Year in the Wild Blog


Posts with tag lions

Karoo in January? And lions!

I’ve recently returned from the Karoo region of South Africa, where I was researching and photographing an article for Wild Magazine.  My short road trip took me to Karoo National Park, Mountain Zebra National Park, Read more »

Kruger National park – Lion encounter on foot!

There's something about walking up to a snoozing lion that clears the cobwebs from your brain.

We were on a morning walk at Lower Sabie rest camp, with armed field guides Irving Knight and Promise Silinda. The guided morning walks are a great way to start your day while staying in Kruger.

At 5:30am, we had driven from the camp to an area where Irving thought there may be lots of wildlife.
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Kruger continues to amaze

I've had some incredible animal sightings the past few days, moving from Berg-en-Dal in the south, to Lower Sabie about 70 kms to the north-east.

Lower Sabie has a reputation for its abundant numbers of wildlife, and it's well-deserved as far as I'm considered. I've seen lion several times, including
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Thinking back…and moving on.

The Karoo National Park is more than 88 000 hectares big…with a predator-proof fence around its boundary which is about 175kms long. Every day, the fence is patrolled by the field rangers, who inspect it for weak points and holes. The lions in the park haven’t once ventured out onto neighbouring sheep farms. Senior section ranger Johan de Klerk believes the big cats are more than happy with the amount of prey within the park’s borders.

On
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Lions of the Karoo NP…and roughing it on the Pienaar’s Pass

After their re-introduction into the Karoo National Park a year ago, the lions are doing well, according to senior section ranger Johan de Klerk, who gave me some of his photos for my blog, as we haven’t seen them yet. (Although we have seen remains of two zebra – one on the spectacular Pienaar’s Pass, a tough 4x4 route which I can highly recommend.)

If the natural vegetation is conserved, the Karoo can support a healthy population of wild
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Lions galore in Kgalagadi

As you may know, the famous Kalahari lions eluded me and Gareth on our recent trip to the Kgalagadi. Everyone else seemed to see them! Anyway, while we were there, we met up with Michelle Swemmer, who works as a wild dog researcher in Natal, but who was on holiday with her parents in the Kgalagadi recently. She is also a really good photographer, with a knack for being in the right place at the right time!  The day Gareth and I left Nossob, a pride of lions descended on the fence line of the
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