Africa Wild

Thanks all for coming along on all my drives

Almost exclusively a “bird” day with some other two-legged ones thrown in

I started out quite early in order to have lots of time before meeting Harry and Clan for an early lunch at Letaba.

As always when going in direction Letaba I went towards Sable Dam. On the way two Bateleurs cuddled together and it was certainly not cold. There must have been another reason.

I hoped that they would change position, but nothing to do, so I was the one who must move. They looked like Siamese twins and did not move a feather.

At the Dam only a Blacksmith lapwing and a wood sandpiper

Looks as if it is skating

I did not realize that this was a grey-headed kingfisher until later when it was uploaded to my laptop

Further on a Tawny Eagle which had some very pretty colours and made quite a nice figure on top of the termite mound

All the time it had been raining and I had thought about cancelling the lunch, but around 10:30 it stopped so everything proceeded as planned.

A Shongololo on the wet H9

At Nhlanganini only some hippos, but that was more than I ever had seen and was to see there

On the bridge a little further ahead a good looking grey heron

Just before the access road to Letaba a very well hidden hyena under a bush. I am not sure that I would have seen it if there had not been a car parked in front. They moved on and I tried to get a pic of what on a closer inspection turned out to be a mom with two pups

One pup was up and about sniffing at the surroundings

While the other was sticking to the milk bar without moving an inch and in fact I only saw it because the hyena was not moving at all

Stunning twins of bateleurs

Water skating

There’s a den on the left culvert going towards Letaba. We have seen the mum there previously

At the Letaba restaurant deck it was not difficult to spot Harry & Clan

After having missed them in KTP the year before it was nice to have managed this time around and Harry and I had a good chat. I am afraid that I was the one speaking the most

The youngsters looked very tired or more than tired they were sleepy. I wonder what they had been up to the night before

After having greeted harry and co. “Good bye” I continued to the bridge across the Letaba River.

There was a nice assembly of herons, storks and egrets. A grey heron caught my interest. It had just caught a fish

Shake it a bit

Into the mouth

And down it goes

Off to catch another one

And after just a short moment

Egrets and an African Spoonbill

Other family members

A yellow-billed Stork and little egrets


The view on the other side of the bridge

Further on along the river an African Fish-eagle on foot not looking very elegant

Yellow-billed stork busy fishing or whatever they do

A great egret

I had spent a lot of time on the bridge and it would be better to start heading home.
I took the S131 which was absolutely deserted apart from a lot of swallows “roosting” on the road. I still have not found out why, because they were sitting still and not doing like e.g. other birds do to get rid of parasites


Maybe one of you know something about this behaviour?

Alf wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 4:09 pm There’s a den on the left culvert going towards Letaba. We have seen the mum there previously

They were on the right hand side, maybe they had crossed the road

Excellent stuff, Lis!

So much water, one can see the rivers were even higher!

Looks quite boring there with the harrys drinks-wise!

Love the birdies, especially the heron sequence, and great vistas!

Too many pictures… How am I supposed to remember what I saw here with my short memory



But I sure remember having seen a stunning variety of birds - big and small

Also a fleeting glimpse of the hyena pup. Shame they would show properly

And of course, the "elusive" harrysandco species