 |
| Alpha male and young lion at waterhole. |
 |
| Waterbuffalo |
Wednesday 28 February 2018
More animals and birds
Animals seen on safari 3
Birds on giraffe neck removing insects etc
 |
| we are patting a cheetah at rehabilitation centre |
Animals seen on safari 2
Lions watching hippos drinking at waterhole
Wildebeest, gnu
Lion roaring in response to revving engine.
Crocs coming out of waterhole
Animals seen on safari 1
 |
| White lion seen near zebra kill. This is emblem of Kruger Park |
 |
| Zebras, fairly common |
Many elephants drinking at waterhole. Chased off some wild dogs.
Elephant with wet mud on it. Then would rub against tree to rid itself of skin parasites etc.
Sunday 25 February 2018
Austria - Tschagguns - Saturday 17-24th Feb
When we arrived at the car rental counter , Ken found that the compact car he’d ordered wasn’t available yet. We ended up with a small Mercedes, a C180 hatchback, for those interested in cars. It has been a lovely car! The drive across to Tschagguns in Austria was through light rain for most of the way. It was wonderful to find that, on our arrival, the room was ready soon after we had some coffee in the spacious lounge area. Their website is: www.cresta-hotel.at It shows what this lovely hotel is like.
We had a corner room, small, but looking out to the steep mountains all around us. We were ready for some sleep after the overnight flight and caught up with Michael and Ulrike Korn after a sleep. They had driven down from Leipzig, about 5-6 hours, and were staying in a flat on the small farm nearby, about 1km walk down the street. This meant we caught up with each other every afternoon for drinks and nibbles at the farm or the hotel. How wonderful it was to have time with them both.
On Sunday we all had a rest day but in the evening, we went joined the Korns to see the Spark, a tall vertically stacked bonfire with a witch on top of it. The tradition is that the witch is burnt on the first Sunday of Lent to chase away the ghosts of winter and ice and to bring spring and new life. Apparently it’s very important that the witch, filled with gunpowder explodes. ! Lots of people gathered in the cold weather to see it happen. Special foods are made for this time too. The witch did explode before the fire consumed the whole Spark. It’s called Funkenabbrennen.
On Monday, Ken and I went off t see what cross country trails were good for skiing. We found a small loop further up the road, but tracks were icy. We skied parts of these trails for a couple of days and then decided to be tourists as the skiing wasn’t good. On Thursday we took the large gondola and then tunnel bus for about 15mins. up to Silvretta. This is a beautiful spot and it was clear for most of the time we were there. The hotel overlooked the top dam of a hydroelectric power scheme where cross country tracks went across the dam and up slopes beyond it. This dam was at over 2,000m. high and the powerstation was in the valley below, 800m., so a good fall. The water pipeline was riveted steel so Ken says at it was built at least pre 2nd world war and maybe even earlier. The pipeline came down the hill beneath the gondola. On the way down we were held up, by a technical problem, so stood around for over an hour in cold conditions. When the problem was sorted out, there were about 60 people waiting to go down, with sleds., baby pushers, skis etc.!! We were very crowded in this gondola but made it back in time to join the Korns at 4.30pm.
Friday morning, Christoph Jager,, Ulrike’s brother, and daughter Anna arrived from the Black Forest. We went with them up to Silbreta, an old silver mining area. The views were amazing again, on the opposite side of the Montofon Vallet to Silbretta. We did some walking and after lunch, Christoph and Anna decided to walk down while we took the gondola again down to the valley. We managed to end up on the same bus back to Tschagguns as we had to wait for nearly an hour, having just missed one. The family then joined us at the Cresta hotel for dinner which was really special. Unfortunately Christine Jager had been unable to come but hope we catch up again soon.
Needless to say, Saturday was packing up again to head for Leutasch area. The others called in briefly to say goodbye and we were all on the way by 9.30am. Our trip down the valley to the main road going east towards Innsbruck, was easy, but then we crawled along behind lots of cars for a long time. Eventually we arrived at the Gasthof Gaistal near Obern about lunch time. We lunched nearby before checking in at the hotel. This is a superb family place where my food intolerances have been very carefully noted. It means all meals are fine for me. They have provided me with lactose free milk and yoghurt as well as gluten free bread, cookies and rolls. I am very spoilt!
On Sunday, we woke to light snow and -10C so didn’t rush out to ski immediately after breakfast. We went out later in the morning and had some great skiing on well prepared tracks in good snow conditions. I’m becoming more confident on skis too. After lunch we took the bus down to Weidach to ski shop and then took a bus to return back here. However that bus took us on a wonderful tour of the valley, down to Mittenwold and then around to Moos etc.
