We are enjoying the relaxed life at King's Camp. Michele and Don, our ROAR 1 Close Elephant Encounter survivors, have enjoyed or endured (choose your verb) two more close run-ins with the ellies. Our arrival was graced with a large elephant herd taking up the camp's watering hole space. A few brave impala were trying to get a drink, but the ellies were having none of it.

We went on to find the three Timbavati Brother lions, looking just like the Sphinx in Egypt. They got up and gave one mad dash for a warthog. Score was Warthog 1, Timbavati Brothers 0. Kudu are plentiful here - and their related species, the uniku (single horned male formerly considered a kudu) has also been sighted. As we returned in the early evening, we met our night watch, Johannes.

Johannes has this group figured out. He was waiting with glasses of sherry and quickly assigned us our camp names "Number Six .. Come to Me! Black is alcohol .. mango juice is orange. Allll rrrrright". We are now known as Numbers 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15. For those in double rooms, we are delineating by ranking and non-ranking members. We are enjoying asking him how he slept each morning. He is continually clarifying he sleeps during the DAY.

The next morning we learned "Rockfig" equals "superb leopard sighting". We found Rockfig Female and Rockfig Female Cub in an open clearing. The impala jerky (remnants of a two day old kill) was swinging in the breeze from a high tree branch. Mom was keeping an eye on daughter. Daughter decided to practice her stalking skills on Mom, complete with a POUNCE. Mom smacked Daughter off her back. Then Daughter & Mom headed over to the tree. Daughter lept to her task, scaling the tree and figuring out the 57 different positions for chewing impala jerky. Mom kept watch and relaxed under the tree. What a phenomenal sighting.

After a lazy breakfast, snooze and lunch, we headed out with our new ranger, Remember. We tracked rhinos to the ends of the terrain. The rhinos would not come out for a clear photo shot, but we had quite a fine time tracking them. We circled around to the cape buffalo batchelor herd and had our sundowners. Not only did the sun go down, but so did the tire on our jeep. Ever tried to anchor a jack in sand? Our staff worked hard & finally got the tire replaced. We were heading back as the light faded. Our tracker spoke rapidly as we saw the outline of a small group ahead in the distance. The tracks appeared to be ... wild dog .. but given the fading light and replacement tire, the decision was taken to head into camp.

This morning, we saw the king lion. He's 14 years young and practiced his roaring for our collective benefit. We had a lovely breakfast - african spiced hot chocolate with a side of creamed spinach.

Cindy is having her massage, and the animals are cooperatively parading in front of the massage tent. Same Big 5, over and over again. Buffalo .. go! Rhinos .. take your places ..

Cheers and pleasure, Number 7 Ranking Member

Photos from Kings Camp

Wonderful photos Grant!! (Please tell Richard I said hello!)

Love the one of the leopard on the rocks (great paws) and also the "sphinx" lions.

Enjoying Anne's commentary, too.

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Eugene

Love it all...photos, reports and especially Anne's expert commentary. Waiting for more!

Ah-h-h beautiful :app: I'm having Africa flashbacks. Aren't those Lions majestic? Happy to see my old ROAR buddies :hello1:

Fantastic pictures! It sounds like you're all having a great time. Keep it up and say hi to all the animals for us. More pictues, please!!!

"Up close and personal", both in pictures and words. Thanks for providing a "Monday escape" from work.

Here are a few pictures from Monday at Kings Camp. Tomorrow we have a morning game drive then most of us move to Madikwe Hills and a few to Leopard Hills.

Glad you had sun for these. It does make a difference.

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Eugene

Great, wonderful and fantastic pictures!!!!

Grant, your photos are just fantastic!

Anne, your trip report is wonderful!

Thankyou so much for taking the time to share this amazing trip with us. I log on every morning to get my "home' fix of Africa.

The animals are so majestic. How we wish we were there to see them for ourselves. The photos are wonderful. Weather looks nice. J & J

It has been so busy and also our internet is very slow here and so I have not had time to post.

Today everyone leaves Madikwe Hills. We have had a very successful stay. The group got along wonderfully and many new friends have been made. The rooms here are so large and spacious I think everyone has really enjoyed the room and the lodge. We went around the dinner table last night asking what each person’s highlights were from both the lodge and animals. The lodge the overwhelming popular answer was “the room”.

Madikwe does not have the amount of animals of Sabi Sands nor can you see Leopard here. However when we come here we seem to have incredible sightings. This what my vehicle saw during our stay. We were with Ralph and Carol and their friends, David and Mary Elaine. I did one drive with Pam and Mark, and Fred and Judy.

Our first day we saw a group of giraffe pretty close, then lots of antelope including the gemsbok which is hard to see. They were a little far away but also very difficult animals to get close to as they are always skittish. The highlight of the day was an incredible rhino sighting. Four rhinos walked toward us and then walked within probably 10feet of our car. Stopped looked at us for a while then wandered on down to the waterhole for a drink. It was wonderful. Perfect weather, sunlight such a great scene.

I am a little rushed for time so I think I will make a list of the top sightings instead of explain each scene.

Best Rhino I have seen. The four so close and then the last night we saw two TINY babies still stumbling around. The rangers said just a few days old.

Charging elephant, best ever. Within a few feet of the vehicle. I think Carol will never be the same.

Big herd with little babies. Followed them for about an hour it was great.

