An Accidental Addo TT

[Mel]

Oh, yes... definitely time again for Addo. Start missing the elephants

[PJL]

I cannot see the second pic

Great video of the tortoises fighting over the right of way The noise is the wind, not the tortoises I presume

Yes the noise is definitely the wind, but the tortoises were also making a good clunking sound when they connected shells

Aha! Berg winds - we had them in Bergville too, ironically!

Very pretty tortoises!

And nice orderly elephant - ours just scatter and charge when they get near the water!

Thanks RP. Yep there is normally a charge near any water but that line-up was along the road between dams so not near enough for the charge to begin yet

Fantastic shots, PJL,

as always but that ellie shots are indeed outstanding

Thank you Pumbaa

Yip Sundays River Valley is one of the hottest places in SA ..thats why its a great Citrus area..My Kirkwood Citrus Clients have it really hot at times

Agreed... very hot in that area

Love the ellies walking past in single file!!

Thanks Flutts

Oh, yes... definitely time again for Addo. Start missing the elephants

Indeed... nice to have you along as well Mel

[PJL]

As we were already about half-way down the park we decided to see if the lions near Gorah were visible but unfortunately they must have still been flat out behind a bush somewhere.

The route back to camp was fairly uneventful until we reached Woodlands waterhole close to camp where the kids spotted a scrub hare. We don't see them too often - more usually in winter - so everyone was pleased with the sighting. However this particular trip turned out to be scrub hare madness with this being the first of 15 sightings over the three days we were in the park





On the other side of the road, a yellow mongoose was being lit up nicely by the setting sun




We spent the evening having a nice braai round at the grandparents' chalet as it had a nice view into the park, and slowly but surely the wind dropped which was nice. Every so often the jackals would start a chorus of crying, but we didn't manage to see any animals in the fading light.

After a sleep interrupted every so often with the sound of a train coming through the tent (the line runs just outside the park), we dragged ourselves out of bed nice and early and were in the park again at 5:30am. Our morning route was going to start with the Gorah Loop as we had been lucky enough to see bat-eared foxes there about a year ago. They seem to like the area for raising pups, but various guides I had spoken to before the trip said they hadn't seen any for a couple of months

Our first sighting of the day was a juvenile pale chanting goshawk close to the road



Heading up Gorah Loop there were a few zebra scattered around along with some distant eland. D saw some kind of dust-devil, but H wanted to check it out properly as she thought there was movement. It was a great call - far off the road we had found a bat-eared fox den complete with both adults and 2 pups



It was still really quite dark, and the den was a good 500m away so we battled a bit to get photos... even so it was just great to sit and watch the antics of the little ones charging around and having fun








It was a fantastic start to the morning, but the day had only just begun

Carols Rest was quiet, but on the way back down we found a few juvenile black-shouldered kites, the first of which was clutching something furry for breakfast







The youngsters theme for the morning continued with a couple of yellow mongoose pups looking out for mom





TBC

[Flutterby]

So many cute little critters!! And the bird pics are great!

[Richprins]

Your photography is superb, Peej!

Do you ever sit at a waterhole for hours?

Remarkable that fence - must be more or less unchanged in principle from many decades ago?

Woken by train!

[Lisbeth]

Bat-eared fox with cubs! Isn't that great in the early morning H must have good eyesight

The scrub hare looks sooo soft

Cute little mongooses and gorgeous photos of the kite

[PJL]

So many cute little critters!! And the bird pics are great!

Thank you Flutts

Your photography is superb, Peej!

Do you ever sit at a waterhole for hours?

Remarkable that fence - must be more or less unchanged in principle from many decades ago?

Woken by train!

Cheers RP. I certainly could sit at a waterhole for hours, but the kids lack of patience prevents that from happening these days. Addo is also one of those places where some waterholes are hardly visited on some days... then the next day there are millions of elephants/zebra/buffalo/kudu etc so sitting at one place can be a bit pot luck

Bat-eared fox with cubs! Isn't that great in the early morning H must have good eyesight

The scrub hare looks sooo soft

Cute little mongooses and gorgeous photos of the kite

It was really great to find the BEFs Lis
Nothing wrong with H's eyesight that's for sure

[PJL]

After a really good start to the morning we weren't quite sure where next to head. Grandpa still thought we would have luck at Rooidam with hyena, so we headed in that direction with a view to meandering south and perhaps even trying some of the loops in the south where lion had been seen in the recent weeks.

Along Nzipondo loop we saw yet more scrub hares
Even two together at one point










The hyena clan at Rooidam weren't to be found, but along the dirt road to Hapoor we found a big chap who was working out via the scents who had travelled that way earlier




After all the elephant activity the day before, it was really surprising to find Hapoor completely deserted, and even the sightings board at Jacks Picnic Site suggested very little had been seen in the park so far. Our meandering south continued and a few eyes were closing after the sleep interruptions the night before when suddenly I shouted lion and slammed on the brakes... needless to say everyone was very wide awake in an instant



This handsome chap is Melvin - an 8 year old lion in the prime of his life, and normally seen with his brother Gibson. He was looking around and scenting in places. Amazingly at this point we were the only car at the sighting.










At this point a foreign couple pulled up next to us just as Melvin went out of view behind some bushes
We explained his direction of travel and suggested they stick around a bit as he might well pop out somewhere. We moved back a bit to try and see if we could find him again and then suddenly I spotted a lion in the rear-view mirror on the road behind us. We swung round but by the time we got to the spot he had disappeared again. The foreign couple were then frantically waving at us as Melvin had flopped down in view again.






A third car pulled up so we gave them room to see as it was all a bit of a tight view through the bushes. I was beginning to doubt whether I had seen the lion on the road behind me when he appeared again

He had crossed the road and was walking behind a line of bushes so we waited for him to appear - and what a look he gave us when he came into view



This is Melvin's brother Gibson. He might not quite have Melvin's good looks, but he's a ferocious fighter as the scars on his face indicate. We were treated to a wander right past the side of our car which is always exhilarating








Both Melvin and Gibson started walking up a hillside and fairly quickly disappeared from view. It had been a fantastic 20 minute sighting of these boys with only 2 other cars the entire time... it was turning into a really fantastic day in the park




TBC

[Flutterby]

So lucky to see so many hares!

And what a great lion sighting...a real treat!!

[Lisbeth]

I love your hares

Methinks that Melvin hides behind Gibson if there is a fight in sight