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Bushbuckridge

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    • South Africa 2024
      Day 22

      Day 2: Pre-dawn sightings

      March 4 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

      It took waking up at 3.30 am, but the morning tour was very successful:
      on the road at 4.30, by 5 am Avron spotted this lioness carrying a pup to another spot. She crossed the road behind us before disappearing on the other side.

      Of course, there is only so much that digital zooming and torch lighting can do, so the pixels are chunky, but still, we were very shuffed!

      And then shortly thereafter, this heavily pregnant hyena strolled past us in the pre dawn.
      This day was up to a great start.

      Bonus sunrise included 😉      Read more

    • South Africa 2024
      Day 22

      Stroll with a leopard

      March 4 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

      When this leopard was brought to our attention by a fellow traveler, it was barely visible in the distance.
      But we kept traveling with him as he strolled along the road, ever closer, and got some beautiful moments.

      It did take a while, though, which allowed me to develop a technic of lining up my phone with the binoculars that Cathy loaned us for extra zoom. It is fiddly work, but gave some cool results!      Read more

    • South Africa 2024
      Day 22

      Buffalos

      March 4 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

      It took me longer than I care to explain to figure out the difference between buffalos (buffles) and wilderbeasts (gnous).
      And I still don't know why they are on the list of "the big five" animals that are a must seen.
      But we saw A LOT of them.      Read more

    • South Africa 2024
      1
      Day 22

      Lions mating

      March 4 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

      Middle of a scorching day, we were informed of a pair of mating lions up a road that was not in our itinerary for the day.

      A few kilometers further, there they are, barely visible in the shade of a big bush, even though they were less than 10 meters from us.
      So close in fact that it was almost too close for the binoculars, and not enough for the phone!

      Every couple of minutes, one of them would wake up for a few seconds of mating, then crash again for a short nap.
      It was a fascinating experience.      Read more

    • South Africa 2024
      1
      Day 22

      Bits and bobs

      March 4 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

      Baboon, starling, vultures, kudu, more baboons, and some impalas...
      Some of the few other things that we saw.

      Because we stopped taking pictures of zebra, warthogs, giraffes, etc... There's just too many!Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaSouth Africa Solo
      Day 7

