We arrived at Letaba camp after a lovely introductory first PM drive in the Park. Male Impala are just entering the rutting season and we witnessed a couple of feisty battles between males who were trying to establish themselves as the dominant male and win over a group of females.

Male Elephant

First full day in the park in northern Kruger. We departed the camp at the gate opening time of 06.00 am!
As soon as we left the gate we came across a male buffalo and switched off to observe him. Whilst we watched him we heard the roar of a Lion in front of us and we sent our spotting vehicle to investigate. Sure enough, the spotting vehicle reported that a male lion was walking in the road up ahead of us. Off we went and caught up with the male, who was moving down the road with sincere urgency, roaring as he went. Perhaps another male Lion had entered his territory. He was soon joined by a second male and the both headed off into the bush to try and find what they were looking for.

We drove down a loop that covered some of the area in which the Lions were headed and came across a huge breeding herd of Buffalo who crossed the road in front of us.

We then headed up to Mopani Camp for a lunch break and a photo tutorial / discussion.

The afternoon was spent searching for the Lions again but we did not find them. Instead we found a beautiful breeding herd of Elephants.

Dinner was enjoyed under the african stars

We left camp again at 06:00 and decided to head south towards our next camp in Southern Kruger. Just after we crossed the Olifants River, we found a Hyaena Den with the mum and two cubs outside. The cubs were very small and one was definitely keeping the other away from the all important food source. In Hyaena society, it is common to see female cubs chase off male cubs of the same size. Their society is a matriarchal one where females are larger and dominant over the males.

We also came across two lions at Kumana Dam who unsuccessfully tried to catch a male giraffe.

Later in the day, we were blockaded by 6 White Rhino who decided to take a rest in the middle of the road in front of us. We just made it to camp in time before the gates closed.

Spotted Hyaena female and two cubs

The early morning took us to Renosterkoppies Dam where a dead Rhino carcass had been taken over by a pride of 5 Lions. The vultures gathered in their numbers to wait their turn at the huge carcass but for now the Lions owned it and continued to feed off it throughout the day. Over lunch we discussed more photography subjects and then had a short rest before we headed out in the afternoon along the Sabie River. Baboons and the ever present Impala provided great photo opportunities.

After leaving camp, we headed straight to the bird hide at Lake Panic where we were greeted by hippo, crocodile and a variety of water birds. The Malachite Kingfisher made an appearance but never quite got close enough for a good full frame shot.
We then headed south towards Malelane and found a male Lion settling in for his day of rest in the shade of a Marula tree.

The afternoon drive took us along the Sabie River where we came across 6 Lions in the riverbed looking intently at some buffalo on the other side of the river.

After watching them for a while, we decided to head towards sunset dam for the last of the afternoon light and photographed Hippos and Crocodiles along with water birds such as Egyptian Geese Black Winged Stilts and the Three Banded Plover.

 

After leaving the gate at 06:00 again, it was not more than 10 mins before we came across the first Lion sighting of the day. Lying in the middle of the road was a young male Lion who paid no attention to us.
We had received some information that there were a pair of mating Leopards further up the road and so in the soft morning light we decided to leave the male Lion and carry on up the road.

Again, not more than 5 mins later we bumped into another group of 5 lions, also right in the middle of the road. This group, a male and 4 females were the group we saw the previous night in the river bed.

We carried on up the road towards the Leopard sighting and were yet again stopped by a third group of lion that walked in the road in front of our vehicle and eventually turned off into the bush in search of a meal.

When we eventually reached the place where the mating Leopards had been seen, we could not find them.

The afternoon drive took us across the Sabie River in search of Lilac Breasted Rollers, which we did find, as well as 5 White Rhino. We also came across a group of Hyaena's at a carcass.

Today we decided to head South towards the Crocodile River and were called back by the spotting vehicle, which informed us of a group of Lions heading down to a small river. We turned around just in time to see them disappear into the riverine bush.

