Re-united with Dad - Kgalagadi Lions

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Callie

Callie

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Early one morning at KijKij on the Nossob road in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
We saw the two young males with determination trotting up to this mature male and for a moment we thought there will be a bit of misunderstanding.
It turned out the prodigals returned to Dad!
D4; 600 80-400 @ 180 mm; F/5.6; 1/1600; ISO 160

D4 201702 08 4696.jpg
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Callie said:
Early one morning at KijKij on the Nossob road in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
We saw the two young males with determination trotting up to this mature male and for a moment we thought there will be a bit of misunderstanding.
It turned out the prodigals returned to Dad!
D4; 600 80-400 @ 180 mm; F/5.6; 1/1600; ISO 160

View attachment 8018
Click to expand...
Beautiful Capture!
 
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Kathy G said:
Ahh Callie, you have done it again. Superb photo. Now, if this virus could just disappear I might be able to plan a trip to Africa!
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Kathy
Depends on how deep your pocket is, but there are wonderful places here in SA that is reasonable for your guys. Our Rand is currently about R17/1$ US.
You can hire a 4x4 or camper and camping over-nite for maybe $200/day. In Kruger, you can sleep in certain camps in the accommodation with communal facilities for about R800/night. We use it and it is clean. Check out https://www.sanparks.org/
Note they charge a daily fee over and above the accommodation but there is a Wild Card that you can buy that maybe makes sense if you compare the cost of the two against one another. Accommodation is usually for two pax, even if you are single. Fuel is about R16/litre. You can do say 300 kms a day, that is 30 l a day or R480. There is an international airport at Nelspruit, 60 kms from Kruger. Kruger is totally drivable in a normal sedan, you do not need a 4x4 but any SUV or bakkie - your trucks - Toyota or Ford, is higher and just easier to sight-see from. Kgalagadi, you need a bakkie or SUV type, the sedans is too low for certain parts of the road.
I am sticking out my neck here - I "know" this lady from Flickr form way back and she travels to Kruger and Kgalagadi nearly every year for about 15 years. If there is someone who knows the complete how to for one/two persons to get around here in SA from overseas, she will be able to help. Her name is Katja Soehngen from Germany. She is on social media and a nice person, I am sure she will have valuable advice if you want to rough it alone and not use a touring operator - I would never use them because I stop when and where and how long I want to, with no schedule to keep.
You can also go the the private reserves and lodges and your per diem may go up to $1000-$5000., plus gratuitties plus drinks etc. Then they drive and dine you. In SANParks, you drive yourself, much better. We hate the bush taxis with all the tourists. It is more expensive but they try their best to let you see the Big Five.
As I have often mentioned on this forum, you are the only one who can decide what you want to see and do and where.
I have not touched the rest of Africa. It's your oyster, you have to explore and dream! :giggle:
 
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Callie said:
Kathy
Depends on how deep your pocket is, but there are wonderful places here in SA that is reasonable for your guys. Our Rand is currently about R17/1$ US.
You can hire a 4x4 or camper and camping over-nite for maybe $200/day. In Kruger, you can sleep in certain camps in the accommodation with communal facilities for about R800/night. We use it and it is clean. Check out https://www.sanparks.org/
Note they charge a daily fee over and above the accommodation but there is a Wild Card that you can buy that maybe makes sense if you compare the cost of the two against one another. Accommodation is usually for two pax, even if you are single. Fuel is about R16/litre. You can do say 300 kms a day, that is 30 l a day or R480. There is an international airport at Nelspruit, 60 kms from Kruger. Kruger is totally drivable in a normal sedan, you do not need a 4x4 but any SUV or bakkie - your trucks - Toyota or Ford, is higher and just easier to sight-see from. Kgalagadi, you need a bakkie or SUV type, the sedans is too low for certain parts of the road.
I am sticking out my neck here - I "know" this lady from Flickr form way back and she travels to Kruger and Kgalagadi nearly every year for about 15 years. If there is someone who knows the complete how to for one/two persons to get around here in SA from overseas, she will be able to help. Her name is Katja Soehngen from Germany. She is on social media and a nice person, I am sure she will have valuable advice if you want to rough it alone and not use a touring operator - I would never use them because I stop when and where and how long I want to, with no schedule to keep.
You can also go the the private reserves and lodges and your per diem may go up to $1000-$5000., plus gratuitties plus drinks etc. Then they drive and dine you. In SANParks, you drive yourself, much better. We hate the bush taxis with all the tourists. It is more expensive but they try their best to let you see the Big Five.
As I have often mentioned on this forum, you are the only one who can decide what you want to see and do and where.
I have not touched the rest of Africa. It's your oyster, you have to explore and dream! :giggle:
Click to expand...

