Berg En Dahl Day 5
27 November 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
I was up at 4:45am and made the coffees. We had no bushbuck at the camp first thing and I wanted an early start.
The sightings boards have been full of leopard sightings on the roads we have driven so I really want to know what time of the morning that is and are they actual good sightings?
Ellie said the other day after we had watched that leopard under the bush for 2 hours that would probably count as a sighting and it probably would, but nobody had actually seen the whole leopard in it’s entirety. Sometimes we could see its head move or ears but at no point could you see the whole leopard. There was even a rumour that it was actually 2 leopards.
We left camp at 5:40am and drove the exact same route we had been driving the last few days until we saw a ranger that told us the road we were in was pretty quiet and to turn right at the next junction and give that a go, a few minutes later we came to the junction, turned right onto the S23 and a game viewing vehicle shot straight past us. 500 meters later we came to 3 cars and 2 game vehicles at a sighting and realised it was lions. A male and female were mating and 2 younger males were sleeping un the grass nearby. We stopped for 10 minutes got our photos while they were good and then the lions moved into a bushier area, we moved in as traffic started building.
As we drove on we turned left, and then right back onto our original road. We didn’t see any rhino today but we did see heard animals, elephant and a few rock monitors.
After the dam which has become one of our favourite sights we stopped at the picnic area. Neither of wanted breakfast so we grabbed a couple of chocolate bars and left and 5km down the road 4 cars were queued against our side of the road. I rolled up very slowly behind and under the hedge to our left we spotted wild dogs. This was funny as we had just been saying is there wild dog in this area? Obviously there is.
As we stopped so did 3 game vehicles and traffic started getting crazy pretty quick so we carried on making our way back to camp stopping at Renosterpan watering hole.
At camp we went straight to reception and extended our stay here by 3 days now leaving on Monday 2nd. This will be our final camp and the end of this trip is getting closer and closer.
By 2pm the temperature was 34°c but it felt like 50°c. There was absolutely no air.
Elephants, impala and bushbuck were now right at the fence line and as the elephants moved away down the dry river bed eating at all the bushes we walked along side them and they scared a waterbuck who was minding his own business.
At 3:30pm we headed back up to the watering hole but after 30 minutes of waiting Ellie got bored. Even though it was her idea, and we drove slowly back to camp.
Back at camp we made a fire and some new neighbours moved in next to us and we helped them, then we cooked pork fillets on the Braai before heading in at 8pm.Baca selengkapnya
Berg En Dahl Day 6
28 November 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
I was up at 5am, it had rained during the night and Ellie wasn’t in too much of a hurry to get going but I had other plans and luckily our old neighbour who was still there was leaving today and he wasn’t being quiet about it, so not long after me Ellie was also up.
The plan for today was to do a quick game drive killing a couple of hours this morning looking for leopard before heading out of the Malalane gate near camp to get some food shopping and diesel from Malalane but the universe had other plans.
We left camp at 6am and drove down the tar road. Instead of taking the first gravel road on the right today I planned to take the third turning and then go straight over at the bottom but when I got to our usual first turning there was a stack of cars.
Lions, and they were on a kill. Unfortunately they were under a hedge so nobody could see them but that doesn’t stop a queue forming just incase. We quickly moved on and 500 meters down the road we came across 2 hyena. These were the first hyena we had seen in this area and they looked completely different to the ones we had up at Maroela. These were 2 males and they were lighter than other hyenas we had seen and much stockier. These 2 were sniffing at everything like they were on heat. We got some photos and moved on.
We turned right at the third gravel road and crawled along letting other cars pass us at each river overlook. I wanted today to be the day, it’s wasn’t raining, it was overcast but not dark and the roads were still pretty quiet.
I reached the end of the road and nothing. First off I turned left and drove through the riverbed passing a sleeping rhino where all the game vehicles were queued up and I went to James pan, I did a quick U turn back through the river bed and then left. A game vehicle came flying past and then I blocked the road by stating un the middle and sped up and 500 meters down the road were about 6 cars and 3 game vehicles. This was the spot we had seen the mating lions yesterday and my initial thought was to turn around but I drove upto the back of the car on the right looked across the open plain looking for the lion and Ellie said “look, there’s a leopard in a tree” and there it was. Just 100 meters away low down with no cover was a huge leopard eating an impala. This is the shot I wanted and I grabbed the camera a started shooting. The great thing was everybody that was here had a great view as we were in a big bend that arced around the tree.
