South Africa Trip September 2007: Ngala Tented, Exeter River Lodge, Mala Mala, Londolozi
 

Here are a few snaps I took in South Africa in September. I was at each lodge for four nights.

Ngala Tented: http://africanbigcats.smugmug.com/ga...7838#214713853

Exeter: http://africanbigcats.smugmug.com/ga...7900#214925744

Mala Mala: http://africanbigcats.smugmug.com/ga...7976#216032278

Londolozi:
http://africanbigcats.smugmug.com/ga...6569#217276250

Lot of good leopard photos.
Ngala is in Tmbavati reserve a little ways north of Sabi Sand, right? (The other three camps are in Sabi Sand). How about comparing the four camps for us?

regards - tom

Excellent pics.

Tom - Ngala is in Timbavati, pretty much straight north of MM.

And apparently Ngala tented rates pppn as much or more than MM.
regards - tom

Tom,

That's because drinks are included!

CW

Ahhh, CW, I think you're right !!!
regards - tom
ps - please, pretty please, not another thread about MM charging for colas :-)

Tanky,

You took some great photos. You must be a leopard magnet. We saw leopard tracks everywhere at Ngala last year but never found the leopard.

Loved the rhino lying down at Londolozi.

CW

Nice pics... thank you for sharing.

Gary,

Plenty of Cats ...... the male lion in the Exeter gallery is the big guy ex-eyerfield?

Hari

Thanks for the wonderful photos, Tanky!

Any comments about your impressions of the camps where you stayed would be welcome, indeed.

The leopard convention at Ngala was quite amazing.

I loved the lion bath from mom shot at MM.

Gary

Next time don't be so lazy. In picture 1 from Ngala, I see no reson why someone couldn't have moved the leaf from the Leopard's whiskers!

Great photos Tanky. Wonderful leopard shots, and also the cheetahs. Did you see cheetah anywhere other than Londolozzi? It seems like I saw everything but cheetah on my June/July trip to Bots this year so it's now back to the top of my "must see again" list, which of course changes regularly. I also looked at your 2006 galleries, and other than Mala Mala, did you stay at all CCA locations (both 06 and 07)? Also, looks like you went to Londolozzi twice. Do you prefer it over other location in Sabi Sands? Can you tell me more about Ngala Tented Camp? Sorry for all of the questions, but I may have the opportunity to go to SA (Cape Town) in March and am going to try to fit in a week for safari, one or two camps. Thanks.

I travelled from 11th - 29th September. The weather varied from exceptionally hot with blue skies to cool, overcast and even some light rain. Light for photography was good in parts but overcast skies weren't ideal...some great situations (the leopards in the tree for example) occurred on overcast days. The best continuous spell of weather was at Mala Mala where game viewing was slow for the most part.


Ngala Tented:

A small (6 tents) compact camp. Great staff, food, guiding and tracking. The camp was more like a Botswana camp than that usually found in South Africa...very intimate, very friendly and more social interaction between the guests.

Game viewing Highlights: Three leopards ('Clara' female of documentary fame + 2 male 1 year old cubs) in tree which was very interesting to watch. They climbed the tree while we followed them. The cubs were going crazy trying to get their mother to move from the tree but she held firm for twenty minutes or so. The cubs behaviour was revealed when they came down from the tree and the mother led them to an impala kill 30 yards away in a thicket. Some very good lion viewing centred around 3 male coalition (unusually not asleep) including lots of roaring and an unusual lion-rhino-zebra interaction. The very active hyena den was also provided some amusing viewing.


Negatives: As another poster mentioned there are other buildings on the concession - an anti-poaching unit and a college. However, I only saw the college on the very last drive and drove past the poaching unit only three times. I'm not sure this counts as a negative as you will certainly see more in certain parts of Sabi Sands.


Exeter River Lodge:

Great camp, nice location. Again great staff and food. Guiding was excellent and the tracker was exceptional.

Game viewing Highlights: Hunting young female leopard (in daylight) who came within an inch of catching a duiker, good lion viewing - Sand River cubs, a couple of the 5-male coalition, Othawa lionesses, large buffalo breeding herd (400+), mating pair of leopards (at night).

Negatives: A major one for me at any rate...CC Africa seemingly have abandoned their maximum 6 people per vehicle. I'm not sure that they ever had this at the Exeter lodges. River Lodge and Leadwood have multiples of 8 (8 & 4 rooms) and so if the lodge is full there will be eight people per vehicle...and they were running at 97% + occupancy.

Being a single traveller this puts huge pressure on you to sit in the front seat...not exactly the best choice for photography unless the guide can position you correctly. While I was there a lady had a broken foot and so took the front seat initially so this wasn't an issue but after they left I did keep getting asked if I'd like the front seat. I did take my turn there but I braved it out on other occasions.

I guess the best lodge out of the three would be Dulini where they have 6 rooms...so if it's over 75% full you are guaranteed to be in a vehicle with only 6 or less.

The other disadvantage was the shared viewing with other camps in the Western Sabi Sands. However, there was a remarkable degree of co-operation between all the rangers. There is a twenty minute viewing time for each sighting once it has been called in which is fine but it can be frustrating waiting for your 'turn' especially if the light is fading and you're marking time.

Mala Mala:

Great location, enthusiastic guide, large varied property. A great willingness to take the Landrovers just about anywhere.

