Kruger 300 - Day 2 [Grasslands & a burger to die from]

We blitzed the 90-odd kilometres from Lower Sabie to Satara, [via Muntshe], in 10 hours flat. We like Gee, rather than Wiz, when it comes to speed in the park. Whilst not a session that gloried in numbers – watta day!

The south-eastern scarp is dominated by the Lebombo range of mountains – great vantage for the footmen seeking a pittance in the horn trade & equally magnanimous for its rhyolite & basalt soils ie: rank grassland after summer rains… Into this dry quagmire wonder all sorts of ground-dwelling birds & we racked, stacked & cracked ‘em; collecting, in deep scoops, from a list which included Common Buttonquail, Common Quail, Harlequin Quail, Flappet Lark, Croaking Cisticola, Yellow-throated Longclaw & Cuckoo Finch. Nearer the top of the pass, at Nkumbe, a Verreaux’s Eagle, lost or woozy on a wonky compass. That’s No.2 in 40-odd years of fairly-intensive bird-bothering in the Kruger. Further afield, 2x Pied Avocets at an inland pan… Eh?

We hear you...

Those, however, were dwarfed by the diminutive – a kitten-sized package: a package packing a powerful record & a 1^st-entry on our baby list. [You keep one, right?] Serval… x2; @home – a month or two old. How’s them apples? Other than them two – we’re still batting Zero on the big cats…

To celebrate the morning – lunch, late afternoon.

Billed as a temporary fix for the hiatus in the tender-farce, SANS another dose of nepotism – Tindlovu restaurant knocks ‘em dead; literally, perhaps, if you dared a repeat performance. We ordered a bacon & bree chicken club + a side salad.

Health & safety the Tindlovu way

Surplize! - a beef & mayo burger with fries twice-dried; & served [a loose translation] post an afternoon nap; theirs, not ours. To make our point we returned to sender – gift unopened - red meat’s not on our conscience. Had a nap – us, not them. Much later, the 16cm-tall 'burgers’ graced a plate. At that time the sheep had been well & truly audited & accounted for.

Dining on the monstrosity included instructions – to whit: remove the large onion cut in three [circa 13 cm on its own]; said onion dabbed in bree-flavoured chalk – eat the 200g of cucumber in the 210g Caesar & PLEASE ENJOY. We tried & failed.

Nevertheless, 26 newbies – for a Grand Trip Total of 175 sp.! Chalk that up for a dish well served – winner, winner; chicken sinner!