Fabio

HariS

Western SS: I had read on this forum before the trip that there could be the risk to find too vehicles at sightings limiting the time of visit or queueing.
To be honest only on two sightings we had to leave because another vehicle was coming.
By the other side the presence of more vehicles makes the sightings easier and more frequent as they talk to each other by radio.
Sometimes we were the first to see leopards and then other came thanks to our sighting. Other times we could have a sighting thanks to the sighting of another vehicles.
I think it was a good compromise and I would go back there immediately. Anyway the sighting was never VERY short.
Fewer vehicles on a larger area make sometime the sighting more difficult.

HariS

Thanks....glad you had a good trip!

Fabio

Tom

how are you doing with your video ??
I am still now editing and trimming.
What surprised me is that 150 minutes video on minidv tape took about 30.0 GB when transferred in the hard disk of PC !!!
Is that correct ?
So how may DVDs should I need now to transfer the trimmed video ? Is there a way to zip it ?
Standard DVDs are 4.7 GB and 120 minutes... !! I must miss something.. !!

atravelynn

Thanks for your comparisons on the places you stayed. Very helpful.

Who sees 8 rhinos drinking? Is a group of 8 even legal? It's an army. That picture is a photographic coup.

The tiny lion cubs in the sand were adorable. So was they hyena cub.

You have some dramatic scenery to start things off. Lovely river shots of both the scenery and the animals in it--crocs, wide mouthed hippos.

This trip offered a nice contrast with Namibia for you and your boys.

The chameleon on a tree in dark conditions while driving brought back memories. John did the very same thing for us.

In a day or two I'll have the Phinda report & photos up. There are fences but they are not frequently in view. You often drive along the fences because that's where a couple key roads are. But the place does have a more managed feel than Sabi Sands.

The whole Phinda experience was wonderful in my opinion. My goal was cheetah, like yours. I also wanted to do several white rhino tracking trips. I figured I would need at least 4 days at Phinda to have a good chance at cheetah since 3 of those 8 outings would be devoted to rhino. I booked 7 nights to increase my odds and because there are all sorts of other activities you can do there.

I saw the first of 5 different cheetahs and that provided 6 cheetah sightings on Day 5 of my weeklong trip. The tracker and ranger were excellent and were looking for cheetah but there had been rain and it turned real windy, then cold, so weather conditions were not that favorable. Plus three mornings were with on foot rhino.

The people I shared one drive with before they left, who had been 3 nights, did not see any cheetah. But they were there during the brunt of the rain.

I mention this to encourage you to book enough days to increase your odds for cheetah.

napamatt

Fabio

150 minutes of video is a lot. You might want to be more brutal with your editing. Or split it into a few films that you can burn to DVD.

Fabio

Thank you Lynn

I will allow at least 4 nights in Phinda, this time !! I await your report and shots ! Thank you for encouraging ! The unpredictable weather over there is an issue but definitely not that much: no risk, no fun !!

I have been very impressed of your pics, especially the leopards and the wild dogs puppies !! and the mating lions.. so close up !!

As you also said it is always just a matter of being in the right place at the right time !!

napamatt

150 minutes are before editing and trimming. Yes, splitting is a good idea. I was wondering to make two versions on two DVDs, a longer one as master orginal and a shorter one to show around to friends !
What I am not able to understand is how a DVD might be 4.7 GB and 120 minutes while my original video is 30 GB for only 150 minutes !!

Fabio

Lynn

when is the less rainy season in Phinda ?

atravelynn

I have a rainfall chart for Durban and June is the driest month at 31 ml. May has 54 and July has 36. I was there June 28-July 5.

cw

I was at Phinda the second week of September last year for four days. We had rain one day but it came mid-day so it didn't impact either of the game drives.

I asked our ranger, Thulani, what his favorite time of the year was at Phinda. He said April-May.

CW

mytmoss

I have been to Phinda twice in early and mid September, both times perfect weather, no rain.

http://www.pbase.com/mytmoss/phonda_2005

Fabio

thank you all !!!

mytmoss: great pictures of cheetah !!!

My son is very excited and whishes to be there right now !! So do I !!

Lynn: thank you !! again wondeful pictrures of cheetah as well !!

cw

thank you

I wish I could go in april/may but my son is busy with school. Earliest we can leave in mid june and back within september 10th, more or less !!

atravelynn

Rain in Durban (mm)

Mar 135--the most
Apr 107
May 54
Jun 31
July 36
Aug 43
Sept 61

Fabio

yes Lynn

june is the driest month. so we did last month to Sabi Sands and Kruger: immediate departure on the same day of school closure and in the driest period !!

good !!

Lynn I also wrote one of yur 2006 posts where youu said that another place for cheetah sighting is Kafue in Zambia.

How would you compare these two spots ?? Have you also been in Kafue ?

Fabio

""".. I also "read" and not "wrote" one of your.... "

atravelynn

In 5 nights at Kafue, I saw 2 pairs of cheetah, one pair near the Lunga River and one pair in the Busanga Plains Oddly, both were on night drives.

A guy I met at Phinda who trains rangers/guides all over the world told me that other than the Serengeti, Phinda is the best place for cheetahs. I also had very good luck in the Maasai Mara.

Then there is the Africat project in Okonjima in Namibia where I've never been. Those cheetah are in more captive conditions, though.

HariS

I wish, the WS website updated their Kafue camp game reports on a monthly basis (for the months they are open) to give us a better idea of the game viewing opportunities there......they sure do update their Bots camps like clock work!!!

safarilover

Fabio

I have been to both Okonjima and Kafue, but several years ago, so I don't know exactly what they are like today.

Okonjima was still owned and run by the Hansen family--don't know if that is still the case today. However, it was a wonderful educational experience, and they had some tame cheetahs that you could view up close and some wilder cheetahs. I thought it was a great place and would not hesitate to go back.

Kafue (Lunga River Lodge and Busanga) was just fabulous, but this was partly due to the ownership of Ed and Rona Smythe and their guide Dorian Tilbury. They are very remote, so if you really want to feel as if you are away from it all, then Kafue is the place for you. Kafue is so vast and so undeveloped with lodges that you feel that you are there all by yourself--just you and the animals--no other vehicles. When we were there, the main attraction was the lions, although we did see one cheetah. There were also some elephants, puku, buffalo, and prolific birdlife. I still have dreams of returning there some day. BTW I have lost your email address.

Leann

atravelynn

Safari Lover,
I am thinking of 2-3 days at Okonjima whenever I get to Namibia. A recent poster mentioned that the area for animals there was going to be greatly expanded. That's good.

Lions were the big thing also at Kafue whem I was there.

Fabio,
Back to your rhino invasion picture. You need to get a copy of that one into the hands of the lodge where you took it. Which one was it again?

Fabio

Leann and Lynn

I wished I would have picked Okonjima for at least one night rather than Waterberg Plateau on our way back from Etosha to Windhoek last year. Our kids would have loved it.
Another excuse to go there again some day ! We still miss Namibia a lot and many places are already on our list over there !

HariS
I will check the WS website for Kafue.

Lynn: the 8 drinking rhinos were in the Inyati reserve.
Unfortunately we did not complete the BIG 5 list at Mala Mala because of rhinos, but we did at Inyati and Kruger !

According to your pics and reports it seems you are very like wherever and whenever you go !! And you are also a great photographer !

Sooner or later I will start a research also for east Africa !

Fabio

again mistaped "very lucky" !!