12 Dec
I woke up very early this morning, now I’m pushing it, I actually woke up every morning at 3:30 as I’m what you call in Afrikaans ‘n pliggie (transl conscientious) when it comes to getting at the gate on time. And was soon waiting for the gate to open at 4:05 after my shower en packing of essentials, I wasn’t planning any route so I ended up doing some short drives close to the camp… H4-1 to Lubye and back, then the Mlondozi loop and back to camp for a bathroom break then I went down the H4-2 to enter the Gomodwane loop (S130) from the south ->S137 ->S28 back to camp.
There wasn’t much to see on the tar except a few hippos moving back towards the Sabie river, but too dark to take a pictures. When I was back at Sunset dam I got this pied kingfisher close enough to take a kiekie
Then on the H10 I was entertained by wattled starlings, but they don’t really allow one to drive close enough to take pictures of them, I was glad getting some of them
It was misty this morning and very hard to see anything if it wasn’t next to the road, I did see a juvenile bateleur but not close enough for pictures and then as I got near a tree I heard a distinct unhh-unhhh-unhhh and started searching for his owner… and here he was waiting to be found; Verreaux Eagle Owl
http://youtu.be/ULl0IjlFJR4
I waited for another car so I could show the passengers this beautiful owl and then I moved on. Next was a Black bellied Korhaan, I waited for him to sing his unusual song for me and was lucky this morning
http://youtu.be/267S_IQlP3s
Then on the understated S29, this road is full of birdlife, I saw them everywhere but could only take kiekies of a few of them. Not great quality as I don’t have the best camera or lens for birding.
Green winged Pytilia
Cinnamon Breasted bunting
Red-billed Quelea
And one a bit difficult for me to ID (chat? Lark?)
The ever beautiful LBR
And not to worry I did have some animals on the road… Giraffes
And as I was get closer to the end of this road I got some BBJ hanging out with guinea fowl
At camp I got the ever present visitors that are actually not welcomed by anyone
Then back on the road it was for me, on the H4-2 I sat for a while with impala letting of some steam
Then I had an ellie roadblock
On the loop I met up with Wendy and we decided to have a convoy, it was a very quiet drive and all I saw was this beautiful blue waxbill
And a baby giraffe quenching its thirst
Thinking about it we decided that it was getting hot and definitely KPA time so we got back to camp and opened a few refreshments. I then had an afternoon nap and then at 15:30 it was time for an afternoon drive. Wendy reminded me that I wanted to see what was left of my hippo so we decided to drive the H4-1 then do the S79 back to camp.
Some of our sightings on our drive,
Jacobin cuckoo
Baby impala having an early dinner
I forgot to mention yesterday, when I drove to Nkuhlu I past the hippo, the rangers moved him out of the road and about 10m into the bushes, the view wasn’t brilliant but it could still be seen from the road. So as we got there, there were a hooded vulture with some white backed vultures and this was what was left in 36 hours…
Then a brilliant sighting was these rhinos, they are just magnificent creatures…
And a visitor at Lubye-Lubye bridge
As we drew close to the camp it dawned upon me that we had seen no cats today, and just as we could see the camp, almost at sunset dam I saw Yusuf on the opposite side of the road facing us, it was strange as it was already 18:28 and we are all supposed to be in camp or at the gate. We got to him and guess what we saw?...
Yes, 700m from the camp we get to have this sighting for what? 4 minutes? How unfair is this… so I took a few kiekies and had to go before I get fined. That night we had some wors and corn. I forgot to mention that we had some strange neighbours here in camp, the previous night they started playing guitar and singing karaoke (at least people quieted them after 3 songs). Tonight it was very quiet and we could go to sleep in peace at least.
Bu the peace was not long lived… at midnight it started to thunder and rain in the South… I was afraid the freezer would get wet so I got out and put it on my chair, I also moved Wendy’s chair and towels and the power cord. It was pouring down and stupidly I set up my tent on the bottom end of the camp, I was ankle high in water and stood outside with hands on my head thinking that there is absolutely nothing I could do if the rain would go in my tent… we had no shovel to dig a trench. So I went back in my tent and prayed to God that it won’t go on too long. I prayed myself to sleep…
To be continued…
You should have known with all the rain that you got on the way 
