Blogs from Skukuza, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa - page 3

Geo: -24.9854, 31.6018erOnce again, story about falling behind in the stories being written. The stories have fallen behind and then to complicate things, the camera is still set on US time and so the chronology of the pictures gets messed up. For example things that happen on the morning of the 29 by the afternoon, they are showing up on the 30th. This gets confusing in putting the stories together.Oh well, deal with it Laura! To be perfectly honest on this story, it is a combination of two days where we did many of the same things so................We were second at the gate this morning and we were early enough to go and check out the sightings board. Like at many of these gates, the magnets indicating various animals are not always accurate because children and ... read more

Geo: -24.9854, 31.6018This happens on occasion when keeping up with these travel stories; you get behind.While we are traveling, have found itl to keep a notecard in top pocket and record any expenditures, field notes of what we are seeing, and so on. When get ready to type the story have these notes to refer to because do not get everything done in a timely fashion !This was a fairly low key day where we must have done a short drive and come back to camp and done a nice walk and done some cooking. We have some pictures showing the cooking we did!We also did a very nice walk around Skukuza. It is a very large camp and so there are a lot of roads to walk on and there is a nice long stretch ... read more

Geo: -24.9854, 31.6018Then a couple pulls in beside us and tells us there is a leopard in a tree down near Lower Sabie. Won't have any trouble finding it because there is a huge traffic jam; in fact the traffic control police had apparently come and moved the crowd along. Told us it was on our side as we were heading toward Lower Sabie.Finish our lunch and head on down toward the action. Sure enough, the jam is still going on. Manage to get in position to be able to see the leopard but it is not making it easy to see much less get a shot. Did take some shots and then pull into the pullout right there and take some more pictures. Move on down the road and come across a pair of mating ... read more

Geo: -24.9854, 31.6018Drove back to Johannesburg rain off and on the entire way. We had to stop for road construction a couple of time but the scenery was nice as we waited. The jacaranda trees were in full bloom and quite lovely with the mist and mountains.We stopped to fix lunch and bought things at the Super Spar in Melalane so we would not have to go out once we got to Shoestrings. Got there and it had cleared briefly and we were able to get the car unloaded before it began raining again!Gave gifts to Rob, Tabitha and Jacqueline, fixed dinner, had glass of wine with Rob and then off to bed.The next day was spent cleaning up and packing things to head for Switzerland. Got the car turned in and then said our goodbyes ... read more

Geo: -24.9854, 31.6018First thing we did this morning when we left the gate was try to find the leopard kill we had watched the evening before. This was the most mysterious thing; the kill was visible but no leopard nor were there any other animals coming to snack on it? Oh well, continued on our way.Saw a snake crossing the road. Not sure what kind it was and it soon disappeared from sight. We decided to try out some roads we had not done as yet. We were heading down the road when we all of a sudden saw a mother warthog with about 6-8 newborn babies out of the burrow. She did not allow them to stay outside very long and hustled them back into the burrow. What a great sighting!We decided to take the ... read more