Wild dog

Left Prestoriuskop Kruger - an early start - it was a battle with the monkeys to see who could eat our breakfast first. On the road out we saw giraffe, elephant, 2 male lions with bushes in front (so no decent pix), but the most exciting sighting was 2 wild dogs at the road side. We have only seen them once before, in Botswana, and that was a large pack a long way off. It was so good to see their lovely patterned coats.

We left the Kruger after 2 hours and headed north outside the park as it was a quicker route to our lodge. To get there we were met by 2 40 year old Toyota land cruisers as the recent rain had made the earth track impassable for the bus.

Letaba Ranch Reserve, Mtomeni Safari camp was where we stayed. Warren.likes to support it as it nearly shut down due to mismanagement by the owner but was rescued by the Head ranger and Suzy who cooked. They took it over and gave a fee to the owner who had taken to drink. EU money was acquired to build 10 good tents with strong raised bases and elephant-proof structures around. They manage it, cook and run the drives. There’s little employment in the area so it is a good place to support - Warren is trying to encourage other adventure tour groups like Intrepid and G Adventures to support it. It’s on the African Ivory route and has no fences around it. It borders the Kruger so in effect Lataba is part of it.

Out tent which overlooked the hippo pool on the Lebata River had solar power and cold showers which were very welcome after our long drive to get there, followed by a 2 hour jaunt in the land cruisers through dense bush. We saw some birds - most of which we saw before - vultures, rollers etc then down to the river for hippos.

For supper the veggies got what the others had as a starter - cold rice, potato salad, beetroot and broccoli. The rest had both beef and chicken as well. This is the only place on the tour where the mosquitoes are malarial so we got deeted up.

Out tent has electricity from a solar panel and even had a charging unit, for our appliances, plus a loo, basin and shower. 2 beds with mozzie nets were on a wooden floor. We had a verandah with a view of the river. We had Green double mesh on the window all round to hope for a cool breeze as it was very hot. The canvas could Velcro closed over them - some slept with these completely shut but we had them open to let in the breeze. We didn’t feel any biting or hear any mozzie whine.

After dinner we were all walked back together with a ranger in case of buffalo etc and instructed not to leave our tents till he called for us at 5 am.