A delayed trip report to Klaserie and Timbavati, November 2023

[Toxic]

Thank you @TravelMore- that watering hole really was the gift that kept on giving. My favourite sighting (and I saw some amazing things this trip!) you'll see in the next post was just after we left this watering hole.  And then there was another special sighting the day after also. 

 

@Peter Connanthank you for your bird identification skills! Definitely a lot of room for growth in that area for me.  I don't think it was fool's gold, it was quite a brittle rock with shards that would come off and be almost 'mirror like', reflective. Much like birding, geology also not my strong point.  😂

[Toxic]

Bateleur - Day 6 Morning Drive

 

It was pitch black when my alarm went off, though my tent was facing the direction of the sunrise, if only it wasn't covered by so many trees. After getting ready, and a quick coffee, we were off. 

 

Our first sighting happened not long after leaving camp; these 3 white rhino grazing and playing.

 

 

After watching and taking a few pictures and videos, we headed off and not long after abandoned the car and disembarked for what would be my first walking safari (to my surprise). We went wandering into the bush with our armed guide, who would point out footprints and plants, and anything else he thought would be of interest.

 

At this point I would like to report that we found a pride of hungry lions who hadn't eaten for days, that I patted our guide on the back and said "let me handle this", and single-handedly took on this pride and scared them all off.

 

But this isn't fiction, and none of that happened.

 

I actually found the whole thing quite dull; we didn't see anything apart from old tracks, and stomping through grass while being worried about stepping on something, disturbing anything or blood sucking mozzies/ticks attaching themselves to me in the rising heat really took the enjoyment out of it. I'm not sure the honeymooners who I was sharing the vehicle with (first timers) found it particularly thrilling either.  Never mind, we made it back to the car and started to head towards my favourite waterhole. 

 

We ran into a nursery of impala, and according to a blurry photo not posted, a small group of female nyala. 

 

 

As we rounded the corner towards the Treehouse Watering Hole that brought me much joy yesterday, we saw some zebra, and a posing roller (one of the few bird photos I took that turned out reasonable, and one of the few birds I can actually identify 😂).

 

 

 

Also present, were these two elephants trying to claim ownership over the freshwater pipe. I had thought I took more pictures of this, but the ones in my phone SUCK, so you'll have to do with this portrait video (this was how close we were to them) where you can hear some commentary from the guide to a pair of honeymooners, but also the sounds of these elephants drinking and tusk butting! 

 

 

 

Staring at the two elephants (or our vehicle) was another tower of giraffe whom seemed wary of getting too close.

 

 

It was time to head back for breakfast, and just as we turned around and started driving away from the treehouse, was my favourite sighting of the trip. 

 

A newborn elephant, no more than a couple of hours old, was stumbling its way through the bush with mum. Parts of its umbilical cord were still visible, it was still a little furry and there was a definite tinge of red still on it.  We were some of, if not the first, people to see this sweet baby angel taking its first steps in the world.  Mum was surprisingly relaxed, on a mission heading towards the water.  I have a heart of stone and this made me emotional. A really humbling experience that I will remember forever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 29 by Toxic

[Toxic]

At this point before I post about the evening drive, I would like to say that there was discussion in the vehicle about both de-horning rhino and the damage elephants do to the environment.  This was initiated by the newbies in their quest for knowledge.

 

I mention this because I don't like to get political, and while I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I was surprised that our guide was against de-horning rhinos and pro-elephant culling. 

 

In Klaserie, it is my understanding that if a rhino enters their property, its horn is removed for its safety. In Timbavati, the car was informed they do not de-horn for a number of reasons, one being that tourists don't want to see rhinos without their horns.   I have since tried to Google to learn more about this but have been unsuccessful.

 

The other conversation was that the number of elephants is causing a huge amount of strain on the landscape and vegetation, and in order to protect the ecosystem culling elephants was needed.   My responses, which possibly were quite stern, were that "tourists won't get to see any rhinos if they are all dead" and "killing something is a very final act, we can always grow more trees".   I know it is not as simple at that, but I wanted to offer a different view to the people in the car who had no experience of safari before. I asked us to move on from this conversation, and we did.