Great info.. I have a document started just in case sometime in the future I can do a trip to SA.. all the above info just got placed into it... Great stuff!
 
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Callie said:
Kathy
Depends on how deep your pocket is, but there are wonderful places here in SA that is reasonable for your guys. Our Rand is currently about R17/1$ US.
You can hire a 4x4 or camper and camping over-nite for maybe $200/day. In Kruger, you can sleep in certain camps in the accommodation with communal facilities for about R800/night. We use it and it is clean. Check out https://www.sanparks.org/
Note they charge a daily fee over and above the accommodation but there is a Wild Card that you can buy that maybe makes sense if you compare the cost of the two against one another. Accommodation is usually for two pax, even if you are single. Fuel is about R16/litre. You can do say 300 kms a day, that is 30 l a day or R480. There is an international airport at Nelspruit, 60 kms from Kruger. Kruger is totally drivable in a normal sedan, you do not need a 4x4 but any SUV or bakkie - your trucks - Toyota or Ford, is higher and just easier to sight-see from. Kgalagadi, you need a bakkie or SUV type, the sedans is too low for certain parts of the road.
I am sticking out my neck here - I "know" this lady from Flickr form way back and she travels to Kruger and Kgalagadi nearly every year for about 15 years. If there is someone who knows the complete how to for one/two persons to get around here in SA from overseas, she will be able to help. Her name is Katja Soehngen from Germany. She is on social media and a nice person, I am sure she will have valuable advice if you want to rough it alone and not use a touring operator - I would never use them because I stop when and where and how long I want to, with no schedule to keep.
You can also go the the private reserves and lodges and your per diem may go up to $1000-$5000., plus gratuitties plus drinks etc. Then they drive and dine you. In SANParks, you drive yourself, much better. We hate the bush taxis with all the tourists. It is more expensive but they try their best to let you see the Big Five.
As I have often mentioned on this forum, you are the only one who can decide what you want to see and do and where.
I have not touched the rest of Africa. It's your oyster, you have to explore and dream! :giggle:
Click to expand...
Thanks Callie for all this very useful advice. Although I prefer travelling alone, a safari in Africa alone does not really appeal to me. I found out last year that travelling alone where there is wildlife is very intimidating for me (last year I was in some of the great western North American parks and found that I was not too keen to leave much space between me and the vehicle in case a bear showed up!). I am signed up for Steve's Botswana trip next May. Knowing that this trip is all about photography makes me very confident that I will get the best opportunities for wildlife photography - not to mention learning a lot about wildlife photography. Nonetheless, it is a long trip to Botswana from Newfoundland (made even longer because I have to travel west - Toronto - in order to go east!) so I plan on extending the stay at the front end by a few days (a trip to Victoria Falls - which seems like a no-brainer given that I will only be 1.5 hours away from this famous site) and extending the trip into Namibia after the safari. The desert intrigues me. These extensions will be on my own. I haven't done much research on Namibia but what I have found seems to point to staying at a lodge that offers trips into the desert and fortunately the trips are usually focused around entering the desert for sunrise and sunset. Any tips on Namibia would certainly be welcome. As for camping - hmm, I'm not much of a camper. I don't need luxury but my backpacking days in somewhat dodgy hotels are over. :)
 
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What a fabulous shot Callie.... 👌👌👌And like Gordon, I too have started a document on my Africa trip. Since I am now retired, I want to plan a 2 month trip to cover most parts of Africa like Mara, Serengeti, Botswana, Kruger, Kgalagadi & Namibia. Your info provided is very valuable. 🙏
 