We’re looking forward to more good skiing tomorrow but after it warms up from the forecast -20C!
On Monday, Ken and I went off t see what cross country trails were good for skiing. We found a small loop further up the road, but tracks were icy. We skied parts of these trails for a couple of days and then decided to be tourists as the skiing wasn’t good. On Thursday we took the large gondola and then tunnel bus for about 15mins. up to Silvretta. This is a beautiful spot and it was clear for most of the time we were there. The hotel overlooked the top dam of a hydroelectric power scheme where cross country tracks went across the dam and up slopes beyond it. This dam was at over 2,000m. high and the powerstation was in the valley below, 800m., so a good fall. The water pipeline was riveted steel so Ken says at it was built at least pre 2nd world war and maybe even earlier. The pipeline came down the hill beneath the gondola. On the way down we were held up, by a technical problem, so stood around for over an hour in cold conditions. When the problem was sorted out, there were about 60 people waiting to go down, with sleds., baby pushers, skis etc.!! We were very crowded in this gondola but made it back in time to join the Korns at 4.30pm.
Friday morning, Christoph Jager,, Ulrike’s brother, and daughter Anna arrived from the Black Forest. We went with them up to Silbreta, an old silver mining area. The views were amazing again, on the opposite side of the Montofon Vallet to Silbretta. We did some walking and after lunch, Christoph and Anna decided to walk down while we took the gondola again down to the valley. We managed to end up on the same bus back to Tschagguns as we had to wait for nearly an hour, having just missed one. The family then joined us at the Cresta hotel for dinner which was really special. Unfortunately Christine Jager had been unable to come but hope we catch up again soon.
Needless to say, Saturday was packing up again to head for Leutasch area. The others called in briefly to say goodbye and we were all on the way by 9.30am. Our trip down the valley to the main road going east towards Innsbruck, was easy, but then we crawled along behind lots of cars for a long time. Eventually we arrived at the Gasthof Gaistal near Obern about lunch time. We lunched nearby before checking in at the hotel. This is a superb family place where my food intolerances have been very carefully noted. It means all meals are fine for me. They have provided me with lactose free milk and yoghurt as well as gluten free bread, cookies and rolls. I am very spoilt!
On Sunday, we woke to light snow and -10C so didn’t rush out to ski immediately after breakfast. We went out later in the morning and had some great skiing on well prepared tracks in good snow conditions. I’m becoming more confident on skis too. After lunch we took the bus down to Weidach to ski shop and then took a bus to return back here. However that bus took us on a wonderful tour of the valley, down to Mittenwold and then around to Moos etc.
We’re looking forward to more good skiing tomorrow but after it warms up from the forecast -20C!
Thursday 15 February 2018
Safari day 4 and 5
Day 4. After breakfast we were driven to the Moholohol Rehabilitaion Centre. There was a pied crow (with white collar) near the entrance. of Tremisana lodge as we left. At the rehabilitation centre there are many rescued animals and birds which are healed. Most are kept because they wouldn’t cope in the wild any more. They breed these animals and have a program to get the young back into their normal environment.
The staff brought out a cheetah which we were all able to pat! Further on were Honey Badgers, which we’d seen first at the Braai on Day 1. These are interesting creatures and they stretched up against the wall to be fed! They are also able to climb up a ladder to rest in the sun on the top platform. There were so many different birds here: a Marshall eagle, vultures, guinea fowl, an African Harrier Hawk, an African Fish eagle, Southern ground Hornbills (beautiful black and red bird), a drongo, lilac breasted roller, green wood hoopee, black headed heron and some Marabou Stork. It’s an amazing variety and we were close to them all! Some birds are in large “cages” but others in the large enclosures (with electric fences) with other animals. I loved the signs saying the fence will bite! There was a baby cheetah which tried to climb the fence while we were watching. In one enclosure we saw spotted hyenas roaming around and then a leopard in a tree with a lion resting below in the shade of the tree. They are doing wonderul work here.
