Nancy Vandermey, Author
South Africa Trip October/November 2013 part 11
But that wasn't the end yet! We had 3 nights at Notten's bush camp, in the Sabi Sands reserve adjacent to Kruger park. There are no fences between the two. The big attraction to going to a private reserve is they can drive off road to follow animals, and the animals are habituated to the vehicles. In case we hadn't seen any leopard in Kruger (entirely possible), and to have a few days of being driven around and fed well, I like to end a trip here.
While driving in we passed a buffalo herd
and then got checked in and had Amarula on ice. I neglected to take any pictures of our fabulous room, but they can be found online.
At 2:45 pm it was time for high tea (a multi course gourmet lunch) and then 3:30 out on game drive with ranger Tinyko, who was awesome. Almost immediately our tracker Abi (not sure if I'm spelling that right) said, "Lioness in a tree" - a shocking sight here, as they almost never climb trees, and this one was high up and very uncomfortable looking
She finally jumped down safely
And went for a walkabout, eyeing some waterbuck
Other sightings included elephant, steenbok, duiker, gray lourie, and young giraffe
During sundowners I got to try the tracker's seat
Spotlighting on the way in revealed a white tail mongoose. Dinner was held in the downstairs area, with a scorpion on the wall
The area by daylight
On the 27th we were up at 5 and out at 5:30, we went to the south of their driving area to where the Southern pride had killed a young rhino 3 days ago. One lioness and her two cubs were still at the smelly kill
While the pride male lazed nearby
Heading north we joined a sighting of the Mahlatini male leopard as he hunted
After the drive Eric went for a walk, seeing flowers
and the scratch marks on the tree the lioness had been in
while I went for a swim
After another delicious high tea, the evening game drive found a giraffe with a missing horn
and then two male lions (Solo and the Eyrefield male)
More impala with young
Woodland kingfisher
Elephant on the plains
Posing zebra
After dark, a chameleon
And a Scops owl just outside camp
During dinner, 2 hyena paid a visit outside camp. There were only 4 of us going out in the morning (an Australian couple and us) so we left at 5:15 am. Wild dog had been seen late last night so we were tracking them. It was a pack of eight, on the hunt - we followed them at high speed after some impala, but they missed
Nearby the two male lions were resting
two male rhino feeding
a tree full of baboons
and a peaceful waterbuck
For our final evening drive, we saw some busy leopard tortoises
and then spent a long time laughing at two young male elephants fighting
A young elephant in the same herd
Next up we visited Mahlatini again, resting on a riverbank
During sundowners 5 rhino walked nearby
Just down the road another male leopard had been found, Mxabene
A side striped jackal and pups were spotted
Our final dinner
And one last morning drive, with elephant, male nyala
leopard tracks
and ending with Solo and the Eyrefield male
Notten's Video has several short clips, including lions, leopards, wild dog, and elephants
After that it was just packing, a drive to the airport, and a long flight home.
Part 1 - Planning and Kgalgadi: Twee Rivieren
Part 2 - Kgalgadi: Urikaruus and Kalahari Tented Camp
Part 3 - Kgalgadi: Nossob, Grootkolk, Mata Mata
Part 4 - Kgalgadi: Twee Rivieren and Black Footed Cat group
Part 5 - Kruger: Berg En Dal and Skukuza
Part 6 - Kruger: Nwatimwambu Walking Trail and Lower Sabie
Part 7 - Kruger: Satara
Part 8 - Kruger: Sweni Wilderness Trail
Part 9 - Kruger: Olifants
Part 10 - Kruger: Tamboti and Biyamiti
Part 11 - Notten's Bush Camp
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