Kruger - The postman delivers

[Hads]

As you can see in these photos (apologies the quality is not that great) the big male lion's bottom jaw looks broken.

 

 

Off he goes for a walk and then comes back.

 

 

 

Looks like a couple of cubs suckling on mum here.

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

Here are a few more pics on our way back to Satara for lunch - we have had our share of Cats this morning. 

 

 

 

 

I think these guys are Lappet faced vulture's.

Buffalo on the Timbavati river.

 

European roller

Nsemani dam young hippo's.

 

LBR my daughters favourite.

Yellow-crested barbet at camp plus a few other camp photo's.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

Great news - the dirt roads around Satara have opened.

For our afternoon drive we headed down the old favourite S100, S41 then onto sweni hide and back on the H6  and then back to Satara.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon's drive.

We did see a Wild dog near the sweni hide but it was moving very fast and no chance of any photo's.

The S100 was pretty quiet from memory as I didn't take many photos.

S100 waterbuck.

Piggy family

 

Burchell's coucal.

Sweni hide

H6 sunsetting

H6 Ele's

 

Traffic jam

Getting close .............

We did see some flat cats but they weren't moving.

 

Abit further along the H6 was a very distant Male lion.

 

Closer back to Satara there was a female lioness stalking a waterbuck - as it was close to gate closing time of 6.30pm as you could imagine there was a traffic jam of cars watching this princess.

 

 

Kruger the postman delivered yet another wonderful day with Cats galore.

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

Day 5 - Kruger the Postman delivers more cats.

This morning it was back to just my 2 boys and myself leaving camp at 4.30am - with coffee, hot chocolate, and rusks away we went.

We headed south down the H1-4 for a few km's, I was going to turn down the H6 towards Sweni hide but decided to go as far as the S126 turn off.

This turned out to be a great decision.

We rounded a bend and in the middle of the road was a pride of 13 lions walking towards us.

In total there were 4 cars, we were the only car the Satara side of the Lions to start with.

I stopped the engine and the pride walked straight past us, my youngest boy was filming with my phone with the window down, 1 lioness walked very close and gave him a good stare down.

He couldn't wind it up because the car was off.

 

 

 

 

We had a very enjoyable sighting with them, they moved off after awhile.

Another late comer car came along and we got talking - "did you see the lion cubs?" No I replied, so we headed back towards Satara, where we found a couple of other cars stopped between the S100 & H6 roads.

 

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

It took awhile for the cubs to re-appear, when they did there was 2 little ones only a few meters from us climbing a tree.

It was still pretty early so not many cars were at the sighting  .

The early bird catches the worm.

 

 

What's up there?

 

Some golden light appearing.

 

 

2 beautiful little one's.

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

The mum was around the day before, she left them in this spot as there was a culvert under the road.

The little guys were moving under the roads and appeared on both sides, we only saw them on the one side, well this time anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice little claws.

 

 

And down they go.

 

Wow what a morning

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

After the lion cubs, I said boys lets go have a hot drink and a rusk at the Sweni hide which was about 20 km's away.

A few sightings along the H6.

There was plenty of plains game along the H6, dozens of Zebra and Wildebeest.

 

and a Hyena of course.

Then we came across a herd of 3-400 hundred buffalo - we sat with them for quite awhile.

 

White backed vulture's at Sweni hide.

Sweni hide baby giraffe.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

Well the morning had been fantastic so far with 2 separate lion sightings, massive herd of buffalo.

We did have a couple more special sightings yet to come on the S41.

The next major sighting was of a Puff adder eating a rat, we were there on our watching for awhile.

Another car came the other way and the puff adder slowly slid off into the grass.

How good is that boys !! A kill.....

 

 

 

 

This next sighting was also a wonderful highlight - we came across dozens of red-billed quelea's sitting in a couple of tree's.

Amongst them was a carmine bee-eater, a LBR, Glossy starling and to the side was a beautiful bateleur - I think @michael-ibkwould of loved this sighting with all the birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

We finally got on the S90 and enjoyed some time with a few different Elephants.

3 banded plover.

Lovely tusker

 

Ele road block

 

 

 

This big guy pushed us back a couple of km's in reverse as he didnt want to get off the road.

Saddle billed storks on their nest.

 

 

It had been an amazing morning - we headed back to camp for a well earned brunch.

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

It was our last afternoon drive around the Satara area.

My wife and my FIL & MIL headed along the H7 and then the S39 , S4O and back to Satara.

The rest of us headed along the H7, S36, S126 and then up the H1-3 back to Satara.

It was a very pleasant drive, quieter than this morning but plenty of game about.

Here are some photo's from my wife and the route she took with her parents.

My favourite WKF.

 

 

 

Dagga boys bathing.

 

 

Majastic male Kudu's.

 

 

Plenty of Ele's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Hads]

Here are a few photo's from my camera on our last afternoon in Satara.

Nsemani dam Hippo's

 

Huge Tusker on the S36

 

 

Steenbok

 

 

S126 Hyena

 

 

 

Well the postman has delivered a wonderful day - the question is can he keep it up............ as we prepare for heading northwards to Mopani

Edited February 28 by Hads

[Atravelynn]

On 2/23/2024 at 3:02 AM, michael-ibk said:

Great photos, looking forward to this. The puffy with prey is special! 

Agreed, what a capture!  I hope some of the other 15 in 4 cars got to see this, assuming they wanted to.  Lots of variety for your family to enjoy.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the deliveries!

