Jake watching the birds in our campsite at Olifants. We didn't spend too much time in the camps during the day - why would you want to with all that stunning wildlife and opportunity beyond the gates. Olifants is special though and, while we didn't see much near to the campsite, the views are just breath-taking. With your hands wrapped around your coffee, you can watch the bush veld come alive...
The view from our bungalow, looking out over the Olifants River...
Jake taking it all in...
You can sit there all day and just listen to the sounds of the fish eagles, see the vultures circling, watch the hippos wallowing in their pools. Sometimes the ellies come down to drink and the buck are always popping in. On our last trip, we saw a lioness with her three big cubs, just chillaxing on the opposite bank...
We did have moments of boredom too though and that's part of the fun of the bush...
Fat lazy ticks...
We saw lots of Kudus - these guys were right next to the road, munching away, almost not noticing us at all. For every turn in his horns, he's 10 years older...
African landscapes...
One of our absolute highlights was a cheetah sighting. We'd passed a big herd of elephants and as we were driving by, Jake spied this cheetah in the grass. He saw her first and then a cub, and another and another. she proceeded to cross the road right behind us...
Even though our engine was off, she was very aware that we were there...
And before we knew it, she was over the road and hiding in the grass again...
Not far behind her, followed her cubs...
the first one sat down, in the middle of the road, almost waiting to make sure that his siblings made it across safely...
They were also very curious about us...
I've got my eye on you...
He had a quick look around...
blinked his eyes...
And trotted off after the rest of his family. We were the only car there and it was a really special moment for all of us. There are only about 200 cheetah in the park, so sightings are rare...
Another bridge stop - Jake could hear the bats squeaking and found a crack in the road, where he could actually see them...
High on the excitement of seeing the cheetah...
A hippo relaxing next to the roadside. I didn't know they were so warty...
Sunset in the bush. Olifants has the best sunsets. Again, under-exposed...
The end of another amazing day in the bush...
Mopani trees are plentiful in the park. They grow closely together and because of their mottled leaves, they make looking for animals quite a job in the northern parts of Kruger...
But their leaves are pretty and look like butterflies or angel wings...
Pretty flowers...
Our braai spot...
Hi Dad...
There are a lot of tree skeletons too...
Another toastie stop...
Evidence that the lions had been eating there too...
Have you ever seen an elephant climbing a tree?? This guy got up on his back legs to stretch up into the higher branches of the tree...
One of Jake's other highlights was crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. They learnt about it in Geography earlier in the year. It's another of the few places in the park that you're allowed out of your car...
standing with one foot on either side of the line...
Reflections at sunset...
Jake at a bird hide...
I know this pic is really not amazing, but it was not very light and this civit was REALLY far away. I have cropped a bit, so that I can actually see what it was. They're pretty rare and so it was an exciting moment for all of us...
Another exciting sighting was this herd of Eland. They're the biggest of the buck species and with good reason - they're enormous. The grey one in the middle is the male of the herd - there were lots of babies...
Just look at him!!
This is a picnic site near Punda Maria, right up north in the park. We'd decided to get up early to take Jake on a little adventure, which saw us all traveling the entire length of the park...
This particular area of the park is not well known for animal sightings, but the birds are apparently the best in the park here. Our little twitterers...
Jake made friends with a young boy, who's parents were working at the picnic site. Jake bought a cattie from him for R75.00. The boy couldn't speak much English, but seemed to understand what Jake was asking...
Looking back...
A rock monitor...
Snoozing hippos - again...
A fever tree...
And finally we reached Crook's Corner. You can read this if you're interested, but it's basically where South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique meet. People trying to escape the law used this exit point - the SA police couldn't do anything when the criminals who'd scooted over to Zim or Mozambique. There used to be a beacon marking the exact middle point and this was no man's land - the crooks were safe from all 3 countries if they clung to the beacon. It was a pretty interesting stop...
Jake was chuffed to be there, where all the bad guys had tried to disappear. Behind Jake is Zimbabwe. The Limpopo river runs between our two countries and is pretty much dried up. The little bit of water that you can see behind Jake is from the Luvuvhu River, which joins up with the Limpopo...
Jake and his Nini - look how tall my baby's getting...
Looking down the river...
Jake and I at Crook's Corner... At the moment, it would be easy to escape, I'd just be scared about what's hiding in the bushes on the other bank. And I wouldn't really want to go to Zimbabwe anyway...
A butterfly...
By the time we arrived at our lunch stop, we were starving...
Looking up at the big tree that the picnic hut was built around...
A terrapin...
Our stoep and kitchen at our bungalow at Shingwedzi. This campsite was completely flooded (again) in 2013 and so the bungalows have all been revamped nicely...
Pretty Impala Lilies...
Jake showing off his new cap. He's lucky to have it - he forgot it on his bed when we packed up and left Olifants rest camp. It was the day we were moving to Shingwedzi, which is 141kms away. That doesn't sound very far, but you only travel at 50km/hr maximum and 141km takes the whole day. He realised when we got to Letaba, which was only 32kms away from Olifants and we turned back to go look for it. Fortunately, a very honest cleaning lady had picked it up and handed it in - Jake was so happy. The drive added an extra 64kms to our day's drive, but I'm so happy that Jake's got his cap - it is a special one that the rangers are given and it couldn't have been replaced. Jake hardly took it off his head after that...
Gate opening and closing times...
Baby baboons are so cute. How do they grow up to be so ugly...
Playing with buddies in the trees, while mommy watches carefully...
They were chasing each other and playing, it was very cute...
And just like kids, when one fell out the tree, the other seemed to laugh at his misfortune...
Early morning sun shining through an old tree...
I don't know what this skull belonged too... it's a funny thought when you're in the bush that everything will eventually die and that nothing is wasted. Everything is eaten by something or other...
Tsessebes and Zebras at a waterhole - we were lucky enough to have two Tsessebe sightings...
Our last bird hide/water hole stop and an ellie came down to drink...
We thought we were closer to Lanseria than we were, so thankfully we didn't dawdle too much the next morning...
Looking back on these photos brings a big lump to my throat. It was a long
time of planning and preparing and it was my 10 year goal after Jacques died, to have a
fantastic holiday with Jake when he turned 10. He's 11 now, so we've waited an
extra year, but it was quite emotional for me to have reached this
point in my journey. It's surreal that it's been so long and that Jake is so big already. On one hand the time has flown by and on the other, it feels like it has dragged in so many ways. Jake has me on a strict budget to save up for our next trip, reminding me that we need to eat beans on toast sometimes and that it's a waste of money to buy cooldrinks. He is desperate to get back to the bush and I can't wait for our next adventure together.
I hope you have all enjoyed sharing my pics with me. I promise, no more animals for a long time now (sadly)!!
Have a lovely weekend!
Love,
Sue XXX
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