      Enter The Kruger

      March 8 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

      We hadn’t had a great nights sleep again.
      At 9pm when we were indoors watching the tv and melting we discovered a spider running around the lounge like a mad thing. At one point he got on the sofa and I promptly jumped off. Then as he started climbing the wall Ellie took a quick picture and started searching on google.
      The answer came back “Huntsman Spider”. And then load shedding kicked in and we lost all power and the internet.
      We weren’t going to argue with google and decided to let the spider have the play of the house while we went to bed. Securing our door tightly and wedging 2 spare pillows and my camera bag on top against the door incase he did get bored out there.
      Load shedding only lasted for 2 hours this time and just as the room reached boiling point the air con kicked in and we were off to sleep.
      The alarm went off at 5am and I was first up and the power was back off.
      I grabbed the torch and headed out to the kitchen and lounge and there was no sign of our eight legged fiend and we were still alive so that was a bonus.
      We had coffee and then started loading the camper with the food stuff and the fridge stuff then we went in the bedroom to finish packing our personal belongings and Ellie picked her rucksack up and put it on the bed and just as she went to grab the zip I shouted “Stop”.
      There was the spider, sitting on Ellie bag right at the zipper.
      I’d just had a shower and the power was out and it was dark so Ellie grabbed the bag while I kept a torch on the spider and backed down the hallway, through the kitchen and lounge naked and then into the garden where we got a piece of card and flicked the spider off and then ran back in. All this before we’d even left.
      By 7:30am we were ready to go and after Ellie had found the keys which she had left in the toilet we said goodbye to the animals and the house and dropped the keys back to security.
      We were now heading out on our first serious game drive and our longest drive yet. We had 100 miles to cover to get to our next stop for the night.
      We entered the Kruger National Park just before 9am and to start with it was busy but as we got past the point of day visitors we were on our own. It’s just a 30mph speed limit in the Kruger but we stuck to 20mph hunting for animals on the 80 mile stretch between the gate and our camp for the night.
      Our first sighting was a cheetah walking through the bush, then we saw the biggest herd of Zebra we had ever seen. There was easily over a hundred. We saw Wilderbeast, Impala, hundreds of giraffe and elephants, and I got a great shot of a banded snake eagle just sitting on a branch.
      The temperature outside was well over 40°c and it was magnified by the black tar road we were on. It was just too hot to drive with the windows open in the end. Every time we opened the window it was like opening an oven door.
      At 2pm we arrived at Satara campsite. This is where we would be spending the next 2 nights and after checking in we found a shady spot and put our tent up. Then I had a cold beer as I was melting from hammering the stakes in and then we left the camp for an afternoon game drive.
      We left camp at 3:30pm and our map said that this particular drive would take 3hrs10mins. At 4:50pn we realised it was actually going to take much longer and as it was still warm we turned around and started to head back. We hadn’t seen anything we hadn’t already seen.
      Just as we left the dirt road and turned onto tarmac we encountered some elephants standing in the road. The was a huge female with a young elephant and underneath her was a tiny baby elephant. We stopped and turned the car off so as not to annoy them.
      Then I checked my side mirror only to see a huge bull elephant emerging from the trees.
      Then another group appeared from the other side of the road behind us.
      We were in the middle of the herd.
      I wanted to start the car and make a run for it but my gut told me just to sit it out. Elephants are very readable and the bull wasn’t showing any signs of aggression. Yet.
      He left the tree area and came on to the road right behind us, then he walked down the side of us and turned onto the grass on the other side of the road.
      I took that as my que to leave and I started the car and slowly edged passed the mum and babies. That was our first close encounter.
      We had to back at camp by 6pm because that’s when the gates close and fines are issued and we got back at 5:30pm. Then we headed to the restaurant for dinner and sat outside to eat as it was still above 30°c.
      After dinner we headed back to our tent taking the 500 meter walk through camp in the dark to the very loud sounds of hyena at the camp fence situated just behind us., it was as scary as scary gets. Then after a lovely well needed cold shower we got into the tent while the hyenas whooped at the fence behind us. It’s going to be a scary night.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaSouth Africa Solo
      Day 8

      The Kruger Day 2

      March 9 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

      We were up at 4:45am. The night had been unbearably hot at 35°c until the early hours of the morning when the wind got up, even though we had 2 USB fans from our Motorhome running.
      I hardly got any sleep and was really grumpy when I went out to the camper in the dark and couldn’t find the stove or kettle without banging all of our doors and waking the rest of camp up.
      Eventually I worked it out and after 2 warm coffees we left for our first game drive of the day at 5:30am watching the sunrise as we left the camp.
      We turned right out of the gate and then right again onto a tar road that ran past a huge watering hole. Here we saw lots of hippo.
      Then we turned right again onto a dirt track running up to a smaller watering hole that was full of crocodiles.
      We sat here for 30 minutes watching as a Wilderbeast entered the water for a drink and almost head butted a waiting crocodile. The crocodile had obviously eaten because the Wilderbeast was right ontop of it and the crocodile never moved. We thought we had a front row seat to national geographic live but it didn’t happen. Not that we wanted to see the Wilderbeast get eaten but I do want to see the croc fly out of the water.
      From this watering hole we headed back on ourselves stopping when we saw some Southern Ground Hornbill which are on the endangered species list with only 1500 left in the wild.
      Almost back at camp we turned right and then left onto a dirt loop. This route would take us along 2 rivers and leopard had been sighted here the day before. We didn’t see any cats except for an African wildcat but we did see hundreds of giraffe, Waterbok, kudu, Giraffe, and even Baboons.
      This loop should have take 2hrs 45 mins according to the guide book but it took us hours and we finally arrived back at camp at 12:30pm ready for lunch.
      It was much cooler today with more cloud cover and we ate outside at the cattle ranch restaurant, then we headed back to our camp for a shower and chill out until we went again for an afternoon drive.
      At 3:30pm we headed back out. We decided rather than just drive around looking for the animals we’d wait by a watering hole and just see what turned up and we weren’t disappointed.
      When we first got to the watering hole there was just one baboon nearby and it was cool to see him go to the water and bend down to drink. He knew there were crocodiles in there and he went to the shallowest part and when he was done he would look across the water to see if he could have any drink.
      After the baboon a herd of elephants came down with lots of babies. Once they had,had their fill they just wandered off into the bush and disappeared. Then 3 Zebra came down but they knew about the crocodile and just walked on by. At the same time the baboon had climbed a nearby tree and decided to pick a fight with an Ayer’s Eagle. There was a huge commotion and the eagle ended up in the next tree right at the top and the baboon kept growling at him.
      On the way back we stopped at a second watering hole where there were loads of hippos. The Juveniles were scrapping it out seeing who had the biggest mouth and the ones who lost had to move. There was also a mum and baby and the baby kept on jumping on the mum. It was crazy to see how playful he was compared to how hippos normally are.
      We got back to the gate at 5:50pm and then I decided to use the pool to cool off and we met a lovely South African family in there and spent the whole 45 minutes just talking until it got dark and the Jackals came. We then decided to head back to camp as we had forgotten our torches, it was a proper sketchy walk home.
      Back at our tent we cooked a very light dinner of Chilli and Garlic Braai rolls with cheese and then we decided we were done for the day. There was no sound of hyena tonight so at 8:30pm we headed for bed ready for an early start.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaSouth Africa Solo
      Day 9