I took hundreds of photos before the leopard finally had enough, jumped down and disappeared into the bush but we noticed half the impala still in the tree.
Once the leopard had gone we noticed that the lady infront of us had a puncture so under the watchful eye of a few game viewers and a safari truck I used our compressor to reinflate the tyre and then followed her back to camp to make sure she was ok. Then we popped back to the caravan where I noticed I had a puncture so I reinflated our back tyre and then drove the 22 kilometres to Malalane and popped into tyremart to get the tyre repaired which only cost us £6 and then we went shopping in spar.
We got back to camp at 12:30pm, I had a quick cup of tea and then I left Ellie at camp and drove back to where the leopard had left half an impala hanging in a tree, there was still a mountain of traffic at the same lions we saw this morning. I arrived at 2pm and after an hour of sitting and waiting more impala started turning up. They looked up in the tree at the dead impala and started grunting. It was almost like they were crying.
At 4pm the colour in the tree disappeared and I looked in the side mirror to see a huge black cloud rolling in. I waited another 15 minutes and at 4:15pm I gave up waiting as the best of the light had gone.
It was 25km back to camp and half way down the gravel tracks the heavens opened and it really started to throw it down. The track very quickly became a thick gravy consistency. The tar roads weren’t much better when I reached them. The roads had disappeared and were now rivers and in every dip was a good 10 inches of water. I had the windscreen wipers on full and even on the flat roads there was a good 3 inches of water.
I got back to camp and I parked just 20 feet away from the caravan but I could hardly see it because the rain was so hard. I really expected Ellie to be plugging leaks left, right and centre but I ran to the door, opened it and there she was sitting on the bed on her phone. The tent was fine.
At 6pm the rain eased off enough to start cooking and we lit the Braai with charcoal and I made burgers, then once the washing up was done we went inside to watch tv whilst yet more rain and a big storm broke above us.Baca selengkapnya
Berg En Dahl Day 7
29 November 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
I was up at 5:30am, a little later than I wanted but it had rained nearly all night. I made coffees and as I sat down to drink mine I realised how damp and grey it was. Not a very good day for photos so we didn’t leave camp until 6:30am.
My initial plan was to do the same road as yesterday to try and get the leopard again but that all changed when we realised the gravel roads were closed.
The lions from yesterday were still at the side of the road and had only moved about 500 meters and crossed over. There was already a steady stream of cars and game vehicles.
We got as far as the picnic site and we hadn’t seen much atall and I suggested we go back but it was only 7:30am, so ellie suggested we drive to pretorioskop camp to see what that was like so that’s what we did spotting a few hyena on the way and even some baby hyena.
We got to pretorioskop at 9:30am and realised this is the place they keep the anti poaching K-9 unit and rangers and all we could hear was barking dogs. We drove into the camp and decided to get breakfast and to our surprise the restaurant here is a wimpy, so we had our first wimpy of this trip.
We left pretorioskop at 10:30am and decided to take the gravel road back to the picnic site and then pick up the tar road. It was unbelievably bumpy and corrugated and there were some deep puddles. Just this 20km section took 90 minutes.
Back on the tar road we passed the picnic site and came to where the lions had been this morning. There was still a queue of cars and as we drove past the lions had moved so far back nobody could see them, but still they wait.
We got back to camp at 12:45pm and Ellie went for a nap whilst I sat outside watching impala across the river. I realised how lucky we had been to get that leopard yesterday. Today those roads aren’t open, if it rains again they might not be open tomorrow and then we leave so really that could have been our last proper game drive
unhindered this year.
After Ellie had slept for an hour we popped over to the pool for a swim to cool off and when we had dried off it was time to light the Braai and tonight I had Wors all to myself whilst Ellie had salad.
We were joined by an elephant right on the fence line at dinner time. It was amazing to have such a huge animal just 6 foot away from us and not be scared.
