Category Archives: Guided Tours

Snaps on Tour: Cheetahs that weren’t all that hungry…

It was mid-morning as we were driving back towards Shingwedzi along the S50 road that skirts the mostly dry course of the Shingwedzi River when we came across three youngish cheetahs on their way towards one of the few waterholes remaining this deep into the dry season. By then we had already seen Africa’s two other species of big cat, lion and leopard (more about them in posts to follow), on that same stretch of road that same morning, so we were thrilled to add the third to our tally even before 09h00!

As the cheetahs approached the waterhole a herd of impala noticed them and started running away, prompting one of the three cheetahs to follow in hot, if unsuccessful, pursuit. The remaining two cheetahs, less energetically, sauntered to the water and then took up a position in the open to wait for the return of their companion. While lying there a family of warthogs almost stepped right on top of them but our excitement at the prospect of an easy hunt for the cheetahs were quickly dashed when they just turned their backs on what looked like easy pickings.

Cheetah

Cheetahs

Cheetah

Cheetahs

Cheetah

Cheetah and Warthogs. Will he or won’t he?

Cheetah and Warthogs. No, he won’t.

I am a fully accredited and legally registered tour guide (with all the necessary insurance, professional drivers license and first aid certification) – don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like me to arrange a guided tour of beautiful South Africa and all her natural wonders, like the Kruger National Park, for you as well, or even just to assist with your holiday reservations for our national parks and nature reserves throughout the country.

Snaps on Tour: Lowveld Scenery in the Kruger National Park

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In October 2024 I had the immense pleasure of hosting long-time blogging friend John Steiner (of Journeys with Johnbo), his wife Lynn, John’s niece Patricia Broesder and her husband Gary on a tour of Cape Town and the Kruger National Park. In Kruger we were joined by colleagues Hannes Rossouw and Irving Knight, both experts in their respective fields.

The Kruger National Park is an enormous tract of land, for the most part entirely untouched by human interference, where the heart of Africa still beats to its own rhythm, and whether there are any people around to witness it or not makes no difference to her beauty. Scenes like these make my soul soar. I’m sure it had the same effect on our guests.

Sunset over the plains south of Satara

The Sweni Spruit

A pool of water near Satara

Olifants River

Olifants River at the end of the dry season

Looking up into Von Willich’s baobab

Sabie River sunrise

Sabie River in golden light

Sunset scenery around Skukuza

Olifants River at the end of the dry season

Pioneer Dam at Mopani

The bone dry confluence of the Shingwedzi and Mphongolo Rivers

Waterhole north of Babalala

Snaps on Tour: The Loneliest Elephant

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Still on the subject of elephants. Travelling between Letaba and Satara one early afternoon we came across a most harrowing sight of a lone young elephant, emaciated and totally oblivious to his surroundings and most certainly too small to have been expelled from the herd, walking along an elephant footpath towards – well, what? There was no elephant herd anywhere nearby and we could only guess as to why he was so terribly alone, and obviously has been for quite a while, and where he might be headed. Nature can be cruel at times and watching her take her course is not always easy, but in national parks like the Kruger that is exactly what has to happen. There can only be human intervention if the problem was caused by human interference to begin with and in this case there was no reason to suspect that this was the case.

Young elephant totally alone in the wilderness

Luckily we had many other wonderful encounters with elephants during our visit where we could watch their endearing familiar relations and interactions within the herd.

African Elephant

Young elephant

African Elephant

Baby Elephant

African Elephant

Baby elephant

Big old elephant bull between Satara and Olifants in the Kruger National Park

African Elephant

Baby elephant

Elephant

Elephant calf

Elephant Tusker

Tiny baby elephant

Elephant cow walking past Shingwedzi Camp’s entrance

Snaps on Tour: A Stingy Elephant

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Last month, while following the course of the Mphongolo River north of Shingwedzi in the Kruger National Park on our morning drive, we came across this amusing scene at the Mavatsani waterhole, just south of the turnoff to Sirheni Bushveld Camp. The day was already quite hot and a herd of elephants, a couple of buffaloes, some baboons, nyalas and warthogs were milling around the muddy water. An elephant cow claimed a hole from which clear water was seeping but had her hands – or is that head, trunk and front leg? – full with a youngster trying to muscle his way in on her treasure. The calf protested with loud screams when she tried to shove him away but he did not give an inch and, her gentle nature obviously winning over her frustration, the cow eventually let him through to quench his thirst from her well.