After a light lunch at Tremisana, we were taken to a private game park - Tshukudu Game Lodge. The family bought the former cattle property 27 years ago and are gradually returning it to its normal condition. There was a beautiful blue Cape Starling perched on the top of a tree as we drove in. There was a semi-tame cheetah lying at the back of a sheltered area. It had killed an impala and part of the leg bone was beside the cheetah. We were able to move carefully behind the cheetah and pat its head but some other weren’t able to do so later, probably because there was too much noise and movement then. We boarded the safari vehicle which was originally an Argentinian army truck! It had no cover and was open sided.so easy viewing for all. Patrick, one of the 4 sons, drove us around generally following the line of artificial water holes. He had a sensor device to try and locate the alpha male which wore a tracking device. Before the first waterhole we saw a rhino in the bush and at the waterhole there were hippos. Next we saw a pride of 5 lions , a male and 4 females. A little later, we watched the old lion with the younger male go down to drink at the waterhole. We were driven quite close to this wonderful sight. Later we saw about 20 buffaloes with a white rhino in the middle of the group. They were all feeding on the grass which had been put out for them as vegetation is sparse because of the dought conditions in the past 3 years. Continuing our drive, we saw zebra, warthogs and giraffe. There were no elephants as they had escaped into a neighbouring reserve - electric fences are no obstruction to them! Patrick told us about the reduction in poaching after they instigated a system of dehorning the rhinos. The horn, of material like our fingernails, grows each year and they cut them down to 10cms. The poachers sell horn to traders for medicines in places like Vietnam.
Another evening relaxing in the lounge having a pre-dinner drink.
Day 5. We were programmed to return to Kruger for another day but we both felt we’d already seen lots there and didn’t feel like another long hot day with lots of driving. So we had a relaxing morning and in the afternoon returned to the Tshukudu Game Park. The cheetah was still where we’d seen her the day before. The bones were still in the same place too. On this drive with David, the second son of the owner, we saw a number of impala and some spotted hyenas among the trees. We came across the alpha male lion and when David revved up the engine loudly, the lion responded with some very loud roaring. Wonderful! There were several rhino around and we saw more birds here - lilac breasted roller and grey parrot. When we parked near one waterhole, two large crocodiles ambled out of the water towards us. Two crazy Italians jumped down to take photos closer up but were quickly told to get back in the truck as the crocs can run faster than a man! Another great day and the last day of our safari time at Tremisana Lodge. Tomorow we were to drive back to Johannesburg via Blyde River canyon.
The staff brought out a cheetah which we were all able to pat! Further on were Honey Badgers, which we’d seen first at the Braai on Day 1. These are interesting creatures and they stretched up against the wall to be fed! They are also able to climb up a ladder to rest in the sun on the top platform. There were so many different birds here: a Marshall eagle, vultures, guinea fowl, an African Harrier Hawk, an African Fish eagle, Southern ground Hornbills (beautiful black and red bird), a drongo, lilac breasted roller, green wood hoopee, black headed heron and some Marabou Stork. It’s an amazing variety and we were close to them all! Some birds are in large “cages” but others in the large enclosures (with electric fences) with other animals. I loved the signs saying the fence will bite! There was a baby cheetah which tried to climb the fence while we were watching. In one enclosure we saw spotted hyenas roaming around and then a leopard in a tree with a lion resting below in the shade of the tree. They are doing wonderul work here.
After a light lunch at Tremisana, we were taken to a private game park - Tshukudu Game Lodge. The family bought the former cattle property 27 years ago and are gradually returning it to its normal condition. There was a beautiful blue Cape Starling perched on the top of a tree as we drove in. There was a semi-tame cheetah lying at the back of a sheltered area. It had killed an impala and part of the leg bone was beside the cheetah. We were able to move carefully behind the cheetah and pat its head but some other weren’t able to do so later, probably because there was too much noise and movement then. We boarded the safari vehicle which was originally an Argentinian army truck! It had no cover and was open sided.so easy viewing for all. Patrick, one of the 4 sons, drove us around generally following the line of artificial water holes. He had a sensor device to try and locate the alpha male which wore a tracking device. Before the first waterhole we saw a rhino in the bush and at the waterhole there were hippos. Next we saw a pride of 5 lions , a male and 4 females. A little later, we watched the old lion with the younger male go down to drink at the waterhole. We were driven quite close to this wonderful sight. Later we saw about 20 buffaloes with a white rhino in the middle of the group. They were all feeding on the grass which had been put out for them as vegetation is sparse because of the dought conditions in the past 3 years. Continuing our drive, we saw zebra, warthogs and giraffe. There were no elephants as they had escaped into a neighbouring reserve - electric fences are no obstruction to them! Patrick told us about the reduction in poaching after they instigated a system of dehorning the rhinos. The horn, of material like our fingernails, grows each year and they cut them down to 10cms. The poachers sell horn to traders for medicines in places like Vietnam.
Another evening relaxing in the lounge having a pre-dinner drink.