Once dinner was done, as we were washing up we could hear thunder in the distance. A storm was approaching and as we headed into the caravan the hyena started whooping. Whilst we watched TV we got a real battering from the storm with wind and rain but luckily there were no leaks still. It’s like a different caravan.Baca selengkapnya
Berg En Dahl Day 8
30 November 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
Today would be our last proper game drive so I was up at 5am making coffees. We left camp at 5:45am and stuck to 35kph scanning the bushes. We passed a big herd of zebra early on and then elephant and then it was just big herds of impala for a while.
The gravel roads I wanted were still closed and so we had to stick to the tar roads and just before we got to the picnic site we came across the young hyena we saw yesterday and grabbed a few shots. We carried on past the picnic site and just as we rounded a bend a pack of wild dogs ran out in front of us. For a while there was just 2 of us and the car in front was Sanparks rangers and soon moved off making us the lead car. We drove down the road with Ellie steering and my photographing as the wild dogs ran next to the car. It was incredible, as soon as I had the shots I moved on. Then around the next bend there were loads of cars and game vehicles. There must have been 20 cars and atleast 6 game vehicles. We joined the queue thinking it was lions again but in actual fact it was a leopard laying down right next to the road.
As the cars in front got there shots they moved on and we moved up and then the cars in front just parked up. They didn’t even have phones out they were just there to watch and as the leopard got up and ran across the road in front of the cars it became carnage. I was completely cut off by 2 cars from behind that drove past us blocking us in. The leopard ran back and was now petrified. Most cars there hadn’t turned their engines off and were just ready to move whenever the leopard did. In the end after 10 minutes the leopard moved off. I didn’t get any photos even though it was right in front of us, and we moved on.
Just a few kilometres down the road I did a U turn and made for camp. All in all it had been a successful game drive, wild dog, hyena and a leopard.
Back at camp I went for a 5k run to clear my head and when I got back to camp there was the elephant back at our fence line and he stayed there for about 90 minutes, I think he’s just as curious about us as we are of him.
Once the elephant had gone we went for a nap for an hour and when I got up I watched a monkey helping himself to some guys lunch while that same guy struggled to put his awning up. The monkey looked like he was at the cinema eating popcorn watching a film. He was very comfortable.
After watching the monkey and with the heat really getting up we went to the pool for our last swim of the trip. Then it was back to camp to light the Braai. Today we had steak with Wors relish and potato’s.Baca selengkapnya
Last Day in The Kruger
1 Desember 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
We were up at 5:15am. Our original plan for today was to do a little game drive, then head into Malalane for some meat and then come back and pack up but I decided against that when I got up.
After a couple of coffees we started packing up, we brushed the awning down to get the worst of the stuff that had fallen out of the trees off and once that was done it was just 15 minutes until we were completely done. We said goodbye to our neighbours and at 7:15am we left Berg en Dahl camp for the last time.
We could have turned right at the end of the tar road and gone straight out of the Malalane gate and down the N4. That would have taken about an hour to do the 51km journey but instead we turned left instead driving 60km to Skukuza camp where we stopped at 11am for breakfast then another 20km to a right hand turn then another 60km to crocodile bridge gate. All at 35kph or slower and that got us to Marloth Park at exactly 2pm. The only thing we saw on route of any significance was some hyena that had managed to bring down a buffalo and were eating it about 50 meters off the roadside in some bushes so we couldn’t really see that. We also saw a few baby animals.
Marloth park now feels like home and this really marks the end of this trip. Ellie had found us a quirky little place to stay in called Kiburi Cottage and the owners are quite quirky too and they live in the house next door. There’s 2 car ports so we unhooked the trailer and pushed that under one and put the car under the other. Once that was done the owners let us in and he stayed with us for the next 90 minutes drinking beer and smoking. He definitely has issues of the mental kind but he’s harmless. There’s also a resident warthog with 3 babies. Her name is Bella.
Once we were alone we went up to daisies den to get some game food and went straight back to start feeding the animals whilst I jumped in the cuddle puddle.
