Kruger Day 3: The Real Safari Begins
Day 246
“Its cold out there!” I said to Jordana as I walked in from loading the car. The temperature had dropped at least 10 Celsius overnight and it was overcast, an unbelievable change. Last night at 8pm it was easily still 30 Celsius. I actually was cool and zipped on the bottoms to my pants. We were off and out the gates at exactly 5:29am, 1 minute earlier than planned. We were driving to the southern end of the park and spending the night at Lower Sabie restcamp. We hoped that with the cooler weather the animals would be more active.
We followed the same route as our sunset drive did last night. Figuring that early morning may be a good time to see some life around the watering holes. On the way we spotted more hyena and a colourful stork. We also saw a large bird of prey, some kind of eagle, that was tearing apart a large lizard on a tree branch. At the watering hole we saw a large waterbuck and wildebeest but nothing we hadn’t seen before. About an hour outside of camp we came upon 3 rhinos right at the roadside. One was a very young baby. We spent 20 minutes just watching these prehistoric looking animals. This made up for seeing the one last night at such a distance. Easily our best and most enjoyable spotting of the trip. Before stopping at Satara restcamp for breakfast we saw more elephant, kudu, wildebeest, giraffe and of course impala.
We ate a terrible breakfast at Satara but the view was good. Just on the other side of the fence from the restaurant was a water hole and 3 giraffe were their awkwardly bending over for a drink. As we drove away from Satara we saw several giraffe, at least 12 that we could see. They crossed the road in front of us while eating leaves from the trees. From south of Satara Kruger is often referred to as “the zoo”, due to the high density of animals found here. It sure did feel like a zoo sometimes, so many animals and so close to our car, for a second you could forget these are wild animals. We turned off the main road on to a small dirt one that followed a dry river bed, it was one of the most beautiful parts of the park we’ve seen.
Instantly we saw a huge bird with a red beak crossing the road. We couldn’t figure out what type of bird it was as we watched it waddle across the road and into the bush. Just after a grey snake slithered off the road, he easily measured 2 meters. As interesting as this all was we really hoped that we could find a big cat, the day was wearing on and this was our last full day. “Look in the trees, a leopard could be up there. They hide their kill there.” Jordana said as I drove along slowly keeping an eye out for anything in the bush. “Stop! leopard!” Jordana shouted. I just let off the gas and stopped the car. I turned to the left and straight through the rear side window lay a large leopard. I grabbed the head rest and pulled it out to get a better view. “Roll up your window!” I whispered to Jordana. This leopard was 2 meters from our car, just lying there staring at us. To say that didn’t give me a bit of a rush and a fright would be a lie. I thought of what this animal could do to me. We snapped photos and just sat and watched as he watched us back. I’d have to say this is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in nature. Those David Attenbourgh wildlife specials had come to life. After a few minutes the leopard rose and calmly walked down to the dry river bed. We drove along following the leopard on the farside of the river bed. Eventually the leopard walked into some trees and we lost sight of it. We both agreed this made entire Kruger trip worthwhile, I could have left now and been happy. I never thought we would see anything like this, at least not so close.
We continued our drive slowly along the road, with the leopard sighting we were determined to find a lion. I think we were getting a bit greedy. We passed impala, wildebeest, kudu and then came across some more elephants. We watched them cross the road and then I started to drive past. “Oh there’s more, I should back up.” Just as I put the car in reverse we could see one of the elephants running towards us. It stopped on the road, did a turn and came at us. I fumbled with the gears and revved the engine, the elephants made a loud noise and then stopped and slowly walked into the bush. I think the revving of the engine scarred it off and we both recalled our guide telling us to never get in between a young elephant and the rest of the group. I think we just did that. Talk about a nervous moment, a full grown elephant against a Yaris. Who do you think would win?
About 30 minutes later we drove through an area of tall trees. “Another leopard!” Jordana said. I thought she was joking, no way we could spot two leopards in the same day only hours apart. I backed the car up and sure enough back in the bush was another leopard. This one was small, maybe only a year or so. It appeared something was strong with his tail, most of it was gone. We watched him for a minutes until he walked back into the bush. I tried to follow along the road but we just caught glimpses through the trees.
After our second leopard sighting we were determined to find a lion. As we continued further south we saw loads of animals but mostly the same as we’d seen previously. We did spot warthog, vervet monkey, ostrich and some strange emu like birds. After our lunch stop we saw some huge groups of elephant and buffalo at a waterhole just off to the left of the road. It was quite the scene. Still no lions. We were nearing Lower Sabie camp and the sun was setting. Its been 11 hours since we left Oliphants this morning. After spotting two more white rhinos we decided to head in for the evening, besides we only had 1 hour till the shut the gates to the camp.
Lower Sabie camp was another great setting on a river. The cafe and restaurant are on a beautiful raised patio on the rivers edge from where we watched hippos lumber out of the water to feed for the night. The setting was nice but it was larger and busier, I preferred Oliphants. We sat on the patio for a drink and dinner as we listened and watched the hippos. There were also some loud baboons on the other side of the river. Even though we never did see a lion today the entire day far supassed my expectations. Matter of fact, Kruger has surpassed my expectations.
Tags: Elephants, Kruger, Leopard, South Africa
Michael Coroneos
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