Day 5. We were programmed to return to Kruger for another day but we both felt we’d already seen lots there and didn’t feel like another long hot day with lots of driving. So we had a relaxing morning and in the afternoon returned to the Tshukudu Game Park. The cheetah was still where we’d seen her the day before. The bones were still in the same place too. On this drive with David, the second son of the owner, we saw a number of impala and some spotted hyenas among the trees. We came across the alpha male lion and when David revved up the engine loudly, the lion responded with some very loud roaring. Wonderful! There were several rhino around and we saw more birds here - lilac breasted roller and grey parrot. When we parked near one waterhole, two large crocodiles ambled out of the water towards us. Two crazy Italians jumped down to take photos closer up but were quickly told to get back in the truck as the crocs can run faster than a man! Another great day and the last day of our safari time at Tremisana Lodge. Tomorow we were to drive back to Johannesburg via Blyde River canyon.
African Safari Day 2 & 3
Day 2
At 5.15am we were up and having a cuppa with a rusk before going off for a sunrise walk. We were driven down towards the Oliphant R. As usual, we saw warthogs kneeling on their front knees as they fed.There were two guide with us, Andy and Eva, both armed with rifles as we were going to be walking in the bush with wild animals. Arriving at the river, we got out of the vehicle to walk in line with one guide ahead and one behind. Coming down to the river, there were some hippos submerged with just eyes and nose visible. On the opposite side of the river were a few water buffalo and small antelope as well as a small crocodile on the edge of the river. We could also see some other small antelope but they were very far away. An outcrop of basalt across the river at this point was unusual as most of the area is granite, so pretty poor soil. There are many old termite mounds and natives fish for termites with sticks dipped in honey. There was a large entry hole to a burrow in one of the termite mounds and this is is where the anteaters, aardwolfs, live. These are nocturnal animals and rarely seen. There were small brown common mongoose peeping out of their burrow in what seemed to be a small old termite mound nearby. We also saw the slender mongoose as it ran across the grass the following day. On the way back to the vehicle we saw giraffe and zebras among the scrubby trees. The giraffe look so cute peering across the treetops. There are many impala all over the nature reserve and Eva referred to them as NAFI : Not Another Flipping Impala. The 2-3 hour walk was good and we had a lovely breakfast on our return to Tremisana lodge. Then we moved rooms as the air conditioning wasn’t working in the first unit and so were able to relax in cool conditions before a light lunch at 1.30pm. I enjoyed a short swim before we met Eva again at 3.30pm for an afternon drive on Balule Nature Reserve.
On this drive Eva was our only guide and she is passionate about her work, just like other guides we had during the safari.
We came across more impala and zebras and then saw a rhino with its young among the bush. There were two giraffe we saw which had wounded rear legs, one on left and the other on the right, so the guides can tell them apart easily. One of these had two small birds on its long neck pecking off insects. The male giraffe doesn’t have hairs on end of their short horns because of the “necking” contest between the males. We stopped for a short break on the airstrip and watched the sun setting. On the way back to Tremisana, Eva had a call to say there was a pride of lions on the airstrip, so back we went. There were 5 female lions quietly wandering across it and we enjoyed watching them. Now it was dark so time to go back to the lodge. However, on our way back there was another call, a large male lion was on the airstrip. Eva turned the vehicle around and after a mad fast drive back over the rough dirt road to the airstrip, we saw the lion, stretched out quietly!
Eva certainly enjoyed the driving and she is good too. What a great sunset drive that was. Dinner in the Boma with fire going in the firepit, was OK but pork chop could have been used to shoe leather! Bedtime was welcome after a busy day.
Day 3 was our full day trip to Kruger National Park. It was over an hour drive to the park entrance. Patrick was our guide and he’d been doing it for 23years but was still passionate about his work. We saw more warthogs, giraffe and a number of Nyala (a larger antelope with stripes) among the trees. Then Patrick drove us to a waterhole where we saw 5 lions in the shade of a tree watching 2 hippos in the waterhole. The hippos carefully walked backwards to the bush to escape the lions’ attack. Futher on were greater Kudus, a large antelope but with fewer stripes than the Nyala. It has huge ears! Patrick then drove us to a large waterhole where we saw over 40 elephants! They were enjoying the water with young ones splashing around and spraying each other with water and older ones spraying themselves with mud to keep cool and also help to get rid of parasites on their skin. Fascinating scene! There were some hippos here too with just their noses above water. We were told they don’t swim but sink down and walk along the bottom of the waterholes or rivers as they can stay submerged for up to 8mins. Then it was lunchtime at Satara in an open air cafe. This was a lovely spot and we saw gnu here as well as hornbills and eagles. Of course, there were impala and warthogs.
