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We managed to leave Middelburg around 12:30 and while Nicola drove, I carried on working on my laptop. Nelsruit was quite busy and we got a bit lost in Witrivier, looking for signposts towards Numbi gate. After finding the right road (R538) it was an agonizing drive through almost endless squatter camps. At some point we started feeling the road was going the wrong direction and we pulled over next to a speed cop to ask directions. We had indeed passed the turnoff which was apparently not signposted due to construction, but luckily it was only about 6km back the way we came and less than 20 minutes later we were at Numbi gate. It was already late afternoon but we still managed to see our first few common birds before we reached Pretoriuskop camp at 5pm. We checked in and got ourselves organized before I did a little more work, followed by dinner and bed.
It was still cool and dark when we left the Pretoriuskop on Saturday morning. Initially the birding was quiet but at Shitlhave dam we picked up a pretty little Yellow-throated longclaw and a Malachite kingfisher came to sit almost right in front of where we parked at the water’s edge. Water thickknee and Blacksmith lapwings were spotted on the opposite shore and just after left the dam, we got our first Gabar goshawk for the year. Back on the main road another little grey goshawk turned out to be Dark chanting goshawk. A few more common birds were seen as we headed further east but mammals were surprisingly thin. Then, not long after we saw our first kudus for the day, we were slowly cruising past an off-limits track when Nicola spotted a whole pack of wild dogs slowly jogging towards us. One other car saw them as well and we both stopped at the spot and watched as the 12-strong pack came right up to us, sniffed around the cars, marked the edges of the road, lazed a little in some early morning shade and then trotted off again. They were around us for about 7-8 minutes and it was only our two vehicles that saw them! It was a special treat for Nicola who had never seen Wild Dog in the wild before. A little later at Transport dam we got a nice sighting of a Pearlspotted owlet and lots of African black swifts over the dam itself and by the time we reached the main north-south road we had also seen some elephant, impala and zebra. We turned south towards Malelane and got nice views of Yellow-breasted apalis and Yellow-bellied eremomela within a few 100 metres from the turnoff. About 10km down the road we saw what appeared to be a Crested francolin, almost crawling across the road, skulking, almost as if it was thinking that no-one will see it if it walks slowly and low-down. We were approaching it slowly and a group of cars from the opposite side sped past but luckily didn’t scare it off. A quick look through the binoculars confirmed though that it wasn’t a Crested francolin so we got excited. As it reached the edge of the road, it suddenly stood upright and walked normally and now we could see it clearly – it was Shelley’s francolin! And then suddenly there was a whole covey of them! Nicola quickly took a few pictures before they snuck away into the grass and then we very happily drove on – an unexpected lifer! We spotted a second group of elephants before had a quick toilet break at Afsaal picnic spot. On the old Voortrekker road back towards Pretoriuskop a thickly wooded edge of a drift had both Grey-headed and Orange-breasted bush-shrikes, Spectacled weaver and Grey-backed camaroptera. A large white bird flying low and slow over the trees turned out to be a Saddle-billed stork and before we got back to Pretoriuskop we had also seen a Tawny eagle in a tree right next to the car, two juvenile Martial eagles and a number of Bateleur.
Back in Pretoriuskop we had a brief rest before Nicola started our dinner fire. After an early dinner we took a short walk back to reception where we boarded our game drive vehicle for the night drive. We left the camp site and only a 100m down the road from the camp gates, we saw a shadow with eyes slip off the road into the tall grass. Our driver claimed it was a leopard, but we didn’t believe him until we stopped right next to it and the spotlights picked out a spotty back disappearing into the grass. And then to our delight, a second spotty back bounced in after it - it was a mother with her teenage cub! Although very special to see, it was not a brilliant sighting as the grass was tall and almost leopard-coloured under the spotlights. We continued on our way and picked up a few nightjars from the glint of their eyes atop rocks and branches. But owls and other mammals were in rather short supply initially. We came across several small groups of buffalo, and then were delighted to get good views of a large spotted genet in a tree. Soon afterwards Nicola, who was operating one of the spotlights, picked out a Spotted eagle owl surveying a grassy field for dinner. Pleased to have picked up at least a few night birds, we started heading back to camp. We came across a pair of spotted hyena who jogged down the road in front of us for a good half a km. Suddenly we spotted another Spotted eagle owl, sitting in the road, in the path of the hyenas. The owl however seemed largely unperturbed and stayed put until the hyenas were only a meter or so away. It eventually flew up and went to sit haughtily in a tree just off the road where we managed to get some photos of it before heading into the camp site. We made our way back to our chalet, and apart from hearing a Barn owl screech in the early hours of the morning, the night was peaceful.
Next morning we quickly packed up and were out bird watching as soon as the camp gates opened, before the sun was fully up, hoping for some more nightlife settling in for the day. Unfortunately we didn't see any owls or nightjars, but instead had to be content with a brilliant sighting of another nocturnal creature. We were driving slowly around a koppie, keeping an eye out for flutterings in the trees, and barely glanced at the rocky slope next to the road. Luckily Nicola’s quick eye managed to pick out a leopard, almost perfectly camouflaged against the rock. We stopped and gaped at the little leopard cub sitting out in the open about 10 meters away. We kept an eye out for an over-protective mother, but we never saw her. Instead we spent a glorious 10 minutes admiring him as he sat and sunned himself, and then crept a little closer to the car to eye us out. We managed to snap a few pictures and then left the beautiful boy alone as tried to hide under a bush, feeling quite privileged to have been the only two people at the scene. We continued birding and picked up a few nice birds like another sighting of Yellow-throated longclaw, Common scimitarbill, Bushveld pipit and Little bee-eater, as well as several new raptors for the year: Brown snake eagle, Lizard buzzard and Shikra. A sparrow/goshawk of sorts tormented us for almost half an hour, sitting about 70-80m from the road, fluffed up in the morning sun and calling what sounded almost perfectly like Southern pale chanting goshawk. But these don't occur in Kruger and it also didn't look that large. Ovambo sparrowhawk was the only other option but it's PDA call was considerably shorter than the real thing - we had to depart without an ID. But even without the sparrow/goshawk, our bird of prey count for the weekend still totaled 13. So all in all a stunning weekend in Kruger, with a mammal lifer of wild dogs for Nicola, 2 sightings of leopard, and an avian lifer of the Shelley's Francolin, which has been a long time coming!
