A November trip to Kruger and Sabi Sands--we're off!

jczinn, sounds like you've done some excellent planning. I agree with your Nelspruit strategy for the return. I've done that leaving Sabi in the a.m., getting to JNB and flying to the northeast via Atlanta (I think that's what you're doing)---it's utterly exhausting.

Best of luck and have a great time! Steve

jczinn, very impressive plan you have put together, very well thought out. It's going to be great. Looking forward to hearing all about it when you get back. 300 birds, whow, sounds like a lot to me, good luck.

regards - tom

We have just returned from where you are going. You will like Duck and Trout. The rooms are vey comfortable. Their returant is very good. It is a beautiful area and there are alot of birds around. We spent 2 delightful days At Elephant Plains. We had 6 leopard sightings, plus the usual asorted animals. The birds were pleantiful and very colorful. The trackers are very knowledgable there, so I am sure you will have some great sightings if you make your wishes known.

Have a great time.

Is this sentence funny to only me?

"Travelling will be me, hubby, and a very interesting woman we picked up off of Bird Chat to help defray costs."

Have a great trip. We will all be anxiously awaiting your trip report and photos!!

atravelynn: I laughed out loud when I read that line!

Hmmm, now that you mention it, I have a good widow friend looking for a "good" women. I'll suggest Bird Chat to him

regards - tom

Hope you see this before departure!

It's mouthwatering regarding EP:

Lion:
We had the two Mapogo’s come through and feed on a dead hippo. This provided us with three days of good interaction between the lions, hyenas and vultures. It was great to see the big Mapogo’s jump up and try to chase the scavengers away. We have seen a lot of the Tsalala pride and their cubs, moving in and out of our traversing area. I am glad to say that they are all looking fantastic and that they still have all eight of their cubs. On most days it seems that these cubs have eaten so much that they almost need to be rolled from point A to point B! They are well on their way to adulthood. The Stix pride has also managed to keep their five cubs that were left from the original nine that they had. The more I see the three males from the Windmill pride, the more I love them. They are getting bigger every time I see them. Our lone cat, the Sandy patch female, also still has her cub and they are both looking healthy. We haven’t seen the other four Mapogo’s yet, but we get regular updates from the south saying that they are doing well. We’ve had a sighting of two unknown males calling in the east. They soon realized that Mr T and Kinky Tail from the Mapogo males were around and went back north into the Manyeleti Game Reserve.


Salayexe. Picture by Morné Fouché
Leopard:
Our big boys, Tyson and Mafufunyana, are still doing very well. It is fantastic to see such powerful cats and I’m still amazed watching them easily tree big kills. Safari is also still looking good. When I started here at Elephant Plains she was said to be on her last legs and now, nearly five years down the line she is still with us. My favourites, Salayexe and her two cubs, are also doing well. The cubs have grown a lot and they will reach adulthood one of these days! They are now eight months old. Nyeleti is still moving in and out of our traversing area and we were fortunate enough to see her with her three cubs on a impala kill at Serengeti. Ntima, like I mentioned last month, has lost her cubs, but I am confident that she will mate with one of the males soon. Both Shadow and Thandi are fully grown and they are both excellent hunters. They will both start having cubs soon. Kurula is still a bit of a mystery as we don’t see a lot of her cubs, but she is still doing well. We regularly saw Whitecloth during October. Although she is also quite old, she is still looking healthy.

Special Sighting:
We had one of the best sighting ever recorded this month! We had a pack of wild dogs steel a kill from Thandi and chase her up a tree. The dogs finished her kill in seconds leaving her stranded up the tree. They then had an impala run through the sighting, which they also killed. After that a duiker broke its cover and also ran into the pack! While all of this was happening, Safari came running in and tried to steal the left over duiker. She also got chased up a tree. So at the end of the day we had three kills, twenty four wild dogs and two leopards up in trees - all in one sighting. How is that for one of the best sightings in the world?

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Have a great safari!

Happy landings!

SV

Wow, SV that is an amazing recounting--I can't wait to get there. IF I ever get there--now we have a big storm bearing down on NYC tomorrow and my flight (with only 2 hr connection in Atlanta) is looking iffy. I am freaking out, may have to move up my flight at a ridiculous expense but otherwise risk losing two-three days of our trip (as Saturday's flight to JNB is fully booked!) I hate this anxiety, off to phone Delta to see what can be done. Arrrgh I just want to be there already!

Good luck! Seemingly you need it!

Happy landings!

SV

Delta actually let me change my flight for an earlier one at no cost, due to the storms along the east coast! Whew, now hopefully a five hour layover should be sufficient.

good news jczinn, it will work fine for you now. Get a good nights sleep!!!! Ha,ha,ha, I never can before leaving!!!

regards - tom