 

Now, after the sighting above with the newborn elephant, I asked what I thought was a rhetorical question -- are you still pro elephant culling after experiencing that?  One of the newbies answered almost immediately with "well just the mother".   I shouldn't have asked. 🙄

[Toxic]

Bateleur Day 6 - Evening Drive

 

This part will be quite short, as according to my phone this was one of the quieter drives.

 

We first headed back to the watering hole that had been so good to us, it was empty - even the resident hippo didn't want to come up for air, so the only thing we saw here was the terrapin 

 

 

Whilst driving we came across some stinky wildebeest (I'm not sure if it was them or the mud that was around them, but I remember it being quite pungent) with a baby.

 

 

We saw this bird and frustratingly the only thing I can read in my handwriting is 'blue' which is not particularly helpful for my memory or recollection!!  In my defense the car was moving while attempting to write 

 

 

We found a sleeping male lion, who looked like he had been sleeping for days, so this was a quick stop - even the newbies didn't want to spend too much time looking at a sleeping lion.

 

 

We stopped for sundowners and started heading back to camp.

 

On our drive back, our guide stopped on a bridge and said he had heard that a mother lion had stashed her babies nearby. So we sat, and listened, and sure enough we could hear the sounds of some cubs, and they came out. This photo is rubbish - low light and they were about 9 miles away, but hopefully will indicate they were there. We watched them for a very short time through binoculars, not wanting to upset mum should she return, or spook the babies. Though I will say this group were not very well behaved, as they were very happy to go out to the far rocks in the open - I'm sure mum would be furious!!

 

 

We also came across this owl, which I think is a pygmy, he didn't stay still for very long.

 

 

The drive back offered a beautiful sunset, even if the drive was quiet, it had been a good day (political conversation aside 😉)

 

 

 

 

 

[John M.]

8 hours ago, Toxic said:

At this point before I post about the evening drive, I would like to say that there was discussion in the vehicle about both de-horning rhino and the damage elephants do to the environment.  This was initiated by the newbies in their quest for knowledge.

 

I mention this because I don't like to get political, and while I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I was surprised that our guide was against de-horning rhinos and pro-elephant culling. 

 

 

 

   I was told dehorning was opposed in some places because poachers finding a dehorned rhino would kill it anyway so they wouldn't waste time tracking it on another occasion.

   Good idea to avoid sensitive subjects which might distract from the main object (like politics or religion at a birthday party). Culling elephants is one good example.  We had our walking safari guide distracted by people who wanted to argue about culling. Not the time or place for such a discussion.

   Oh, I politely disagree that your photo of the lion cubs is rubbish . Sure, if somebody wants only a studio portrait... but while the cubs are a bit difficult to see unless I project the image on to my widescreen TV, I find it a delightful pic of them in their environment, especially considering it was taken with a phone. Well done! 

Edited July 30 by John M.

[Peter Connan]

I too am unfortunately not much of a geologist, but Iron Pyrites is as you describe a fairly flaky material. But no doubt there are others too.

 

To add to the discussion on de-horning of Rhinos, I have mixed feelings on this. Like @John M.I have heard that poachers will kill de-horned Rhinos just to save them the effort of tracking them next time. However, on fully-enclosed properties I think it can be effective if all the rhino are known to be de-horned. Poachers are on the whole quite well informed.

In a system like Klaserie and Timbavati the situation is considerably more difficult, as there are no fences between them and the Mozambique border (and in some areas not even there). Rhinos are territorial but there are factors that can cause Rhinos to leave their territories, either temporarily or permanently. Klaserie have a fairly good record though, so what they are doing works reasonably well. My concern about it is whether or not it changes the behavior of the animals. 

 

As far as elephant culling goes, I don't really want to get into that too much on this thread, but will leave a sideways comment to your sideways comment: where will you grow these new trees? Certainly not where the Elephant roam...

A friend of mine bought a property on Olifants West reserve (part of the same unfenced conglomerate) about five years ago. In that period, he has lost about 90% of the mature Maroela (a particular favorite) trees.

