Winter Migration To MZNP

[Peter Betts]

I must get back there ..its our best Nat Park in the E cape ..We were there last Nov when it also snowed!! and we were camping !! never been so cold!. Lovely Bird Pics and that Hartebees group

[PJL]

Must agree they have plenty of bird life there

Much more when you start looking closely

Cool birds.

Thanks Flutts

Exquisite photographs, I must say, Peej!

That goshawk really is pale!

Was the other bird really on ice?

Yes some of the ice was really quite thick. You can see the line where water meets ice in the pic of the shelducks

The plover on ice is unique and priceless!

I'm not sure how much food it was going to find wandering around on the ice

I must get back there ..its our best Nat Park in the E cape ..We were there last Nov when it also snowed!! and we were camping !! never been so cold!. Lovely Bird Pics and that Hartebees group

Snow in November??

[PJL]

Aardwolf Afternoon

One of the reasons I particularly like going to MZNP in winter is that the park has a big population of Aardwolf, and you're much more likely to see them out in the afternoons/evenings in winter due to the cold at night.

We had been fortunate with a distant sighting of 2 or possibly 3 Aardwolf on our first evening drive in the park, but the snowstorm banished most animals from sight on that day. However the day after the snow we had a record-breaking set of Aardwolf sightings.... I think they were out enjoying the warmth after the cold front

The first was really quite close to the main road, but it wasn't interested in hanging around for long




We then took a trip up on the Juriesdam 4x4 trail and on the plateau we saw one quite close to the road, but it disappeared the moment it saw us so we never managed any pics
Not to worry... just about 500m later our third sighting popped out and actually hung around enough for a pic




After the Juriesdam loop we ended up at the distant sighting of the lions for a while and only left as it was getting dark. Heading back to camp along Ubejane Loop it was hard to see anything but we somehow managed to see the movement of yet another Aardwolf




It was trundling around quite happily but photos were a mission with the lack of light.




After following it for a short distance we realised that it had met up with another.... our 5th Aardwolf of the drive and a record for us




We might have passed more on the way back to camp but it was so dark we would never know

TBC

[Richprins]

[Flutterby]

Wow, so lucky!!

[Lisbeth]

Most likely it would be a record for anybody

[Peter Betts]

Must agree they have plenty of bird life there

Much more when you start looking closely

Cool birds.

Thanks Flutts

Exquisite photographs, I must say, Peej!

That goshawk really is pale!

Was the other bird really on ice?

Yes some of the ice was really quite thick. You can see the line where water meets ice in the pic of the shelducks

The plover on ice is unique and priceless!

I'm not sure how much food it was going to find wandering around on the ice

I must get back there ..its our best Nat Park in the E cape ..We were there last Nov when it also snowed!! and we were camping !! never been so cold!. Lovely Bird Pics and that Hartebees group

Snow in November??

Yip after we spent the previous day in the Pool ..Yip the Eastern Cape Mountains like the Drakensberg you can get snow any month of the year ..Hogsback had a white Christmas about 20 years ago

[Mel]

Five... really??? I'm just a tad frustrated now

[Dindingwe]

This park looks really wonderful with a nice wildlife and birdlife!
It is always strange to see so much snow and ice here
Amazing all the Aardwolves in full day would love to see one.

[Pumbaa]

Awesome bird sightings and then those aardwolf sightings

Simply WoW, PJL