A time to kill!

The last few safaris brought it fair share of exciting animal behaviour. Something that consistently came up, were predators and kills. We’ve had some amazing sightings, like the photo I took of the lion feeding on the giraffe. We were also caught unaware as a sudden burst of action next to the vehicle ended up being a leopard catching an impala. After dragging the impala under a bush, it decided to hide until night time before coming back to feed. Another spectacular kill came from a group of 4 lions. They were slowly approaching a herd of impala, and circling it. Initially the impalas noticed them and started to scatter, but one young male started running ahead and cornered a smaller group of impala. This was very smart as the impalas started running straight towards it. Upon noticing the lion they changed direction, and one unfortunate impala ran straight into another female that was crouched on the sandbank. In trying to avoid it, the impala tried to jump right over the lioness, but the agility of the big cat proved to be too much as she pulled the impala straight out of the air and killed it within seconds. The rest joined for the small feast, and finished the meal off within 5 minutes.

Simon Vegter

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Birding in Kruger

This is the time of the year where birding success starts to increase. Many of the migrants have already returned with Wahlberg’s eagles already nesting. The migrating birds will continue to arrive and woodland kingfishers will make their appearance next month and entertain us with their characteristic call that is indicative of summer. The last migrants, like the lesser spotted eagle, will only make their appearance in January. As with the last two years the Burchell’s Coucal again predicted the coming of the first rains. Although often considered a myth, the coucal is known as the ‘rain bird’ because it tends to call just before it starts raining. In my experience, it’s not very accurate throughout the raining and breeding season. However, for 3 years in a row now it started raining (with the first rains) the day after I heard the coucal call for the first time in the season. That to me seems pretty accurate. Breeding plumages also adorn the males, particularly the weavers. It was great seeing the bright head of the redheaded weaver as it meticulously stripped leaves off the branches leading towards its nest. Pintailed whydahs and whitewinged widows are also changing their plumage. With a recent group of birders we manage to spot 137 different birds in the few days we were in the park. That’s not bad at all considering that many of the migrants still have to return. I’m looking forward to the birding during these summer months.

 

Happy Birding!

                                                       

Simon Vegter

 

 

2 New Lifers

For those of you unfamiliar with the term “lifer,” it’s a term particularly used by birders for seeing a specific bird for the first time in your life. I’m using it with other animals as well, and lately I’ve ended up with two new lifers. The first one was an Olive Bush Shrike. At the famous God’s Window lookout point, my attention was first drawn to the bird by its beautiful liquid call as two birds were contacting each other among the dense bush. After locating the source of the call, I was facing a most beautiful Olive Bush Shrike for the first time in my life. The next lifer was seen in the Kruger Park along the Sabie river. Although I’ve heard of reports of otters being seen in the park, sightings of them are extremely rare. While watching lions drinking water from the river, I noticed 4 creatures swimming in the river. On closer inspection I noticed they were Cape Clawless Otters. We followed them for a while as they scrambled in and out of the water before finally disappearing amongst the reeds. I was elated with this unusual sighting – a first for me. The following morning my elation returned as we found the same group of otters further downstream. We had even better views of them this time around as they were being very playful in the water. I could not believe my fortune. I haven’t seen otters in more than 30 years and then I find them on two consecutive days (although they were the same group). Life is always exciting out there in the bush, and the saying is true, “you just never know what you are going to get.”

Enjoy your life(r).

Simon Vegter

New lion record

My previous record for lion sightings on a safari was 33 individuals with 8 sightings. My last safari has beaten that. In only 5 days we’ve managed to see 34 lions and had a staggering 14 sightings. It did help that we spent 2 days at Satara, a camp well-known for its abundant lion sightings. It will probably be a while before this record stands in contention again.

Kruger Park is cooking!

This time is of the year is generally considered to be the best time of the year to come to Kruger. The bush is drying up, making visibility much better than in summer. Also the animals congregate near watering holes and rivers causing for some exciting action. All in all, the Kruger Park is cooking with some abundant wildlife sightings. Since the end of July we have had regular leopard sightings (16 in total), and have seen the big 5 on every trip over the last two months. One memorable leopard was a particular female seen on the S100 road near Satara. It dragged an impala into a tree and was literally overhanging the road enjoying the feast. As I always say, “these are sightings wildlife documentaries are made of.” It was not only the sightings that were cooking. With the summer fast approaching the temperatures have increased as well and the Park was literally cooking. Last week temperatures were measured over the 40 degrees Celcius on three consecutive days, with the highest being 44 degrees. At least there was some relief with forecasts of rain. Fortunately each camp we use has a refreshing swimming pool, and the thatched bungalows are air-conditioned.

Botswana Special Offer

Most of our posts on this blog are about our Kruger National Park safaris, but you may also want to take note of our special safari packages to Botswana and Victoria Falls. From December to March, take advantage of our “secret season” special offer in Botswana, allowing you to combine any of 8 great safari lodges, for one low rate of $360 per person per night. Contact reservations@wild-wings.co.za for more details.

Onne

 

Big Five Drive!

This does not happen very often, but on occasions one is lucky enough to see the big five on one drive. This happened on my latest tour. As we entered the park, it was not long before we had our first amazing encounter. We found a pride of lions feeding on a buffalo. Clearly visible were 2 adults and 2 cubs enjoying the feast. Along the Sabie river we saw some elephants and buffalo as usual. Something I don't often see along the Sabie river are rhinos. But on this afternoon we spotted 2 white rhinos each with a calf wandering along the opposite river bank. And then just before we reached Lower Sabie camp, there was great excitement with a leopard lying on the rocks at Lubye-Lubye. This leopard had an impala kill in a nearby tree. It's fantastic to see the Big Five on one tour, more so on one day, but to see them all in 3 hours is absolutely spectacular. This type of luck is seldom encountered.


