Finding Tony Park

Tuesday 15th September

Our Tamboti experience is over and it is time to head to Satara.

 

Before leaving Australia we met Aussie author Tony Park (another SanParks forumite) and discovered that he would be in the Satara area while we were at Tamboti.

We were hoping to find him at Satara and for a change luck was on our side.

We had a quick chat before he left with the tour he was hosting.

A great guy who manages to spend half the year in OZ and the other half in Southern Africa.

We still had 2 hours until we could access our accommodation and decided on a short drive.

Lots of zebra, giraffe, elephant and a sprinkling of lions and rhino and a lone jackal

We arrived back at Satara at 11 and found the laundry area. We still need to do some of the mundane chores even on our holiday

At 4.40 we decide to take a quick drive(well 50k or slower)along the H1-3.

Waterbuck, zebras, bushbuck & slender mongoose are added to our days list.

Katie spots something in the grass and we reverse a few metres and are rewarded with 3 honey badgers and a few metres ahead another honey badger on the other side of the road.

 

A vehicle stops to ask what we are watching. We excitedly tell them what we have found and the are not in the least interested and tell us there are lions further up the road .

We decide to check the lions and soon find cars parked either side of the road.

We are looking into the bush trying to spot the lions when an elderly gentleman tells us we will see the one that is still remaining if we move ahead 2 car lengths.

We are beginning to think he has maybe moved on when Katie realises that he is just 1 metre from the car, lying partly hidden in the grass.

It was a scramble to close windows.

He did not move a muscle during the time we watched him.

How many animals do we miss because they blend in with their surroundings?

I will think twice about resting my arm on the window or pointing out the window after this sighting

We ended the day with a rhino rear and another soft sunset.