{"id":5742,"date":"2024-08-05T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T04:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/?p=5742"},"modified":"2024-08-27T12:21:37","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T10:21:37","slug":"winter-kruger-day-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/?p=5742","title":{"rendered":"Winter Kruger &#8211; Day 7"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So the next morning we headed back to where we saw the dogs last.<\/p>\n<p>Didn&#8217;t find them :-\/<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5745\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5180r.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At Gezantfombi dam close to Crocodile Bridge there were people looking at (presumably) the Maribu Storks in the tree. I spotted some shapes in the river bed, grabbed the binoculars&#8230; lions. The other people left, (presumably) tired of looking at the Maribu Storks.<\/p>\n<p>Ah well.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5746\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5294cr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"550\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5747\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5281cr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"302\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Fancy that.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5748\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5296r.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So after a break at Crocodile Bridge, I took the S25. Terrible road (it&#8217;s a dirt road, so I repeat myself. SANParks has to do something).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5750\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5190cr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"469\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We found this fellow foraging next to the road (our second ratel for the trip, the first one crossed the road and disappeared before we could get a decent picture. This one stayed mostly parallel to the road).<\/p>\n<p>Eventually we found the &#8220;lions with cubs on the S118&#8221; which we had been looking for. They were not close.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5751\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5332cr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p>They were also not doing much.<\/p>\n<p>So we headed down to Malelane gate for a loo break.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5752\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5335cr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"490\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; and found a different pack of doggies, sleeping by the side of the road.<\/p>\n<p>Took the loo break, came back, they were waking up.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5753\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5220r.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5754\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5216cr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"616\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Puppies!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5755\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5343cr.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But they didn&#8217;t want to come out of the bushes.<\/p>\n<p>So we went for lunch at the train in Skukuza. Disappointing. Can Not Recommend.<\/p>\n<p>Saw two more lions, kind of far away in the river, on the way back to Lower Sable.<\/p>\n<p>And so ended our 2024 Winter Kruger experience. The next day we hooked the teardrop and headed out of the park. Did get to see a chubby unicorn with a calf, quite close to the car, but in long grass so the pics are for reference only.<\/p>\n<p>Drove up the mountain, many places in second gear, because something is Not Right with the Golf. I suspect I&#8217;m losing boost air. It&#8217;s better at sea level, but up at 1600 meters it&#8217;s no fun. Overnighted in Ficksburgh, saw <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5760\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/minus6_5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"376\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you squint you&#8217;ll see it was -6.5C at 05:31 just south of Ficksburg.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5761\" src=\"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG_5229r.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And then we were in Addo.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So the next morning we headed back to where we saw the dogs last. Didn&#8217;t find them :-\/ At Gezantfombi dam close to Crocodile Bridge there were people looking at (presumably) the Maribu Storks in the tree. I spotted some shapes in the river bed, grabbed the binoculars&#8230; lions. The other people left, (presumably) tired of looking at the Maribu Storks. Ah well. Fancy that. So after a break at Crocodile Bridge, I took the S25. Terrible road (it&#8217;s a dirt road, so I repeat myself. SANParks has to do something). We found this fellow foraging next to the road&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kruger-2024"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5742"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5765,"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742\/revisions\/5765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.retro.co.za\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}