The Big Cat Diary and a Couple of Lifers

[Lisbeth]

Lots of lovely birds and great scenery

[Alf]

Wow so many birds

Those buffalo looks skinny

[Flutterby]

You certainly saw a nice variety of birds.

[Bushcraft]

Things have been hectic at work Pumbaa, but I have enjoyed catching up with your report.

2 leopards hanging out together. Fantastic sighting

Water at Gardenia hide and a junior taking the plunge, but a little hairy with the close encounter

Great jackal sequence and then cheetah

You certainly found plenty birds. We have just returned and battled in this department and found a noticeable decrease compared to previous Julys

Brilliant Sable sighting

Impressive male lion at the S137 turn

The Biyamiti road can get hectic with elephants and my SO always prays we don’t encounter any while on it

S28 cooking with cheetah and an awesome LIT

Your pics are still fantastic as per normal

[Dewi]

Great bird pics again Pumbaa, but the purple heron is just WOW!.

[Pumbaa]

Thanks so much Richprins, nan, Lisbeth, Alf, Flutterby, Bushcraft and Dewi for all your comments and for taking your time in following our trip report

[Pumbaa]

and when we were about to leave also a green backed heron landed and Timon still fired away.





After a wonderful hour we finally left this peaceful spot and especially in the early morning that place is simply heaven with only few cars and we were nearly the whole time all alone there and in fact that morning was an extreme rewarding one when it comes to bird sightings.

The rest of our trip until we reached Skukuza camp was than compared to the visit at the weir extreme quiet but we came along a couple of rhinos which are always more than fantastic sightings



surprisingly parts of the area we travelled today were extreme green with even high grass to feed on whereas other areas could not offer much any longer at least the hitchhikers had a great time.





A couple of zebras could be seen



and we admired that views with some large koppies



and for sure one of the noisy woodland kingfishers could not escape Timon’s lens.



A short break then at Skukuza was urgently needed but as it was still far too early we for sure left again to pay a visit to the S65 and whilst heading that direction we had to stop at De Laporte waterhole which I have to confess visited or better to say realized for the very first time although we drove along that road many times in the past but I guess same was a victim of the flood a couple of years ago and only last year the construction work also at the close by bridge started and was only finalized last year but I must say I was impressed with the location of that waterhole as same could also be seen from the tar road, same had been erected close to the riverbed and even the parking area allowed some nice close ups. Needless to say that same got soon one of our favourite places around Skukuza during that trip as there were always animals around.

[Pumbaa]

Today we admired a group of thirsty warthogs with masses of red-billed oxpeckers accompanying them



and also a kudu bull paid a visit but we did not stay longer so we headed forward quite soon



but once more did not get that far as we were stuck in a traffic jam....but first could only get a glimpse of a male lion



as where we could park the view was blocked either a bush stood in the way or a car was blocking the view and due to the many safari vehicles on such a highly frequented tar road we also hardly could move forward so we simply had to exercise ourselves in patience but as we were on holidays and even in Kruger we had a lot of time and luck too as it did not take long and we could move a bit forward and had a brilliant view onto a honeymoon couple



and in the first step it did not happen much – She was still hidden behind a bush and he was sometimes looking around attentive



especially when new cars arrived



but after having enough from looking around he got tired as well.



After quite a while where nothing happened suddenly the park’s helicopter flew above us and due to that not so adjusted sound both looked up quite interested but in the end they hardly moved and soon got back into sleeping mode.



Now we also had the opportunity to move once again a bit more forward and now we even had also a good view onto her



to be continued.....

[ExFmem]

Has taken me a few days to read your TT, and thoroughly enjoyed every second!

I was making a list of my favorite shots, but when I got to the bottom of my 8x11 sheet of paper way back on page 19, I realized my list was WAY too long to enumerate here. So let me just say what truly magnificent shots you captured throughout this trip, and I look forward to my daily dose from now on. Excellent, excellent work here.

[Lisbeth]

Nice piggies with friends

The kudu bulls are always nice to see

and lions!