Skukuza April 2014 - BIRDER . PLEASE PASS...*

[Amoli]

After reading other April TT, my report will be … well, less spectacular.

Don’t get me wrong, we saw the big five and other mammels, and lots of birds.

We didn’t get to see Honeybadger, porcupine, cheetah wild dogs, bats or any mice.


We left Nelspruit bright and early and headed for the Phabeni gate. I wondered why I had not done my trips to the park this way round – it was a good road and good ride.



Checking in was smooth and we entered through the lefthand boom. I love these buildings.



Our first sighting was guineafowl – lots of them forming a road block. It wasn’t long before we were parked in by other cars, front, back and side. I will call this clutter and refer to such further on in my report.
While being stuck here I looked around and saw this African green pigeon :



I must make a note to photograph the river names. I think this is Hlulamadvodza – not far from the gate. It carries a message of peace.



At the Nyamundwa Dam there was this Fish Eagle just relaxing in the early morning sun.



We stopped at a ‘clutter’ and saw this hyena eye, very close to the road and well hidden.



We waited a while until we were the only car and then slowly went on our way again.
Of course we saw an impala.



I was adamant that I would wait around for pics when I saw ellies. I wanted nice pics of their ears, and their tusks. Not bad for my first try shot on this trip.



…. And of course, being a teenager full of beans, Jacques grabbed my camera and took a shot of a kudu’s abulutions.
Naughty boy.

[Amoli]

Here are some birdies I took on this road :
























We turned onto the S65 and saw lots of Southern white crowned shrike, a yellow hornbill and some Hammerkop on the dam.







We turned right and took a short drive to Transport Dam –
Saw the usual waterbuck



And a very excited Egyptian goose

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And something for Blue Tuna



Then it was off to camp to set up and feed ourselves.

With nightfall I was sitting in my tent with head stuck out when a hugh bushbaby passed right next to my tent. I was intrigued with it’s size and didn’t want to move. I watched it climb the tree with so much ease. Amazing – I will keep those images in my heart for a long, long time.

Goodnight – see you on the S114 next time

[Amoli]

This morning we set out to Gardenia hide and would travel via the S114.

Still on the H1-1 we saw a similar ‘snake’ that BC and his clan saw.





This pic made me realize how easy you can miss a sighting. Just as the white car had passed, these three hyena came out of the bush and ran right past us in the road.





The S114 was quiet – animal and car wise and we enjoyed our cruise at 15km an hour. We had all day.


I normally turn toward the Steven Hamilton Boulders and coming back to the S114, and I would always miss the Renosterkoppies dam.

This time I carried straight on to see where I was doing it wrong. Well, better no more said.



There were a lot of Red-billed hornbills in the area of the dam



And a Brown Snake eagle Juv



And giraffes







As we went on our way a hyena very casually strolled across the road right in front of us.



I saw a big black bird and all the excitement bells were ringing. It would fly off ahead of us, and sit in a tree. Then as we approached as quiet as possible, it would fly off again. This carried on for some distance. Eventually I got one pic. Not a lifer, but a first time not in captivity.
A gymnogene.
When I shared this with RP at the meet, he said they were quite common in Nelspruit. Sigh.
After this one good pic, it flew off into the bushes away from us.





A chameleon running for cover

[Amoli]

The Biyamiti. No words can describe the beauty of this crossing.









And a monitor sunning himself.





I refer to these plants as Leach’s tree lilies. It was through his lens I noticed them for the first time.



In a nearby tree we saw an arrow marked babbler



We continued on our way to the Hide, with a sense of awe. The winding road had it’s own magic.
At the Hide we were the only car. Recognition set in as I remembered being here before about 12 years ago. My frame of mind at the time was very confused and for years I have been wondering which hide it was that I took pics of.

We enjoyed the Hippo and his passenger the terrapin. There was also a little grebe swimming around.
I would have loved some animals to come for a drink, so we waited.
It was not long when a family of six turned our hide into a local Wimpy.
Thinking that no animals would pitch with the level of screeching voices, we decided to be on our way.





While scanning the river bed on our way to the S114, we saw this guy. We waited for him to move, but he had nowhere to go.
6 vehicles were coming toward us through the winding road, and we decided that it was our call to leave.



On the H3 we took a turn-off to Renosterpan.
An African Jacana was searching for munchies and we spent some time with it. This was the only one we saw on this trip.



We also saw a tjagra



We stopped off at Afsaal for a cooldrink. I thought to myself that if this is how full it can get in the out season…..

Not far from Afsaal we came across a clutter – some 700m into the bush there was an ear twitching. We moved on a short distance to photograph this vulture.



We also saw some new species now named : Southern Tree Hornbill. Most of the recent pics on the social media was of them in trees.



