Having travelled from west to east after leaving Berg-en-Dal and had a fabulous journey of wonderful sightings we wondered what might lay ahead.
In truth you never know with wildlife and that's the attraction. Each of the rest camps has a daily sightings board that features the "Big Five" Buffalo,Elephant,Leopard,Lion and Rhino, although sightings of the latter aren't posted as an anti poaching measure. In addition Wild Dog and Cheetah sightings are on the board. The original Big Five were chosen as they were the most desired hunting trophies. Time they ditched Elephant and Buffalo in my opinion and included the other two as they are far harder to find and see! Anyway, the board does give some indication of where you might get lucky as does a variety of guide and map books.
I'd purchased the Kruger Self-Drive book by Van Den Berg and spent ages scrutinising the detail. It's an extremely handsome production and gives good descriptions and ratings of all the roads accessible to the public with the exception of the ones that are closed to just the residents of some Bushveld,Satellite and Camping sites.
I wouldn't discourage anyone from buying it, it's got lots of excellent photos and other information too but it does weigh a fair bit and to be honest, the maps books sold at the gates and camps are almost as good and in some areas offer more information. Cost a lot less too as well as the obvious weight saving. Anyway, we'd taken ours and it was our bible for deciding which routes to travel.
We had two days to explore from our Crocodile Bridge Rest Camp so on the first we headed north and took the gravel roads where possible to avoid the more crowded main tar ones.
Before you knew it we'd arrived at Lower Sabie Rest Camp, our next stopping place.it's not that far actually, only 34 kms, and we'd deliberately decided to take a look at their shop to give us an idea of what we might be able to buy before moving on from there to the Bushveld Camp, Talamati. Forward thinking!
Anyway, while we were there we sampled their take away menu, A sausage roll and a cup of coffee.
Lower Sabie is a popular stopping place for breakfast and brunch and we queued for some time and the delivered food was less than impressive. Still we knew what shopping we needed to do in Komatipoort later that afternoon.
Heading back south we were once again largely disappointed at the lack of notable sightings, it was a hot sunny day though and everything disappears to find a shady spot.
Not so these Vultures though.
The monsters are the Lappet-faced ones, they are not afraid to argue with a Jackal either!
Back to camp then off to stock up on provisions in Komatipoort. The local Spar supermarket has an excellent selection products, you could happily shop here everyday whereas if you relied on the camp shops your menu would be extremely limited. Compared to the UK prices are cheaper too. Particularly meat and vegetables, Oranges were an incredible 45R for a sack full!
Anyway, back to camp and Claire decided to stay put whilst I went out for the last hour or so.
I decided to investigate the nearby Hippo Pools and as luck would have it I couldn't have chosen better. I was flagged down by another motorist who told me there were Lions there!
Not only that there were only about 3 other cars and I could park in a prime spot for viewing!
A big telephoto lens can be next to useless when the weather is hot but later in the day as it cools it comes in to its own.With a 1.4 teleconverter giving a focal length of 700mm on a full frame camera, even at 100m the detail in the image is excellent in my opinion.
I had my fill of shots and as more cars were starting to turn up I decided to leave the space for someone else. The road to the site is a cul-de-sac and as word had obviously got out I was glad to escape when I did as the OSV's ( open safari vehicle ) loaded with people were pouring in at a rapid rate. It would soon be chaos down there but I was out of it!
I found a nice Kori Bustard to end the day and needless to say, no one else who drove past even bothered to stop!
I have to say, having an interest in birds does give you options when other sightings are thin on the ground and once you get into it it's addictive!
Anyway, I returned to camp feeling a bit guilty that Claire had missed out on such a cracking Lion sighting but that had been her choice and she wasn't too bothered. We still had another 26 days to find more!
Part of the camp experience for me is without doubt the Braii.. B-B-Q as we call it in the UK!
Now you either enjoy self catering or you don't. I love it!
A simple supper of salad, pork steaks and roosterkoek under the stars? A beer, a glass or two of wine...bliss! The perfect end to the day.
Cooking on the Braii is very popular with South Africans, but they can tell a foreign visitor a mile off!
No self respecting local would be using charcoal briquettes! Nah, they start off with something akin to a funeral pyre!
As a shock horror gas barbecue user at home coming to grips with charcoal was enough of a challenge without having to cope with wood!
Most camps had Braiis built in a different style but for these brick ones I found a nifty way of making the charcoal go further. Obviously you can't start cooking until it's turned white. To, make the cooking area larger, spread the coals but then the lowest grill shelf setting is too high above the coals.
The answer?
Lay a can of beer( empty of course) on either side of the coals and rest the shelf on them.
