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Published: June 17th 2017
01 Resting
A baboon resting on a sign at the campground.Geo: -25.2174, 27.0071
My alarm went off at 5:45 this morning. We planned to get up early as the animals become less active as the temperature warms up. As we got ready we observed troops of monkeys and baboons raiding the campsites. This morning we wanted to drive along a different road, so we went along Dithabaneng. We didn't see much along here, although the scenery was beautiful. We had a break from driving at Malatse Hide which overlooked the dam. Here there were only a few birds.
We then came across a white rhino and her calf. These rhinos were also very calm and not bothered about us which surprises me because of rhino horn poaching. Further on there were two male impalas who were play fighting. Then we came across a new animal- Red Hartebeest. There were about 8 of them in the herd. We also saw more rhino, springbok and steenbok.
We were now back on the main road- Kgabo. At the Ratlhogo Hide we saw guinea fowl drinking at the dam and nothing else!
As we left the hide we came across a herd of grazing springbok- the national mammal. I then had a feeling about some rocks in the
02 Dam
Malatse Dam- nice place, but we didn't see much wildlife. distance so I used the binoculars. Elephants! I was glad we saw some, but they were too far away to properly see.
We were now heading in the direction of the Moloto Plains via Thutlwe and Safara Drive. Our sightings were greatly improving. On the way to the plains we saw some ostriches, zebra and finally a close sighting of a herd of breeding elephants. There were about 12 in the herd. My favourite was the tiny little baby and young one that continuously shook his head at us. We watched them for about 15 minutes and then they crossed the road into long grass, so we continued on our way.
There was a turn off for Lenong View and decided to go there. The road led us steeply uphill where there was a great view of the park. It looped back to Safara Drive and along here we came across a journey of giraffe. Then we finally arrived at Moloto Plains. Here there were many wildebeest, springbok, giraffe and zebra all hanging out together. We took lots of photos here.
On the map this was the half way position, so we planned out a return route. Between the open
03 In the Tree
Birds in this tree at Malatse Hide. Moloto plains and Batlhako Dam we saw rhino, red hartebeest and waterbuck. When we arrived at Batlhako Dam we came across a strange sight (in my opinion). There were three hippos sun baking on an island in the middle of the dam. I had always thought that during the day hippos kept cool in the water and only came out once the temperature lowered. There was also a crocodile swimming near the hide. We were now ready for lunch and camp was so far away! We made a little detour to Ruighoek Dam. Here there were more hippos, this time they were in the water. There were also a few terrapins, some swimming and others sunning themselves on the side of the dam.
We headed back to camp along Tlou Drive and then Tshwene. On the drive back I saw a rhino with the longest horn I've ever seen, it was really thin and pointy. We saw a game viewer on a side road with all the guests standing up to look at something so we pulled up behind them. We couldn't see a thing as it was thick bush. The guide called out to us that there is a lioness.
04 Mum and Bub
A white rhino and her calf. We could barely see her, so we drove on and I promised Lotta that Paul would find us lots of lions in Madikwe Game Reserve. We also saw some more giraffe and warthogs. Unlike yesterday where we saw many kudu, so far today we had not seen any.
We arrived back at 1pm from our morning drive. We were hungry, hot and tired. After a filling lunch consisting of sandwiches with last night's leftovers, we had a little siesta.
We got back in the car again at 3:30pm for our afternoon drive. We drove past Tilodi Dam again hoping to see the hippos from earlier on. They were still there, bobbing about in the water. We drove uphill along Nkakane to Tshepe, then onto Kwalata and up to the Fish Eagle lookout. On this drive all we saw were kudu, impala, wildebeest and waterbuck. It was a bit disappointing, although beautiful scenery that was just lacking animals!
Our last stop for the day was Makorwane Dam. From the hide we didn't see any animals. We started to head back to camp. Along Hippo Drive we saw some hippos in the dam and grazing zebra nearby.
Just before the gate we came across
05 Fighting
Two male impalas play fighting. the largest journey of giraffe I've ever seen. There were about 15 of them, all different ages crossing the road in front of us. Would have liked to stay and watch them, but the gate was closing very soon. One hundred metres from the gate there was a gathering of five cars. We couldn't see what they were looking at, but I have a feeling we missed out on seeing something really exciting....
We had another delicious barbeque dinner under the stars.
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