Game viewing Highlights: Eyrefield cubs, Styx pride hunting (at night). Eyrefield pride hunting, good young female leopard (one of Campbell Koppies cubs) sighting.

Negatives: Young, inexperienced guides - not necessarily lacking in knowledge but certainly lacking in handling guests. I also felt they were trained with first timers to Africa in mind. No proactive tracking in evidence although this may have been game viewing circumstances. Resort\large hotel\holiday camp (yes, even a British one) 1980s feel and I missed interaction with other members of the camp staff (security, chefs, managers, waiters\butlers etc) which as a solo traveller I may notice more than most. Camp stands out like a sore thumb from across the river...needs to be blended into it's environment far more. They were a couple of other issues which I can't mention but which I felt uncomfortable with.

Londolozi:

Good location, well blended into the terrain. I stopped at Varty Camp (ex-Bateleur). If you've been there while it was under CC Africa it'll still be familiar in setup but there were subtle differences. It also seemed slightly more relaxed at least to me...not the CC Africa camps aren't laid back anyhow.

Staff and camp were great and very friendly. The food was superb as was the guiding and tracking. The camp manager Tom had done his research and knew I'd been last year and was into photography so he asked if I wanted to go out with the trainee rangers during the day. So I got four extra game drives in. It was beneficial for the trainees as they got to practice on me without having the pressure of 'real' guests. It also got them away from their birding training to watch mundane things such as leopards mating in the middle of the day.

Game viewing Highlights: Mating leopards (2 different pairs - Shorty Male-Dudley River Bank Female, Camp Pan Male-Mxabene female), male cheetah on a kill (thereby keeping up my record of seeing a cheetah on every single African trip).

An extremely close encounter with the Tailess Females sub-adult cub - he came and drank from a puddle right next to where I was sat in the vehicle. Although I daren't move I could have reached out and patted him on the head when he sat up he was that close. This lasted about ten minutes. Together with his mother he had just killed a male nyala which was lying half submerged in the stream bed.

One of Dudley River Bank's cubs hunting Cape Buffalo...the guide wasn't sure if this was the cub that is still with it's mother (we saw the two together very late in the day - the photo of them was taken at ISO 6400) or the cub that has been adopted by the 3:4 female (the cub's grandmother who already has a cub of her own!).

I was also pleased to see the Mxabene young male who I saw twelve months earlier at the age of six months. His mother had just left him to his own devices a week or so before - he looked pretty unhappy.

Disadvantages: Can't think of any really...due to the current lion dynamics perhaps the lack of lion prides on the property? That's the only thing I can think of!

Conclusion:

If I were forced to rate the properties it would be Londolozi, Ngala Tented, Exeter River Lodge and Mala Mala. I would certainly return (and will be) to the first two. I'd certainly return to Exeter lodges if I was guaranteed a six passenger vehicle. Mala Mala I won't return to unless it changes considerably...I'm glad I've been but there are numerous other places I want to go before I'd risk going back there.

Hari,

The lion at Exeter is one of the five brothers who made up the six- coalition.

I did see the oldest member (and non-related) of the coalition at Londolozi and he has seemingly split from the rest. He certainly didn't seem to keen on meeting up with them when they visited Londolozi when I was there. When they moved off north and east he did follow their tracks but didn't seem to make much effort to joing them.

The rangers thought this was becuase he had mated with the Tailless lioness at Londolozi...and also the rangers at Exeter believe the first set of Sand River cubs that the younger members of the coalition killed were his.

Gary.

Dana,

I only saw the cheetah at Londolozi. He is the resident male whose territory spand the eastern part of Singita and into Londolozi. I haven't checked the spot patterns but I believe he is the same cheetah as in the September 2006 gallery.

Londolozi shares traversing rights with Singita (2 vehicles) as a result of the Varty's being involved with the Singita project.

I personally like Londolozi but I think the game viewing is the same quality across most of Sabi Sands. Londolozi wins it for me on the friendliness front...although the CC Africa camps score highlere as well. I'd recommend Ngala Tented (not the main camp) as it's quite different to the lodges in Sabi Sands.

Gary.

Gary - great comparison of camps. Thank you very much.

regards - tom

Gary,

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. I have a couple of questions on Londolozi as a single traveler. How many people were in a vehicle? What are the seating arrangements? Also for dinner, does everyone sit together, or are you at separate tables?

Thanks,

Richard

Gary - have you been to any other of the camps (other than Ngala) in the Timbavati Reserve, e.g, Kings Camp, Tanda Tula, Thornybush, Royal Malawane, Umlani, etc.

I'm thinking of safari for Sep 2008 and was wondering about visiting perhaps three camps in Timbavati (and not going down to Sabi Sand).

Also, in Sabi Sand, I had a great 5 nights at Leopard Hills in May of 2007. Would recommend it next for you if you haven't been there. Especially if you can get Marius C. as your guide/ranger.

Thanks again for great report. And nice photos, I can see you appreciate good lighting. You using Canon of Nikon kit?

regards - tom

Thanks, Gary .... i did just take a look at the MM cyberdiary and the males are there at the moment.

I saw the Sand River ladies in 2006 at Exeter. Our ranger did mention to us, that they are the only surviving members (two or three lionesses?) ... apparently, the whole pride escaped thru the Western fence of the SSGR and was taken down by farmers?

Rgds
Hari