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| White lion near Satara |
Following
our stay at Pretoriuskop Camp in Kruger National Park (see here) we moved on the Lower Sabie Lodge for a 2-night stay. We left
early in the morning, seeing a troop of Chacma Baboons as we headed
east.
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| Chacma Baboon |
In
the morning mist we spotted a Roan Antelope, a rare animal in the
park. Then at a watering hole a fine Sable Antelope came in to drink.
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| Sable Antelope |
We
saw plenty of Wilderbeeste, Buchell's Zebra and Impala as we slowly
drove along.
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| Wilderbeeste |
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| Burchell's Zebra |
We
were pleased to find two White Rhinoceros – a female with a large
calf – in the scrub. Glenn and I inexplicably failed to see this
species during our last visit to Kruger in 1996 (although we saw it
at Mkuzi) when it was supposedly quite common in the park. In recent
years the population has been severely diminished with the poaching
of hundreds of rhino. So sightings are these days much more uncommon
than in the relatively recent past.
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| White Rhinoceros |
Soon after we saw our first African elephants of the trip; we were to see many more in the days ahead.
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| African Elephant |
We
found a party of Spotted Hyaena sunning themselves on the road.
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| Spotted Hyaena |
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| Spotted Hyaena |
We
called in at the park headquarters in Skukuza before moving on to
Lower Sabie in the south-eastern portion of the park. Stierling's
Wren-Warbler was something of a bogey bird for me as I had missed it
in the past. So we tried playback in several places and eventually
one showed nicely at Mhlupheka waterhole.
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| Stierling's Wren-Warbler |
A
pair of Southern Ground-Hornbills strutted their stuff by the road.
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| Southern Ground-Hornbill |
We
had game drives every morning and late afternoon at each of the
lodges we stayed at. Lower Sabie had a nice mix of habitat with
rivers, open woodland and thornbush scrub. We saw a large leopard
resting under an acacia on the banks of the Sabie River.
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| Leopard |
Our
first lions were brief views of a male and female, then a fine male
early in the morning as it lay stretched out on the ground.
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| Lion |
We
found another two White Rhinoceros in scrub south of Lower Sabie Camp.
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| White Rhinoceros |
A
pool near the lodge entrance had large numbers of Nile Crocodile and
Hippopotomus.
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| Hippopotamus |
 |
| Nile Crocodile & Impala |
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| Nile Crocodile |
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| Lower Sabie waterhole |
Hippopotamus
were also seen emerging from the river nearby to feed during the late
afternoon.
 |
| Hippopotamus |
Among
the birds around the dam were Three-banded Plover and African
Spoonbill.
 |
| African Spoonbill |
 |
| Three-banded Plover |
We
then transferred to Satara Camp for a 2-night stay. Satara is one of
the finest lodges for game-viewing as there are extensive areas of
short-grassed plains.
 |
| Plains between Lower Sabie & Satara |
 |
| Sunset at Satara |
On the way to Satara we found another leopard,
this one partially concealed as in rested in the branches of a thick
acacia.
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| Leopard |
More
game drives. We found three lionesses feeding on an Impala it had
just killed.
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| Lions on Impala kill |
Black-backed
Jackal was added to the ever growing list of mammals.
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| Black-backed Jackal |
A
waterhole a few kilometres west of the lodge was popular. Lions were
here as well, with a large male marking its territory.
 |
| Lion |
Mammals
of various species such as Giraffe, Chacma Baboon and Impala, freely
mixed as they came in to drink. Conditions in the park during our
visit were harsh and hot, with no water away from the main rivers and
a few watering holes. This was in stark contrast to our visit 22
years ago, when all was green and lush following good seasonal rains.
However, because of the sparse vegetation, we saw more game during
this visit.
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| Chacma Baboon & Impala |
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| Giraffe & Impala |
On
a drive east of Satara we came across a pride of 17 lions, including
a fine white male (see top image). They nonchalantly strolled past the vehicle
without giving us a side glance. The pride was clearly on the hunt,
with the lionesses in the lead.
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| Lion pride |
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| Lioness |
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| Sub-adult male Lion |
Nyala was among the mammals we saw during our game drives.
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| Nyala |
We
saw our first Common Ostrich in on the plains, while Flappet Lark and Croaking Cisticola were numerous.
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| Common Ostrich |
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| Flappet Lark |
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| Croaking Cisticola |
One
evening at Satara Lodge we tracked down an African Scops-Owl. On the second evening we saw an African Wild Cat with a kitten, as well as a Lesser Galago.
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| African Scops-Owl |
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| African Wild Cat |
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