We’d spotted a hyena den in a culvert under the H1-1, so we figured to go back there, see whether the babies were out, then take the H2-2 to Afsaal for breakfast maybe.
Didn’t make it — there was a demon lion lying in the road (there were two, the female got up before we got to camera distance). I used fill-in flash for what it was worth — this was 06:36 with the official sunrise having been 06:30.
On closer inspection, we found the zebra they’d brought down in the night and hey! We were the first on the scene!
Right. On. The. Road. Just after the S65 junction.
(We took many photos).
The problem with the Golf is that eventually bladder pressure raises a requirement. So we left the scene of the crime, direction Pretoriuskop. The hyena were not out.
Coming back (we’re not going to Afsaal any more! We know where the lions are, damnit!) we took a detour to Transport Dam and a lion crossed right ahead of us. Four lion, in total. A minute earlier or later we would have missed them.
We initially thought these might be the same ones from earlier but no, those were still nomming zebra.
We did find a different culvert with a different family of hyena with bigger cubs. Still cute.
There wasn’t a whole lot happening with the zebra so we took the H3 down to Afsaal. We’d heard that there were female lions with cubs on the S118, so that was the eventual destination.
Somewhere along the way we saw this one (they don’t like us telling you exactly where but lemme tellya, they moved all the chubby unicorns into one area, and if you want to know where that is look for the massive arrays of security cameras. Also, they de-horned them as you can see). Good to know there are some still around.
Anyways, eventually hit the S118, and pretty much at the end of it, two female lions crossed the road. Again, a minute earlier, a minute later… no sign of cubs though.
So we went back looking for more chubby unicorns, no joy.
Did find this boi (and his mate) on the rocks at the H1-1/H3 junction. Technically a unicorn I guess.
Wasn’t much happening a the zebra carcass either, so we went back to Skukuza for an ice cream. Drove around some more, didn’t see anything worth writing dispatches about. Stayed out as late as possible, ran into a major traffic jam at Skukuza main gate — there was an owl in the tree. But it was 17:55 and way too dark for decent photographs.
Big five score for the day: 4/5 (no leopard)