Michael

We did the S100 right after lunch, so too hot and did not see anything of particular interest.
When we left Satara camp at 6am we came to the first road intersection and we had to take a decision: left on S100 or right onto then the Timbavati road. We did the second and knew that in the afternoon the S100 sighting would have suffered for the wrong time.. !! next time we will do the S100 first !!

safarilover
I am just right here to upload our pics but it takes some time as too many to choose from !!

JP

this helps a lot !! Thank you !!

how long would you stay in Phinda ?

Enjoyed your trip report Fabio and made a note about Inyati.

Lynn (Atravelyn)is at Phinda Forest for a week as we speak so she will have a current update for us soon!

Fabio,

I just returned from Kwando and Selinda. Bear in mind, game viewing is a HUGE luck of the draw!!! Particularly with cheetah......my fav cat (glad we have common favourites!)

Phinda is your absolute guarantee (but, it is a fenced reserve)

Hari

For Petes sake people. The Kruger National park is also a fenced reserve!!

Fabio,

I would recommend 3-4 nights at Phinda. What you also can do, is to get in contact with CC Africa(they manage all the phinda lodges) and find out if there is a special package for the dates you are considering. For example: Start off with 4 nights at phinda and then go up to sabi sands for 4 nights. CC Africa manage all the Exeter lodges in Sabi Sands. You will then be able to view the elusive cheetah at phinda numerous times and see how those cubs you saw at Inyati are doing. All the following lodges traverse the western sector: Inyati, Exeter Leadwood, Exeter Dulini, Exeter River lodge, Ulusaba, Savanna, Idube and Leopard Hills.

Hope this helps!

JP

thank you all again !!!

Here is the link to our pictures. Unfortunately not in english. The yellow box "Visualizza sequenza di immagini" is to be clicked on, then the arrows on yellow boxes for manual slide show or the yellow box "Esegui" for an automatic slide show.

http://www.kodakgallery.it/I.jsp?c=a...0&y=y6bxj9

Fabio

The photos are gorgeous--all of them, and it shows what a wonderful time you had. I especially liked the hippos drinking. It's spectacular.

Thanks for posting them.

Excellent photos, especially the amazing photos of eight rhinos drinking -- that's the largest grouping I have ever seen.

Wow! Can't believe I said hippos drinking when I meant to say rhinos. Any, the shot was really unique. I would call it a prize winner.

I'm still amazed and delighted for you over your Kruger sightings - really great sightings. I would expect good big cat and other big 5 sightings at Sabi Sands but your Kruger ones were just amazing.

Also, OH MY GOD re those 8 rhinos - I notice that image is the one that surprised the others too - same here. EIGHT together! WOW!

Fabio:
Thanks for the report and the pictures. It sounds like it was a wonderful trip for you and your son (and will remain a fabulous memory for the two of you).

we followed the group of 8 rhinos for about half an hour, since they were eating the grass until they reached the water one by one so I got pictures when I see just one drinking, then another comes, then again another, until all 8 of them were together at the water !!
Even our guide told us it was an unusual amazing sighting !

Thanks for sharing! Now I need to find way to Blyde. Had not put that in our plans until I saw your photos.

Elainee

We found good to mix game viewing with panorama viewing.
There are some nice lodging facilities around Blyde River in the small towns of Sabie and Graskop. For those 3 viewing spots I think half a day might be enough but one whole day would be more relaxing.

Hi Fabio and thanks for the trip report.

We (family of four) are planning Kruger for 7 nights next year in April and will be going to Berg en Dal 3 nights, Satara 2 nights and Oliphants 2 nights. Your report was really useful and encouraging for me.

After 7 days in Kruger I hope to do a couple of days along the Panoramic route and then fly down to Cape Town and tour the area, the Winelands etc for about 4 days.

Still planning the post Kruger part of the trip, though we have confirmed the Kruger bookings.

Regards
Mohammed

Mohammend, that's a nice itinerary. I stayed at Satara a few years ago (2000). Based solely on one trip to Kruger, my most productive game viewing was along the S-100, which is very near to Satara and runs to the eastern area of the park -- I drove that road very early, and must have seen at least 20 different species, including lots of elephant and a lot of time with a leopard. Things change, but I have heard from others about their success along that road.

Michael

Hi Mohammed

I had read already some of your posts for planning your trip.
You kids will love Kruger. I suggest you not to give up and start very early each morning !! You will have time to rest earlier in the evening.... after dinner.
Your selection of camps is very good !!

have a nice trip !

fabio

Fabio

Tough to call any spot where you saw 11 wild dog unlucky. But these are not zoo's and the animlas do not perform to order. With only two nights at two locations, you were always likely to have one experience much better than the other. The good news was your Kruger portion was so good, the SSGR was an added bonus.

napamatt

I agree with you. I just compared the sightings at two different lodges in the same timeframe with the same number of game drives but where at one of them I have spent the double than at the other. All this lead me to the same conclusion as you did: sightings may or may not occur anywhere at any time and they never depends on how much you have paid !

The comment relatively "unlucky" at Mala Mala was just referred to what paid there if compared to my wrongly higher sightings expectations !
Of course wild dogs was the highlight of that stay and, once again, I was happy to stay at both lodges.

Fabio,

Question on the western sector of the Sabi Sands. Did you find that there were a LOT of vehicles in a waitlist to get to sightings.....making, your sightings VERY short? That was the case last year, when some of the lodges there were full.

Nice report, and the male lions you mentioned...good to hear that they are still together. Last year, the rangers were not sure how long the coalition would hold together.

Good dog sightings and hope you realize how lucky that was!

Rgds,
Hari