Category Archives: Memorable sightings

You don’t ALWAYS find lions behind EVERY bush, you know..?

When we visited in September, there appeared to be a convention of Lions around Lower Sabie Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park. Whether you were following the river in an easterly or westerly direction from camp, you would have been very unlucky not to encounter at least one pride of lions within the first 4 kilometers of your drive.

Mating pair of lions on the bank of the Sabie River

Lioness on a sand bank in the Sabie River (photo by Joubert)

Lions lazing on the rocks at Lubyelubye

Lion cub at Lubyelubye (photo by Joubert)

Lion cub at Lubyelubye

Pride of lions on a sandbank near Lower Sabie

Lioness on a sand bank in the Sabie River

Two male lions, one considerable older than the other, sharing a rock that overlooks the Sabie River

Lioness on a sand bank in the Sabie River

Big male lion staking his claim to a sandbank on the Sabie River

Pride of lions on a sandbank near Lower Sabie

Mating pair of lions on the bank of the Sabie River

On one occasion we even saw two lions right in front of camp while we were taking an afternoon stroll on the lawns! They spooked a herd of fleet-footed impala, alerting us to their presence as well.

Male and female lion walking the river bed in front of Lower Sabie Rest Camp

Finding Lions in Kruger is not always this easy. With the dry season now coming to an end, surface water is hard to come by, and the lions take advantage of this by ambushing herbivores coming to slake their thirst from the Sabie. We also found lions in other parts of the park while we were driving around, and in all instances they were close to or at a water source, lying in wait.

Lazy young lion on a hot day, just north of Crocodile Bridge

A pair of young lions waiting near Mac’s Pan for passing herds

Lone male resting near Lower Sabie

Jostling Hippos

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When we visited in September, Joubert had great fun photographing these young hippos testing their strength and skills against each other in the Sunset Dam just outside Lower Sabie in the Kruger National Park.

(All these photos were taken by Joubert, and are dedicated especially to you Lois!)

Sparring hippos (photo by Joubert)

Extreme Water Park?

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Anyone willing to share the Wild Waters of the Sabie River with this Nile Crocodile?

Come on – just look how much fun she’s having!?

Nile Crocodile cruising up to a rapid in the Sabie River

And over she goes!

And the Wild Ride is over…

Hyena family on the move

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One of the most compelling reasons when visiting the Kruger National Park (or any wildlife area really) to get up early and be one of the first vehicles through the gate in the early morning is that you exponentially improve your chances of having truly amazing wildlife encounters. We did just that while staying at Crocodile Bridge in September, and were rewarded with this incredible sighting of a clan of Spotted Hyenas on the move and reveling in the puddles of water on the road following a spring shower the night before.

Spotted Hyena clan on the move (photo by Joubert)

Spotted Hyenas on the move

Spotted Hyena matriarch

Spotted Hyenas licking rainwater from the road

Spotted Hyenas licking rainwater from the road (photo by Joubert)

While humming a Bobby Darin song…

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In the Kruger Park‘s Lower Sabie Rest Camp, on the way to the reception office, there’s a bird bath and fountain well frequented by a wide variety of birds, including beautiful Greater Blue-eared Starlings like this one. But you’re not really supposed to get out of the bath looking worse than you did before getting in, are you!?

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Splish-splash, I was taking a bath…

Greater Blue-eared Starling looking quite wet

First time ever!

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I have been visiting South Africa’s wild places for all my 40+ years, and yet there’s still many of their treasures I am yet to see. Following our September visit to the Kruger National Park I can now finally tick my first ever encounter with a leopard cub! We found the little one lazily watching the passing vehicles from a rocky outcrop along the main road between Tshokwane and Skukuza.

What luck!

Leopard cub (photo by Joubert)

Leopard cub in a rocky outcrop between Tshokwane and Skukuza

Going in search of rare antelope in Northern Kruger

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The northern parts of the Kruger National Park harbours populations of antelope rarely seen in the wild elsewhere in South Africa, and of course the Wild de Wets just love going in search of these special creatures. Our recent visit during the winter school holidays, basing ourselves for nine nights at Shingwedzi Rest Camp, yielded wonderful encounters with Eland, Nyala, Sharpe’s Grysbok and Tsessebe (and we’ll just have to get back there soon to find the roan antelope, sable antelope, lichtenstein’s hartebeest and reedbuck that eluded us!)