Edited February 29 by Atravelynn

[JayRon]

@HadsGreat report so far, and so many good sightings. Satara is my favourite camp in Kruger, the camp is great and the area always delivers, as we can see in your report. Looking forward to the next installment  

[Hads]

Good morning @Atravelynnand @JayRon, Thanks for following along.

With the Puffadder sighting it was just me and the 2 boys, the rest of the family left around 6-6.30 am. I can't wait to get out the gate at the opening time, most mornings we were out by 4.45am.

@JayRonSatara has been very kind to me over the years and this trip was no different, plenty of Cat sightings and large herds of plains game.

Interestingly though the last couple of trips the H6 has been more productive than the S100, with lots of herds of Zebra, Wildebeest, and Buffalo on the H6.

[Hads]

Day 6 - New years day 01/01/2024

The Ghost makes an appearance.

This morning we were leaving to Mopani for 2 nights.

I got up early and went for a drive south towards the S126 and back on the H6 - I was on my own this morning as my boys wanted a sleep in before we left.

I drove past were the 2 cubs were yesterday but no sign of them.

Near the S126 there were a few Elephants, I decided to turn around and take a drive down the H6 , I wanted to be back at camp no later than 7am.

About 2km's down the H6 was a sleepy lion who was very thin.

 

Who was this lion?

He was not moving at all so I decided I would keep driving for a few km's and then turn and head back to camp and start packing.

Edited March 1 by Hads

[Hads]

The Ghost made an appearance  

A few km's further up I could see 2 cars stopped  but heading in my direction.

There was dozens of Zebra on both sides of the road - I thought they must of been looking at them.

As I got closer and within about 50-100 meter's I suddenly realized there was a Ghost walking straight at me - It was CASPAR (1 of 4 of the Shishangaan Males) - I could not believe it I was so excited I could get to see him again.

I wish I could have shared this sighting with another family member.

He was ahead of the 2 cars coming straight towards me.

 

 

 

 

As he past I turned and followed.

The zebra kept a close eye on him.

He actually got quite close to the Zebra and made a half-hearted attempt and catching one of them. 

The Zebra were too quick and kept there distance.

 

 

 

 

He seemed to be on a mission and headed further into the grasslands.

I reluctantly drove off as he slowly disappeared - WOW how lucky I was this morning  

Edited March 1 by Hads

[Hads]

Here is a  few photo's of Caspar back in 2014 when I first saw him on the S100.

 

 

 

Last year I saw Caspar in January 2023.

Link to my trip report - 

 

Below is a snippet from the Website Wildfact and a youtube video you may wish to look at and get some history on the Great Cat  

 

"Casper The White Lion and his Shish Brothers were born into the Shishangaan Pride in July 2014.
They " Casperwere fathered by 'Xihamham' and his Brother  - The remaining two Kings of the original seven males of the Old Mega Shishangaan Lion Pride.
Update - Recently Xihamham was killed by the two Trichardt males.

Casper and his three Brothers: Casanova, Footloose and Mfowethu currently control the Satara and Nsemani Lion Prides and are often seen around Satara Rest-camp and Nsemani dam in Kruger National Park, South Africa.
Casper the White Lion is ONE of only THREE White Lions currently alive in the wild.
The other two wild White Lions - Male and  and Female - are from the Birmingham Pride and their territory are in the Ngala Private Game Reserve to the west of Kruger National Park some 60 Km west of Satara.
There are rumors that the female recently gave birth to a white cub?

The reason why White Lions are so incredibly rare is because the mating female and the male must both possess the recessive gene called Leucism in order to produce a white lion cub. The likelihood of both lions having this gene is extremely uncommon, which is why these pale-coloured lions are so special.

For Casper to survive in the harsh wilderness for so long can only be described as a miracle! Thank you Casper, the whole world love you and your Brothers!

 

 

 

Edited March 1 by Hads

[Hads]

Further down the road I passed the sleepy lion who was sitting up - I believe this may of been one of Caspars brothers??

As you can see he was quite thin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1 by Hads

[Hads]

I headed back to camp and this time I got a brief sighting of the little cubs close to Satara - they were hiding in the drain and popped there heads out briefly.

 

Edited March 1 by Hads

[Hads]

After we packed up we headed North to Mopani.

Not alot of photo's taken this afternoon - but a very good introduction to the area.

Photo's of the drive north.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1 by Hads

[Hads]

We had lunch at Letaba on the way up north and arrived around 2.30pm at Mopani and checked in.

After a swim and quick relax a couple of cars decided to take a late afternoon drive down the S143 capricorn road and S50.

Tawny Eagle

Maybe a Martial?

 

 

Ostrich and Jackal

Tawnny Eagles

Secretary bird

On the S50 opposite the Nshawa Pan I spotted a light coloured something...

We stopped and saw a pride of lions quite a distance off.

 

 

 

They were getting mobile but it was getting late - we had to get back to camp.

 

Promising signs for tomorrow  

What an amazing day we have had - Kruger the Postman is surely delivering.......

Edited March 1 by Hads

[ElenaH]

12 hours ago, Hads said:

It was CASPAR (1 of 4 of the Shishangaan Males)

the lion is not an albino, right? he has just a light colour, but not albinism?

Very nice almost blue eyes, very unusual.

[Peter Connan]

You pretty much saw it all, didn't you? Wow, what a trip!

[PeterHG]

What an incredible trip with the family! So many amazing sightings and photos. A joy to see and read! ( by the way, I think your Squacco  Heron is a Striated/ Green-backed Heron.) 

[Atravelynn]

The BIF and the Little Boy in the Vehicle--Clever catch!

 

Edited March 2 by Atravelynn