www.markhayden.co.uk

PJ and I got back from South Africa yesterday, with a great flight back with Virgin Atlantic it was a truely fantastic week. Our pictures are www.markhayden.co.uk/album/index.html

We stayed at the Njovu Lodge http://www.njovugamelodge.com/ for 5 nights and were very well looked after. With Zach taking us on the game drives, Anna looking after our needs at camp, and Francina providing some great tasting meals. The lodge was fantastic, their website is being further updated, our pictures give a good indication of the comfort, quality and location.

Day 1 - Friday 4th April 2008

We arrived at JNB on time, and quickly got through Immigration, however, bags took a long time to come off, and took an hour in the end for us to get our bags. We were met by Sonja and Henry Denner who originally were our hosts, but due to their move to Saudi Arabia, we decided on Njovu Lodge as an alternative. Our Hertz car was ready, and we left Jo’Burg under the direction of TomTom and headed East. The TomTom maps worked really well, and we got to the lodge in just under 5 hours, with a short 10 minute stop to stretch the legs. The roads to the Kruger were well paved, and the only delay we had was a short one due to an accident.

Driving standards are actually very good, once you get used to pulling over to the left to allow faster drivers through.

We arrived at 3:30pm, and were greeted by Anna and Francina, we were shown to our tent, Leopard, and once showered we were offered the chance to drive down to the water by Zach and see what may be visible. We saw Giraffe, Water Buffalo, Warthogz, Impala and Zebra.

Dinner was extreemly good, continuing my belief that South African cuisine is one of the best in the world. We had a selection of meat cooked on the fire, very enjoyable.

Day 2 - Saturday 5th April 2008

An early start, with a 5:15am departure, to get to the Crocodile Bridge Gate for it’s 6am opening, it was a little misty to begin with and it warmed up quickly. Within a few minutes we had seen Impala and Wildebeest, Kudo, and PJ spotted a Rhino, in fact there were 3 ! . Considering we’d only seen one Rhino in Kenya on our honeymoon and a very long way in the distance, this was really special. This one was fairly close, and we were not sure how many more we might see. In the end we saw around 12 that day.

We saw more Monkeys and Hippos at the observation pool, and while on the way to a coffee stop at Lower Sabie, we saw a couple of Elephants, Zebra and some Vultures. Coffee and OJ was had overlooking a really nice part of the Crocodile River, where you can often see Crocs and Hippos in the water, this time, we only saw Hippos and a few Lizards.

The next stop was a larger watering hole where it has a greenish tinge to the edges as it is not fed by any river, the water contained many Hippo, Crocodiles and attracted many birds , Giraffe, Impala. On the way to lunch at Skukuza we a pair of Southern Ground Hornbill , Marabou Stork, a Hamerkop, and a baby crocodille.

Lunch was taken at the Skukuza camp, and from the dinner tables, if you looked up, you could see bats hanging upside down from the roof. We were then told, that there may be a Leopard in the area, and Zach wanted us to get back to the Game Viewer if we wanted a chance to see it.

We got there just in time to see it in the trees, and saw it come down and head off into the bush. if we had been 5 minutes later we would not have seen anything.

We continued our drive up to Pretoriuskop, and saw some Spotted Hyena, in fact 2 very small cubs. By now, we were some way from the Gate we needed to exit from the Park, if we did not leave in time, we would have to stay inside the park and pay a fine. Zach decided to head to the Malelane Gate, in order to exit on time, and head back on the N4 to the Njovu Lodge.

We then saw a huge collection of vehicles parked up, this could only mean something really special, and we were right, as a Wild Dog appeared from the bush, and started to bark, and looked like it wanted to play. Another arrived and they then headed across the road and into the bush. I had overheard someone at the Lower Sabie rest stop, that in 21 years he had never seen them, and he typically spent 12 days a year in the Kruger. So I consider myself very lucky that I saw them in the Kruger, and in 2006 at the Pilansberg Reserve.

On the way out, we saw another Rhinoand an Elephant.

In total we drove around 300 kms, and saw 3 of the big five in one day. Only have Lion left from the big five.

Day 3 - Sunday 6th April 2008

We were the only guests who wanted an early start, so we had another 5:15am departure and found the park a little quiet for animals. We did come across a Hyena Den, where we were able to see the social pecking order of the group. Following on from that, we saw more Rhino, Hippos, Elephants, Birds, Water Buffalow and of course Impala. The coffee break was again at Lower Sabie.