      Kruger Day 3 - Letaba Camp

      March 10 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      We were up at 5am this morning and this time we had left the kettle, cups and stove out ready to make coffee first thing and that’s what I did.
      Then it was time to move camp and like some kind of military operation we loaded “little Simba” back up with the tent, sleeping bags, pillows and table and chairs and then our bags. By 6:15am we were rolling out of the gate.
      Our next stop was Letaba Camp but we couldn’t check in until 2pm so instead of turning left out of the gate we turned right, then right again onto a dirt road a little bit further up from the watering holes we had visited.
      This road was about 40 miles and our top speed was 15mph running along the gravel washboard track. I’m surprised we’ve got any teeth left in our heads.
      Near a water source we saw hundreds of animals. Zebra, Waterbok, Impala, bushbuck, steenbok, giraffe and even hippo. Away from the water and where the river had completely dried up it was baron of all life except for the odd bird. Unfortunately a lot of the river was dry which made the drive tedious and by 9:30am it was really getting hot outside and the herd animals we saw were already sheltering under trees so we gave up looking for big cats.
      We did come across some beautiful viewpoints all overlooking the river and where there was water there was an abundance of wildlife.
      At one point on route we encountered a huge heard of elephants blocking the road and there was a massive bull so we had to reverse. They kept walking towards us and we ended up reversing about 200 meters until they eventually went off to one side and we could go past. All that was left on the road was a trail of destruction. Branches pulled out of trees and trees that had been completely knocked over. It was an incredible scene.
      We finally left the gravel road and got back onto the tarmac with just 26 miles left and we managed to do the full 30mph which is the speed limit here the rest of the way. We had covered 80 miles in 7.5 hours and arrived at Letaba camp at 1:30pm.
      The camp let us check in early and as much as we wanted a spot next to the fence to see the hyena there were no decent spots in the shade with electric left so we found a spot in the middle under a shady tree and here we pitched up.
      As soon as we had made camp we went to the restaurant and had a sandwich and chips and then we headed back out down to the Dam for our evening drive.
      At 4pm we reached a grassy clearing running down to the river with hippo and Waterbok dotting the area.
      The vegetation at the side of the road here is much thicker than the plains at Satara so we decided to call it a day and head back to camp.
      As we returned we stopped at the shop for cold drinks and just as we were about to enter a monkey came running out with a packet of biscuits closely followed by one of the staff screaming and shouting. There’s nothing funnier than a grown man chasing a monkey.
      As we got back to the tent we realised we were all under attack from monkeys. As we pulled up they fled our camp and no damage had been done, but the trailer tent next door was now a complete play area with the monkeys dropping out of the trees and bouncing of his awning like a trampoline. Then they would jump back up the tree and do it again. Ellie and I tried stopping them but then that became the game. It was so funny.
      We gave up trying to deal with the monkeys and went for a quick dip in the pool to cool off although the water was easily bath temperature and when we came back to camp another camper was seeing the monkeys off with a slingshot.
      By 7pm it was pitch black and the hyenas were at the fence line whooping and giggling trying to work out a way in. We could see them clearly with another campers spotlight.
      As I sat down for the first time and started writing about our day we heard rustling in the trees above us. We thought it was a snake and shone the torch up only to be greeted by a bush baby just sitting there watching us.
      This is a pretty cool camp.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaSouth Africa Solo
      Day 11

