THURSDAY 27 OCTOBER 2011 OLIFANTS TO SATARA
Check in at the camps these days is at 2:00 p.m. so we decided to sleep in a bit later, cook breakfast at Olifants and then slowly make our way to Satara.
We bade farewell to the elephants crossing the Olifants River then set off at 8:35.

This beautiful water buck was just outside the gate.

We then followed the H1-4 and picked up more waterbuck – we found many all over the park – giraffe, kudu and impala before reaching the Ngotso Waterhole. Here we found three elephants and a few zebra having a drink together. But every time the zebra put their heads down to drink they jumped up and started nipping and playing roughly with each other. This happened a few times and we then noticed that it was the elephants were teasing them – it was subtle at first – we noticed a slight disturbance in the water then all of a sudden one elephant got closer and squirted the zebra with water from his trunk! It was hilarious. “It might be funny for you,” the zebra seemed to say, “But its not funny for us!” They withdrew from the waterhole and waited till the Ellies were in a better mood. Waiting nearby were three or four warthogs who did not venture near – there is definitely a pecking order in the animal kingdom
Next we came across yet another group of Ground Hornbills. They were walking along the road as usual at quite a pace but we managed to snap their portraits and noted down the co-ordinates for the research monitors.

At Nyamarki waterhole a lone elephant was quenching his thirst together with some grey-headed sparrows who showed no concern about their huge drinking partner. A lesser striped swallow perched in a tree nearby and we saw a large herd of buffalo on the horizon as we drove further along.
At 10 we turned onto the S124 ticked off Swainson’s Francolin

and Red-crested korhaan then turned onto the S39 and arrived at Ratelpan hide at 11:00. The road took us alongside the river and we stopped to see Great White Egret and many crocodiles and hippo. We looked for the injured one we saw yesterday but he was nowhere to be seen. We found out later from a lady who entered Ratlepan hide with a bang of the door and a very loud voice that he’d gone nearer the river and had last been see lying down in the reeds.
At Ratelpan we saw the same Goliath in the same place as yesterday.

He caught something and then moved his position at last. Near him was a Great White Egret and a spoonbill. In the shallows a single green-backed heron was strutting up and down looking for morsels to eat and then another two flew closely past him but did not stay to chat.

We then followed the S40 to Timbovati Picnic site for a coffee break and to answer nature’s call. I took a photograph of my companions and then a kind young man from Holland who was sitting at the neighbouring table offered to take one with me in it too. Can you spot the elephants in the background?

Back on the S40 we found little steenbok from time to time, zebra and giraffe and then at 12:30 another group of ground hornbills – 2 females and a male. While we were taking photographs an big bull elephant appeared on the scene and got in on the act.

The hornbills totally ignored him. He came straight toward the car and I just kept snapping the camera – he kindly turned to avoid us and instead attacked a nearby tree. He pushed it and shook it and I thought we might watch him push it town but all he wanted was to loosen the bark so he could eat it and then he left the tree in peace.

At quarter to one we turned onto the H7 and went in the opposite direction to Satara as it was still a bit early to check in. From the bridge over Nsemari we observed hippos grunting and snorting, spraying up water and interacting with one another. Are these two fighting or kissing – the latter I thought.

There was a legawaan on the rocks, Egyptian geese paddled and in a dead tree nearby a grey heron surveyed the scene while swallows whizzed past his head.

Moving on we found a coucal in a tree – a very leafy tree but we still managed to digitally capture his image.

Large areas of land was still recovering from fire yet we found zebra grazing on the new grass beginning to shoot.

We decided not to take the long way round via the S36 as the road was very corrugated and Earlybird was tired and did not feel like suffering the pain of a rough ride!

We arrived at Satara just after 2 o’clock. Check in was smooth and we were assigned Cottage D86. We unpacked and settled in. Earlybird took a nap, Eec settled down with a book and H2 and I started downloading our photographs.

At four o’clock we went for an quick afternoon drive on the famous/notorious S100 in the hope of seeing the much reported lions, leopards and rhino – no luck for us — but we did see a pair of saddle-billed storks, a single wildebeest, several waterbuck, some kudu, a terrapin out of water, two or three steenbok, a troop of mischieveous baboons, a tawny eagle and a juvenile bateleur.


But what was the final and most unexpected sighting of the day. As we drove round to our cottage we passed the caravan park. Eec said – hey there’s a cat – what’s a cat doing in the camp? H2 said “I know lots of people who take their cats caravanning.” “But this is Kruger – I said, Pets aren’t allowed – it must be an African Wild Cat. So Earlybird reversed and there he was sitting just like your pet at home in front of the ablution block. It was getting dark and our cameras wouldn’t focus so I hopped out of the car. He spooked and ran so I ran around the other way and managed to find him but the light was really poor and I was shaking so the pic is just not good enough to post here. Wasn’t that a turn up for the books! An African Wild Cat right there in Satara Camp!
It was great to sit outdoors and enjoy the sounds of the night while we enjoyed an alfresco supper.