Here we are having breakfast and watching the lone Crested Barbet between all the opportunistic starlings at Lower Sabie at 10:30. We were out of the Skukuza gate at 0600, of course we were… but sometimes the first bird does not get any worms at all. So breakfast time it was.
After breakfast there was a commotion on the bridge. Hmmm, couple lions on the move.
I went wide, hoping to catch up with them, found some elephant, no lions. So we went back over the bridge, found some more elephant.
Brown-hooded Kingfisher.
So we went back to the bridge where more lions had come out the woodwork.
A female and two not-quite-cubs-anymore. Yea, hard to make them out. I like taking pictures like this one:
Tanya taking the shot above.
Drove around some more, found Kori Bustards and a Burchell’s Coucal.
(Conveniently skipping over the three days it took to get here — by the time you join us it is 0-dark-hundred and we are waiting for the Pretoriuskop gate to open so that we can sally forth and conquer the park).
Because of booking late (well, by summer standards I was fine, but Kruger is booked long in advance in winter, I learned the hard way) we had one night in Pretoriuskop, three nights in Skukuza, two nights in Letaba1 and two nights in Lower Sabie2.
Skukuza can be busy and sometimes it’s hard to get a spot, and we had a nice spot at Pretoriuskop, and Pretoriuskop was one of the few campsites which were not fully booked. Also, we only had to vacate our campsite at 11 or some such, and the gates open at 6. So the plan was, take a drive up to Skukuza, have breakfast, see if there’s a lekker campsite, squat on it with a chair, come back and fetch the teardrop. Alternatively, change our booking to Pretoriuskop for the next three nights.
But we found a nice site, and we squatted a chair on it, and all was good.
Southern Ground Hornbills are listed as endangered but they are quite common in Kruger.
They’re also hella curious.
(Concerning the Big Six, our count for the trip is 5/6. We saw two Eagle Owls this trip, have yet to spot a Pel’s).
While going back to Pretoriuskop to get the teardrop, we spotted (1) a gaggle of cars and (2) a male lion kind of far off, lying in the grass. Then he put his head down, didn’t get a photograph. Then while towing the teardrop back to Skukuza, same thing (different lion). This time we snagged a pic.
This is with a 600mm lens on a 2/3 sensor with about 3x “digital zoom” a.k.a. cropping. Shot handheld out the window because sometimes that’s all the chance you get (jockeying for position while towing is not that simple). Never fear, better pics ahead.
Green-backed Heron from the Skukuza bridge.
And a Giant Kingfisher.
Much further north than we like. But all I could get at the time.
Having been to Kruger many times in summer, we figured we should go see what it’s like in winter.
(TL/DR: It’s a bit like the dude looking for his keys under the lamp post — the Kruger weather is excellent, much better than in summer — but the light’s not so good for photography).
I also decided to vary the route a bit. Cape Town – Sutherland1 – Fraserburg – Loxton – Victoria West – Britstown2 – Hopetown – Kimberley – Bloemhof – Ventersdorp – Krugersdorp – Pretoria3 – Witbank4 – Middelburg5 – Dullstroom – Lydenburg – Sabie – Hazyview – Phabeni Gate. And back, Malelane Gate – Baberton – Badplaas6 – Bethal – Nigel7 – Warden – Bethlehem – Fouriesburg – Ficksburg8 – Ladybrand – Bloemfontein9 – Colesberg – Middelburg10 – Cradock11 – Addo12 – PE13 – Mosselbay14 – Cape Town.
Overnight at Kambro Accommodation. A good place to stay over. Although next time I’ll stick to the N1 to Three Sisters and sleep in Kimberley.
Mainly to drop off a gun but also to catch up with the friends we stayed with.
To drop off a bunch of guns at Classic Arms.
Where Tanya bought some really crappy steak from the Spar in the Middelburg Mall.
Avoid this route. Can’t tell you why I don’t learn. Take either of the passes to Machadodorp (now “eNtokozweni”, but the streets are still Voortrekker, Potgieter and the like) and go from there.
Because my GPS is evil. I swear to Finagle, the toll road people must be paying Garmin to route via as many toll roads as possible. The sane route should have been Badplaas – Ermelo – Standerton – Vrede – Bethlehem. The Nigel route added 70km and R175.50 in toll roads.
Because I had to pick up a gun. Stayed at the Green Acorn. Eclectic but not terrible.
In this case I agreed with the GPS. The R26 from Ladybrand to Wepener should be canonised, and while the N1 outside Bloemfontein is technically a toll road, there’s no toll gate.
The other one.
Now “Nxuba” with great fanfare and absolutely no increase in quality of anything for anybody.
We had not been to Addo before. It’s recommended. More later.
Because I had to… pick up a gun. Also, Tanya wanted to visit an old friend.
We have friends there, stayed over, drank too much.
I need air helpers. But they’re expensive. Tiguan springs, maybe? (It’s the fridge and the beer in the back of the Golf, the teardrop’s only about 30 kilos on the hitch, even loaded — I can (and had to) pick it up when the jockey is giving me shit).
It’s been raining all week. It’s set to continue for the rest of the week.
As mentioned before, this house did not come with storm water drains. The gutters drain directly into the soil, and since this is basically a river bed, from there on down to the ocean.
With the paving, however, it takes a bit of time to drain.