Mavatsani Waterhole between Sirheni and Shingwedzi in the Kruger National Park

Elephant cow bullying a youngster at the waterhole

Snaps on Tour: Skukuza Veldfires

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We were heading south from Satara to Skukuza and already noticed the enormous column of smoke from near Tshokwane Picnic Spot, about 35km as the crow flies from our destination. Fire (especially naturally occurring fires caused mainly by lightning) is an integral part of savanna ecosystems like the Kruger National Park and a rather common occurrence at the start of spring, when the end of the dry season results in the vegetation being terribly desiccated. Still, having to pass straight through the fires, feeling the heat of the flames on the side of the road and breathing the acrid smoke, is an exciting affair and leaves one with a great appreciation for the teams of firefighters battling the flames (as they do with unplanned human-caused runaway fires like this one, at the time thought to have been caused by a spark from an electrical pylon). This particular blaze almost took out the airport building at Skukuza, though in the end ironically the building suffered enough water damage from the efforts to prevent it going up in flames to require temporary plans to be put in place for passengers using the facility to bypass the arrivals hall, check-in counters and car-hire offices. Thankfully we didn’t notice any large animals hurt or killed in the fire and no people suffered any injuries worth reporting on, but doubtless many smaller animals succumbed, providing a boon for especially insectivorous birds.

Plumes of smoke rising above the forest lining the Sabie River

Smoke rising from a stretch where the fire already passed through

Fire raging around Skukuza

Thick smoke filling the area burning near Skukuza’s airport

Smouldering veld after the previous day’s fires

Snaps on Tour: Waiting and Watching at Transport Dam

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One morning we headed out from Skukuza in Irving’s open safari vehicle towards the areas west of the Kruger Park‘s biggest tourist node, and after a few hours arrived at the Transport Dam, an expansive man-made waterhole well frequented by a myriad of birds and animals. At first, all appeared calm in and around the dam with heavy clouds in the sky. A few hippos and nile crocodiles were bobbing in the water, some antelope and warthog were milling around on the banks, a fish eagle was flying overhead, a grey heron stood near us on a rock and in the distance a spotted hyena looked lazily out over the lake.

Hippos in Transport Dam

Crocodile in Transport Dam

Waterbuck, impala and warthog mingling on the banks of Transport Dam

A Fish Eagle flying over Transport Dam

Grey Heron on the bank of Transport Dam

Spotted Hyena lying down at Transport Dam

But as so often happens, patience is wonderfully rewarded in nature. The peace was suddenly shattered by thrashing in the water, coming from both sides of where we were parked! To our right, a massive crocodile was ripping a blue wildebeest carcass to shreds and on the other side a smaller crocodile was doing the same to an impala carcass! They were soon joined by other crocodiles trying to muscle in on the action.

Crocodile feasting on a wildebeest carcass in Transport Dam

Crocodile feast

Crocodile feasting on a wildebeest carcass in Transport Dam

Crocodile feasting on a wildebeest carcass in Transport Dam – Hadedas take flight!

Crocodile feasting on an impala carcass in Transport Dam

Crocodiles feasting on a wildebeest carcass in Transport Dam

Waterbuck bull looking into the water with some suspicion!

Immediately, the hyena was up and running from side to side trying to see if it could get a cut if the meat, pieces of which were now flying all over the show, while the fish eagle dropped from the sky with the same aim.

Hyena frantically trying to get a bite of the action

Hyena frantically trying to get a bite of the action – zebras fleeing!

