An August Safari to Kruger

The view from the clients seats.......

It's hard to believe that it's 3 years ago this week that repeat clients Michelle & Brian, along with Alex & Gloria, asked me to take them on safari again to Kruger National Park.

With great wildlife encounters and hilarious company it was one of the most fun safaris I've had.

So the fact that I've hardly even looked at the photos I took during the 6 days, let alone published any, can only be put down to how busy I was that year with Garden Route/Cape Town tours and the occasional Kruger safari in between.......

So here are a few of my favourite encounters - enjoy!

Mid-day at De Laporte waterhole

We spent over half an hour quietly watching these giraffe enjoy a mid-day drink, and trying to capture that moment when they snap their heads back up with a fountain of water...... (I didn't succeed!)

In a cloud of dust, with excited squeals and trumpets, the elephant herd charged in, chasing off both impala and giraffe....

From start to finish, the elephant took less than 10 minutes to totally disrupt the quiet waterhole, have a quick drink, turn the small puddle into a mud wallow and then vanish into the bushes again far more silently than they had arrived........

The last family unit, enjoying their drink without the hustle & bustle of the main herd.......


The Birds
August is not the best time of the year for birding, but during our safari I was pleased to get some of my best captures of Helmeted Guinea Fowl, the Lilac-breasted Roller, Crested Barbet and Red-billed Oxpeckers.

Kruger at it's finest....
Over the 3 days we were in Kruger we saw an amazing number of animals and here is just a very small selection of my favourite photos.....

 Baboons warily watching a lioness

Such a handsome Nyala bull

 A young Baboon

White Rhino calf

 Sunrise over the Sabie River following an early start on the road north through Kruger.

Karongwe Private Game Reserve
The last 2 nights of our safari was spent in one of the northern Private Game Reserves - the Karongwe.

 We were close enough to this giraffe for me to capture the water-spray!!

 We had many lion sightings during this safari, both in Kruger and the Karongwe - but this was my favourite, an alert young male.

 The ultimate last encounter......... a pair of mating leopard!! This was the male taking a breather.