We bid you good evening from Letaba Rest Camp, in the Kruger National Park!
We arrived through Phalaborwa Gate early this morning and will spend one night here at Letaba before moving on to Punda Maria in the morning.
We had a fleeting late-morning sighting of a leopard on the prowl, but the highlight of the day unquestionably has to be the time we spent with the magnificent old elephant bull Masthulele, currently the biggest of Kruger’s tuskers, where he was feeding in the Letaba River not far from camp.
Edit: SANParks announced in September 2017 that Masthulele died during 2016.
Just love this photo … what a majestic animal. Enjoy your trip. Bob’s friend in Sweden. Viveka
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Nice to meet you Viveka and thank you for visiting!
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You’re so lucky to be able to do this. I’m super envious but it’s so lovely to be able to see it all through your blog. Wishing you a superb weekend dear de Wet family 🙂
Joey
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Thank you very much dear Joey!
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Great sighting! Have fun on the rest of your trip.
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Thank you very much Mike!
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Reblogged this on The Photographic Journey of bulldog. and commented:
This is what I call an absolutely privileged sighting in the Kruger National Park. The De Wets were lucky to run into the biggest tusk carrier alive in the park today… and that is a privilege… have a look at that photo…
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Thanks Bulldog for sharing our post and photo with your friends!
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Now that is an encounter that we all wish for.. when we lived in Lydenburg we visited the South of the Park more than the North and it was always a total success when we managed to run into Duke before he lost his Tusks and life… but this is just such a wonderful encounter… will we see more photos of him in the future.?? I wonder how many people realise what a privilege it is to get such a sighting…
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Thank you Bulldog! We searched for Duke many times but always fruitless – how lucky you are. We’ve seen Masthulele quite regularly of late as, in his old age, he seems to hang around the Letaba area permanently. We are always dumbfounded by some other visitors who seem not to recognise what a rare privilege it is to see a tusker like Masthulele and Duke – even yesterday when I told another group that the elephant they were looking at is so special that he has a name, they thought I was joking and just drove off…
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Have an enjoyable trip! Love this photo 🙂
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Thank you very much Amy!
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Beautiful place to be!
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Thanks Rider – we agree wholeheartedly!
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Good evening you lucky De Wets! Warm memories about this beautiful place. We’ve seen some big Ellies around there though not so close. Enjoy your stay and looking forward to more updates. Some big antilopes perhaps? 😉
Maurice
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Thank you Maurice!
We’re holding thumbs for sightings of some of the rare antelope on our way to Punda Maria tomorrow!
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