Enjoying The Kruger Without Staying In The Park

[Lisbeth]

Wonderful roads you have driven and nice sightings too

The roads are very varied and running along rivers, so very enjoyable

A very effective windmill!

Ja, Lis, difficult in the rain, but some unique pics!

That is a big waterbuck, and I like the UFO!

Lots of alien vegetation in the river...

Shingwedzi has gone down a bit after Christa left...

Coming back after a long nice day in beautiful nature to a sad, badly-lighted and squalid room is demoralizing.

Love the UFO looks like a pelican

Bad quality pic, but the subject is surprising

Sis
Your mindset to make the most of every day, regardless of weather or sightings is refreshing - kudos to you

I like the spa Buffs, Red Rocks scenery, the hammerkop w/ reflection , and the Yellow-b storks that always remind me of an Oriental painting. You certainly have an eye for nature's art in the form of trees - even the squirrel at the end of the entry shares your appreciation of artsy trunks Seems you and squirrels are kindred spirits.

Thank you sis I have always loved squirrels Maybe because they always seem playful and happy, small and soft

This was the francolin day

The tree looks like a Jackalberry to me, the leave shape and the bark is not Marula-like. Well-spotted!

This is a Hibiscus calyphyllus, Lemon-yellow rosemallow

and Heliotropium nelsonii, Common String-of-star

And I like the lady-starling and the hornbills in the Mopane

Your Crowned lapwing looks also beautiful with the red legs in the greenery

Thank you for your appreciation and all the ID's

Thanks Lisbeth,

that is why the S56 is still one of our favourite roads because of the beautiful trees along that road

and you are right when it is raining the good sightings are rare but nevertheless better rain than drought again

Great shots of the crested barbet and from the waterbucks

There are camps in Kruger were everything is okay but they are rare indeed - especially those missing hooks were to hang the towels on and reachable mirrors to put my contact lenses on without doing wrenches are rare and sometimes there are hooks or mirrors but simply for giants and I cannot reach them

Yes, the roads in the neighbourhood of Shing are great and must be even better in the sun It might not be the max. to stay outside the park, but at least you return to a pleasant place in the evening and your day continues to be pleasant......and thank you, Pumbaa

The bush looks nicely green in and after the rains

And the birds always look as if they felt sorry for themselves when their plumage is all wet and soaked
Kinda cute though.

Oh, and love that diva barbet

Despite the lack of steady big cat sightings, it must be really nice up there

"Steady cat sightings" I only had three cat sightings during a month, but I did not really miss them. Of course I would not have minded a leopard or two

A lot of sightings for such wet weather!

The birds look very sorry for themselves!

Although the weather could have been much better, I enjoyed the trip up north a lot

[Lisbeth]

15.02.2019 (1)

The two nights at Shingwedzi were over and it was time to turn the nose towards south.

One last waterbird, at least from here

Palms always tastes of the tropics and look kind of "out-of-place" in the Kruger These are Lala Palm trees [Hyphaene coriacea]

Locally called Molala, large palm trees usually grow from 5 to 7m high, but sometimes up to 15m in height, single or multi-stemmed, with a slight swelling about half way up the stem. The tree is found in low-altitude bush land and coastal bush, often forming extensive stands. The leaves are fan-shaped and greyish green. Fruits are tennis ball size, ripening from green through orange to glossy dark brown. A thin layer of sweet-tasting, ginger-flavoured, spongy, fibrous pulp surrounds the seed. Fruits are produced in large quantities, up to 2000 per tree, each taking two years to mature and up to two further years to fall.

Uses

The milk present in the young fruit is similar to coconut milk in taste and colouring. Elephants eagerly consume the newly formed leaves, which are crisp at their base and have a pleasant coconut flavour. The crown-heart is eaten as a vegetable and is known in the Delta as 'gau'. The pulp of the fruit resembles gingerbread. To extract the pulp, the hard exocarp is hit with a stick. The pulp is quite palatable and eaten particularly by elephants and baboons. These palms are widely exploited as a source of wine and unfortunately many are killed as a result. Palm swifts are closely associated with this palm. They can be seen nesting in a vertical position underneath the leaves. These birds have evolved a unique method of preventing the eggs from falling by gluing them in place with saliva. The hard white kernels of the seeds, closely resembling the commercial vegetable ivory of South America, are too small to be of any economic importance though they are often used to make ornaments, trinkets and curios.

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It was still very wet, but not raining for the time being.
A small very calm group of baboons were busy doing Baboon “things” especially the youngsters were having a good time

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[Lisbeth]

A couple or three Ground Hornbills were out and about

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Finally I could enjoy the sight of a group of Nyala ewes for the first time on this trip

The nyala is also a very unique species with regards to its extreme sexual dimorphism (i.e. the differences between males and females). The male is dark brown in colour while the female is a bright orange colour. Males are born the same colour buas females, but as they mature they will gradually change from orange to a dark brown.
In the larger antelope species, the male is known as a bull and the female is known as a cow. With smaller antelope, the male is known as a ram and the female is known as a ewe. The nyala is used as a marker to distinguish between the names given to the males and females of other antelope species. This is because of the drastic difference in size between the male and female nyala. The male nyala is classified as a bull, while the female is classified as a ewe. Any male antelope smaller than the nyala bull is classified as a ram, and any female antelope bigger than the nyala female is classified as a cow.

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They were down in the river bed of the Kagole and working their way up towards the road level

Also the Nyalas do it

At the top the bull was waiting for his harem

I had turned onto the S144 (Old Mainroad Loop) now.

A Magpie Shrike

Close to the road a Red-crested Korhaan was showing off

[Flutterby]

It was certainly very green!

[Lisbeth]

A bucolic scene with impala

“Look how high up I am!”

Wildebeest family

This one was a first for me A long-tailed Paradise Whydah – of course far away

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A laughing dove, that is not laughing so I changed its colour a bit and a Sabota Lark (?) that WAS singing

They grow like mushrooms when the weather is humid

The last sighting before the Tropic of Capricorn Loop were a couple of lovely Jackals

And then they disappeared into the bush

This was a long day so maybe better leave it here before the Tihongonyeni Waterhole.

The second half soon

[Flutterby]

Lovely jackal sighting.

[Richprins]

Blindingly green, Lis!

A nice big nyala herd, with info, and nice to have time to sit and watch the baboons!

Good jackal sighting!

And interesting that animals are at the waterpoint with so much rain around?

[Klipspringer]

Large Nyala herd and the male is a youngster. Strange group

Lovely francolin calling

And one of the jackals is smalish, is it perhaps offspring and adult?

[RogerFraser]

Lovely sightings Liz

Love the Jackals

[Alf]

The quality of pictures are just amazing

You must have one great camera

Just loving it