A hyena had a hole right next to the road. For the time we spent here it wouldn’t move, so we could not see if there were cubs. This time I had the distance correct on my lens.



It was lunchtime and the ellie was doing just what you supposed to do at lunchtime.



Although we had some nice sightings, I did struggle with an inner wish to see more cats.

Of the big 5 (7) that was 2 down.
Big 7
Lion
Leopard
ElephantBlack Rhino
White Rhino
Buffalo
Cheetah
Wild dog

The little five was 0 out of 5.
Little 5
Ant Lion
Leopard Tortoise
Elephant Shrew
Rhino Beetle
Buffalo Weaver

We had two of the ugly 5 so far

Ugly 5
Hyena
Wildebeest
Warthog Hyena
Vulture
Marabou stork

With the bird life, it was 0 out 7.

Well… the park offers the hope of : maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will go down to Croc Bridge and come back via Dukes waterhole.

[Amoli]

Trip 3

Today we were driving down to Croc Bridge and back via Duke’s Waterhole – a road I have not done before.
It is surprising how each car takes it’s own route at the fourway crossing.
Each one on his own mission.
We were about 5 cars going down south.
The other cars went north and west in search of the wild dogs I presumed.

The cars were travelling faster than us and very soon we were left behind by the traffic.
I saw a movement in the bushes and we stopped and waited.
It was not long before this lone buff appeared.
He seemingly wanted to cross the road and we allowed him the space – then a vehicle came from the front…. And it turned around and walked away.





At our lazy speed we went idling along when Efjay spotted this brown headed parrot, feeding on the pods.



In the next tree I saw the Burchells Coucal.
We were snapping wild and other birder ladies pulled up. It turned out to be a super visit using sign language.



Sunset Dam had a lot of the usual. What was new for me were the red-billed buffalo weaver, and I could take a nice pice of the white headed plover.
A lifer is the white fronted plover and it entertained us by chasing the three banded plovers around.





I managed to photograph a grey heron in flight on sunset dam – not as magnificent as the Masters’ Fish Eagle, but I am learning.

[Amoli]

We stopped at the top of Lower Sabie bridge for some baboons playing in the road.



While waiting for them to clear I scanned the bush and found this amethyst sugarbird. Whoopee.
A suv stopped next to us and asked : What you looking at.
Luckily I kept my focus on the bird and caught it flying away.
Little did I know that this was to become a pattern for the days to follow….what you looking at!





A baby hippo was killed and the crocs were guarding it, attacking any other coming near.





We turned around and proceeded to Croc Bridge.

As with my previous April trip, there were scores of Lilac Breasted Rollers, Fish Eagles and Magpie shrikes.
There was even the odd European Roller.







And this magnificent Tawny Eagle. What beautiful autumn colours his feather coat is.



There was this beautiful ellie (on another road) which we saw as we came around a bend. The first pic was through the windscreen and I was shaking with excitement..

[Amoli]

And then we exit the park via Croc Bridge…..

Only……

To experience the excitement of turning round, and coming back.



I seem to find more tortoises down south from Skukuza



I think this is the Vurhami pride? We saw two lionesses.



And a buffalo grazing nearby. They didn’t even take notice of each other – think that must be where paradise is.



And then a clutter happened….

When we eventually freed ourselves, we took the S28 and turned off on the S137 after a stop over at Ntandanyathi hide. It was very quiet at the hide.

We enjoyed Dukes hole watching all the birdies. They were flying all around the car and made us feel very welcome.

[Amoli]

A little way further this tusker came out from the bushes. What a beauty and so calm.








We joined up with the H4-2 and stopped off at Sunset Dam.

This Pied Kingfisher was struggling to get his lunch down. Only when there was a threat of sharing he gulped it down.









Some more birdies…





We headed up for Skukuza and decided to do take-outs.
We met up with Penga on the deck and had a short chat.


Tomorrow we will head up north…... and see Flutter-family

[Amoli]

Amoli , what a great variety of photos. Future tusker

Good to have you General - hope our sightings will be pleasing.

[Amoli]

My TT is going slowly - think it's cos we travelled that slow...

And then…..

One day….

Somewhere….

Sometime….

Early morning we stopped for this sighting.
Being the only car it was bliss just sitting watching them wake-up.
One of them went to the middle of the road preventing us to ride further, but little did he know we had all day to spend with them







The cars started lining up and after a while one guy passed and wanted to carry on with his journey.
They stood their ground and refused to budge.
By this time both sides were lining up.





A tourist vehicle from the front and challenged the big boy and frightened him off the road, which made way for everybody to carry on.




Seeing four of these animals together is such a priviledge, it left me wondering why everybody is in such a hurry.