Sun Destinations

Mike and Fiona Clark continue to send us feedback of their epic safari at nThambo Tree Camp and Africa on Foot in the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve. Seems they enjoyed an array of sightings which included wild dog, lions and even rhino ! Here is their account of day 2 at the Klaserie camps.

 

Wow what a day. We left for our afternoon game drive after a home cooked quiche for lunch. About 10 minutes into the drive we suddenly saw a single wild dog at the side of the Land Rover, heading off into the bush. Despite the ground still being wet and muddy we decided to follow the wild dog.  Unfortunately, we had to give up before we got completely stuck and headed back towards the road. We could just see the dog in the distance. We decided to follow the road where we predicted it would cross and we were right. Suddenly it appeared in the middle if the road next to the grass and to our surprise the rest of the pack stood up and started yelping (about 9 in total). We stayed with them all for about 30 minutes whilst they played in the water and rested in the sun.

 

 

 

Next we drove off full of expectation for the remainder of the drive and we weren’t disappointed. First we came across 2 rhino, a herd of impala and a lone blue wildebeest at the dam. Then we found the lions again – 1 male and 3 females. They had moved a few hundred metres down the road from where we saw them on morning drive. After observing them sleeping and doing nothing, we left them. They did not move an inch ! We set off for sundowners close to the small dam, stopping on the way for a herd of elephants.

On the way back to camp we heard lions roaring which were the 2 males calling to each other. There we found the second lion at the side of the road, looking a little worse for wear and sporting a few more battle scars on his face.

Back at camp the nThambo team had once again produced a lovely meal, which was enjoyed with small amounts of wine and beer. We then went to bed, with thunder and lightening on the horizon, our fingers crossed that the storm would not hit us overnight.

 

 

 

4.30am wake-up call arrived, and no rain, so off we set, our sights set on finding buffalo and a leopard, to complete the ‘Big 5’. We came across the 2 male lions, who had been calling all night. They had finally caught up with each other, both moving a little way down the road to meet up. They were both very lazy, one hiding in the grass sleeping. We left them in peace, and carried on our quest, coming across zebra, giraffe and elephants on our way. Finally after a little rain, we finally found a large heard of buffalo, lying in the deep bush. We waited whilst they woke up and crossed the road in front of us. Carrying on we were all looking for leopard. However we couldn’t keep our eyes in the bush, we were on spider lookout – large golden webs crossing the roads! Scary, but also very funny to see all our faces and yoga movements to make sure we avoided them. So no leopard today, but still hoping for later.