After a short stop at Croc Bridge Camp, we headed down the croc river road and came across a group of Zebra, Giraffe and Impala eating close to the road. Another vehicle at the scene told us that they had seen a cheetah stalking up to the group and so we backed off and waited to see what happened. Sure enough, after a short time, the cheetah charged out of the bush after some of the Impala but gave up the chase as the Impala had sensed it was there, and were quick to get away.

Around Lunch time, we found ourselves at Mphondo Dam and were just starting to eat when another vehicle told us the location of a pack of 7 Wild dogs. Being very rare and endangered we left immediately to see if we could catch up with the dogs. We were lucky that day to find them resting up on an old Termite mound, a real treat !!

We left Lower Sabie on route towards the central section of the Kruger and traveled up the H10 road towards the Nkumbe Lookout point. The find of the day was 3 male Cheetah lying up in a small open patch, near a river. The Cheetah remained alert the whole time we were there and eventually got up and headed into the riverine bush. Suddenly from the other side of the river, a male Impala darted out and ran off at top speed. The Cheetah did not give chase. The Cheetah however, clearly hungry, soon spotted a small group of Waterbuck which had two youngsters amongst them. One of the Cheetah gave chase and soon caught up with the Waterbuck. Unfortunately one baby waterbuck did not make it.

Our first full day in central Kruger took us towards the Timbavati River where we found a lone male Lion who soon moved off into the bush. We then had a close encounter with a large male elephant who chose to come really close to our vehicle but he remained totally relaxed and walked across the road in front of us.

At Ngotso Dam we found a pride of 12 Lions, elephant and a group of 6 old Cape Buffalo.

Two Scops Owls were perched in a tree in the Satara Camp and we managed to get some really close up shots of this beautiful nocturnal bird.

We visited the Nwanetsi Bird hide in the morning where we had great bird action from Egyptian Geese, Hammerkops and White Faced Ducks. The resident Hippos and Crocodiles were also there, as well as a beautiful Kudu bull.

Lunch time took us up to Olifants Camp where we enjoyed our food overlooking the magnificent Olifants river. From our high vantage point we spotted Elephant, Hippo, Crocodile, Kudu, Giraffe and a couple of Baobab trees in the distance.

Just before we arrived back at camp, we found that 2 Lionesses with 4 cubs had made a kill right next to the road at a bridge 3km south of the camp. We enjoyed the last part of the afternoon with the Lions and their cubs.

 

After having a quick look at the Lion kill from the previous night, we drove down another road where we found a mating pair of Lions, slowly moving off into the bush. We managed to witness a few matings before they finally disappeared. We then decided to head back to the Lion kill and when we got there the cubs were out in the morning sun and the two females were keeping watch.

After an hour or so we headed towards the exit gate at Orpen where we transferred into our minibus for our transfer to the Big Cat Reserve.

On arrival at the Reserve we enjoyed a delicious lunch and then headed out into the reserve in search of Rhino. Before long we found a mother and calf wallowing at a mud hole. We then carried on in search of more Rhino and stumbled across the Wild Lion Pride. We stayed with the Lions and they eventually got up and proceeded to walk off in search of a meal. We stuck with the two females and 1 male and suddenly one female started to stalk something in the long grass. In a burst of speed, the lioness chased its prey which turned out to be a group of warthog and she brought down the boar. Within seconds the other female and the male were at the scene and they proceeded to kill and eat their prey.

The late afternoon was spent at the Lion breeding project.

The early morning was spent photographing Savanna the Cheetah and we were lucky to get to go on a walk with her as she investigated the early morning smells of the bush. After breakfast we were treated to a visit with 2 small Caracal Kittens and then a walk with a Leopard cub.

Just before lunch we found the crocodile sunning himself in the midday heat and managed to get some close up shots of him.

Later in the afternoon we visited the two orphaned Leopards and were treated to a fabulous tree climbing display by the male Leopard, Jabula.

Dinner was enjoyed in the Boma around a crackling campfire.

After a delicious morning breakfast we departed the Big Cat Reserve for the Eastgate Airport where the 1hr 15 min internal flight took our guests back to JHB airport.