Day 40 Letaba (9 of 13) May 20

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Men will weep
Woman will wish
















Keep your eyes only on the size of the tusks, magnificent

Now look what else you see!!!!!

Took a slow drive to Olifants along the river road S46 S93 S44, had breakfast at the new restaurant. back along the tar.

Made a bread and shared it with our neighbours, Bill and Yvonne from Durbanville and Sedgefield, also with Pat and Gale from PE. With the left over dough we made a pizza over the coals, excellent. Elephants at the fence tonight, lots of activity, very exciting

Day 38 and 39 Letaba (7 / 8 of 13) May 18 / 19

Note the large tusks, when we tried to pass the Elephant on his right he turned and charged us with a lot of trumpeting. I managed to get the car under control about a 100 m away. A real adrenalin rush. I gave Lettie the camera anticipating a problem and told her to click away if he charged, she got such a fright and dropped the camera in the car.

Day 39 19 May

Planned to take the river road to Olifants but as we left camp changed our mind and decided to take the river road to Mingerhout dam S47. From there we took the S131 and did a new 2 track road which crossed the tar H9 and ended on the Sable dam road S51.Saw some magnificent large Tuskers. We spent some time at the Sable bird hide which is on the Sable dam. You can overnight at the hide, it has fold down beds and an enclosed braai area. It is available from 30 min before gates close to 30 min after gates open when it is again open for general viewing. Had lunch at Masorini Archaeological site and returned to camp along the tar arriving back at 16h00 a long day in the saddle.
When we got back we looked at the sightings board and saw that Leopard had been seen on the road that we planned to take in the first place, we seem to be making the wrong choices as this is not the first time we have missed something.


Day 38 18 May

Early morning drive to Matambeni bird hide on the northern side of the Letaba river. Went all the way to the Longe lookout point, very little game to report on, but a great scenic drive with a great view of Engelhard dam, it is on the list for a return trip before we leave.

Day 37 Letaba (6 of 13) May 17

Took a slow drive up to Mooiplaas for breakfast via the Tsende loop S48. Returned via Nshawu S 50 and down the H1-6 back to Letaba. We saw a large herd of Buffalo, plenty of Elephant and added Tsessebe to our master list. Spent the afternoon in camp chatting to our neighbours.

Day 36 Letaba (5 of 13) May 16

Impala ram taken by Leopard

All night we lay wondering what might be happening at the Leopard kill, had Lions perhaps stolen it and driven the Leopard off? Maybe Hyaena’s had harassed the Leopard into giving it up?
We left at first light, to find the first kill untouched; the second kill’s rump had been eaten.
We searched and scanned the area for the Leopard, someone told us they saw the Leopard, but it had moved off in the direction of the other kill. We reversed back and found the Leopard close to the road. It dragged the uneaten kill further in and proceeded to feed.
What a great sighting and the second big highlight of our trip so far.
Very unusual to see a Leopard take down two Impala at the same time.
We hope to see many more like this over the next 50 or so days that we have left in the Kruger Park.

Very light drizzle today with cloud cover which is going to spoil our sighting of the crescent moon next to Venus just after sunset as explained in the blog on Day 30 and 31

Day 35 Letaba (4 of 13) May 15

We spent the morning in camp, cleaned car and caravan, Lettie did a load of washing.
Late afternoon drive to see a Leopard, our neighbours gave us the co-ordinates of the kill.
The Leopard was not on the kill. there were two Impala rams taken by the Leopard, apparently they were fighting when the Leopard killed both of them a hundred metres apart. We sat there for a while and decided to drive a little further on and return later. Bad decision, when we got back the Leopard had moved the one kill deeper into the bush. Could only see him through the binoculars in dense foliage with no photo opportunity. Had to leave at 17h15 as we were 15 min away from the gate, which closes at 17h30. We plan to return early tomorrow morning to see what is at both kills.
Late braai and watched the Stormers beat the Bulls B team.

The new "Spot and Identify the Animal" is on the Pages