Towards the end of July, I had the pleasure of organizing a personal safari for a friend and her family in the Kruger National Park. This safari is a laid-back experience that I only offer to specific clients. We followed all the regulations of Kruger accommodation and adhered to the park’s rules, simply relishing in the company and capturing beautiful photographs. Our time in the park spanned a week, with four days spent exploring the central areas and three days discovering the sights of the south.
In this blog post, I will be sharing our experiences in the central parts. We spent two nights in Satara and another two nights in Talamati. While Satara is known as the Lion capital in Kruger, we unfortunately didn’t come across any lions there. However, we did have the privilege of spotting a leopard and two male cheetahs during our stay. We also witnessed a lot of elephants, but surprisingly, the buffalo were not as abundant. On the bright side, we were treated to a wonderful array of bird species in Satara, including Brown-headed Parrots, White-headed Vultures, Lappet-faced Vultures, and Kori Bustards.
The immediate vicinity of Satara is characterized by vast open plains, which creates a grassland-dominated ecosystem. We were fortunate enough to come across a sizable population of wildebeest and zebras in the area. Typically, this would attract lions and hyenas, but luck was not on our side this time. However, on the S100, a road located just east of the camp, we were thrilled to spot a female leopard perched on a large Leadwood tree. We managed to capture some great photos of her descending the tree. We purposely avoided exploring the areas to the west of Satara as we planned to do so when we reached Talamati.
After spending two nights in Satara, we headed west towards Talamati Bush Camp. Talamati is located south of Orpen gate and is a delightful and tranquil camp. Unfortunately, the wildlife viewing experience was not as impressive. Although we encountered several elephants and buffalo, we didn’t have much luck spotting cheetahs and wild dogs, which are known to be around this area. However, one morning we were fortunate enough to come across a magnificent male lion. Overall, the general game viewing was also quite good, with some good Baboon sightings, Kudu, Giraffe and relatively good birdlife, especially in the camp.
I really hope that you had a great time reading the blog and looking at the pictures. I will be posting the second part of the Kruger trip very soon. If you have liked what you’ve seen so far, I would love to hear from you. Just leave me a message or comment.
Stay tuned for the next blog post!
Darren.
Your writing has a way of making even the most complex topics accessible and engaging. I’m constantly impressed by your ability to distill complicated concepts into easy-to-understand language.