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Kathy G said:
Although I prefer travelling alone, a safari in Africa alone does not really appeal to me. I found out last year that travelling alone where there is wildlife is very intimidating for me (last year I was in some of the great western North American parks and found that I was not too keen to leave much space between me and the vehicle in case a bear showed up!).
I plan on extending the stay at the front end by a few days (a trip to Victoria Falls - which seems like a no-brainer given that I will only be 1.5 hours away from this famous site) and extending the trip into Namibia after the safari. The desert intrigues me. These extensions will be on my own. I haven't done much research on Namibia but what I have found seems to point to staying at a lodge that offers trips into the desert and fortunately the trips are usually focused around entering the desert for sunrise and sunset. Any tips on Namibia would certainly be welcome. As for camping - hmm, I'm not much of a camper. I don't need luxury but my backpacking days in somewhat dodgy hotels are over. :)
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Kathy - you said I was not too keen to leave much space between me and the vehicle in case a bear showed up!.
In SA, you are NOT allowed to get out of your car in the National Parks, except at designated picnic spots and camps. Some parks hav no dangerous animals and there you may walk.
So it is perfectly safe to drive a your cat and bakkie, just be careful around ellies. All my wildlife images you have seen were taken from a vehicle, except some birds.
Once you are in Kasane in Botswana, the cheapest is to take a taxi ti Vic Falls, so I hear. However, https://www.pangolinphoto.com/ are knowledgeable about the whole area. Over and above the river boat photography, you can rent a makorro to go on the river and into Chobe. In Bots, Moremi and Savuti are both some of THE places to visit. But there are many lodges in Bots, you only have to google. Look at Under one Botswana Sky, they have several lodges. Their Chobe Safari Lodge is in Kasane.
From Kasane, you can drive west towards Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi towards Rundu in Namibia and then to Etosha. There are many lodges in Caprivi - look at google maps. Namibia has wonderful places, ~ Skeleton Coast Park, Namib-Nauklouft NP, Damaraland with desert elephants, the Brandberg (burnt mountain) Ais Ais, Sossusvlei, Luderitz, you have to google, and a lifetime is too short! Namibia use a Nam &, the same value as our rand and is wonderful and beautiful!
Camping - No, the 4x4's you can rent comes with everything, you park, open the rooftop tent, or what your choose, pull out your chair, and it has everything you need. You just get your fire going to braai - BBQ. In Bots, it is different than in SA camping wise, much wilder and the leopards, lions and ellies visit you right in the camping area, even if you go with an operator!

Yezdi said:
What a fabulous shot Callie.... 👌👌👌And like Gordon, I too have started a document on my Africa trip. Since I am now retired, I want to plan a 2 month trip to cover most parts of Africa like Mara, Serengeti, Botswana, Kruger, Kgalagadi & Namibia. Your info provided is very valuable. 🙏
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Yezdi -I am afraid your two months is way too little for what you have in mind. For east Africa, speak to @marc
Kruger and Kalahari you can do in three weeks. If you can afford SabiSabs Private Game reserves - there are several lodges/owners/operators, you are basically guaranteed the Big 5 and you can skip Kruger - they are neighbors with no fences in between. However, you do not self drive - only to get there. Elephant Plains and Nkorro Lodge are two places we have been. Happy juggling! ;) 🤤
 
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Callie said:
Yezdi -I am afraid your two months is way too little for what you have in mind. For east Africa, speak to @marc
Kruger and Kalahari you can do in three weeks. If you can afford SabiSabs Private Game reserves - there are several lodges/owners/operators, you are basically guaranteed the Big 5 and you can skip Kruger - they are neighbors with no fences in between. However, you do not self drive - only to get there. Elephant Plains and Nkorro Lodge are two places we have been. Happy juggling! ;) 🤤
Click to expand...
Thanks very much for all the detailed info Callie....🙏🙏Will definitely check out the places you mentioned. Maybe if finances permit will either try to stretch out the trip to 90 days or split it up in two trips. Lets see how and when this Covid-19 situation resolves and borders reopen. Thank you once again.
 
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