[Toxic]

Thank you @John M.and @Peter Connanfor your comments, yes it is never simple, I was just worried these first timers will go away thinking that is the view of the masses and from a person of "authority" (someone that does it as a day job) adds credence to that view point.  Not surprised about your friend's maroela trees, they do love them! 😆  My personal preference would be to exhaust other avenues (such as wire on trees, and the experiments with bee speakers for farmers, I'm sure there are other research projects being undertaken) before ending life. The ecosystems were allegedly fine before the added pressures of us and climate change when there were millions of elephants. I appreciate that this is a hot topic and there is no right or wrong answer, and we all have our own opinions and lived experiences and will continue to be like this ninja  if someone tries to bring it up during drives in future!!

[Toxic]

Bateleur Day 7 (Morning & Night Drive)

 

The morning drive started with more giraffe, it's always interesting watching these, I find them so majestic. This one was accompanied by a youngster who wanted breakfast

 

 

 

We then took another bush walk. This was again uneventful, but we were interrupted while heading towards a dry river bed (following tracks for rhino) as our tracker received note of some cheetah bordering a private property. We wouldn't be able to get close to them, but we'd be able to see them if we were quick.

 

Happy with a solid excuse to not walk, we located our vehicle and off we went. Sure enough, a mum and young cheetah were sitting on a rock scouting the area. We stayed with them for a while, as vehicles came and left (me fistbumping as they passed). 

 

 

After half an hour enjoying their distant company through the binocs, we decided to pull away and go not too far away for some morning coffee. 

 

We had our little break when another vehicle, one we had already seen, stopped behind us. Turns out he was the owner? manager? of the private property the cheetahs were on, and he gave us his blessing to off-road and get closer to these cheetah, who had now left their rock and gone behind a bush. 

 

He did say that the other driver who was around us from Tanda Tula could not follow, but never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, we jumped back in and took the man up on his offer.

 

Cheetah spam incoming.

 

Mum was very relaxed

 

 

The younger one alert

 

 

 

Not wanting to overstay our welcome, we decided to leave after taking some photos and listening to the younger one hiss at us a couple of times. Mum had nodded off by this point.

 

[Time lapse to evening drive]

 

We heard the cheetahs had into Timbavati space, only just, so that was our first stop.   We found them pretty easily and stayed with them for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

Mum was eyeing up some distant food, and we did get to watch her speed up shortly before giving up - the younger one wanted to join in the action and basically messed up their meal because he had been seen!  

 

After the failed attempt, they had started heading onto private property again where we could not follow, so it was time to kiss them goodbye and go have sundowners.   On the way we saw this hornbill eating a chameleon.

 

 

 

 

We had our sundowners, watched another lovely sunset, and off we went. 

 

 

We ran into some traffic in the pitch black, so lit only by the headlamp to try and encourage them off the road, here's a blurry photo of a thick-knee chick. 

 

 

[Toxic]

Bateleur Day 8 (Morning Drive)

 

This morning would be cloudy, and quite chilly - something that never normally bothers me because I'm in the UK and it is not unusual for it to be cold and wet here.  With cloudy weather though, means cooler temperatures, and it means some animals are more active... 

 

Our first encounter this morning would be this small herd of zebra, with a foal.

 

 

 

And some grumpy looking wildebeest. 

 

 

We soon came across some sleeping lions 

 

 

"Paint me like one of your French girls" 

 

 

and bizarrely, and to great amusement from me, a sleeping - and lightly snoring! - human. On the off chance her friend is part of these forums I have put a circle around her head to protect her identity.

 

I exclaimed to the rest of our car "I can't ever imagine paying for a safari and then sleeping on the drives" 😂 Their car was from King's Camp, and I have since looked at the rates to work out what that nap cost!  Incidentally this is the second time I have seen someone sleeping on safari, the first time being in Kenya.

 

 

Anyway, we move on from sleeping mammals. We were driving to our morning coffee stop so here is where we stopped. This is what would become the bush toilet should anyone need to go 

 

 

 

 

We finished up, and started driving when a familiar smell hit me. Was that a flash of colour in the bush?

 

 

We had found wild dogs, and quite a few of them.  

 

 

They were seemingly active, moving around a little.

 

 

 

Until they weren't.

 

 

 

A successful morning drive, time for breakfast and perhaps we would revisit our doggy friends again in the evening.

[offshorebirder]

Amazing smart phone photos @Toxic.     The newborn elephant was amazing - thanks for sharing.

