Narrow escape at Mphafa hide

Hi @Latestimfolozi. Just to report that we had a narrow escape at Mphafa hide on Saturday pm. We arrived to find an Australian couple sitting in their car. He was quite shaken up, cause they had seen Lion chasing some buffalo at the puddle. He heard the lion moving above the hide and ducked back to his car. I was ready to go down the path when my husband called me back, and we were talking to him standing in the car park – we were behind our vehicle, my son walked to drivers door and unlocked the vehicle, and suddenly he just shouted, watch out as a lioness charged at us from the bush above the car park. She turned and ran into the bush again, about 2m from the front if our vehicle. I am very aware that we are on their turf, and as such, fair game,but the walkway to Mphafa, almost puts you in danger being closed in on one side only. Our story could have had a different ending if the Aussie hadn’t warned us, or if my son hadn’t unlocked the car when he did! I’m not trying t o make a drama out of this, but raise awareness. Kind rgdz, Sandy msg from member

* Getting out of your vehicle at Mphafa is allowed. Please note one should only ever leave the safety of the vehicle at designated hide and even then, I think this story goes to show that one is never really that safe! Anything could be lurking unseen in bushes nearby! Be careful. Thanks for sharing Sandy

Double lion kill in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi – by Leigh Eggers

On Saturday 10 May 2014, my mom and I visited Hluhluwe-iMfolozi on our way to a nearby lodge to celebrate the Mother’s Day weekend. After spending the morning driving around the iMfolozi section of the park, we stopped at a viewpoint at the end of Sontuli Loop (just past point 17i for those who know the area). I was tired after an early start so we decided to just sit and enjoy the view for longer than we normally would. After about 15 minutes, a herd of wildebeest came down to drink from the river. I got out the car* to take a photo with my cellphone to upload onto a social media app. Little did we know what was in store for us!

As the wildebeest moved off to the reeds on the right, something frightened them and the herd rand back onto the sand. Suddenly, two lionesses charged out from the reeds below us and chased the herd across the riverbed. They missed on the first chase, but a few stragglers from the herd were at the water’s edge. One wildebeest stumbled and fell and one of the lionesses seized the opportunity to move in close. There was a short confrontation as the wildebeest stood its ground and tried to headbutt the lioness. But it lost the battle as the lioness lurched forwards from a crouch and grabbed hold of the wildebeest around its throat. The second lioness walked across to join her as we watched.

Up until this point, I hadn’t even thought of taking a photo or video. I remembered the cellphone in my hand and starting filming. I didn’t think the sighting could get any more exciting but a few seconds into recording, my mom noticed another lioness charge out of the reeds below. The lioness pounced on an unsuspecting wildebeest and brought it down a little more than fifty metres from us! Shortly afterwards, a young male lion came out the reeds – where had all these lions come from?! He only stuck around briefly as he was wary of the gathering crowd of people at the viewpoint.

We spent two hours watching the lionesses resting, feeding and drinking while we retold the story to others who arrived at the viewpoint. I’ve been visiting the bush regularly for more than 30 years, and this was without a doubt, the best sighting of my life. Enjoy the photos and be sure to click the video link.

* Getting out of your vehicle at this point is allowed. Please note one should only ever leave the safety of the vehicle at designated points and even then, I think this story goes to show that one is never really that safe! Anything could be lurking unseen in bushes nearby! Be careful

See more photos on About the bush
By Leigh Egger – http://aboutthebush.com/double-lion-kill-in-hluhluwe-imfolozi/

Into The Wild – An Offbeat Safari at Hluhluwe Imfolozi National Park

Our 4×4 stopped in the tracks as a zebra swayed into the picture. We stared, mesmerised by its picture-perfect black and white stripes. It stretched its legs without a care in the world, stood there observing its surroundings, and eventually galloped away gracefully. As our eyes followed the disappearing zebra, we saw five giraffes grazing on our right…..for more go to

Into The Wild – An Offbeat Safari at Hluhluwe Imfolozi National Park

My Hair raising, yet fantastic African experiences

Elephant attack – by Romano Volker (April 05, 2011 )

I am always in a game park somewhere, and I know elephants well but this time I ended up in a situation beyond my wildest dreams.I had seen 3 lion sightings, rhinos, ellies, buffalo, wildebeest fighting and missed a leopard up the road and in all a perfect weekend. I was on my way out the park and home when I came across this peaceful bull elephant having a great time in a waterhole 10 metres from the road, so I stopped and started taking awesome Photo’s for about half an hour. It was fantastic!

