After two nights in Satara, we packed up camp and headed north to Letaba. It was only a few hours at safari speed. We had heard a lot about how beautiful it was and how different the sightings could be. The Letaba area is known for elephants and leopards, but we did not see any leopards there. The camp itself was really nice and is probably my favorite of the camps I’ve been to in KNP. We were able to get a camping spot along the fence line – a first for us because they’re usually snapped up quickly! The camps are all fenced in, for safety, and it’s very common to see animals come right up to the fence. I guess they are as curious about us as we are about them. We saw elephant, impala, kudu, and hyena all from the comfort of our campsite.

Lian was attending a class online and the hyena starting their evenings patrols! We did go on an afternoon drive, but we only saw some kudu. The next morning we were up and out of the gate when it opened at 5:30. The cats were still elusive and the sightings were sparse. We did have a good sighting of a Kori Bustard, which is a huge bird. We also saw some Cape Buffalo, a fish eagle and a couple of fighting impala rams.

We got a nasty surprise when we unpacked the grill for dinner. A scorpion had found it’s way into the bag! To prevent further hitchhikers we made sure all the bags were zipped tight from that point on!

The next day we went on a longer drive and covered a lot of territory. We saw a Baobob tree in almost full leaf – a first for us. We also saw one lonely elephant, a couple of honey badgers, and lots of beautiful birds. The highlight of the day was hyena cubs!

WARNING! Cuteness overload! Oh, and Lian took all of these hyena cub photos.

On our second and final night in Letaba, we had dinner at the restaurant before our night drive. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but South Africa has fantastic wine. They aren’t shy with it either. I finally remembered to take a picture of a typical SA wine pour, a proper pour. We didn’t have as much luck on the night drive, but it was still very nice to be out in the bush after dark.

Letaba was a beautiful area, but we were really hoping for more predators and more sightings in general. The next morning we decided to see if there was space at Lower Sabie. None of the camps had been full, so we thought it was worth a gamble and it was. There was space for us for the last two nights, so we packed up and moved! It was so worth it.

Part 3 coming soon!