      Kruger Day 5- Back to Satara Camp

      March 12 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

      At 5am we were up with Coffee on the go and at 6:10am we were leaving Letaba Camp for the last time and heading back to Satara.
      It was only a 40 mile drive and TomTom said we’d be there at 8am which was way to early so I poodled along at 20kph looking in the bushes and across the grassy plains for anything other than our usual suspects. It was a lot cooler today and as we drove the sky thickened up and turned grey, then really dark grey and then the rain started falling. On previous days it has rained but so little it just dried within minutes and hasn’t affected our viewing at all. Today wasn’t going to be like that.
      We arrived at Satara camp at 9:30am. To early we thought for a cheeky early check in so I decided to just drive into the camp ground because nobody checks you in and look for a decent spot next to the fence to watch the hyena. Unfortunately all the good spots with electric by the fence had gone and we desperately needed electric now because little Simba has got such a weak battery it will only charge one thing at a time and we need that to be the fridge. Everything else including the sat nav is running off power banks which we need to charge overnight.
      We found a nice spot under a big shady tree which also gave us some shelter from the rain and I parked the camper and then we headed over to the restaurant for breakfast.
      We found out last time we were here that this is the slowest restaurant for service in the world and today was no exception and 2 cold coffees and a warm breakfast cost us 90 minutes of time but only £6 in cash so for killing time and saving money that was a good deal.
      Back at camp we pitched the tent which was a nightmare,trying to hammer in basic tent pegs with a rubber hammer into ground like concrete. Even when we got the tent half the crappy pegs were bent and even though I kept straightening them they were now weak and useless.
      I was desperate to get the whole tent pinned down as the wind was getting up and the rain was getting harder so we walked over to the shop and brought 4 decent tent pegs which did help us out but now we were soaked to the skin.
      Ellie put our mattresses and sleeping bags in while I sorted out the electrics and it felt secure and cosy.
      Our tent has an inner piece of canvas with 4 mesh windows which zip open and because of the heat we’ve had them open all the time and it also has a fly sheet with 4 zip open windows that we can either roll up for air flow or zip down closed or peg open on guide ropes. We pegged them open for airflow then left camp to drive the Satara to Orpen road because Ellie wanted to look for lions.
      On the way out we then checked in and it was 12:45pm. We turned right out of the gate and then right again and then took the 40km drive to Orpen Camp and it rained all the way.
      Orpen Camp has no tent camping, Just Chalets and we thought we’d use there restaurant for lunch when we got there but on arrival at 2:45pm we realised there isn’t a restaurant just a coffee shop that only serves coffee so we had a latte each and then started our return journey at 3:15pm.
      It rained and rained and I didn’t want to find lions in this weather. The roads started to fill up and whenever there was a hill at the bottom would be a huge puddle. I stuck to just 30kph all the way home as there were lots of tortoises on the road and we played 2 of our favourite games all the way, the first one is poo or tortoise because you can’t tell if it’s elephant poo or a tortoise until your right ontop of it the second game is snake or stick.
      Here you have to avoid driving over poo to protect dung beetles so everybody avoids it which is a saving grace for the tortoises.
      Back at camp the rain and wind were really getting up and our tent had developed quite a few leaks due to the number of pinprick holes in the roof of the outer fly sheet and the rain had come in the flaps on the side straight on to my bed. Luckily just the sheet was wet.
      We did the inner windows up and once again it felt cosy and then with nothing to do I put the tablet on our rucksack and we watched the new grand tour for 2 hours while the rain got worse.
      At 7:30pm we decided to head out to get pizza at the restaurant and I took that chance to do the out zips up as my clothes were still wet. At the restaurant it was packed so we settled in for a long wait but fortunately the pizza place was dead and we had food and drinks within 20 minutes. It was at this point on the news we realised we were being hit by a tropical cyclone that had just decimated Mozambique and Malalane and there were aid adverts all over Ellie’s Facebook feed, that’s why the rain and wind were so bad. 45minuted later we were back at camp. It was now 8:45pm and our bedtime.
      I stayed up watching my tablet and getting dripped on every 20 minutes and Ellie tried to get to sleep.
      At 1am I was back up. I thought I was sweating because I was so clammy and sat up and checked my mattress, which being sponge had absorbed all the water coming in the bottom of the tent, and the bigger drips coming in the roof. I put my hand on the ground sheet and it felt like a water balloon with all the water that was underneath us, we were literally floating and just the pegs were keeping us here.
      I did go back to sleep but woke up once an hour until 3:30am when I just gave up and to my surprise Ellie started talking to me because she hadn’t been asleep at all.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaSouth Africa Solo
      Day 12

