Lower Sabie Site

Our lovely large shaded site at Lower Sabie where we spend the next 20 days. Not needed the shade yet as it has been rainy and overcast, today 22 is the first bit of sun we have seen since arriving, knowing and preparing for the very hot days still to come. I must find the name of the tree we are under, maybe I will take a photo and post it to see if the Tree doctors can identify it

Zebra near Duke water hole

Buffalo with a bad gash above its eye????

Lower Sabie from the low water bridge wet and misty morning

Earth Day and Andrews Birthday 22 April

A photo of me sitting watching the Warthog that was giving the camp staff a hard time…they chased it out of camp, she would come sneaking back after a while hoping they will not see her. This went for about a half an hour until the gates closed.

Monday 20 April 4^th Day

Left as the gates opened….got to Lower Sabie at 6:45 to try and get a good spot.

Managed to get one with a nice big tree and it was a bigger site.

Lucky for us one of the staff Ekron came to help Andrew set up camp, putting the rally tent on, ground sheets down, knocking the tent pegs in etc. In no time we were settled.

After breakfast Andrew then decided it was time to put the satellite dish on and the TV in the caravan.  Well that took the whole afternoon with him battling to get signal. Normally he does not battle as he has made himself a homemade device to get the signal on the first attempt. Needless to say he was now getting very frustrated and puzzled as to why he is battling to get a signal. After a while a neighbor came to help him as he could hear the comments - “Lettie is there a picture? No..no picture Andrew”

Now there were 2 men trying to get the signal sorted out. Andrew even phoned DSTV for advice, after about 2 hours they decided that the dish must be faulty. Have to go into Komatipoort tomorrow to get the decoder tested.

Tuesday 21 April 5^th Day

We did not go out on an early drive as we were going to go to Komatipoort.

While having our coffee and rusks we sat listening to the birds sounds. Not so many bird sounds in Cape Town.

Left for Komatipoort at 8am…took a slow drive…after a km Andrew realised he needed his ID book as he might need it to buy a new decoder. We turned around back to camp to fetch it. Got back to camp when Andrew decided to ask the neighbour if he could plug in our decoder into his cable to see if it works. Yes it did work….now it was decided the cabling was a problem on our side. Luckily neighbour had a spare cable. Back to our caravan to connect our decoder again, plugged in the new cable…still a problem on our side. Now it was decided the satellite dish is a problem.  Off to the dish they go…fiddled on the dish…then hooray! Got a clear picture on the TV! All the time it was the LNB,  not screwed on tightly. That saved us a trip into the town and not to have to buy a new decoder.

Mating Pair near Croc Bridge

Dung beetle on our groundsheet

 Andrew's Birthday today, Michelle and Gerald coming for lunch at Mug & Bean

Sunday 19th 3rd Day

Left early to see if we could pick up the Leopard again, traveled along the S28, the Leopard was gone and there was very little remaining of the Impala. Had coffee waiting to see if the Leopard would return.
Went on to the little pan where last year we released Prince the Frothy tree Frog, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. We hoped that he would recognize us and come hopping over and give us a croak, we hope he has not croaked, Read our last years blog (click the link) to find the whole story on this amazing amphibian.
Found a mating pair of Lion in the river bed, 5 in all, on the H5 to Mbyamiti near the tar.
We saw some Buffalo on the same road to complete the big 5 in 2 days of viewing...

Spent the afternoon lazing around camp
Had a braai and slowly packed up ready to move at 06h00 on Monday (20th) morning, heading for Lower Sabie where we spend the next 20 nights. should be there by 07h00 to secure a favorite spot.

Photos of the Lions will be posted once we are settled at LS

First Day

Arrived  at Crocodile Bridge at 13h00 on Friday 17  having left Kim’s house at 06h00

A very easy drive no stop/go’s  picked up the caravan, pumped the tyres and away.

Spent the afternoon packing the groceries and clothes and everything else into the caravan. Made the bed… queen size, switched on the fridge and powered up, only to have 2 hrs of load shedding around 16h00.  Our home for the next 7 weeks.

Showered and had our first braai, pork chops and Potatoes in foil, whisky for sundowners.

Good sleep,  although our camp site is next to the gate, so can get a bit noisy when the night drives come back.

Up early for our first games drive, went to Hippo Pools S25, on to Gayisenga water hole where we had our coffee and rusks. Back to Croc Bridge along the tar.

3 of the big 5, Elephant, Rhino and Lion, plenty of other game.

Went into Komatiport Super Spar to do our shopping for the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Resting That magnificent horn which is so prized

Location will not be disclosed to protect the Rhino

Night ape watching us braai

Took an Afternoon drive along the S28 and 4 Km on found this LIT (leopard in tree) That gives 4 of  the big 5 only the Buffalo was missing

Leopard on S28 With an Impala kill

On our way

Pa with Piper and Stella

Left Cape Town at 0830 Sunday 13 April after celebrating our grandsons 21st on Saturday night, great evening at the Greek restaurant, good food, Greek dancing and plate breaking.

Stayed at Prior Grange, a Karoo working farm, a favorite stopover of ours near Springfontein, great hospitality, beautiful clear skies, dinner was served in our room, tasty Karoo lamb of course

Left 07:30 and drove through to Kim in Cedar Lakes arrived at 12:30 great to see our grand daughters, just had to go with Stella to her tennis lessons a future star.

Spend the next few days here before heading for Kruger Fri 17

Prior Grange

Itinerary

We leave Cape Town on Sunday 11 April 2015 and sleep over at Gariep Dam before heading to Kim in Fourways Sandton on Monday, arriving just in time to watch Stella (5 y old) taking Tennis lessons, she insists that we have to watch this.

Friday 17 April we head to Nelspruit to collect the caravan from Storage hook up and direct to Crocodile Bridge gate to start our stay in Kruger.

Crocodile Bridge    arrive 17 April  3 nights
Lower Sabie           arrive 20 April  21 nights
Satara                     arrive 11 May     7 nights
Letaba                    arrive 18 May     7 nights
Shingwedzi            arrive  25 May    7 nights
Tsendze                  arrive   1 June     4 nights
Satara                     arrive   5 June     3 nights
Maroela                  arrive  8 June      4 nights

We leave the park on 12 June take the caravan back to storage and spend the next few days with Kim before heading home, we might go via a few other National Parks on our way home, expect us when you see us.

 This is what we look forward to:

Hope we see this beauty again. On the bridge at Lower Sabie

Packing for our trip

11 days to go...

The "to do" list is been ticked off....slowly
The rusks have been made...
Most of the stuff we have to take with is on the spare table ready to be loaded into the car.
Now it is just "waiting"to go.