Sun Destinations

Mike and Fiona left Umkumbe Safari Lodge and headed for nThambo Tree Camp in the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve. Here is their account of life at the nThambo Tree Camp.

“Well here we are back at nThambo Tree Camp, it seems like only yesterday we were last here! We have been here 2 days already, and have had magnificent game viewing so far – the “Big 5” plus my favourite, the African Wild Dog.

We arrived on a cold cloudy afternoon, but our spirits were still high as we went out on our first game drive. Firstly we came across a large bull elephant rubbing himself against a tree to get rid of an awful itch (or maybe just parasites). Then we came across a large herd of buffalo, minding their own business eating their way through the bush. The icing on the cake, however, was an exceptional leopard sighting, well 2 leopards to be exact.

We saw  Cleo, the resident female leopard, in the dark via the spotlight, relaxing in the distance with a full belly.  Suddenly another leopard appeared by her side, her son, no longer a cub as almost as big as her. He walked straight towards us, very relaxed around he vehicle. We stayed with him for some time whilst we took photos of him, before he vanished back into the bush to join his mother.

The following morning was just as good. A we left camp we came across a pack of 9 wild dogs, sleeping in the shade, their ears twitching, listening to the sounds of the bush. Suddenly something spooked them and they all scattered into the bush, except the alpha male we stood on sentry duty, listening out for danger. He stood in front of the vehicle for a short time, before he too disappeared. Over the radio came a call that some of the Ross pride of lions had been seen on the other side of he reserve. We sped as fast as we could, but the female and 2 sub-adult males had vanished just before we arrived. A little disheartened we continued on our way, to be greeted by a large breeding herd of elephants, then a ‘dazzle’ of zebra, before we got back to camp.

Our prize came later in the day, as we came across 2 Ross pride females lionesses, relaxing in the  sun – making up for our disappointment the evening before. We stayed with them while they licked each other, yawned and then doing what all contented cats do best – fell asleep. Leaving them to their afternoon nap in peace we carried on our way, passing another large elephant bull.

This morning we were eager to spot rhino, the last of the big 5 not seen so far. And how lucky we were to come across 3 together, a bull, a female and her calf moving slowly through the greenery. They too were OK with us being there and posed nicely for a photo shoot. Afterwards we came across another herd of buffalo, still sleeping by the side of the road, as well as some kudu and another lone elephant. Back at the lodge we discussed how lucky we had been to see not just the Big 5, but 6 of the Magnificent 7 – “only the cheetah to go” we told Matt and Enoch, so no pressure for future drives!

We also saw lots of the nocturnal animals during the 2 night drives so far – porcupine, bushbaby, genet, chameleon and scrub hare, to name a few. It’s so nice to see the small things that most travellers overlook whilst on safari. Matt, our ranger, has also been persuaded by us as a group of keen guests to take us on a few ‘bush walks’ after breakfast. Here we have seen lots of small day-time things like, birds, trees, plants, animal dung and tracks. It was nice to see that a female leopard had walked through camp last night, while we were all asleep, leaving her paw-prints behind as evidence. Although not expecting to see anything larger we have been fortunate to see impala, zebra, warthogs, kudu and today we saw a hippo relaxing in a nearby dam – quite different to see on foot rather than on a vehicle.

So what will the next few days hold for us – well you’ll just have keep reading and wait and see?”