the solifugid, the snails and the storm clouds *

[leachy]

thanks amoli.......................

not sure of the medicinal value of the fruits for the jackal



so.....................................

as i mentioned earlier.......

i was trundling along the h10

passed the turn off to mlondozi picnic site................

passed hillside and the s 129 turn off...............

passed the muntshe water hole and the muntshe loop turn off...........

and just after the mlondozi water hole

there was a gathering of bodies way up ahead in the middle of the road.



upon closer inspection it turned out to be

mommy lion and 4 of her offspring

busy with their morning meeting

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it was just them and me

what bliss.




i watched as the young'uns seemed to coerce their mother into the suckling position

with her "bones in the light"
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one cub even used this opportunity to lick her in the face as if to say

"thank you mommy..... now i am going to the tastier part of your body"
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they stayed there for a short while until she got a bit agitated

and put an end to the milk fest.....
(they did seem a bit old to be still suckling on their mother)
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there seemed to be quite a lot of yawning and snarling going on

as they ambled along the road towards me
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and then they just plonked themselves down again

and took turns in yawning

i even had to suppress a yawn or two myself.......
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they then proceeded to groom and bond with each other for a while

and then they just nodded off to sleep in the road
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quite a lot of time went by before another car arrived on the scene

and it passed me on the left and then continued

way into the comfort zone of this chilled family

who then slowly got up and moved off the road in front of the impatient tourists

i was hoping that the lioness would actually take a bite out of the tannie's arm that was

protruding from her open window as she tried to photograph the group with her mobile phone
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[leachy]

so.........................................

having spent a blissful time with the family in the road

i moved on......

and barely 500m down the road i met these two sisters.
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i do believe that they could sense the presence of the mother and her cubs.



they then sauntered off into the long grass

and showed why they frequent the area

and also shows why you should not step out of your vehicle

even though you think there is nothing lurking nearby.................
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and how they also make use of the high ground

just like their slender spotted dog-like cousins...
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it started to rain ...................................

so i turned around and headed for home

but had to stop and admire the ever present emergence of nutrition from so called waste.....
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later that day i set off for the random water hole

and passed this korhaan

who seemed to be preparing for a bit of show off time
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this colourful bee-eater
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and on arrival at the waterhole

this starling was busy having a wash in one of the puddles in the parking area
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just before some "ding bat" came and plonked his silly little car there.......




don't people know that there might be living organisms in this water....



i waited a while to see if the woody might return for a splash and dash ..............................

but the only visitors were the swallows

drinking on the wing.....
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this gyppo couple going for a paddle
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there were also these "red goats" practising for jousting season
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on the way home i came across this (witia) yellow weaver



or perhaps a canary.....????????
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any suggestions anyone.....

(amoli?)

and this red-backed shrike sporting his zorro mask ..............................
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[leachy]

so......................................

i was heading off down the h4-2 towards duke

when i came across..

what seemed to me at the time to be some sort of rehearsal

for a shakespearean tragedy



i arrived just as it had begun and

"the hero was busy dying in the "arms" of the heroine
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and upon his demise she was to express her sorrow at his passing

and so she began to lament by his side.........."

oh dear !...........
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oh no !!!!
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then she collapsed from fatigue and sorrow by his side........
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he looked up as if to say....

"is that it ????????

is that the best that you can do ????????"
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then...

it was as though he was reading a script from "terrance and phillip"



or an excerpt from monty python's "i fart in your general direction"


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he then proceeded to crack up with laughter


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whaahaa haa haaa haaa

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bhuwhaaaaaahaaahaaahaaa

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rolling around in the sand...

with his limbs waving in all directions

in complete mockery of his co-star's thespian talents.....
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so she had to try again .........

as she surely was not a tragedian

and her second attempt was a bit better

if not slightly overdone.......

oh no !!!!!!!!
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oh deary me !!!!!!!!
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oh !!!!!! woe is me !!!!
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oh horror of horrors !!!!!!!!!!
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was that better??? huh???..........
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[leachy]

so ...............................

i arrived at duke to be greeted by a rather large group of zebra milling about around the water hole.
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they were rather skittish

and every now and then a wild kick

and an opportunistic bite would cause a bit of consternation
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standing still for a group photo....
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i headed back home to see if i could go and drop murphy off and head out again on a luckier route....

i mean........ the sun was shining and now there was very little to photograph

except this snake that seemed to be soaking up the sun, or shuffling off this mortal coil because it never budged despite the kruger morning traffic (any ideas on the identification of the snake?)
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back on the "black top" i had to stop to witness this pursuit across the road....

i thought it was one of those rutting type pursuits

where the male chases his desired mating target around the savannah .............................




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the difficulty here is that snails are hermaphrodites ...............

so who is who ???????

or rather, what is what...????

there does have to be coupling and a deposit of sperm needs to happen

for reproduction to occur but who is the recipient and who is the donor ??????

one thing about the snail that is common besides, the gender

is that the shell always twirls to the same right hand direction.....

