The characterful stripes of the Klaserie.
Mike and Fiona send us a lovely write-up from their holiday location in the Klaserie, telling us about the exciting game sightings they have enjoyed on game drive and, of course, on foot!
We are now back in our favourite place – the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, and nThambo and Africa on Foot camps. You know you are in for a good holiday when you are greeted with a warm smile and welcome from Lily, the manageress, and Luan, our ranger, at nThambo Tree Camp. As always, it’s nice to relax by the pool, or catch up on some much needed sleep, in the luxury tree house. The weather was very hot and the animals are out in abundance. General game, including impala, kudu, zebra and wildebeest all around on game drives, plus the family of warthogs coming to the local pan in front of the lodge for their daily drink.
nThambo Tree Camp’s splash pool, surrounded by the inviting sun loungers and looking out onto the unfenced Klaserie Reserve. Image by Em Gatland.
nThambo’s luxury treehouse-style accommodation. Image by Em Gatland.
At Africa on Foot we were greeted by Patrick, our ranger, amongst the laughter of children around camp. Africa on Foot is a family friendly camp, and its lovely to see the excitement on the children’s faces when they see animals for the first time, whether it be a lion, or a family of dwarf mongoose scurrying around a termite mound. As its name suggest, a big part of life here is not just about seeing the Big 5, but also seeing the small things on foot – the tracks, droppings and signs of animals, plus the trees and flowers. That said, we encountered a large, lone bull elephant on morning walk, about 50 metres in front of us – so different to see animals on foot.
Game drives have been good, so far. It’s always nice to see a ” tower” of giraffe feeding, oblivious to us watching them. It’s always entertaining watching elephants at this time of the year, busy destroying trees to get to the juicy, nutritious roots. Enoch, our tracker, spent an hour tracking 2 white rhinos. We finally found them in an open clearing, just as the sun was setting behind them (making for a stunning sighting and photo opportunity).
The highlight as always has been the lion sightings. We have seen 2 Ross Pride lionesses a couple of times so far. We came across Mila relaxing (very unladylike) with a full belly, by the side of a dam. She didn’t flinch as we drove up close. Suddenly her sister “Lisa” appeared over the dam wall, thirsty and desperate for a refreshing drink from the dam. Only at this point did Mila get up and walk around the dam to greet her sister.
We saw them both the following night in the darkness, trying to catch a warthog for their dinner. The warthog was deep in its burrow, and the 2 lionesses were busy digging to get him out. We sat watching them in the spotlight for almost an hour as they dug deeper and deeper, still not reaching the animal inside. We left them there, wishing them luck, as we headed back for our own dinner back at Africa on Foot. (We heard the next morning that rangers had been back to the sight and seen evidence that they had finally killed the warthog during the night). (See the Africa on Foot Facebook page for the video of the lioness digging for the warthog.)
We know The Trilogy male lions are in the area. We have seen their tracks and other evidence – including the remains of a hyena they had killed as competition for food, rather than their lunch. We have also heard them calling during the night from not too far away. Hopefully they will come calling tomorrow – fingers crossed, and we’ll keep you posted…
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