A Flutter With My Brother

[Flutterby]

You planning a bigger family Alpheus!

Looks very , nice, Flutts!

So Anna likes baboons, eh? Good to know...

Yes, against all reason, the baboons were her favourites...no accounting for taste!

That's quite a lot of boons there in the road!

And the accommodation looks nice indeed. But in the wrong camp, in my opinion. I'm not fond of Satara at all.
It's all back from an experience when the restaurant sitting furniture outside was full of bird poop and obviously
none of the staff felt responsible to take action. So Satara is now etched as "unhygienic" into my brain

We actually saw a lot more baboons than usual...they must like the wet weather. I've always loved Satara, and we never really use the restaurant so haven't had to sit in bird poop!

Can only imagine what Anna thought when first seeing Weaver Birds - I remember seeing them for the first time many moons ago, and I was absolutely flabbergasted Still am Unbelievable architects, seems these "bird-brains" are quite intricate, rivals the evolution of caterpillars to butterflies to me.

Yes, the weavers really made an impression on Anna. They are master builders!

[Flutterby]

Satara

After we'd settled in I sat on the verandah waiting for birds. A Cape Glossy Starling came to say hello.



I was very chuffed to find this female Violet-backed Starling feeding on the berries in a nearby tree...another first for Kruger.



As we'd managed to get into our accommodation nice and early we could do a longer afternoon drive than orginally planned. We decided to go down the H6 and come back on the S100. Anna had had enough of the car and decided to stay in camp.

We stopped at the first bridge outside Satara to look at some birds when some guys stopped next to us to tell us there was a lioness in the road just around the corner. We "raced' off but found no lion...just other cars who had seen her disappear into the thick bush!! The cats really were eluding us!

Just after getting onto the H6, Jonty told me to stop and look at this weird bird...an African Harrier-hawk ...another first for me in Kruger!









I was a happy girl!

A Purple Roller.



A Brown Snake-eagle.



Apart from the birds the H6 and S41 were quiet. We took a quick look at Gudzani, but nothing happening there either.



As we turned onto the S100 someone stopped us to warn us of a very bad-tempered ellie up ahead. We found an ellie shortly afterwards but he seemed very calm.



Nice horns.



Then another lifer...a Long-tailed Paradise-Whydah ...but it flew off before I could get a good shot!



This Carmine Bee-eater wasn't at all worried about us and let us drive right up to it.

[Alf]

Stunning birds

[Richprins]

Lovely sightings, Flutts!

What a big waterbuck!

Very interesting behaviour shots of the gymnogene...they spend their time digging around in dead trees!

[Lisbeth]

The African harrier hawk is almost always in, for us, awkward positions

You should see the pic I got of a Long-tailed Paradise-Whydah also a first for me

[PJL]

Wow I had quite a bit of catching up to do there

Some very nice sightings, and a great array of birds on the afternoon drive. We always seem to pick up waterbuck along the S100 as well

[Flutterby]

My photos seem to look very different when I put them on the forum. To me they look like they have too much contrast....any comments?

Stunning birds

Yep, lots of birdies around in summer!

Lovely sightings, Flutts!

What a big waterbuck!

Very interesting behaviour shots of the gymnogene...they spend their time digging around in dead trees!

I was very chuffed about the gymogene.

The African harrier hawk is almost always in, for us, awkward positions

You should see the pic I got of a Long-tailed Paradise-Whydah also a first for me

The Harrier-hawk is not the most graceful bird around! At least you got a proof pic of the Whydah.

Wow I had quite a bit of catching up to do there

Some very nice sightings, and a great array of birds on the afternoon drive. We always seem to pick up waterbuck along the S100 as well

Thanks PJL. We may not have seen cats, but at least there were lots of birds to see.

[Lisbeth]

Strangely enough, I also got a female violet - backed starling (at Shingwedzi Camp), not a first for me though

[Flutterby]

[Flutterby]

Satara

We saw so may Egyptian Geese on this trip, many with babies. Do you see the little one peeking over the sand?



We also saw lots of big gaggles of Egyptian Geese...a first for us.



We then came across a breeding herd of ellies, and the matriarch had the longest tusks we've ever seen on a female!! This was the best pic we could get! I've looked at Aat's page and I think it could be Nyangene.



A relaxed Namaqua Dove.



And that was it for our afternoon drive....day 3 and still no cats!! We got back to camp and Jonty told Anna she could have the honour of lighting the fire....



The one issue we had with this accommodation was that they hadn't paved around the braai and with all the rain we'd had there was mud everywhere, and it was hard to keep it outside!



Jonty couldn't stay away and soon took over!



A family pic.



Anna's fire.



Anna taking the reins again.



Tonight's meal was ribs, wors, grilled veg, mielies and potatoes. I have to say Anna rather enjoyed the ribs...especially being a vegetarian!




This was the first night we could sit and "kuier" with no rain to drive us to bed. The wine was going down very easily...too easily ... and Anna kept putting more wood on the fire, which Jonty would then take off! My dad went to bed at about midnight, and Jonty left Anna and I at about 1.30am. Anna had already decided she was not coming on our morning drive, but at 2.30 I told Anna I had to go to bed so I could get at least 2 hours sleep!! I have never gone to bed so late in Kruger!