Cheetah on the way to Satara

August 17 to 18, 2025

Good coffee and road cookies at Tshokwane fuelled our drive north towards our next rest camp at Satara. On the road, we heard a loud racket like crickets and heat bugs, but soon discovering that the noise emanated from a bakkie (pickup truck) with a loose fan belt passing us.

A driver coming from the north told us at a turn out about a cheetah at the Kumana Pan. We had a good view of the big cat lying under a tree out of the mid-day sun. 

Elephants were wallowing further on at a water hole they created (1). After passing a vulture nest, we crossed the Sweni River, encountering the large buffalo herd a driver had told us about earlier. There was quite a bustle at Satara rest camp upon arrival mid afternoon, with many day visitors.

After a nice swim, we headed out for our own sunset drive. No luck with lions tonight, but we did encounter a car stopped to protect a hinged terrapin crossing the road, and we lingered by a colorful lilac-breasted roller bird in the fading light.

Another night drive tonight (2) with Patrick as our driver. He warned us that you never know what you might encounter, even if only impala (3) (4). The buffalo herd was visible to the east, with hundreds of eyes staring at us in the dark as they moved north. My wife again found a genet while scanning a tree for leopards. We had a better view tonight of the other genet species: the small-spotted genet. Someone else spied a highly-venomous (5) boomslang snake in another tree.

Turning west on the dirt road north of the Sweni River, we encountered a pair of hyena that seemed a bit spooked by our appearance. Shutting the engine, the lights, and our mouths, the stars shown bright in the sky, and the animals soon returned. 

A cry from the back about another sighting. A third Hyena was running on a path paralleling the road. The truck was doing 35 kph (20+ mph) to keep up before the animal disappeared into the bush. On the return, a shooting star briefly lit up the eastern sky near camp.

Leaving the camp in the morning, we watched a white-back vulture circling scanning for food while riding the thermals just south of camp. The vulture is so efficient in its wing design and finding the wind that it was some minutes before the bird flapped its wings. At the elephant water hole heading south in the mornng, a giraffe was bending down for a drink, suddenly raising her head and shaking it as the blood flowed down the long neck into her brain. Lingering by the dry riverbed on the dirt side road, we enjoyed views of the elephants and birds before our late morning arrival at Tshokwane. Joking with my wife about the scheduled appearance of leopard at a certain location at a certain time, I asked the man packing the car next to me at the picnic site. "If I knew they were going to be, I would not be here" he replied with a wry smile.

(1) Humans have the most impact on the landscape of any animal, elephants are second (beavers are third).  

(2) We came to enjoy our own self-guided sunset drives, while having a driver/guide at night when we otherwise could not leave the camp (the night drives were also the least expensive guided drives). Passengers use spotlights to search the roadsides and call out when they see something (usually eyes) that the guide then identifies and describes.

(3) "Some people think IBA," Patrick said "'another bloody impala,' but they are an important part of the park." "Beautiful animals " I said. "Thank you," replied Patrick.

(4) Research suggests impala have remained largely the same (evolution-wise) for 6.5 million years, reflecting their adaptability to changing climate and terrain. Hence, their ubiquity in the park with population estimates ranging up to 170,000, more than all the other grazers combined.

(5) Snakes are classified into the following categories: non Venomous; mildly Venomous; Venomous; and Highly Venomous 

At Tshokwane:

The language is Afrikaans, a derivative of Dutch.

Driving North:

Male waterbok

On the road to Satara 

Venomous Night adder crossing the road

It's the end of the dry season

A cheetah at (dried up) Kumana pan, south of (to the right of) the tree

Elephant wallow

White-back vulture tending the nest. Birds are easier to spot in the dry season because there are fewer leaves.

Rattling Cisticola on a bush at a turn out caught my attention

Male & female steenbok

Herd of buffalo crossing the Sweni River heading north

Our own drive at sunset:

Hinged terrapin safely across the road

The dirt road was a fire break

We stopped and watched a lilac-breasted roller at end of day

Dusk on the Olifants Rugged Veld ecozone

On the night drive:

Highly-venomous Boomslag snake in the tree

Spotted hyena on night drive

Driving south to Tshokwane:

Giraffe bending down to drink at elephant wallow

At Kumana Pan. Due to the long neck, I thought this was an Aardwolf, but a neighboring driver identified a Hyena with something in its mouth

Saddle-bill stork making way for an elephant heading to a small pool in the otherwise-dry Nwaswitsontso River on the S86 dirt side road

Right-dominant tusked elephants found a small pool in the dry river bed. Like right or left-handed humans, elephants have a a dominant side, discernable by the more worn-down tusk. It is unclear from research whether the dominant tusk among elephant populations is evenly split right and left, or whether there may be a small right-dominant bias.

Yellow-billed Stork and Gray Heron sharing a tree

Tree squirrel on side road