 

Cheetahs, Rhinos, Wild Dogs - the fun continues.   

[mopsy]

@Toxic Hahaha "we move on from sleeping mammals" gave me a great laugh !

 

Very hard to get your head around someone sleeping on a game drive. What a sin!

[Toxic]

Thank you so much @offshorebirderand @mopsyfor your kind comments and for continuing to follow along! Yes Mopsy, it's not like the drives are particularly taxing on the guests 😂 

 

And thanks also to @michael-ibk, @Zim Girl, @duenelle, @Peter Connan, @Bush dogfor the likes and everyone else for reading too. 

[Toxic]

Bateleur Day 8 (Evening Drive)

 

After the excitement of dogs being on the property, semi-active, the group we were with (and a lovely family who joined us for the evening drive) were keen to see if we could find them again. 

 

Our drive did start with one of the 'big 5', buffalo, which alongside baboons and warthogs, I had thought were notably absent or scarce from a lot of the drives (aside from the herd I saw in the helicopter but that doesn't really count!) 

 

These were some old boys, and one of them was rather crude and itching his man bits in front of us.

 

 

 

 

We would make our first stop at Treehouse Waterhole, and this is where we would stay for a good 40 minutes. 

 

As you will see from this photo, it was all calm - just the resident hippo being harassed by the Egyptian geese. 

 

 

 

We were shortly joined by a couple of giraffe, thirsty in the heat. It's always a joy watching them drink, and this one chose to make its legs like a chair rather than doing the standard splits.

 

 

 

 

The next 25 minutes were utter bliss for me. One of those moments I still find myself smiling at, and recounting this for the purpose of this report has me grinning like an idiot.

 

Like silent assassins, a few herds of elephants were making their way to the waterhole - they were hot, and they were thirsty.

 

And they were accompanied by many babies.  Seeing them drink, and then enjoy the mud and water, was just a moment of pure happiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These elephants would later surround the vehicle, so even if we wanted to (and I certainly did not!) leave, we couldn't have.

 

The photo below should show how close they were, I have put a circle around the child's face.

 

 

There were elephants as far as the eyes could see!

 

 

 

As quickly as they appeared, they all started heading off - sufficiently muddied and thirst quenched - and so it was also our time to continue our search for the dogs from earlier. 

 

We bumped into this rhino enjoying some dinner.

 

 

 

 

Sun was fading, and our guide asked if we wanted to continue our search or stop for sundowners, we wouldn't have time to do both. 

 

Sundowners were sacrificed and we continued on.

 

A familiar smell in the air once again, and sounds that could only come from one animal in the bush, we were on their heels and we found them.

 

 

They were hungry.

 

 

 

 

What happened next was quick, and brutal.  Once again - decreasing light, the speed at which this happened, and the fact it's a phone mean these pictures are not good at all, but hopefully will illustrate what we saw... 

 

An impala was grabbed...

 

 

You'll see the best part of any meal, in its mouth... 

 

 

Nom, nom, nom... 

 

 

But they missed a bit.

 

 

We continued to follow them after they had killed a couple of impala, and they went to a waterhole.

 

 

 

Enjoying their sundowners not too far from this waterhole was a vehicle from Tanda Tula, with no idea what was heading their way.

 

We warned them, and just in the nick of time, abandoning their drinks, they jumped into their vehicle. You'll see they also thought the dogs would like a sundowner, and left the cooler out in their haste. 😂

 

 

 

The last of the light now completing abandoning us, it was time to head back to camp for dinner (though I think a few were put off the idea of steak that evening)

 

 

 

 

[Toxic]

Bateleur - Final Morning Drive (Day 9)

 

This morning would be my final drive with Bateleur, so up early and off we go. 

 

As we started when I arrived to this camp, our first sighting were these two giraffe. 

 

 

Followed by wildebeest and zebra. 

 

 

They all came together and I quite like this photo of all these grazers together, it's busy and I still find a new subject to look at each time I look at it. 

 

 

In the distance, we came across a smaller pack of wild dogs who were playing around

 

 

There was a hyena who was checking out what all the ruckus was about (if you look closely you'll see in the bottom left and behind the bush on the right in the second pic two dogs sleeping - it's amazing how quickly things can just disappear just by lying down)

 

 

 

They were not sleeping for very long, they were wanting breakfast, but they were spotted by basically everything.

