar at Mopani camp

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

There was no shortage of Elephants and General game around camp at Shimuwini, a few photo's from last evenings game drive around camp and the Mopani area.

   

Plenty Of Tsessebe around Mopani

 

Waterbuck dominate the Letaba river around Shimuwini

 

 

 

 

Ele's in front of Camp at Shimuwini

 

White Throated bee-eater

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

I really enjoy the private and quiet nature of Shimuwini, so far I have stayed there 3 times and yet to see the larger Cats only leopard footprints after the rains.

But the camp is beautiful and peaceful.

On our final morning my eldest son and myself went for a quick drive up to the H14 looking for the local Hyena's again.

We come across the mum who won't win a beauty contest and 2 Juveniles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

A few more photo's of the morning drive on our way down towards Letaba for Brunch.

The baby hippo cant be that old - so cute.

 

 

 

 

My Favourite bird in Africa  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

Plenty of Elephants to see along the H1-6, also lots of Birdlife.

An interesting thing happened on the drive to Letaba along the H1-6, we came across a breeding herd of about 10-12 Elephants who were quietly eating and moving slowly along the side of the road.

Then suddenly all of them stopped and did not move a whisker for maybe 1 minute, quite interesting behaviour?.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magpie Shrike's??

A lonely Plover - maybe white fronted?

Secretary bird.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

I think I am going for the record for dragging out and not completing my trip report.

However let me kick things off again as we head to our next rest camp Satara for 4 nights.

We travelled southwards along main H1-4 road to Satara.

 

Chameleon road block.

Always a cool sighting  

Dagga boys near the Oliphants river

 

 

Hyena on the H1-4 north of Satara.

 

Quelea flocks in waves just north of Satara - this was amazing to see them burst out of the grass - thousands of them.

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

Satara is one of my favourite rest camps, obviously alot busier than the bush camps but the chances to see predators is usually better.

In the late afternoon we took a drive down towards Nsemani dam.

Far off in the distance behind Nsemani dam was a lone female lioness, apologies photos are blurry - what pride did she belong to?

 

Dagga boy out and about.

 

 

I'm watching you ..........

What's for dinner???

Ground hornbill at sunset.

 

One of my favourites is at Nsemani dam.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

Okay our first full day in the Satara area - are the ghosts about??

We did the S12 - S40 loop and then backtracked to S100 , S41 and H6.

Elephant crossing.....

We saw Hyena every morning.

S12 Buffalo's nice and relaxed.

 

 

On the S40 there was a Hyena den, 1 adult with 6 cubs.

 

 

 

S100 Ele

 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

We did see a ghost - I could not believe my eye's when we spotted a female Kudu with Leucistic skin conditioning.

We saw this rare sighting on the S41 near H6 junction.

 

 

 

 

 

What does Leucistic mean??

an abnormal condition of reduced pigmentation affecting various animals (such as birds, mammals, and reptiles) that is marked by overall pale color or patches of reduced coloring and is caused by a genetic mutation which inhibits melanin and other pigments from being deposited in feathers, hair, or skin.

Would Satara provide us with more Ghosts???????

Edited September 21, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

The remainder of the morning drive.

 

 

Scops owl in camp.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

For some reason, I don't have many photos from our afternoon drive, but reading back on my Diary it was  pretty quiet.

We headed northwards up the H1-4, S147 and S89.

We did see plenty of Kori bustards, Elephants, Giraffe and Nsemani dam for a sundowner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our guest at camp tonight? Is this a African wild cat?

Edited September 21, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

Back in December 2014 I visited Kruger with my dad for 8 nights.

We were extremely lucky to see a young white lion cub "Caspar" on the S100 on one of our last days.

He had 3 younger brothers with him.

We were parked next to a french photographer who kindly shared the photo's with me as I had a smaller camera back then.

Till this day this is one of my Safari highlights  

I have been to Kruger a few times since 2014 and was always hoping to see the Ghost in Caspar again.

 

Below photos are from 2014 of Caspar and his family.

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

What would day 5 bring ...............

Every morning my eldest son would get up with me at 4 am to be out the gate by 4.30 am.

This morning we were joined by my nephew which was fantastic to share the drive with more family members.

The rest of the family would start their drive a little later around 6 am.

 

As yet we have not had any "real" sightings of the big Cats up close , so off we went heading back towards Nsemani dam and the H7, S12 and up towards Timbavati picnic site.

 

Hyena's never let us down every morning.

 

 

Lovely Verreaux eagle owl at  Girivana dam.

 

As we were watching the owl we could here lions roaring way off in the distance.

 

We were driving along quietly a few km's south of Timbavati when by son said "Stop Dad LIONS" we reversed back to watch these 3 ladies walk off into the bush. Brief sighting but very nice all the same.

 

Quick sighting of these guys  - the morning was getting productive  

 

Swainsons spurfowl

LBR

Kori Bustard

I have had better days .....

Look son there is a time and place for those comments...........

Edited September 22, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

We continued onto the S127, h1-4 to S90, S41 and S100 triangle loop.

The morning temps were now starting to rise.

S127 Ele's

 

 

 

S90

Ground hornbill

My favourite bird up close and personal  

This guy did not move - I was so excited.

Necking Giraffe's

Very nice tusker on the S100

Edited September 22, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

 

We got close back to Satara and decided to go and one last look at Nsemani dam as it is only 7km's away.

This proved to be a great decision.

Behind the dam way off in the distance was 8 lionesses all sleeping.

 

 

 

I was chatting to a guy next to me on the dam wall and he asked if I had seen the 2 male lions on the S40 only a km or so away?

I said no I didnt realise there were more lions - He said one of them is the white Male lion, Caspar. You cant miss him asleep with his brother next to the road.........

Before he could finish the sentence we were off, it has been 9 years since I have seen this awesome Cat.

 

The "GHOST" I was longing for has finally made an appearance . 

First glimpse of 2 Flat Cats....

It was about 11 a.m. and getting very hot - these guys were not going anywhere.

 

 

A Ghost's tale................

 

Caspar's brother.

And then he sat up and we had some nice views of him.

Other family members also had heard of the sighting and joined us there, we were all very excited.

 

The brother is an impressive guy.

 

 

Still abit sleepy

 

Off we went back to Satara for a late brunch, very excited to see a few Lions and especially Caspar again.

The excitement on my kids ' faces I will never forget.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Hads

[Hads]

Pumped for the afternoon drive we decided to head southwards and complete the H1-3 to S126, S36 and back on the H7 and have a beer at Nsemai Dam and see if we could find the lions again. We left about 3pm.

There was plenty of plains game on the S126.

 

 

 

 

You always get abit nervous when these big guys are walking towards you and there is 2-3 cars lined up.

 

We got back to Nsemani dam and drove to the western side down a small side track when we saw some lionesses on the move, in total one by one they all walked passed.

How awesome is Kruger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They just kept coming.

This one was blind in 1 eye.

Then one of Caspar's brother came along - very impressive Cat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Hads