Next Patrick was told about a lion kill. Seems about 18 lions had taken down and killed a giraffe(hard to kill because of their strong kick). There were about 10 lions lying around sleeping under the trees after their feed of giraffe. One lion was till gnawing on the huge carcase under the Marula tree. The vultures were around cleaning up the area. Further on, a chap had told Patrick about a leopard which had killed an impala. Once there, it took a while to see the leopard sleeping in the branches of a tree with the remainder of the impala some distance away. How amazing to see the leopard in the wild. As we drove back past the resting lions, a white lion appeared. This is apparently seen very seldom. The white lion is the symbol of Kruger Park. Later on during the drive we saw a hare rush aross the road, then some wild dogs and more elephants and gnu. The Marshall eagles were flying around, looking great. Along the roadside we saw more vervet monkeys feeding on the Marula tree fruits and near the gate spotted a tiny squirrel.
This was such an amazing day seeing so many animals in their natural environment. I think we all dozed on the long drive back to Tremisana Lodge
At 5.15am we were up and having a cuppa with a rusk before going off for a sunrise walk. We were driven down towards the Oliphant R. As usual, we saw warthogs kneeling on their front knees as they fed.There were two guide with us, Andy and Eva, both armed with rifles as we were going to be walking in the bush with wild animals. Arriving at the river, we got out of the vehicle to walk in line with one guide ahead and one behind. Coming down to the river, there were some hippos submerged with just eyes and nose visible. On the opposite side of the river were a few water buffalo and small antelope as well as a small crocodile on the edge of the river. We could also see some other small antelope but they were very far away. An outcrop of basalt across the river at this point was unusual as most of the area is granite, so pretty poor soil. There are many old termite mounds and natives fish for termites with sticks dipped in honey. There was a large entry hole to a burrow in one of the termite mounds and this is is where the anteaters, aardwolfs, live. These are nocturnal animals and rarely seen. There were small brown common mongoose peeping out of their burrow in what seemed to be a small old termite mound nearby. We also saw the slender mongoose as it ran across the grass the following day. On the way back to the vehicle we saw giraffe and zebras among the scrubby trees. The giraffe look so cute peering across the treetops. There are many impala all over the nature reserve and Eva referred to them as NAFI : Not Another Flipping Impala. The 2-3 hour walk was good and we had a lovely breakfast on our return to Tremisana lodge. Then we moved rooms as the air conditioning wasn’t working in the first unit and so were able to relax in cool conditions before a light lunch at 1.30pm. I enjoyed a short swim before we met Eva again at 3.30pm for an afternon drive on Balule Nature Reserve.
On this drive Eva was our only guide and she is passionate about her work, just like other guides we had during the safari.
Day 3 was our full day trip to Kruger National Park. It was over an hour drive to the park entrance. Patrick was our guide and he’d been doing it for 23years but was still passionate about his work. We saw more warthogs, giraffe and a number of Nyala (a larger antelope with stripes) among the trees. Then Patrick drove us to a waterhole where we saw 5 lions in the shade of a tree watching 2 hippos in the waterhole. The hippos carefully walked backwards to the bush to escape the lions’ attack. Futher on were greater Kudus, a large antelope but with fewer stripes than the Nyala. It has huge ears! Patrick then drove us to a large waterhole where we saw over 40 elephants! They were enjoying the water with young ones splashing around and spraying each other with water and older ones spraying themselves with mud to keep cool and also help to get rid of parasites on their skin. Fascinating scene! There were some hippos here too with just their noses above water. We were told they don’t swim but sink down and walk along the bottom of the waterholes or rivers as they can stay submerged for up to 8mins. Then it was lunchtime at Satara in an open air cafe. This was a lovely spot and we saw gnu here as well as hornbills and eagles. Of course, there were impala and warthogs.
Next Patrick was told about a lion kill. Seems about 18 lions had taken down and killed a giraffe(hard to kill because of their strong kick). There were about 10 lions lying around sleeping under the trees after their feed of giraffe. One lion was till gnawing on the huge carcase under the Marula tree. The vultures were around cleaning up the area. Further on, a chap had told Patrick about a leopard which had killed an impala. Once there, it took a while to see the leopard sleeping in the branches of a tree with the remainder of the impala some distance away. How amazing to see the leopard in the wild. As we drove back past the resting lions, a white lion appeared. This is apparently seen very seldom. The white lion is the symbol of Kruger Park. Later on during the drive we saw a hare rush aross the road, then some wild dogs and more elephants and gnu. The Marshall eagles were flying around, looking great. Along the roadside we saw more vervet monkeys feeding on the Marula tree fruits and near the gate spotted a tiny squirrel.
This was such an amazing day seeing so many animals in their natural environment. I think we all dozed on the long drive back to Tremisana Lodge
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)