From Floods and Surprises in River beds

[Mel]

WOW-birds again

And of course very cute, but possibly very naughty vervet kids

[Flutterby]

Lots to see at the hide.

[ExFmem]

What an animal-packed trip - big, small, and everything in between!

LOVE your birds, as I get to see so many I've never encountered.

[Alf]

So many different animals at the hide

[Pumbaa]

Gardenia hide is often full of impalas.

Nice birds, especially the pic of the Woodie

The best are the young vervet monkeys though. They look so innocent, haha!!

Whenever we spent a visit there Impalas are around

Nice birdies, Pumbaa, especially the blue finches, which can be tricky!

Ja, wait until the vervets grow up...not so cute anymore!

At least at that age they still look cute

[Pumbaa]

WOW-birds again

And of course very cute, but possibly very naughty vervet kids

Yes and as you know we always do stop for birdies at least when they are willing to be photographed

Lots to see at the hide.

Yes, it was a great time we spent there

[Pumbaa]

What an animal-packed trip - big, small, and everything in between!

LOVE your birds, as I get to see so many I've never encountered.

Yes, during those first days we indeed saw incredibly much

So many different animals at the hide

We had luck there although we saw it already with more water

[Pumbaa]

After quite a while and a great time we spent in the hide with lot of sightings we left and carried on along the S25 and had to stop there for a huge elephant bull with a nice pair of tusks.



Then it got a bit quiet and we drove without any sightings but when we reached the turnoff to a loop which is leading closer to the Crocodile river – one of our must stops when driving that road – we wanted to choose a nice spot to park but we could not drive further as a huge puddle right in the middle of the road had to be bypassed but when we tried to do so a large group of warthogs arrived or better to say came running



and immediately took over the puddle



The youngster were so cute especially when they straightaway plunked down in the puddle and did not move only to



enjoy the spa treatment – Simply heaven!



Meanwhile also the older ones had their share



and suddenly we could observe everywhere around our car extreme muddy creatures.



As fast as they came running they nearly disappeared again in the bush



and we finally could park at our favourite spot in that loop and simply enjoyed the silence and a nice break from driving. Needless to say that we scanned the surroundings with our binoculars and could discover far in the distance a reed cormorant on a huge stone.

[Pumbaa]

After a while a lot of cars wanted to check whether we were looking at something interesting and so we left the loop and carried on as it got simply too busy there. Along our stretch we stopped for a group of kudus



and were allowed to take some nice close ups



as all of them were simply extreme relaxed.



Whilst crossing one of the many causeways along that road we noticed a sunbathing water monitor on a rock



and we spotted our very first wildebeest during that trip



and we discovered that the last stretch along the S25 got by far not many rain as other areas of the park as the grass now got shorter with every kilometre and the few puddles were more or less nearly empty



but we still stopped for large group of zebras



who could now be seen nearly everywhere.



to be continued……

[Lisbeth]

Funny creatures the warthogs

Strange thing about the grass and rain