At 5pm it started to rain and I lit the Braai. Within 10 minutes it was helling it down with rain. Fortunately we had an undercover section and used our Braai. The rain only lasted an hour but soaked everything and once we had washed up we watched an amazing after the storm sunset. Then I put the trap camera outside.
Back inside we were watching tv and decided we should put some yogurt out for the bush babies and I put a big dollop on a spoon and went to put it on a little platform out the back and realised they were waiting for me. I put the yogurt on the platform and got within 6 inches of them. I’ve never been so close. We watched them for a while pinging about in the trees after there yogurt and then we went in for the night to try and stay up later to reset our body clocks.Baca selengkapnya
Marloth Park Day 2
2 Desember 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Even though we went to bed late we were still up at 6am. The animals were outside waiting already. Bushbuck, Warthog, Kudu and even little Dyker. I made coffee and Ellie went straight outside with the game feed then we sat there watching them eat.
I popped in the shower and to get cleaned up and when I got out Ellie had managed to get a herd of Zebra to come over and she was hand feeding them and even kissing their noses. She was in her element.
At 9am we headed out to see if the car wash would wash the caravan before we cleaned the inside. Then went back and collected the caravan took it to the car wash and left it there while we walked down the road to Spar and got a big bag of carrots and some cleaning supplies then we went back, collected the car and caravan and went back to the house.
Fortunately the hosts were out as we blocked the driveway and unhooked the caravan and pushed it into the garage. Then we opened all the sides and the awning and emptied absolutely everything out of it. This time anything soft was going in ammo boxes.
I cleaned every hard surface in and out of the caravan with a mild bleach solution and it took hours. It was so hot working in the garage and I was sweating buckets but finally at 2pm everything was clean and emptied. Anything hard will be cleaned to go back in tomorrow and the soft stuff will go into boxes.
Once the cleaning was done we took a drive around the estate and I got spare batteries for the trap camera. Then we came back and I got in the cuddle puddle to cool off.
At 5pm we cooked a disgusting bacon and cheese Wors on the Braai that neither of us finished and then a huge storm broke. It wasn’t as big as the storm we had in Mata Mata but it was big and 30 minutes in the power went out and the temperature in the cottage started rising. The wind blew and the thunder and lightning cracked and lit up the sky like a bush disco and water came through the roof and under the front door. The rain here is unbelievable.
At 9pm I went back in the cuddle puddle to try and cool off and then we went to bed.Baca selengkapnya
Marloth Park Day 3
3 Desember 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Even though we went to bed later I was up at 4:45am. The storm last night was incredible and the power never came back on so the room felt stuffy. The first thing I did was open the back door to let fresh air in and I could really feel it. I put the kettle on quietly went out the back to grab the trap camera and Patrick our host was already up. He saw me and started talking and that was it, I couldn’t get away as he rambled on about Genets, trap cameras, different trap cameras and where he put them, then bush babies then back to genets and the kettle was whistling away and I saw Ellie run past the kitchen door in her night dress to turn the gas off. Now everyone was up.
I managed to get rid of Patrick after 20 minutes but my head was already spinning and I hadn’t even had a coffee yet.
At 8:30am we decided to head to Malalane to get some storage bags to free up some of our ammo boxes on the way we could see that power wasn’t going to be restored anytime soon. There were atleast 5 trees laying across the power lines and men were out with chainsaws already. . The first place we went was Mr Price but it was the PEP home store where we got everything except moisture catchers.
We got back to the cottage at 11am and rearranged the boxes putting all of our clothes and soft stuff into the vacuum bags and then rolling them to get all of the air out.
After that the hay we ordered turned up and I helped break it up before the zebra came in. We sat and watched as more animals came in. The zebra and antelope wanted to eat it and the pigs wanted to roll in it.
Once we had watched all the animals for a couple of hours we headed out for me to get some Biltong and to speak to an estate agent then we went back to the cottage for the rest of the day.
Patrick and his wife came around at 5pm to check if we were ok with no power and they stayed for 45 minutes which was a nightmare. Then I finally lit the Braai, made burgers and we had dinner.
After dinner we put out the banana and the little bush baby came out almost straight away then I put out the chicken guts and sat outside to wait for the genet but I got a surprise.