 

 

 

Here's a very short video of them spooking some zebra (good luck to them)

 

 

And then some birds

 

 

 

A leopard tortoise 

 

 

And a lizard working on its tan

 

 

Here is where we stopped for my last morning coffee with Bateleur, I really enjoyed the reflections in the water of the shrubbery

 

 

 

As we were finishing up coffee, our guide had a little friend he wanted to show us, walking up his leg:

 

 

On the way back we found what is probably the rarest sighting of all time - a real life unicorn, beat that caracal spotters 😉

 

 

Back to camp, settled the tab (love a gift shop), and was collected by my transfer to head to the final camp of my trip - Ngala. 

 

Edited August 2 by Toxic

[Toxic]

Ngala Safari Camp - Day 9 (Afternoon Drive)

 

I checked in to Ngala, and was immediately blown away by the property. We did a little tour; there's a spa, a gift shop, several areas for dining and chilling, and a pool.

 

When we approached the pool, there was a herd of elephants stood underneath a tree enjoying the shade. Although I like to nap between drives, I ended up foregoing sleep to read by the pool - it was frequented by elephants, buffalo and warthog. There's actually a sign that says if elephants approach, humans need to get out slowly and quietly as they like to drink from it so they take priority.  I was also told that due to an increase in snakes, I'd need to be escorted to and from my room. Spoiler: I never did see any snakes.

 

 

 

The room was gorgeous and very comfortable, with a bathtub, an outdoor shower, an indoor shower, a minibar, and even a hairdryer (I had not had one the entire trip, a real first world problem!). Here's a little tour of the room I did for Instagram, I was really impressed. 

 

 

I was introduced to my guide and tracker, asked for my hopes and dreams, and informed that I would be joining a vehicle with a family from Singapore, though mum & dad would be dropped off midway through our drive as they were spending it in a romantic treehouse.  Fine with me. The guests I shared a vehicle with at Bateleur turned out to be great people, some of whom I am still in contact with today, and the kids were really well behaved - these ones were older (maybe early 20s), so I'm sure it would be fine.  Besides, they were checking out tomorrow morning so it would only be for one drive, and until someone else joined our car, I'd be alone - what a result!

 

 

This family turned out to be what I later found out to be called "Ferrari Safari" tourists; they had a checklist they wanted to tick off before they went home.  I asked what they had seen so far, they seemed very disengaged in everything - the guide later told me they had seen wild dogs hunting (successfully), leopard, lions, a lot. 

 

They had not yet seen rhino, so that is what we would be searching for this evening. I'd been pretty lucky this whole trip, and if others were to experience their first time seeing these amazing creatures for the first time, I'm all for it.

 

Our first sighting not far out of camp were these buffalo, not doing very much.

 

 

We drove for another 5 minutes and came across these elephants crossing the road, with a very young one flapping its ears enthusiastically.

 

A lovely sighting, though my companions would all be on their phones and not paying attention to it.

 

 

 

 

Also, and despite the rain, I hadn't seen any dung beetles, so snapped this one photo of the only one I did see. 

 

 

Our tracker and guide had done a great job for this family; not just their past sightings but also on this, their final drive - we had found a rhino. At first he was wallowing in the mud, keeping cool, but he soon began his patrols and was marking his territory - so we got to see (and smell) everything. 

 

 

 

Looking over to my companions, who had snapped a couple of photos as we arrived, I was surprised to see that one of them was scrolling through TikTok, the other was on Instagram Live (filming himself, not the rhino), and mum was shopping on Shein. They weren't taking in any of the rhino's behaviors, they merely wanted to tick it off the list.  I exchanged glances with the guide, who gently shook his head, and we continued to enjoy the sighting.

 

As the rhino headed off into the bushes, we went to find a spot for our sundowners, but the spot we had selected was occupied.

 

 

This lone lioness was where we wanted to pack up. She was being harassed by these two hyena.

 

 

 

Very interestingly - and quickly! - they started to bully the lioness, she started growling, they started laughing at her.

 

The lioness felt threatened, and she took off while roaring. The hyenas were fast - and started chasing her.  Before we knew what was happening, they had disappeared into the bush and we followed.

