We entered the park on 2nd September for a quick drive down the Sabie River Road. Our main purpose for the trip was shopping in Hazyview! It was a nice morning without seeing anything exceptional.
The next day on the 3rd September we spent all day in the park. The weather was mixed early on but it soon turned out to be a lovely spring day. We drove along the southern bank of the Sabie River & on to the Salitje Road. This dirt road doesn't get much traffic & is a firm favorite of ours.
We enjoyed a nice breakfast at Mlondozi Picnic Site overlooking the dam. The dam had plenty of water in it with both a few birds & herds of Elephant & Zebra coming to drink.
Our next stop was Sunset Dam close to Lower Sabie Camp. We were looking for a vagrant Pink backed Pelican reported there in the morning but we couldn't find it!
We returned home on the tar seeing a dead Hippo being consumed by many Crocodiles while two Lions looked on. It should have been the sighting of the trip but distance combined with poor afternoon light made for a frustrating sighting.
Our last stop was at Nkuhlu Picnic Site on the banks of the river where we were treated to great views of a Giant Kingfisher eating a rather large fish! Unfortunately yet again the light was terrible & it was difficult to get the correct exposure on this bird.
On 6th September we went shopping in Hazyview & came back through the park through Phabeni Gate. In the late afternoon we saw a lone Wild Dog on the road, but untypically it made itself scarce. Further along the tarred road a Civet crossed. This is a rare sighting in the daytime. As we drove along the Sabie River Road thee Spotted Hyenas were eating entrails from a recent kill. So it turned out to be an eventful last hour of the day.
The 8th September saw us back in the park driving north along the main road to Tshokwane Picnic Site. Game viewing was good without being exceptional. When we arrived I photographed the most southerly population of Mourning Doves in the park. They seem to be spreading south as they were not here a few years ago. However the highlight was the discovery of two Greater Painted Snipe in the muddy small drainage ditch next to the picnic tables. One bird disappeared quickly into the vegetation but the other bird remained on view.
We also took a brief drive along the Orpen Dam Loop Road & a quick look at the dam itself. It is a grand place to be spend some time but we were only there a matter of minutes as we had to exit the park at Phabeni Gate in order to pick up an electrical inverter in Hazyview. On the way we saw ten Wild Dogs but they were elusive & no photos were obtained.
On 10th September we drove through the park on our way to White River. We exited the park at Numbi Gate. It was a beautiful morning but yet again we didn't see very much! We sill haven't seen a Rhino on this trip yet, which is a bit worrying.
We did our errands & then met up with Rob & Gita Palmer old friends of Delana's. We sat & chatted on their verandah looking down the valley. A pleasant time was had by all.
Back in the park on 14th September driving the main tar road to Lower Sabie. It was a wonderful spring day & game viewing was good, but rather frustrating! We managed to see four different Leopard sightings but didn't get any photos because of branches in the way etc. The last sighting was quite memorable. We pulled up behind cars who said the had a Leopard on their side of the road. However we saw nothing! Then Delana let out an exclamation as the leopard, a huge male was next to the car about two or three feet from Delana's face! It gave her the stare & walked around to the back of the car, where it promptly sat down in the car's shade! We couldn't see it but everyone else got great views! When it was so close to Delana it was too close for the camera so we didn't get any photos!
We also saw five Lions along the same road, one of whom had a bad limp in its left rear leg & foot. We watched them for sometime but there were a lot of other people as well which rather spoilt the sighting.
We then did a quick stop at Sunset Dam & Lower Sabie Rest Camp, where we had lunch.
A quick drive up to the Mlondozi Picnic Site was very pleasant without seeing anything too special.
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