The red-billed queleas had been unleashed

[nan]

cute little one.... at that age
magnificent camouflaged Sharpe Grysbok
love the "back to back"... just disturbed by a "naughty" little one

[Flutterby]

Lucky to see a grysbok so far south!

More lovely lions!

[Richprins]

Nice grysbok, Pumbaa, and lovely to see the area green!

[Lisbeth]

Mum wants to sleep not to play

[Pumbaa]

cute little one.... at that age
magnificent camouflaged Sharpe Grysbok
love the "back to back"... just disturbed by a "naughty" little one

Yup that Little one wanted a bit attention

Lucky to see a grysbok so far south!

More lovely lions!

Always amazing to capture the gryboks as they are so shy

[Pumbaa]

Nice grysbok, Pumbaa, and lovely to see the area green!

This year we visited this spot again and it looked totally different as all the green was gone only grass left

[Pumbaa]

Mum wants to sleep not to play

Yes mom needs rest as well but obviously the little one had other things in mind

[Pumbaa]

Also now during the one hour will still had to spent with them we were all alone and had them once again all to ourselves



and they were so relaxed



and we were so happy to having seen them again.



It was meanwhile afternoon and after having had such an amazing time with them we left and could not believe our luck we had today with all those wonderful sightings we had,



however, before we left the loop a huge buffalo bull appeared on the scene very well knowing the presence of the lions but obviously he did not had any problems with them as he made slowly his way until he disappeared between the mopane bushes.



Although the break was short we enjoyed a quiet time on our verandah whilst taking short walks along the walkways close to the Letaba riverbed and so our afternoon drive was a bit shorter than usually but we simply had to drive the S69 along the Nhlanganini which we only discovered two years ago as the views there are amazing.



As nothing else could be seen we also took the S95 which is always worth especially because of all the loops and we met many feeding hippos out of the water,





we spotted again pied kingfishers and white fronted bee eaters as already in the early morning



and could admire saddle billed storks a bit farer away and took a lot of shots from an elephant herd



who must have crossed the river only recently and started now to feed.

[Pumbaa]

Our last sighting on this very exciting day were an incredible number of marabou storks along the river road.





Back in camp the braai had been lit, Timon was running his rounds in camp and I simply sat on our verandah and enjoyed the amazing evening.

Friday, 24. February 2017 – Letaba – Shingwedzi

Driven roads: H1-5 – S95 – H1-6 – H15 – S48 – S50 – H1-6 – S50 – S143 – S50

It was once again moving day and then already for the final time during that trip. As always we started it slow and had no hurry neither in packing up nor in rushing to Shingwedzi especially still having our last two exciting days in mind. So we took it easy and also the drive was quiet although we soaked everything in especially along the Letaba river with the many loops to look into the river.

We spotted a fish eagle a bit far away and on the high water bridge crossing the Letaba we stopped and took a look around and realized a Wahlberg on the ground in the riverbed.



The rest of our drive along the tar road turned out to be more quiet but at least we saw a glimpse of a black backed jackal before same dashed away.



As always and when same is open we do take the Tsendze loop and here we again met quite a number of amur falcons which are always a highlight to us



and Timon took a lot of pictures and we even had luck in photographing this bird also whilst taking off,





a cute squirrel forced us to stop again for an excessive photo shooting.



The obligatory buffalo bulls we always do meet on that road came also across but both were still extreme lazy and enjoyed the cool sand in the riverbed



whilst the other one already stood up.



to be continued...

[Lisbeth]

Lovely amur falcons. The males are very Photogenic

And one of my little sweethearts

Pumbaa!