 

We thought we had lost them, and for the hyenas this was true, but the lioness was just out of our sight --- she had jumped into a tree to escape! I have tried to upload a short video of her trying to then get down, but YouTube says I have uploaded too much recently 🙄

 

That was fun, and with sundowners forgotten, we had one last stop to make - to where the family had seen the leopard last.  The leopard was no where to be seen, but remnants of its kill still hung in the tree.

 

 

This is a blurry photo but I really like the effect it has -

 

 

As we headed back to camp after what I thought was a very successful game drive for my introduction to Ngala, there was something crossing the road in front of us.

 

My first African Wild Cat.

 

 

 

I said goodbye to the two members of family left in the car as they would not be joining us for the morning drive, so I went to bed excited for what the next day would bring.

 

[Toxic]

Ngala Safari Camp - Day 10

 

According to my phone this day was relatively slow paced, so I will cover the morning and evening drive in this post.

 

Our first plan of action, having the vehicle to me, myself and I, was to head back in the direction of that leopard kill in the tree and see if there was any activity, and see if we came across anything on the way.

 

We first came across these two elephants having a water fight. It was enjoyable listening to and watching them, they'd get completely submerged for a few seconds and come up and spray water in the air. 

 

 

 

 

We came across these birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And found our carcass, untouched and unloved from the previous night, and no leopard in sight.

 

 

A little bit of hide and seek:

 

 

And just around the corner, we came across a couple of lions getting ready for their day sleeps.  The lioness was injured with her stomach area quite bloody, but in a good area for licking to keep it clean.

 

 

 

 

I will at this point share this picture, we were driving through a sandbank of the extremely dry river bed. It was quite the experience, and image hopefully displays where the water level normally is - so it was really dry!

 

I struggled to envision quite how this place would look with this river running through it, we used the riverbed quite a lot as a shortcut.

 

 

 

[Time lapse to evening drive] 

 

We had not far out of camp for our evening drive a female kudu greet us

 

 

After driving for approx 20 minutes, we saw something familiarly gold sitting at the side of the road.

 

 

She was not the most friendly of leopards - she was hissing and snarling at the vehicle (as you'll hear in the video my guide saying "she likes doing that" and not to worry about it 😂) 

 

 

What happened for the next 40 or so minutes was a lot of fun, we were trying to follow her as she was attempting to court a male leopard. 

 

 

We were off-roading in difficult terrain, lots of rocks and trees to maneuver around. Frustratingly all my photos and videos as a result suck, and this video capture is all I provide for a clear(ish) view of the male.  

 

 

He was not interested, and hearing him roar to tell her to "back off" was interesting. No baby making from this couple, at least for today, she was just trying to get him familiar with her presence in his territory.

 

I understand why she was displeased with our vehicle's presence now -- I too would be unhappy if someone was trying to watch me seduce my love interest and failing.

 

Anyway, they moved off together into places we could not follow, so we made our way back out of the heavy woods and had a lovely sundowner with a lovely sunset.

 

 

 

[Peter Connan]

I would just like to put it on record that finishing school for Buffalo has been closed for many years due to bad behavior. One lecturer lamenting about bulls and China shops...

 

Great sightings of the hunting dogs, the Lioness and Hyena and the amorous Leopard!

[Toxic]

Thank you as always for your comment @Peter Connanand to everyone else following along, apologies for the slight delay in the next part - going to type it up right now!

 

[Toxic]

Ngala Safari Camp - Day 11 (Morning Drive)

 

This was a particularly chilly morning, rains were on the horizon and clouds were grey. After arriving for the usual morning coffee and biscuits, and having being informed that the couple who were supposed to have joined us this morning didn't actually check in last night, I would have the vehicle to myself again. Result!

 

Our first sightings of the day would be these two BoP 

 

 

 

And then two hyena just laying and stretching in the road.

 

 

 

 

We stayed with them for a short while, no other vehicles were around or approaching so I enjoyed just listening to this one yawn, growl, before they eventually walked off. 

 

Shortly after, we came across these zebra, who got spooked by something ahead of them.  So we went to see what they could see that we couldn't... 

