The Flutterlings of Africa

[Bushcraft]

Momo a wise man.

Ja, agreed

[Lisbeth]

Yet another LBR It is a very pretty photo

"Don't ever drive during the night in SA" I was told before visiting the first time and I am sure that it is an excellent idea, for more than one reason. Promise not to do it again

Nice ellies around

The armoured crickets are rather disgusting

[Pumbaa]

Awesome start, Flutterby,

and really love your lbr shot - Magnificent

Also the ellies on the S65 as well as the klippie are fantastic shots

A pity that these were the only lions around Satara - Must say that this year our luck there with lions was also not that good as the previous years Also have not seen that many armoured crickets as this year for a long time

[Flutterby]

The incident on the drive up sounds very scary indeed! Glad everyone was safe

Nice sightings on the way up to Satara... even far-away lions count
And yes, those crickets were everywhere - I had been wondering whether they were busy feeding on their squished relatives when we saw so many of them up near Olifants

Thanks PJL, yes, glad we made it safely to Kruger.

Far-away lions do count but it was so frustrating not finding any around Satara when everyone else seemed to be finding them! Those crickets are quite disgusting!

[Flutterby]

I love those heron things, not sure why
Lions, even if a long way off. The odd cub cruising around also. Yes, lions were difficult to find in the Satara area unless one scored with a mating couple. PJL informed me about the H1-4 being more successful and he was correct as the road is elevated about the surrounding vegetation so one is looking down on animals, hence they are easier to spot, therefore I stayed away from the "traditional" roads we normally drive while there.

Ja, Satara not very well kept at the moment.

Those crickets

Jezz, Brat is an adult now, time moves too quickly.

We should also have stayed away from the traditional roads...the S100 drove us mad!! Yep, the Brat has grown up too quickly!

[Flutterby]

Momo a wise man. Momo drinks Hansa!!
Cheers to both of you

Yep, he's a Hansa man alright.

Nice sightings, Flutts!

One must see how gross it is when one of those half-squished crickets starts eating itself! They are on a feeding mission migration, like locusts!

Nice to see Mommo!

The boy must be careful of putting his wors so close to the fire...

Can you put the lawn pic up under "needs attention" so I can start forwarding?

One of the Brat's friends made a very similar comment about the wors!!

to you

nice Cricket and Water Monitor
like too the Green-backed Heron
Lions in the shade... what's more normal

Thanks nan and to you too!

[Flutterby]

Momo a wise man.

Ja, agreed

Unfortunately Mommo has aged quite a lot recently and was quite frail in Kruger. I think the change from his normal routine was a bit of a shock to his system. He is battling a bit with his eyesight so I think he missed a lot of our sightings even though he said he saw them.

Yet another LBR It is a very pretty photo

"Don't ever drive during the night in SA" I was told before visiting the first time and I am sure that it is an excellent idea, for more than one reason. Promise not to do it again

Nice ellies around

The armoured crickets are rather disgusting

The LBR was posing so nicely I couldn't resist. I promise not to drive at night again Mom Lis.

Awesome start, Flutterby,

and really love your lbr shot - Magnificent

Also the ellies on the S65 as well as the klippie are fantastic shots

A pity that these were the only lions around Satara - Must say that this year our luck there with lions was also not that good as the previous years Also have not seen that many armoured crickets as this year for a long time

Thanks for joining Pumbaa and for your kind comments! Yes, this was quite a different trip to years before...but still good.

[Bushcraft]

Unfortunately Mommo has aged quite a lot recently and was quite frail in Kruger.

I could see that in the pic Flutts

[Flutterby]

Day 2, 22 April 2017, Satara

For the morning route we had decided to try the S100 again, as we had done it in the afternoon the previous day and thought we'd try it first thing in the morning. From there we took the S41 and back on the S90.

Soft light on the S100.



RP - too short for the long grass.



Woodland Kingfisher

© Bush Brat

Once again, the S100 had failed to produce anything for us, even though there had been plenty of sightings over the previous days.

A first for me in Kruger, a White-winged Widowbird.



The S41 was also quiet, so we turned onto the S90 not holding out too much hope. However, it wasn't long before we saw a car stopped up ahead. I started scanning the bush and bingo!...found two cheetah!! They were a long way off and this pic was taken with the point and shoot at full zoom.



They showed a bit of interest in some passing zebra but soon gave it up as a bad idea.



As they were quite alert we decided to wait around a bit, hoping they might come closer to the road. At most there were 5 cars there, but they soon moved off, leaving us and one other vehicle. After about 45 minutes they moved into the long grass and we lost sight of them but we hung around scanning the bush. After a few minutes the Brat caught some movement in the grass and we saw them headed our way! They crossed right in front of us, so I had to use the point and shoot again as they were too close for my lens.





As soon as they crossed, the long grass made if difficult to keep track of them again.





We soon lost them and headed back to camp. So, no lions or leopard, but we were extremely happy with cheetah!

[Flutterby]

Unfortunately Mommo has aged quite a lot recently and was quite frail in Kruger.

I could see that in the pic Flutts

Sad, but it happens to the best of us.