(reminds me of a cement mixer)
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another fascinating thing about the snail is that it breathes through the same orifice that it excretes its body waste from

and that is situated at the front of its body

unlike the african, ..............the african land snail is illegal in the united states of america



i must admit that i felt an affinity with these snails because like me

they only have one foot
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[leachy]

so.........................

i arrived at lower sabie parking area and managed to park in the disability parking under the marula tree at the top of the walkway to the reception and restaurant area.


there was quite a bit of a commotion in the canopy of the marula tree

and after a while.... i managed to get sight of a collard sunbird

trying to appease the hunger pangs of its now rather overgrown and demanding offspring.....

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the birdbath had a few bathers
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[leachy]

so......................................

it has often been said that people living on opposite sides of the rail track

can differ immensely in socio-economic status and therefore in values and behaviour as well...



i witnessed a similar example with two families on either side of the bridge



here is the one family that i encountered on the southern side of the h 10 bridge over the sabie river...

(the south was always rough as a youngster in joeys)

the youngsters had decided it was time to bully one of their siblings by continually ducking him under the water....

a small group managed to get him under so the fattest could climb up on top and keep him down..
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he manages to get his head up out of the water only to be unceremoniously dumped back under once again...
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and what always happens during these bullying sessions which causes the most humiliation

is when they start laughing at the poor victim.



as you can see here the one brother seems to be trumpeting with laughter
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eventually they stop and allow the drenched weakling to get some breathing space......
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in contrast.........

the family on the northern side (the north was always posh as a youngster in joeys)

was conducting affairs in an almost military manner as they waited in a group at the edge of the water in preparation for a deep level crossing...

notice how orderly the proceedings are followed.... and notice too.... how small some of the members of the family are...

it is rather amazing to see how they all manage across the river

with most of them being totally submerged....... apart from their snorkels....
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[leachy]

so...........

while i was so engrossed with the elephant antics

the skies all around were transforming into an ominous omen
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and i figured that the fit was gonna hit the shan

so i decided to head as rapidly as was safe and legal

to higher ground so as to try and capture the unfolding storm ..

i took the s29 mlondozi loop and stopped at the "vlei" for an update
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and then "sped off" towards mlondozi.....

as i was not on a game drive at this stage but was merely trying to get to the picnic site

i believe that "murphy" had probably decided not to come with me and do things his way....

being in a raised body vehicle had probably assisted in the sighting of this cheetah fellow

at the base of the road sign cairn
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initially it seemed as though he was about to head off.....

but then he was on top of his look out spot and looking for supper
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after seeking and sniffing he hopped off and trotted away into the grasslands
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and i continued on my storm quest.......

just before the turn off i had to slow down for this jakkals-laaitjie who seemed lost and afraid....
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on arrival at mlondozi the wind was pomping

so i put my camera on a tripod and started to take a hundred or so random shots of the south western horizon

in the hope of capturing a lightning strike...
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the storm was getting closer

and the clouds more threatening

but it was an awesome sight....
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[leachy]

so.......................................

needless to say..(but i will say it anyway)

............ the water poured from the skies in great volumes

and on arrival back at lower sabie the rain had slowed to a drizzle

and i found jacqui and rob sopping wet scurrying around barefoot and sans rainwear ............

during the storm.. they had been securing wendy and heksie's tents and gazebo in the camp site across the way from our accommodation...



it was obvious that the restaurant was going to be busy for dinner,

so rob carried the braai machine to the covered veranda at the old restaurant

where wendy and heksie joined us for a cosy braai and beverages




amazingly..during the deluge...

jacqui had rescued a small bat from a huge muddy puddle

and kept it close her body heat for almost an hour.....

and then.....

while sitting around the fire the bat crawled out from under jacqui's shirt and disappeared into the night.....

that was quite amazing...........................................................

[leachy]

so...........................

jacqui and rob left early the next day and i headed off

after making tentative arrangements to meet heksie and wendy at croc bridge.........


then i observed ...............



it must have rained an awful lot the previous day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

because there were at least two animals stuck in the tree tops.....
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on the way south .. this giraffe was searching for something in the undergrowth
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looks rather small next to its mommy...
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i ventured beyond duke waterhole and just before the intersection with the s 28

i caught sight of a pride of about 7 lion heading east with intent

one of them actually emerged from the undergrowth a while later at the turn off to ntandanyathi
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[leachy]

so......

while hanging around the s28/s137 intersection waiting for the rest of the pride to appear

heksie and wendy arrived en route to croc bridge

so we all continued south on the gloomy and muddy s28

somewhere in the vicinity of macs waterhole

this family of jackal were interacting with each other.

there seemed to be a ritual of greeting before the fun began
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chasing each other all around the tree trunk
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this carried on for ages

and we moved on....