Until next time!

Simon

Kruger National Park safari guide with Wild Wings Safaris

The 3 Big Cats

It's not often that you get to see the three big cats in Kruger. With these I mean lion, leopard and cheetah. Leopards are very secretive and seldon seen, and cheetah are very rare, with an estimated 200 individuals in Kruger. But on the last safari we were fortunate enough to experience all three of them. On the first day we saw a beautiful leopard lying on the side of the road, just staring at us. Funny enough, it didn't move all that much. The following morning we spotted three male cheetahs lying very relaxed on a temite mound soaking in the morning sun. And throughout the safari we had several lion sightings, mainly along the Sabie river. The thicker bush there makes it easier for the lions to ambush their prey and they know that during the drier winter months the animals are forced to come down to the river to drink. All of this makes for exciting game viewing this time of the year.

Bush greetings!

Simon

Kruger National Park safari guide with Wild Wings Safaris

Mating Lions

We've had another great tour with some great sightings. One of the highlights being a mating pair of lions doing their business on the road, right next to the vehicle. This time of the year lions tend to be mating more than usual, and this was one of two mating pairs we encountered. Although they don't have a particular breeding season, they tend to pair up in winter. This is to ensure that 3 months from now the cubs are born during the rainy season when the vegetation is thicker and the cubs have more protection. Also with the birth of many of their prey animals during that time, hunting is made easier and the lionesses can better supply milk for their litter. I'm looking forward to a few more of these kind of sightings.

Happy game viewing,

Simon
Kruger National Park safari guide with Wild Wings Safaris

Black Rhino Photos

Just in case you were doubting the reliability of my black rhino sightings, here are a few photos to prove it. These two on the right were the mother and calf seen from Nkumbe viewpoint. Later two more crossed behind them. The two below were seen the following morning along the H10. Considering that they are both fully grown, I suspect them to be a male and female. Needless to say, it was very special indeed.

Greetings,

Simon

Kruger National Park safari guide with Wild Wings Safaris

Diceros bicornis ridiculis

For those of you who don't know, Diceros bicornis is the Scientific name for a black rhino. A rhino that is very rare and seldomly seen in the Kruger Park. In fact, before this safari my total has been 13 black rhinos seen in Kruger. But nature has ways of surprising you and dealing you the unexpected. What happened on my latest tour is unheard of.
During the last two days of my safari I've had a total of 4 black rhino sightings with 7 individuals. That is the same amount as white rhinos I've seen for the safari. It is absolutely unreal.
It started at the beautiful view of Nkumbe, where I've seen black rhinos before and would be my hotspot for them. Our attention was drawn to a mother and calf rhino, but on closer inspection I noticed that they were black rhino. The calf clearly walked behind the mother, a characteristic for black rhinos. While watching them, a bit further in the distance, another black rhino pair (mother and younger calf) strolled in the opposite direction. These were my first black rhinos for 2008, but not the last. Later that afternoon my excitement returned as we saw another black rhino browsing on the bushes along the Sabie River. That made it 5 in one day.
The last day unbelief started setting in as 2 rhinos, spotted in the distance by one of the guests, ended up being black rhinos as well. This time they seemed to be two adults, probably a male and a female. It's absolutely unreal. I've been coming to the Kruger for many years (30+) and it's the unexpected that makes me want to go out there every morning to see what excitement lies ahead.

Let the black rhino luck continue...

Simon

Kruger National Park safari guide with Wild Wings Safaris

Leopard photo

This is the beautiful leopard we saw. The photo was taken by one of the guest. You just can't get enough of these kind of sightings.

Simon

Kruger National Park safari guide with Wild Wings Safaris

Leopard Magic

It's fantastic to start this blog with some leopard magic. After entering the Kruger National Park on 3 July the magic quickly started. Our third animal sighting was a relaxed leopard lying on a rock very near to the road. For a long while we were able to observe it and take photographs of it, like the one added here, which was taken by one of the guests on the vehicle. After a while the leopard stood up, walked around while marking her territory, and then decided to cross the road in front of us. An absolutely exhilirating experience. We had many other great sightings on the tour, including 5 lions playing together and making the earth tremble with their roars. We also had a very inquisitive rhino that came to investigate the vehicle from a few meters away. And then there was the moment at Mpondo dam where we had an array of animals - impalas, warthog, elephant, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, rhino, waterbuck, and lions - all at the same time, most of which came to drink. However, none of those sightings came close to the leopard magic we experienced on our first day.

Let the magic continue!

Simon

Kruger National Park safari guide with Wild Wings Safaris

Our ranger's blog is here!

In response to several requests from our guests, we have decided to start a Ranger's Blog for Wild Wings Safaris, your Southern Africa safari experts. Wild Wings Safaris offers guided open vehicle safaris in the Kruger National Park, as well as safaris to all the top safari destinations throughout Southern Africa. Our destinations include the Kruger National Park, Sabi Sand Game Reserve, Victoria Falls, Chobe Game Reserve, Okavango Delta, Madikwe Game Reserve, Cape Town, the Garden Route, and more.

On a Kruger Park safari, our senior ranger Simon is the one who makes the safari a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our guests, and he is somewhat of a legend in the Kruger Park. Apart from being a super guide, host and cook, he has an incredible ability to spot wildlife and find some of the most amazing sightings on our safaris. The posts on this blog will primarily come from Simon, and give you an insight into the experiences and wildlife sightings on our safaris. Happy reading!

Onne Vegter
Owner and director
Wild Wings Safaris
http://www.wild-wings.co.za/