However then the bull walked towards me, so I started my Isuzu to give him space to pass as I looked in my rear-view mirror there was a huge bull ellie towering over my spare wheel. I then thought go forward but the other ellie was out the water towering above me in front of my Isuzu…what a dilemma I was boxed in !! So I switched off the motor of my car, ‘which is the best thing to do in this situation’ and folded my arms and said to Johan “nothing I can do now just sit still and be quite!!” Johan looked at me and at the 2 ellies with a priceless look I will never forget and said “jislike hulle is blerry groot man!!”

It was then when the back ellie rammed the back of my van and it moved forward. He rammed me again, so i then decide to started my Isuzu and saw a gap on the left side of the front ellie who was now wanting to get to the other ellie to fight him and was very agro, as i was i the middle. I sped off over so small trees and managed to get away.We then turned round and headed back to the elies who were now having a full on fight took and some more photos. The fight between the two ellies carried on for an hr.

My canopy was shredded. But it was a FANTASTIC AFRICAN EXPERIANCE! My advice is don’t get to close to ellies as you cannot hear them coming and always have a good escape route. These ellies were not mad at me they wanted to fight and i was in the middle.

AFRICA I LOVE YOU AND AM WILLING TO GIVE MY LIFE TO SAVE WILDLIFE IN AFRICA [WILDLIFE IS MY LIFE ]

By Romano Volker

Flat Tyre Leads to Exciting Sighting (11.05.13)

By Kim & Celia
Let me tell you a story of two girlfriends having coffee and chatting ….as we tend to do….but this time not in a shopping mall but each sitting in our cars on a dirt road in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Reserve …..for those who know the park between 25i and 26i. When our mugs were empty we decided to continue on our search for wildlife. As I started to drive off I heard a strange sound and realised my back tyre is flat and I mean flat; right down to the rim! Thankfully I have a compressor in the car and with Celia ?standing guard? (never thinking we would really need it, but girls will be girls), I got out my vehicle, attached the hose to the wheel, plugged it into the lighter and the tyre started to inflate, and like most girls with time on their hands began chatting again, this time we were out of the vehicle.

Suddenly, Celia yells ?lions, lions!!? with disbelief I glance to where she is looking and over the crest of the hill, not 20 metres from us, walk two lionesses (followed by another two …..seen by cars travelling behind them). My adrenaline shoots through the roof and my decision process flounders ( I guess my hubby would say that?s quite normal) …..should I get back in the car and let the tyre over-inflate and explode or continue pumping and not get caught in the middle of a pride with a flat or take photographs (which Celia is doing).

When the lionesses realise there are people in the road, they react by dashing off into the bush and peering out at us, it was at this stage that we see the glint of a car roof also cresting the hill and I can just imagine the conversation in the following vehicle…..?Look at those two stupid bl?.dy woman ….. what are they thinking?. On very shaky legs I decide to stand my ground, ?lionesses be damned? I have a flat and I want to carry on driving and looking for lion. ?Oh yes, they are already here!?

The highly amused occupants of the other vehicle stopped and waited with us until my tyre was inflated enough to allow me to drive to a more open piece of ground (with no felines lurking) to put in a bit more air, and then followed us to the Mpila Camp, this required a further three stops for a pressure top-up. We would so have won the May @latestimfolozi ?Airborne? photo competition if anyone caught us on camera, ?Because we both leapt in the air?! Members of the HIP sightings reporting network, response was, ?we didn?t see a report on lionesses in that area, are you holding out on us?J.

Moral to the story …..never, ever get out of your car and always have Tyre Weld in your car unless you have to. I guess some lionesses are probably sitting around their latest kill saying, ?let us tell you a story ? we came over a hill and saw some humans standing in the road ??..?

Reported by Kim Phillips