After waiting 30 minutes I heard the trees moving to my right but couldn’t see what it was. Then the big galago bush baby walked across the little wall right in front of me.
I shone the torch through the window to try and get Ellie’s attention and she came out. There he was licking the feeding table where the banana had been.
Ellie ran in and got some banana and I threw it up and he grabbed it in both hands, then when he’d finished those pieces he looked like he wanted more so ellie ran back in and grabbed another banana, peeled it and held it upto him and he took it straight out of her hand. It was incredible we even caught it on video.
After the bushbabies the warthogs came back so I had to move the camera and the chicken guts to our side of the wall and hope to catch the genet.Baca selengkapnya
Marloth Park Day 4
4 Desember 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
We got up at 5am and the Kudu were waiting for us. Ellie through out some game feed and some carrots and then some warthog came along aswell.
I was so tired I went back to bed at 6:15am and got back up just after 7am. Neither of us have been sleeping and the bed is very bouncy and uncomfortable, and there’s still no power so the place is stuffy.
At 10am we left the cottage and drive 20km down the road to Komatipoort town to try and get moisture catchers. Nowhere had any so we filled the tank up with diesel and went back to the cottage getting some bacon biltong on the way.
Back at the cottage it was now midday and getting hot and Ellie went for a nap whilst I sat out un the garden watching the animals.
At 2pm we left the cottage again to go and view a house on Naboom. It’s one of the nicest quietest roads here and the house was beautiful, the only problem is the owner isn’t sure she wants to sell.
For the rest of the afternoon we stayed in the cottage. We had a visit from 3 wildebeest and one had a baby. Then a male wildebeest came and joined them and after feeding in the hay the all layer down and the warthog were climbing on them. It was very strange. After the wildebeest impala and bushbuck came.
I had my last Wors of the trip for dinner and then I set the camera up to try and catch a photo of the bushbaby but at 8:30pm he hadn’t come so I put out the rest of the chicken entrails and the trap camera and went in for the night.Baca selengkapnya
Marloth Park Day 5
5 Desember 2025, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
We were up at 5am and even after sleeping tablets neither of us had slept well. It’s just too hot and stuffy inside.
The warthog were waiting for us and Ellie was more than pleased to feed them, so they had a couple of big bowls of game feed and some carrots.
Today was our last real day in Marloth park so we had to pack the rest of our things into boxes and airtight bags. Once that was done at 9am we went refilled the gas canister then we drove back to Naboom to see the sweethorn house again. We still loved it.
From there we drove back to Spar to collect some milk and then we dropped the car off at the car wash before heading into the Bos Restaurant for a late breakfast. I had a breakfast burrito with a couple of beers even though it was only 11am and Ellie had chicken wraps.
The car looked amazing when we collected it, they had washed and dried the outside and hoovered and cleaned the inside. It doesn’t look like it’s been in the adventure it has.
After the car wash we went back home and the electric was back on. Christa our host managed to register a spar card for me which has taken 18 months, and then we put all our boxes in the car and strapped them down. Now we had air con and fans again we decided to have a little nap whilst it was cool, so I had my final dip in the cuddle puddle and then fell asleep on the bed.
When we woke up we organised our clothes for tomorrow and had tea in the garden and generally just chilled watching the animals come and go. We were lucky and got to see Bella and her 3 piglets again.
At 4pm we took a slow drive out and drove the seekoi river road looking at the river and some of the huge houses down there, I’m glad we didn’t buy down there when we could.
At the end of the drive we did a complete loop and drove to the amazing Kruger view for 5pm where we had our final meal. I had the Eisbein of course and Ellie had her schnitzel. Then we went home.
I set the camera up ready to catch the bushbaby and Ellie put out loads of yoghurt and banana and just as the bushbaby came our hosts came back in there car and scared him off. Then just as he came back Patrick came out with all the rotting meat that had been in their freezer and scared him off again. After that he didn’t come back so we went inside to watch tv. At 9pm there was still no sign of the bushbaby so I retrieved the camera and lights and gave up. Hopefully now it is cooler we will sleep better.Baca selengkapnya
