An early morning transfer from Hazyview took us to our home for the next two nights – Notten’s Bush Camp located within the Sabi Sands Game Reserve which is part of Kruger. This was part of the trip that I had researched and booked for our trip in 2020 that never happened. The setting was beautiful, the rooms immaculate, the staff welcoming (thanks Tiffany and Pearl and everyone we met at Notten’s), knowledgeable and kind, the food and drinks plentiful (and included in the cost…), with two game drives a day and a guided bush walk as well! Overlooking a popular waterhole attracting many visitors like giraffes, elephants, warthogs, impalas, kudus, birds – you didn’t have to wait long to feel part of the action of life in Africa.
I keep fighting back a strong urge to sing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” – in fact it’s just a whim away…
This post will likely be a catalog of photos of the amazing wildlife we encountered….. Plus a tale of a close call with a pride of lions that was not on the itinerary!
On our afternoon game drive we saw a lot of wildlife including a leopard that was hiding in a tree with a young duiker (small antelope) that it had killed the previous day. The leopard was guarding it’s kill from a couple of eager hyena who were lurking around the base of the tree waiting for scraps or the whole carcass to fall.
Continuing on we came across a pride of fourteen lazy lions lounging in the grass. We propped and watched them for a bit, until they seemed to get a whiff of something they might like to nibble on so proceeded to head out, ignoring us (thankfully) as they wandered nonchalantly past our vehicle.
We drove on for another twenty minutes stopping to watch zebra, giraffe, impala (known as the McDonald’s of the African bush), kudu, wildebeest, sea eagles, vultures and many more beautiful creatures as well as another spectacular red sunset. With night well and truly fallen, we pulled into a clearing where a campfire had been lit and a portable BBQ and bar had been set up for the three safari vehicles from Notten’s.
At the same time that we pulled up we could see some spotlights from some other vehicles from a neighbouring camp tracking something nearby, and seemingly approaching. As I was desperately in need of a quiet spot to relieve my near bursting bladder, I checked with the guide that it was ok to duck behind the trucks for a quick pee while everyone else remained in trucks.
Turned out to be very quick as midstream, the close rumble of a stampede of water buffalo and cries of “LIONS! Get back in the truck!” interrupted what was a very nervous call of nature…. I hoisted myself into the nearest truck while all around us the spotlights were picking up the pride of lions we had seen earlier, chasing the buffalo! One of the guides said that she hadn’t seen this happen before with lions so close to our fire and BBQ. Once it seemed they had moved on, still chasing the buffalo, we cautiously climbed down from the trucks and enjoyed the G&Ts and BBQ ribs while scanning the bushes for any sign of more lions!
Notten’s Bush Camp
A few more fun game drives with our great American safari buddies (Carly and Jesus from Austin Texas, Cathy from Florida and her daughter Kelly from Chicago, plus tracker Wonder and driver/guide Tinyako) and a bush walk with an armed guide (Tinyako again) provided a lot more animal encounters. We were woken each morning at 5.30 for our early morning drives and given a snuggly blanket and hot water bottle to keep us warm, as well as stopping along the way for hot drinks and a snack before arriving back at camp for a full hot breakfast.
One of the highlights was a group of seven white rhino who had taken a liking for an old soot dump from the original steam train that used to go through the area. All the rhino in Kruger have been dehorned so as to protect them from poachers which is a massive issue across Africa.
The other highlight was checking out a hyena den with three pups left to fend for themselves while mum and dad are out hassling leopards.
Sadly we couldn’t stay forever so after our final morning game drive we got our ‘taxi’ to the lovely little Skukuza airport for the short flight to Johannesburg, with a promise to one day return!
Love this, although I do find the written narrative lacking a little of the vividness enabled by a bottle of wine, an eager audience and an 11pm Saturday timeslot. Pics are pretty fabulous too!