If needed two cans on either side.
It's an excuse to drink more too!
TBC
In truth you never know with wildlife and that's the attraction. Each of the rest camps has a daily sightings board that features the "Big Five" Buffalo,Elephant,Leopard,Lion and Rhino, although sightings of the latter aren't posted as an anti poaching measure. In addition Wild Dog and Cheetah sightings are on the board. The original Big Five were chosen as they were the most desired hunting trophies. Time they ditched Elephant and Buffalo in my opinion and included the other two as they are far harder to find and see! Anyway, the board does give some indication of where you might get lucky as does a variety of guide and map books.
I'd purchased the Kruger Self-Drive book by Van Den Berg and spent ages scrutinising the detail. It's an extremely handsome production and gives good descriptions and ratings of all the roads accessible to the public with the exception of the ones that are closed to just the residents of some Bushveld,Satellite and Camping sites.
I wouldn't discourage anyone from buying it, it's got lots of excellent photos and other information too but it does weigh a fair bit and to be honest, the maps books sold at the gates and camps are almost as good and in some areas offer more information. Cost a lot less too as well as the obvious weight saving. Anyway, we'd taken ours and it was our bible for deciding which routes to travel.
We had two days to explore from our Crocodile Bridge Rest Camp so on the first we headed north and took the gravel roads where possible to avoid the more crowded main tar ones.
Before you knew it we'd arrived at Lower Sabie Rest Camp, our next stopping place.it's not that far actually, only 34 kms, and we'd deliberately decided to take a look at their shop to give us an idea of what we might be able to buy before moving on from there to the Bushveld Camp, Talamati. Forward thinking!
Anyway, while we were there we sampled their take away menu, A sausage roll and a cup of coffee.
Lower Sabie is a popular stopping place for breakfast and brunch and we queued for some time and the delivered food was less than impressive. Still we knew what shopping we needed to do in Komatipoort later that afternoon.
Heading back south we were once again largely disappointed at the lack of notable sightings, it was a hot sunny day though and everything disappears to find a shady spot.
Not so these Vultures though.
The monsters are the Lappet-faced ones, they are not afraid to argue with a Jackal either!
Back to camp then off to stock up on provisions in Komatipoort. The local Spar supermarket has an excellent selection products, you could happily shop here everyday whereas if you relied on the camp shops your menu would be extremely limited. Compared to the UK prices are cheaper too. Particularly meat and vegetables, Oranges were an incredible 45R for a sack full!
Anyway, back to camp and Claire decided to stay put whilst I went out for the last hour or so.
I decided to investigate the nearby Hippo Pools and as luck would have it I couldn't have chosen better. I was flagged down by another motorist who told me there were Lions there!
Not only that there were only about 3 other cars and I could park in a prime spot for viewing!
A big telephoto lens can be next to useless when the weather is hot but later in the day as it cools it comes in to its own.With a 1.4 teleconverter giving a focal length of 700mm on a full frame camera, even at 100m the detail in the image is excellent in my opinion.
I had my fill of shots and as more cars were starting to turn up I decided to leave the space for someone else. The road to the site is a cul-de-sac and as word had obviously got out I was glad to escape when I did as the OSV's ( open safari vehicle ) loaded with people were pouring in at a rapid rate. It would soon be chaos down there but I was out of it!
I found a nice Kori Bustard to end the day and needless to say, no one else who drove past even bothered to stop!
I have to say, having an interest in birds does give you options when other sightings are thin on the ground and once you get into it it's addictive!
Anyway, I returned to camp feeling a bit guilty that Claire had missed out on such a cracking Lion sighting but that had been her choice and she wasn't too bothered. We still had another 26 days to find more!
Part of the camp experience for me is without doubt the Braii.. B-B-Q as we call it in the UK!
Now you either enjoy self catering or you don't. I love it!
A simple supper of salad, pork steaks and roosterkoek under the stars? A beer, a glass or two of wine...bliss! The perfect end to the day.
Cooking on the Braii is very popular with South Africans, but they can tell a foreign visitor a mile off!
No self respecting local would be using charcoal briquettes! Nah, they start off with something akin to a funeral pyre!
As a shock horror gas barbecue user at home coming to grips with charcoal was enough of a challenge without having to cope with wood!
Most camps had Braiis built in a different style but for these brick ones I found a nifty way of making the charcoal go further. Obviously you can't start cooking until it's turned white. To, make the cooking area larger, spread the coals but then the lowest grill shelf setting is too high above the coals.
The answer?
Lay a can of beer( empty of course) on either side of the coals and rest the shelf on them.
If needed two cans on either side.
It's an excuse to drink more too!
TBC
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