Sightings in Greater Kruger (Sabi Sands)

I’ve just returned from a 10-night trip to South Africa — my fifth this year. Still no loyalty card. I feel I’ve earned at least a kilo of biltong and a firm handshake from someone in short shorts called Brent.

This trip was spent touring the Greater Kruger area. And to clarify: “Greater Kruger” doesn’t mean it’s a better version of Kruger (although it is), it means the national park spills out into a network of private reserves — the most famous being Sabi Sands. In total, we’re talking over 20,000 square kilometres, or more than 5 million acres. It’s vast. Big enough that getting between some lodges meant driving for hours, while others were so far apart I had to fly.  All of this, of course, required the noble personal sacrifice of staying in ultra-luxury lodges along the way. Thoughts and prayers.

Anyway, the point is, this is some of the cool stuff I got to see.

Wild dogs hunting

As everyone with an internet connection knows, wild dogs are the greatest animals of all time.  Them and velociraptors.   But they’re rarer than the raptors, seeing that there’s now at least ninety-five million Jurassic Park movies.  Wild dog numbers are estimated to be around 7,000 worldwide.  So, seeing them is always a joy.  But you know what’s better than seeing them once?  Yes, seeing them three times.

We initially found them snoozing in the sand. Lovely. Peaceful. Idyllic. Then they suddenly got up and launched themselves at a group of hyenas for absolutely no reason, other than because they’re magnificent bastards and chaos flows through their blood. Unfortunately, this was Thornybush, which I will continue to point out is one of the busiest private concessions on Earth. So, after eight minutes of watching what might have been the next opponent of Jake Paul, we were asked to leave the sighting because of the ever-present queue of vehicles.

Later in the day we found the pack again, just as they went out hunting….only to be kicked off the sighting again due to another queue building up.  We managed to get ourselves back on it, only for them to have killed something outside another lodge, so we never got to see it.  Booo, Nature.

And finally, a pack of just two decided to go hunting across Londolozi. This resulted in the beloved “Ferrari Safari” experience: hold onto your kidneys, and clench your arsehole, as shit is about to get real. You don’t follow dogs, you race.  And in the heat of the moment, to catch a glimpse of them, you suddenly find yourself full of hatred that the environment dare have things in it like trees that get in your way.  And, just as we arrived and just as it felt like we were about to witness greatness, the dogs trotted across the boundary into the neighbouring property, without even a wave goodbye.

K-9 training

I’ve recently attended a few anti-poaching K-9 demonstrations, including one where the dogs were trained to detect another human who had made a run for it.  And my children briefly looked like they were being actively recruited into the local militia.  Happy family memories.

But this was easily the coolest of the lot.  First of all, the dog looks like it took great offence at the trainer doing a Nazi salute.  Secondly, the moment the handler released the attack dog, it was very clear that you do not want to be caught with your pants down when a highly trained canine assassin is coming for you. They bite and are trained not to let go.  So say no to poaching, kids, if at least it’s to keep your genitals intact.

Hyaena looking for cuddles

Hyaenas are badly mischaracterised cos of some movie about Hamlet, lions and Elton John.  They’re awesome creatures, and generally unbothered by humans.  However, one was bothered by one human – me.  I walked back to my room and found it using the entrance as shade and having a nap on my doormat.  I didn’t react quick enough to photograph it, as it saw me and made a run for it – clearly I’m uglier than the normal company it keeps.  So no pics, so stare at a cute, baby hyaena instead.

Leopards, leopards, leopards

It’s a cliché that the Sabi Sands is full of leopards, but clichés exist for a reason. This isn’t propaganda circulated by the Anti-Lion Brigade; the place is genuinely overflowing with spotted murder-cats. You could probably throw a croissant out of your room and hit one.  Just saying their name three times makes one appear.

The best sighting of the trip was one of those moments that reminds you why you put up with 5 a.m. wake-up calls and disjointed limbs. It was one of those sightings where even the guide was surprised by what was unfolding.

A male leopard had hoisted a kill into a tree. Fine. Classic leopard behaviour. Below, a group of hyenas waited like a professional catering team. The leopard then wandered off to have a nap.

Enter: a female leopard.

The male took one look, and just… left. Walked off. Conceded the tree, the kill, and all my hope of seeing a punch’up.  Considering that roughly 50% of leopard deaths are caused by other leopards, we were all bracing ourselves for full-scale carnage. Even the hyenas looked hopeful.

After that, the leopards became almost contractual. I think I saw one on every single game drive, like it was part of the guide’s employment terms.

Golden lions

I love a good lion picture during golden hour, when it’s starring right at you.  Hard to beat that.  So it was great to follow this coaliation for a few hours in the early mornings.

It’s pure sex appeal.

Buffalo Soldier

But that was the amushe bouche, as I have never seen so many lions in an area before as I had in Lion Sands.  It takes some balls to name yourself Lion Sands, cos, you know, if there’s no lions around, guests are gonna be pissed.  And then imagine if they didn’t see any sand either?!  Oh, the humanity.  But both lions and sand were indeed present in abundance – fair play.

The buffaloes, however, were having an objectively terrible week. Something had clearly kicked off recently.  This felt personal.

First evening: a pride has caught two buffalos and were having a proper ol’ feast.  I don’t recall ever seeing two fully grown buffalo caught at the same time.  The next day, we come across another pride with a buffalo.  Whilst we’re there, another vehicle radios in that they’ve found another dead buffalo besides another pride.  And then, a day later, we come across hyenas having stolen a buffalo kill from yet another pride, who clearly had eaten so much they decided it wasn’t worth fighting over.  Oh, and we saw lions hunting buffalo too – unsuccessfully, regretably, as it is the number one thing I want to see.

At this point, the buffalo must have been holding emergency town hall meetings.

Oh yeah, and something that isn’t toothy

I’m pretty bad at remembering to take pics of things that don’t have paws and claws, but here’s a few that I managed to overcome my blood thirsting.