Day 4: Olifants Camp to Satara Camp
We started early and headed out from Olifants camp to Satara. Our first stop was at a view point on a hill - storm clouds and winds.
It was another eventful day of animal watching - herds of elephants and zebras, giraffes, lots of impalas, buffaloes, kudus, nyalas, water bucks, wildebeests and lots of colorful birds. We spotted 3 male lions napping in the bush. They would get up occasionally, stretch, yawn and go back to sleep.
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| Tortoise crossing the road. |
We reached Satara around 2 pm. We took a nap and went on the sunset safari. Two male lions had killed a zebra and had eaten part of it. One of lions had dark streaks in his mane and looked very regal. He seemed to be limping. The trees around the lions were heavy with vultures. Some of the vultures were on the ground but they were keeping their distance from the lions. After gawking at the lions for a while, we continued.
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| Satara camp front desk. Satara camp is much bigger than Olifants camp. |
After it got dark, we stopped by a watering hole. There was a herd of elephants gathered around the water hole. Our guide told us that was this was their usual hangout at night. As we made our way back, we caught a glimpse of a leopard. It was there and then it was gone, into the night.
Unlike the previous night, our hut did not have a kitchen. We had to walk to the communal kitchen and prepare dinner. The communal kitchen had electric stoves, boiling hot water and sinks. We had carried our water filter with us and we filled up our bottles with filtered water. We had boiled eggs and backpackers food - Louisiana rice for dinner and then called it a night.
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| Our hut at Satara Camp. The grill is mostly used to make Braai - South African barbecued meat. |
Day 5: Satara Camp to Paul Kruger Gate to Sabi Sands.
We started the day early again. We spotted a eagle tearing into a
squirrel or mouse. It was so focused on eating. We passed a herd of
about 200 - 300 buffaloes. We went back to where we had spotted the
lions the previous night, feasting on the zebra. Only one lion was around and the zebra carcass was
almost completely eaten. The limping, dark maned lion was not around. The remaining lion tried to fight off the vultures
for a while, then lost interest and walked away. What a majestic walk it
was. Then the vultures swooped in to finish off the remains.
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| Buffaloes. There were hundreds on either side of the road. |
Around
9:30 AM, as we were making our way towards Orpen gate, we stopped
some people to ask if they had spotted anything interesting. They said nothing extraordinary, however Orpen gate was closed due to protests and we had
to drive to Paul Kruger gate. This would add about 2 hours to our
driving time.
So we changed course and started driving towards Paul Kruger gate. Its true that our drive time increased but on the new route we saw two cheetahs with their kill - an impala. Our luck had changed! The cheetahs were going at the impala like they had not eaten in days. Their faces were covered in blood. The impala was not dead! It started writhing in response to which one of the cheetahs got up and bit into the impala's neck until it stopped moving. The cheetahs ate their fill, I guess, or the vultures scared them away - after a while they walked away. Unlike the day before, when the vultures had been wary of the lions, they did not seem to be afraid of the cheetahs.
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| Cheetahs feasting on the impala while the vultures watch on. |
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| Cheetahs walked away from their kill and rested under a tree. |
As soon as the cheetahs left, the vultures swooped in. A few minutes later, a hyena ran across the road and chased the vultures away. In a few minutes the vultures had eaten the impala clean and only the bones were left. The hyena dragged the remains into the bush. The detour was totally worth it!
After all the excitement, we took a break at a rest stop. As we continued towards Paul Kruger gate we spotted a warthog with two baby warthogs.
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| Rest stop on the way to Paul Kruger gate. |
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| Warthogs |
We
made our way to Hazyview and then Acorn Hoek. There was a lot of traffic in Acorn Hoek and we were moving slowly. Acorn Hoek seemed to have so many hair salons. I lost count of how many we saw. There must have been atleast 10 on the main road. We left Acorn Hoek in a while and made our way via some very bad,
potholed roads to Sabi Sands and Nkorho lodge.
Sadly because we reached so late, around 5 PM, we had missed the evening safari. We showered, rested and waited for dinner. Dinner was in an outdoor setting with bonfire. We sat at a table with the rest of the people who were staying at the lodge and heard about what animals they had seen on the evening safari.
Dinner included an appetizer with halloumi cheese, main course of rice, salad, spinach and peas, sweet potatoes and ended with a pastry for dessert.
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| Our room at Nkorho Lodge |
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