Two bull elephants fighting with trunks clashing and the sound was incredible.

A hyena nursing her baby. It was a great sight. I have not seen that before it was so peaceful and loving I was quite overwhelmed with this my favorite for these three days.

A nice herd of Cape Buffalo. Have had better sightings than this but everyone was thrilled

Two male lions just as they made a kill. They were growling over the meat and the jackals were there in minutes scouting the area.

Mating lions – FRONT on. Incredible sighting. Ken was not with me unfortunately but hopefully someone else will post a picture

A great lion kill also right after the event. We probably missed it by 30 minutes. Two lionesses, three cubs one adolescent male. We got great shots. The best kill scene I have.
ever seen. Vultures in the tree overhead. We went back at dark and the jackals were howling on hyenas on their way but it was too late and we had to leave.

I like jackals and we had a really good sighting with a jackal trying to catch some birds in a thicket. He was unsuccessful of course. All the birds flew off.

Last day three different herds of elephants wandered in front of Mateya and Madkiwe Hills for about an hour or so. Wonderful thing on the final afternoon.

I am sure I have missed some things. Got in a few games of pooch, went to Mateya yesterday and we played about three games.

Looking forward to the next groups arrival. Be back later.

PS I heard Cindy saw WILD DOG. One of these days I will achieve this goal.

It's our turnover day today. We head to Madiwke Hills around 1 pm. Ngaire, we are looking forward to seeing you as well. Our ranger has sternly advised we must leave NOT LATER than 12:45 pm to make our flight. Ah ... it's simply wonderful to drive up to da plane and just go.

Patrick was back today, our head guide. He brings superb enthusiasm and passion to the drives. Morne is a terrific photographer, has a very playful sense of humor and knows the terrain and animals well. Len asked Morne why the king male lion has a broken tooth. Morne could tell him exactly when and where it happened. Unbelievable.

Last night we had a late afternoon sighting of a breeding herd of buffalo. I got a short video of a calf nursing near the front of the herd. The buffalo herds are simply majestic, especially as Eugene said when the sun's angle provides a soft light. Then, we had sun-already-downers near the dam. The hippo was at one end, and gave a huge yawn in the waning light. The other half of the H&H combo, the hyena, was drinking at the other end. The hyena then started to pick up the pace, trotting along looking for something to eat. We saw them briefly in the tracker spotlight. Two more critters we could check off the sighting list.

The other king lion around here was surprised with an early birthday celebration. The #7 male (a/k/a Gary)'s favorite flavors are chocolate and banana. The chef whipped up a decadent chocolate cake. Cindy and the Number 9 Minority Whip (a/k/a Grant) whipped up their own little surprise. All the company happily handed Gary birthday bananas at dinner. He offered to make a banana skirt for any of the females brave enough to wear it.

This morning was a five star drive. We tracked the Mdabi leopardess and her cub. This involved driving over ruts, hills, medium sized trees and through dense brush. Our reward was a good 20 minutes of watching mother and cub move along to either find a rest spot or to look for food. The cub flushed out some birds, who flew up and squawked loudly. Fantastic!

We were preparing for a short break when ---breaker breaker, Patrick, come in, lion pride nearby, cubs playing and chewing sticks--breaker breaker, over and out. The break plan was tossed aside and on we went.

King Lion! Again!! Lioness is lying nearby. She's somewhat annoyed. King Lion shoots Patrick an evil eye, then settles back to sleep. The five cubs are lying a short distance away. We go to see the cubs. Suddenly, their heads snap up to attention. 1-2-3-4-5. We look back and King Lion is on the move.

Lioness is in front of King Lion. King Lion thinks if Lioness is cranky, it must mean sex. Lioness thinks King Lion had better think twice. They growl at each other and settle back into a shady space. The cubs approach, one by one. The first male tries to rub and greet his mother. King Lion shoots straight up, gives a short roar and chases male cub #1 away. Yowser!

We are packed up and relaxing before we leave. I am so pleasantly surprised just how much I am enjoying this trip. It's been wonderful knowing a little of what to expect, so I can just relax and let the day and the life in front of us unfold. This morning's sunrise was simply spectacular. We wish you could all be here and enjoy it with us. King's Camp has been a perfect choice. It's relaxed, flexible, loaded with caring staff, competent management and extremely experienced guides and trackers. I will treasure this memory for some considerable time. Cindy reports the massage was excellent.

We bid farewell to Andrea and Len, as they head to Leopard Hills today. We have enjoyed their company so very much and hope to see them again on future travels.

Pleasure, #7 Ranking Member

What a terrific experience here at KING's Camp!! I am just blown away at the fantastic animals - everything we wanted & then some as everyone has already described. I will always remember the name of one of our ranger's whose name is "Remember Michel", along with Ranger Patrick & Ranger Monet, Johannes (the night watchman) calling us properly by our numbers, the super hardworking trackers, and all the wonderful chocolate I've encountered along the way....What happens in King's Camp will definitely stay in KC!

As we've all said, it's been a pleasure. Until we meet again, on to Madikwe. This is Number 1 signing off.

Final photos from this morning's sightings at Kings Camp.

More great photos, Grant! Ya'll are having so much fun. I love the enthusiasm in your reports. What a wonderful trip.

WOW!
I am so impressed with your stories and pictures.

Thank you thank you :app:

Absolutely incredible pictures and reporting!

Thank you so much :app:

...................................

Susan