 

 

We came across this crash of rhino, with one younger than the other three. Again, the only vehicle around, so we got to watch them just graze and play, the younger one squaring up to the older male (and giving him a little scratch). Loved hearing the horns clash, and I don't know about anyone else but I always find being around rhino - especially healthy younger ones - a cathartic experience.

 

 

 

I got this photo which if you will all amuse me with my pretend photography skills, I've made b&w for strong effect 😂

 

 

After watching them for a while, they had moved off into some dense bush and rather than attempt to follow and possibly disrupt or spook them, we went off to see what else we could find.

 

We would spend the next 40 minutes at a hyena den, watching some very young pups come too close to the jeep and run away again, go back to mum, back into the den, and back out again.

 

I know some people think hyenas are ugly but I think they get a bad rep, as this was a lovely sighting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was time for some morning coffee, and we stopped overlooking a waterhole. 

 

A small herd of elephants came to drink as we were having our coffee, and as you'll see my hairspray was no match for the wind that day!

 

 

 

Coffee done, we headed slowly back to camp. There was nothing to report except that we ran into a traffic jam of a slow grazing elephant in the middle of the road, but I don't mind waiting for them to pass.  

 

We got back to camp and the general manager informed my guide that just as we had arrived, some members of the Birmingham Pride and their cubs (featuring a little white lioness) had been found, and they were laying down in the bush for the day. 

 

Our plan for the evening drive had been cemented before I got to breakfast... 

[AndrewB]

With you on Hyena @Toxic

Love watching them, I find them fascinating, especially at a den.

[ricmiles]

What a great trip. Thanks for sharing!

[Toxic]

Thank you @ricmilesand @AndrewBfor following along and also @Athene, @Zubbie15, @michael-ibk, @duenelle, @offshorebirder, @mopsy, @Bush dog, @Zim Girl, @Peter Connan, @Treepolfor the post likes, and to those also indulging me by following along! 🥰

 

I loved the evening drive that is below - though with our focus only being on seeing the lions, we ended up not seeing very much else!

 

I will add some context for those interested.

 

Before my arrival there were 9 cubs for the Birmingham Pride, and they announced the discovery of another white lion cub - taking the total naturally born white lion population on the property to 4 (and 5 in total in the wild).  The cub below is the female white cub from a tawny lioness, and has 2 tawny siblings.  As I followed for updates, one of the white cubs (born to the white lioness), a baby boy, was unfortunately killed (presumed, he had not been spotted for weeks, that have drawn into months and now a year), and while you can never expect to see anything on safari, I had silent hopes to glimpse one of the white lions during my stay at Ngala. I didn't get to see the grown lioness as she had gone into Kruger, but I was very fortunate to spend some time with this young one on two occasions, the first is below.

 

Ngala Safari Camp - Day 11 (Evening Drive)

 

As we already knew what our plans would be, and still the only person in the vehicle (though tomorrow I was told we would be joined by TWO new couples!), we headed off to the other side of the reserve where members of the Birmingham Pride were spotted earlier, hopefully as it was cooling down the lion cubs would be active so we could see them.

 

Our first sighting were these grazers 

 

 

And after some more driving, we reached them.

 

We were in luck as two of the cubs were active, and as you'll see from the video all my attention was mostly on this little white lioness. 

 

She was practicing her stalking (and failing miserably) but they were adorable to watch, and to my surprise there wasn't a great deal of interest from others to see these (possibly didn't want to take the risk to drive all this way for them to be in a bush?) and we were with only one other vehicle for a very long time.

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually word had got out that the cubs were active and other vehicles started approaching, so very satisfied, and having foregone sundowners so we could spend more time with the cubs, we began the long journey back to camp.

 

We did come across some zebra crossing the road, and I got this photo which I quite like:

 

 

And we also came across this owl who did not look best pleased to see us!

 

[michael-ibk]

Very special sighting of that Lion cub! And fully agree about Hyena, I really like watching them, especially the young ones.

[Toxic]

Thanks @michael-ibk, yes watching her play was very enjoyable, and young hyenas are so curious and mischievous so always fun watching them!!

 

I shall post about my last full day shortly 🥳

[Peter Connan]

Young Hyena (and Lion, especially white ones) are very cute.

Grown Hyena scare the pants off me like nothing else in Africa with the possible exception of the Gaboon Adder.