Trip to the North - Punda Maria*

[Amoli]

An invite from Moggiedog and her family, saw me and EfJay, my grandson, travel to Punda for a 5 day (plus another day) holiday.
This was Efjay’s maiden journey to Kruger.

We made arrangements to meet in Punda late afternoon, but soon before Petroport outside Pretoria,
I fell in behind the Red Monster…. What a conincidence…
We tried to read all the stickers on her bakkie of all the places it has been... WOW !!!

Putting up our tent was chaotic.
We had a new tent and the wind suddenly came up and challenged all our wits.
At one stage we were all hanging on anticipating a parachute jump… but to MD’s dismay, the wind died down.
Can you imagine running around the campsite, trying to catch a run-away tent .
The next trip to the Out and About shop will include good, strong nails instead of pegs.

I have done two campsites,(hahaha) but I prefer Punda to Skukuza.
It was not as busy or as noisy.
Echo in the background… : I told you so…..

After this tiring exercise of nailing down our tent, we took a short ride on the Mahonie loop.

We saw an African Hornbill – lifer



Efjay took his first ever picture of an ellie – and he thought that was near to him !! He was in for a surprise






We were brought to unity in voting for the best cook, with much guidance….



MD cooked a complete meal on her "stove" and we celebrated her Son’s birthday – in the bush – under the stars.



Soon after dinner, we were told by other campers that there were a lot of elephants at the water hole and right next to the fence.
Some exitment seeing these giants so near. I was watching Efjay being amazed at this sight.
I just knew we were in for super sightings at this waterhole and hide.






To be continued….

[Moggiedog]

Great start - look forward to the rest - remember - be nice..... -O
Some one must have p'd on my battery to bring out the psycho side of me (I can normally keep it hidden) But you know what they say - don't anger a woman in her kitchen!
Very disappointed that the wind dropped and we were unable to para-sail over the camp - would have been good fun

[Amoli]

My wish list was for Nyala, small bokkies, definetly calm ellies, and some birds I have seen, but not yet photographed….

And some lifers would be a bonus.

Most we saw on the Mohanie loop which we drove every day at different times.
We saw a lot of animals at the waterhole in front of the hide in camp.
We made a trip up to Crooks Corner and twice to Shindwedzi.

Antelopes.

Kudu is still the most beautiful antelope.





and even look up to say 'hi'




Nyala seemed to have all moved house to the Northern section of the park.
Every stop and turn we saw a Nyala.
On the Nyala loop we sat watching these buck for a long time.
I am sure this is where the seven dwarfs live and snow white with her prince – birthplace of all fairytales.
It is sooooo beautiful.





and this guy still had his winter coat on.... -O




The small ‘bokkies’ I wished for were – klipspringers, duikers, steenbokkies and maybe, if I’m lucky, a grysbok.
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of bokkies we saw.
I did not count how many we saw, but we were totally spoilt.

Duikers were around, and so peaceful. They allowed us to take as many pics as we wanted.







Sorry for all the flies... but I loved the tassle of hair - reminded me of a little girl with a ponytail on her head.



Bushbuck





Sharpes Grysbok... We saw many on the Mahonie loop..




On the H1-8 we saw these two - are they steenbokkies?. We stopped, cut the engine and enjoyed watching them. I soon realized that it was a male and female, and a courtship was taking place. They had us in stitches of laughter when the female would klap the male with her tail – but he was persistant.





….. words for the jump were way out my league - ... -O




On the S50 alongside the Shingwedzi river, the waterbuck was playing hide and seek.





On our way to Letaba, we found these Tssebbe’s.
Stop, look left, look right, now to cross the road… - please move for us to cross…








And what would a trip be without the mac’s. Standoff between two females….






To be continued…..

[Amoli]

Thank you all for making our trip more enjoyable,
and the comments.... Harry's, Dewi, Fb, Mel, Toko and Sprocky..


Sunrise in the bush - can anything be more beautiful....




To add to the last of the antelope specie (Alcelaphinae) (that of what we saw) -

Blue Wildebeest





On every ride we started the count down for the Big Five, the Little Five, and the Big six birds.

I was pleased that we could get nearer to the ellies without us or them feeling uneasy.



and this was all so new to Efjay - even the dustbath...



and he understood the stroppy teenager attitude... -O




Second on our list. of which we saw large herds - young and old...






One, two,….. awghh no… is that all.

One, two…. And a ¼ …. Yippee, a LIT. My first Leopard….and first LIT. It is a leopard sighting !!





Driving up to Pafuri, we came across a veld burn. No wind, no danger, unattended.