Breakfast  was at a water hole, where there were Water Buck, Watrhogs and Water Buffalo, apparently the Lions had been there earlier and had moved on. After a good cooked breakfast we headed off again and saw a group of monkeys, one of which was carrying a small baby. We were on a Tarmac road, when we were suprised by a lone male elephant who came out of the bush quite quickly, I think we surprised him too.

We then found a large group of Elephants, and were stopped for a while observing and taking a few photos when we heard a loud trumpet and a sound of branches breaking, we turned to see a younger elehphant looking quite upset at us, and he had stopped his charge. We then moved on to find a lone Water Buffalo grazing, and then looking right at me.

We were told of 3 male Cheetah lying under a bush a few kms ahead, so we headed off to find them. We were lucky, they were still there and we were able to take a few good photos.

There were not as many animals evident on this day, just one of those things, however, on the way out, I did see a Water Buffalo with a Yellow Billed Stork on it’s back.

We got back to the Lodge to find a Frog that can changes it’s skin pigment, it was sitting on white switch box, and I tried to take a photo of it. It did n’t come out as white as it looked. We also were told of the family of Warthogs that had come through during the morning, Just after we sat out by the pool, they returned.

We rested by the pool for a while, as we had planned to go on a Night Drive from the Crocodile Gate, and we saw Kudo and Impala before Sunset, just after sunset we saw Giraffe, Rhino, Wildebeest  and Zeebra.

We had a rest break halfway through, which was quite strange, being outside of the vehicle, in the dark and in the middle of the Kruger Park !

Due to the light, I switched to a Video Camera, and captured a Puff Adder, which I will upload shortly.

We were met by Zach at 8pm, when we got back to Crocodile Bridge to be taken back to the Lodge. Where we had a later dinner prepared for us.  During the evening we were greeted by a group of local Zebra, one of which was very pregnant.

Day 4 - Monday 7th April 2008

A later start today, we left the camp around 9am and headed into the Park, and went to Hippo Pools, where you can get our accampanied by an armed ranger, who will show the last remaining wall painting, thought to be 1800 years old. It was saved from the very heavy floods that happend in 2000.

More Elephant, including one with a younger elephant, and we headed to towards Lower Sabie, where we thought we might find Lion, which we did, tucked under a tree a single male Lion.

More Giraffe and Monkeys and an African Fish Eagle.

On the way out of the Crocodile Gate, we were told of a Lion outside of the Park, and some workers on the roof of a new building had seen it, but did not know where it had gone. Looks like we missed it by a few minutes.

Back to the Lodge for another delicious meal.

Day 5 - Tuesday 8th April 2008

We started around 9am again today and headed into the park around 10am, seeing Warthog, Giraffe, Leopard Spotted Tortoise, Hippo, Wagtails, Crocs and a Secretary Bird.

Early in the day we did find at least 19 Elephant moving across the road after drinking in the river, in 5 minutes they had cleared into the Bush, a few moments after another Game Viewer arrived, showing you have to be in the right place at the right time to see things. Sometimes it just comes down to luck.

Towards the end of the day, we saw some Drawf Mongoose, and a few Hyena at the den we saw on Sunday. On the way out of the gate and into Marloth Park, we saw 3 Rhino and an Elephant at the river.

Day 6 - Wednesday 8th April 2008

We left at 6.30am to get to our Horse Riding for 7am, we were able to select our horses, I had Jimmy who had only been broken about 3 months ago, and as I had only been on a horse 3 times previously I was a little concerned. We were helped by Jackie and Roxy to saddle up, and Jackie would be our guide for the morning. We rode along a dried up river, that only flows during the heavy rains, and saw a few Impala, a Springbok and Warthog.

We were finished by 10am, and Zach took us back for a brunch at the lodge and we said our goodbyes and left around 12:30 for the 5 hour drive back to Jo’Burg.

Conclusion

This was by far the best holiday we have ever had, the Lodge accomodation was indeed luxurious, it was in a great location, the food was fantastic, and above all the hospitality was genuinue and perfect. We really did n’t want to leave.

I highly recommend Njovu Game Lodge, we were very well looked after by Zach, Anna and Francina. We had an enjoyable time in the Kruger seeing pretty much all it has to offer in the southern part of the park.

We’d like to go back, to do the things we ran out of time for, for example, going to Mozambique, the bush walks and other local activities.

If you do decide to go, say Mark and PJ referred you, and you can be sure they will look after you as well as we were looked after.

If you have n’t seen our pictures, click on this link.