Hyena frantically trying to get a bite of the action

Fish Eagle dropping in for a bite

The grey heron had a different reaction, regurgitating its latest meal before flying off, only to circle around, land in the same spot and then pecking at its discarded fish meal but opting rather to wash out its mouth with a drink from the dam…

Grey Heron regurgitating its latest meal

Grey Heron trying a piece of the regurgitated fish

…but not liking it at all

Going down to the water to wash out its mouth

Soon after the last scraps of the carcasses disappeared down the throats of the crocodiles, however, relative calm returned to the dam. A baby hippo ventured onto dry land for a walk about and a herd of blue wildebeest risked moving in for a drink. Anyone arriving then would’ve no clue about the dramas we’d just witnessed!

Baby Hippo

Blue Wildebeest herd drinking from the Transport Dam

Snaps on Tour: At the top of Table Mountain

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Earlier in October I had the immense pleasure of hosting long-time blogging friend John Steiner (of Journeys with Johnbo), his wife Lynn, John’s niece Patricia Broesder and her husband Gary on a tour of Cape Town and the Kruger National Park.

The iconic Table Mountain looms large over the city of Cape Town, rising to over 1km (more than 3,500ft) above sea level. Millions of people from all over the world visit the mountain annually, traversing it along the well planned network of pathways (always hike in groups!) or using the aerial cableway to get to the flat topped buttress in cable cars with rotating floors, which is the option we went with for our afternoon visit. While we were fortunate that the mountain was not covered in a table cloth of clouds the weather turned rather sour while we were waiting to ascend and it was rather chilly and windy when we got to the top, curtailing our exploration somewhat.

Table Mountain cableway

Looking down on Cape Town from atop Table Mountain – Robben Island in the distance

Looking down on Cape Town from atop Table Mountain

Looking down on Cape Town from atop Table Mountain – Robben Island in the distance

Viewsites atop Table Mountain

Snaps on Tour: Spring at Kirstenbosch

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You cannot visit Cape Town and not spend some time at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, considered one of the top gardens in the world. And can there be a better time of the year than the Spring season to visit a garden of this stature!? We spent several hours enjoying the grounds before having a delicious lunch at the Moyo restaurant.

The Kirstenbosch Conservatory houses plants native to dries parts of the country

Spotted Eagle Owl

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens

Kirstenbosch Spring Annuals Display

Common Dotted Border

Kirstenbosch Spring Annuals Display

Sour Fig in flower

Painted lady

Kirstenbosch Spring Annuals Display

Egyptian Goose in the Gazanias

Vygies in bloom

Bronze Mannikin

Cape Canary

Coral Tree flower

The Boomslang Treetop Walkway

Snaps on Tour: The most beautiful Cape in the world

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Earlier in October I had the immense pleasure of hosting long-time blogging friend John Steiner (of Journeys with Johnbo), his wife Lynn, John’s niece Patricia and her husband Gary on a tour of Cape Town and the Kruger National Park.

On our first day together I spent quite a bit of time with the Steiners and Broesders exploring every corner of the Cape of Good Hope section of the Table Mountain National Park. We took the funicular up to the lighthouse at Cape Point, had lunch at the Two Oceans Restaurant, and took in all the scenic sights and interesting wildlife from the excellent road network.

Scenery at the Cape of Good Hope

The lighthouse at Cape Point

Four-striped Grass Mouse

Bladder Grasshopper

Ostrich on the beach at the Cape of Good Hope

Cape Fur Seals

Scenery at the Cape of Good Hope

Ostriches on the beach at the Cape of Good Hope

Hadedas

African Oystercatcher

Scenery at the Cape of Good Hope

Kelp Gull

Scenery at the Cape of Good Hope

Da Gama cross

Bontebok ewe and lamb

Bontebok at the Cape of Good Hope

Scenery at the Cape of Good Hope

Snaps on Tour: Penguins galore, and much more, at Boulders

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The very first destination I took the Steiners and Broesders to was the Boulders Penguin colony just a few blocks down the road from the Simon’s Town Quayside Hotel where we stayed. While the Penguins are of course the main attraction there’s many other animals and birds and spectacular scenery as well that makes Boulders a must-see on any visit to the Mother City.