      Kruger Day 6 - Satara Day 2

      March 13 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      After our night of no sleep we decided to drive to Orpen Camp 40km away to get coffee. We and the tent had survived a cyclone but it was still raining and I didn’t hold out much chance of making it to Orpen let alone see anything on the way.
      The sun didn’t really rise it just went from dark to light within a few minutes and by the time we reached Orpen at 7am we had seen, Giraffe, Impala, Warthog, Wilderbeast and quite a few Saddleback Stork.
      We stopped for coffee for 30 minutes and on the way back about 4km into our journey we spotted a huge male lion with a black Mayne wandering across our closest horizon line. Funnily enough he walked straight through a herd of Impala and they were just staring at him, then he roared a few times and the ran off. We sat here for 10 minutes and even though he went out of sight we could clearly hear him.
      Then 20km down the road we came to 2 cars just stopped at the roadside and looked across and saw an African Wild dog just laying there. He was motionless and our first thought was someone had hit him with a car. Then 2 more stood up behind him. Then another. They were completely invisible even though we were just 10 feet away. Then a Hyena walked out from behind a bush and just stood there looking at the wild dogs.
      As I photographed, more cars pulled up and blocked us in. I had a game ranger next to us who I had told about the wild dogs and nobody can ask them to move so I just clicked away getting shots for 5 minutes until a gap opened up and I moved out, letting another car take my place. The rule of the parks is 90 seconds to take your pictures then move on to let others see. Unless you’re on your own or there’s viewing space.
      We arrived back at camp at 9:30am. The rain had stopped and once I’d parked I got all the wet stuff out and put it on the roof of the camper. By 10am it was already 30°c and by 10:30am everything was dry so we made cheese toasties for breakfast then went off to have a shower.
      At midday we headed over to the restaurant to use there Wi-Fi and have a cold beer, it was now 35°c and there were no clouds left. It’s much better than yesterday.
      At 2pm we headed back to camp and were joined by 2 agama that were beautiful colours with blue heads and a yellowy green body. As soon as they climbed the trees next to us they disappeared. They to were enjoying the sun.
      At 3:30pm we headed back out and Ellie wanted to drive the same road as this morning so we turned right out of the gate and right again.
      6km up we saw a couple of cars stopped at the roadside. It was exactly where we had seen the wild dogs and hyena this morning. Surely they couldn’t still be in the same place.
      As I crept slowly up the wrong side of the road we saw them again. 5 wild dog just laying there. Then one got up and started moving off and making an excited puppy sound. 3 of the others got up and went to him, nuzzling his nose and wagging their tails. Then one of the three came over to the other 2 laying down and started licking their mouths and wagging their tails.
      You could see 3 of them just wanted to get going, just like a dog when you say you’re going for a walk, running backwards and forwards, saying come on, I’m ready.
      The other 2 got up, had a big stretch. Greeted the other 3 with lots of licking and tail wagging and then ran off. The hunt had started.
      We stayed there for a few minutes saying how lucky we were and then from behind a bush a hyena took off after the wild dog like a stalker in the night.
      That was the same hyena that we’d seen earlier and he’d stayed watching that pack of wild dogs all day crouched behind a bush out of sight.
      We headed down the road and at 5:10pm I turned around and headed back to the gate. There was a huge queue about 1km before we got home and someone said they had seen lions but they had said that this morning on the way home and we couldn’t see them then or now.
      Back at camp it was 6pm and we headed straight to the restaurant for dinner and on the way back to our tent at 7:30pm the lions were roaring outside the fence. It is an unbelievably scary sound that penetrates right to your soul and as we got into bed at 8pm it sounded like the male lions were having a proper stand off right outside the fence.
      Tomorrow we will go looking for them.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Bushbuckridge

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