We thought we would see nothing for here on… but a lifer for me… Kori Bustard. I was amazed by it’s size.



Efjay was so excited with seeing the saddled billed stork, he actually let out a cry of joy – and this is the only pic I could get. Sorry MD, Glen.



Our next trip we will concentrate on the Little 5.

I loved the scenary going up North. The Boabab tree in the distance was like a gentle giant having a drink .




Boabab Hill




My Pafuri /Lehuvuhu pics I will post in Flavour of the month.



t.b. continued – feathered friends

[Amoli]

Featherd friends

A year ago I could ID about 7 birds, thinking that only the very clever people know more than 7. I also realize that once you start getting to know about nature, there’s a hunger to know more.
Thank you to mites from this forum that has taught me, birds, photography, bush eyes….

Okey, so let’s have some fun posting birdies pics… (feel free to correct me )

I am posting my hornbills again, only because it was 4 on one trip…

S. Yellow-billed hornbill


S Red-billed hornbill


Crowned Hornbill


African Grey hornbill



At Shingwedzi camp we saw this black collared barbet feeding off the Aloe flowers

Black collared barbet


White backed vulture


The arrow marked babler - a new id for me


Yellow bellied Greenbul – taken at it’s local Griller


Crested guineafowl


Red Crested korhaan – wouldn’t want to paint all those lines on a canvas…




Is this a Mangrove Kingfisher ? No.... Dewi says it's a brown -hooded Kingfisher... thanks.


On a loop road towards Shingwedzi, we saw this owl


I asked nicely, I whispered, I flattered, ….. please turn your head


Awghhh… beautiful… a little bit more…..


Nice….. now all the way. Eureka… it’s a …. It’s a lifer for me. Verreaux’s Eagle-owl


I tried my best to get a pic of a common waxbill, but it was too fast for me.
I settled for the blue waxbill.


And then Efjay took the camera and has produced some fantastic pics.

Blue waxbill


Dove


Marabou stork


Starling




And another lifer for me…… Brown headed parrots

You can make up your own stories, starting with.... please talk me
Mine were to near to the truth to publish….





Oh-oh... is this visitor a neighbor or is it MIL. -O





…. More to follow…

[Dewi]

Wonderful bird pics Amoli & Efjay.

That last one is a belter.

The kingfisher is Brown-hooded by the way. (Mangrove has a light grey head, blue back and grey breast with an all red bill) Note the black back and upperwing, brown head and brown tones to the underparts.

[Amoli]

Feathered friends…..Raptors

I am posting these pics to show my acknowledgment of the sightings of these gracious birds.
I have had the experience that when I acknowledge the not so good, the next sightings are almost always perfect.
We saw five Bateleurs on different occasions. The first one flew over our camp site and MD said this is what they experience each time at Punda.

Bateleur was my first sighting in the wild as I have seen them at a Bird Park previously.


Martial Eagle


Tawny Eagle


This is no Booted Eagle - it is a Brown snake eagle....thanks Dewi


Unknown eagle - not good ID material - Sprocky ID'd it as a Tawny and Dewi as a Taeny.... *smile* Thanks.


And …… the cherry, or is it the fish, as first prize.
Fish Eagle




My first pic’s of Fish Eagle in flight.




Next : at the waterhole.

[Dewi]

Woo-hoo. Great raptors Amoli. Always special to see them for the first time, so glad you had a close encounter with the Bateleur.

Agree with Sprocky re the Taeny.

Hope you don't mind me correcting the Booted Eagle one. It's a Brown Snake-eagle.

Note the short, square-ended tail which also shows the barring present on the underside if you look at the outer tail feather. Booted has a much longer, more rounded end to the tail with no barring. Cere is grey in BSE, yellow in Booted and the yellow eyes are also absent in Booted. Still a great bird to see though.

More please.

[Toko]

Very nice in flight shot of this African Fish-Eagle, Amoli

[Amoli]

MD - yeah, it was all so real, I thought I heard you say good morning...

Punda hide and waterhole

Between Efjay and myself, we decided to stay in camp every alternative day. This was to experience the art of patience at a hide. -O -O

...... and it paid off.





























One afternoon, everything went from this...... to dead silence. No animals, no birds... nothing. The animals that came for a drink,
stopped short when the warning sounds of the birds were heard. I was told that this happens when there is a cat (danger) around.
We waited for hours, but no cat sighting this time. Later that evening a herd of buffalo came to the waterhole. Efjay says it must
have been about 200 - maybe MD can correct this figure.