REGULAR visitors to Satara usually arrive with high expectations. This central Kruger rest camp and its surrounding grassy plains are renowned for their plentiful game and excellent bird life.
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On our frequent visits to this popular rest camp, Satara has usually lived up to its reputation but our recent one-night stopover there on our way north had been a trifle disappointing. This was about to change as we backtracked south to spend another night there.
The fun began almost as soon as we left Letaba and started motoring south along the H1-4 towards Satara. Game viewing was phenomenal that day. En route, we were constantly surrounded by big herds of plains animals, particularly zebras. With plenty of time to spare, we decided to leave the tar and detour along the short Ntomeni Road, the S127, to Ratel Pan and the hide overlooking Piet Grobler Dam, where we have often had rewarding encounters with various animals and birds.
“Oh, you’ve just missed the elephants,” said a man who was leaving the hide as we got there. He and the rest of his party had been watching big and small members of a breeding herd taking their daily baths, which for both bathers and spectators is always an entertaining business.
It was fairly quiet when we arrived but we waited a while and soon we were well rewarded. We watched a few zebras taking a drink and spotted some interesting birds.
Suddenly a stream of impala started to head down to the pan and soon it was completely surrounded by the biggest herd of these dainty antelope that we’d ever seen.
You tend to take impala sightings a bit for granted but the sheer numbers at the pan were spectacular. They were joined by a herd of elephants but it was at our next stop, Nsemani Pan on the Orpen to Satara Road, that these placid pachyderms would really come into their own. We’d enjoyed a pleasant coffee break at lovely Timbavati picnic site before stopping there to watch, in fascinations, the antics of a massive breeding herd there. Wave after waveo of elephant elephant kept on arriving.
Also present were three old buffaloes, quite a few hippos, some more impala, the usual waterbuck contingent, a string of thirsty zebra and a sizeable herd of giraffe. How awkward – and vulnerable – the giraffe looked as they spread their legs and bowed their long necks to take a drink.
With all the non-stop action taking place at the two pans and further along the road, we were a little late for our lunch date with friends Fiona and Ian, who were camping at Satara for a couple of weeks.
A knowledgeable, ardent and dedicated birder, Fiona adores Satara because of its rich and varied bird life and she and Ian spend as much time in this Kruger jewel as they possibly can. However, she looked a little weary when we arrived and set up camp next to them. She was completely birded out, she explained. Yes, Satara is enough to exhaust anyone even vaguely interested in birding. Melodious bird song and strident avian calls form a constant sound track at this camp and there is always some interesting avian visitor demanding attention.
In spite of the recent rains we had been experiencing, the mercury was soon climbing and the afternoon was super-hot. Fortunately most of the rest camps in Kruger have swimming pools now and we were able to escape the worst of the heat by taking a swim in the lukewarm pool. The area round the pool proved a good birding spot, too, so an entertaining afternoon was had by all.
Our friendship with Fiona and Ian stretches back for more than 40 years and spending time with them is always a treat. We all enjoyed a lovely evening around the braai fire, catching up on each other’s news, conjuring up happy shared memories and listening to Satara’s night symphony. Mother Nature rounded off our special evening together with a blessing – a gentle shower of rains. Is there a perfume more evocative and sweet than the scent of rain-dampened earth at the end of a hot African day?
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