Flavour of the Month - May/June 2019: Grootvlei Dam (S50)

[Klipspringer]

I haven't seen any of the common dam birdies such as plovers, lapwings, sandpipers, only this stork

And I don't have any other bird photos

No weaver nests in the trees

[Lisbeth]

Very strange

[Richprins]

[Richprins]

My memorable visit was sitting here for most of the day with a couple of student buddies during winter, and I doubt if more than 2 other vehicles came past.

We had had great viewing on this trip to the north and were happy to sit still, having just seen a sable bull at Dipene on the way down!

The dam was rarely quiet, with the normal game plus ostrich and tsessebe coming and going and hanging around doing nothing, as you say. All of a sudden every animal began rushing TOWARD the water...

To be continued...

The animals began drinking frantically, and eventually we realised why. A gigantic buffalo herd appeared on the opposite side...one first sees dust all along the horizon, then one hears them, and then they appear as a mass amongst the mopane shrub!

Often buffalo just walk or run straight into the water but in this case, maybe because it was a mega-herd, or maybe there were lions, or maybe because the dam was not very full, they came down in an incredibly organised fashion:


About 15 prime bulls first calmly and slowly broke the cover of the scrub and entered the water line-abreast and walking in as deep as they could comfortably go. They did not even really drink, but surveyed the area carefully, including the water, and smelled the air, even checking us out. (They chased any nearby animals away too.) Then when they began to drink the first of relays of groups about 50 strong came down and each group would drink en-masse without wasting any time, and return into the bush and wait there.

It was an awesome display, one I shall never forget!

At the end, what we assumed was the herd bull and his assistants came down, half a dozen real old giants! The assistants also spread out around him, and they relaxed in the water for a very long time, while the herd waited patiently in the scrub. (There was no rolling in the mud by anybody except the last group, just drinking.)

And then they left, and all one could see was the receding dust cloud again for a long time. The whole process took over an hour!

Because of our vantage point and the leisurely and orderly process, and because we had nothing else to do, it was quite easy to count them (we wrote down sightings in those days.) The grand total was 426!

[Lisbeth]

Wow! That must have been fantastic

[Klipspringer]

I haven't seen buffalo there recently.

But there is a crocodile

GV11.jpg (183.89 KiB) Viewed 302 times

[okie]

We've had some good sightings there , including birds .

Swarms of queleas , and egrets

[okie]

On the same day/time , this pic with Buffalo , impala , zebra , blue wildebeest , waterbuck ,tsessebe , and also Fish eagle , gymnogene and Forktailed Drongo . Need to zoom in well to see them all

[Flutterby]

[Richprins]

Nice, okie!