February Bush Telegraph

February The Month Of Rain

Internationally, February is the month of love, strange that it is the shortest month of the year. Here in South Africa we love rain and we certainly have had allot of rain this Feb.
The bush in Kruger is lush and green a stark contrast to 12 months ago during the hard drought. The grass is tall and an overall healthy look can be seen throughout the park.
So far Skukuza has received has received over 100mm of rain compared to last years 9mm. A shocking difference!
It has become much harder to find some of the more elusive animals but our luck and skills at spotting have ensured we have found most of the animals most of the time and our guests have really enjoyed this exciting month.
We have run 3 tours this month with another 2 to come. We had some great sightings of Lion, Wild Dog and Cheetah but the leopard has eluded us on all but one of our tours this month.

We happened to be camping in Berg en Dal when Tropical Cyclone Dineo hit land. Luckily for us the path of Dineo was much further North of us. We did receive some very heavy rainfall and the camp got a little flooded while we were cooking dinner.
This is a video of a river running through our camp, notice the fire is still going, dinner was ready on time.

Sighting of the Month

This month we found Wild Dog on two separate tours, very lucky for our guests.

On this particular sighting  the guide, Adriaan, found a small group of the Skukuza Pack just outside of camp. The Wild Dog were quite far from the road and by the looks of things they had just woken for the day. Knowing that they would spend the first part of the morning catching up with the rest of the pack, Adriaan carried on to see what else he could find.

Meet Adriaan

Adriaan is the newest member of Wild Planet Safari, he has been with us since October 2016 and has already run many fantastic tours. He is our second guide and takes on the role as operations manager.
He is better know as Trompie and is a passionate and happy guide who enjoys nothing better than sharing his knowledge and stories with guests.
Trompie has guided in many countries across Africa and has had a pretty Wild time doing it. His stories are best enjoyed with a glass of wine around the fire.
Favourite Animal: Black Rhino
Favourite Kruger Camp: Berg en Dal

Photo of The Month

One evening, on a recent tour, we could hear the lions roaring close by all night. We departed early the next morning and managed to find the noise makers on the road just outside camp.
There were two males this was the younger of the 2. It looks as though we is snarling at something just to the left of the camera, in fact it is actually the end of a big yawn.

February Featured Bird: Grey-headed Kingfisher(Halcyon leucocephala)

This is a fairly uncommon bird to find in Kruger, the bird has a beautiful azure tail and chestnut belly. They migrate between southern African and Central Africa.
They prey mainly on grasshoppers, crickets and locusts but will also eat caterpillars, spiders, scorpions and small lizards. They very rarely catch fish.
You can find the grey-headed kingfisher along along the dry riverbeds and in the mature woodland near water.

Wild Planet Safari News

We are very excited to introduce our new and improved website due to be unleashed upon the world in early March. The website will include all of our latest tour itineraries, a new flashy gallery, videos and all the information you will need to start planning the ultimate South African safari.It will also have a great new `Book A Tour` option for you to get in touch with us instantly and directly.
March is going to be a great month for us, both our guides celebrate their birthdays in March (Ryan and Trompie) and we have 8 tours that will depart. We will continue to post videos and photo`s on our Facebook Page so that you can enjoy a little bit of safari wherever you may be.

Cheers from The Wild Planet Safari Team.