Lions On The Loose

[PJL]

Thu 27th June

We had reached that stage of the holiday where the amount of time spent in the car had caught up on us a bit so we all felt like a lazy morning in Marloth Park so see what came past the house and along the river. It was a really great morning for birds, with all sorts from barbets to hornbills to turacos coming along to feed

















The house also had visits from the local pig clan with their never-ending appetite



We also had a troop of banded mongoose scurry along the driveway





The river slowly came to life with waterbuck, buffalo and then elephant coming down to drink







By late morning we felt refreshed and ready for a drive into Kruger for the rest of the day

[Richprins]

Marvelous and a good idea to relax, Peej!

I wonder what would happen were one just to go and sit for a bit on the stoep of one of those houses when there is nobody there?

[Lisbeth]

You'd have all kinds of birds and mammal coming to visit you. Marloth is a nice place also without going to the Kruger, especially the birds as you can see from PJL's photos. I loved to stay there I once had a zebra nudging me almost into the kitchen in order to get a biscuit

There are also bushbabies in the evening. The bushbucks are a little shy, especially if having a little one along. The piggies are great fun, but making a mess

Stripie.JPG (124.66 KiB) Viewed 489 times

Sorry for steeling your TT, PJL

[Richprins]

[Lisbeth]

I love the banded mongooses

[Mel]

I definitely can relate to spending too much time in the car and spending some time in the camp

Since I've been on holidays yet again, I missed the last three episodes... but you captures of the stork at
Sunset dam, the wonderful ellies and the banded mongoose virtually on your doorstep is what stuck with
me most after catching up

[Flutterby]

Plenty of activity right on your doorstep!

[PJL]

Marvelous and a good idea to relax, Peej!

I wonder what would happen were one just to go and sit for a bit on the stoep of one of those houses when there is nobody there?

I think you should try that out sometime RP
What's the worst that could happen

I love the banded mongooses

Thanks Lis... and no worries jumping in with your MP pics - nice to see as well

I definitely can relate to spending too much time in the car and spending some time in the camp

Since I've been on holidays yet again, I missed the last three episodes... but you captures of the stork at
Sunset dam, the wonderful ellies and the banded mongoose virtually on your doorstep is what stuck with
me most after catching up

Hope you had a good holiday Mel
That stork fishing at sunset dam was cool... I hadn't quite noticed the pink sections in their feathers before

Plenty of activity right on your doorstep!

Yep there was plenty going on to keep everyone entertained

[PJL]

Thu 27th June contd

It was late morning by the time we got into the park. No issues with queues of course at that late hour so we were on our way without hassle but it was a very quiet start up the H4-2 until we reached the S82 junction where a cheetah (or three depending on whose version of events you believed) had killed a warthog and was busy eating it behind some bushes.

Everyone seemed to be looking in all directions but eventually we tracked down the spot and after a very long wait managed a brief glimpse of a cheetah through some very dense bush. Can you see it?



This wasn't the type of sighting that I enjoy due to the number of vehicles and lack of visibility, so my frustration levels were rising. None of us were in the mood to wait it out to see if it came out from behind the bush so we continued on our way up towards Lower Sabie and found some nice elephant along the way





At the H10 bridge we arrived to find a hippo and presumably her sub-adult calf coming out the water to find a sunbathing spot







After brunch at Lower Sabie, we did a similar route to the day before with a trip up the H4-1 to the S79 causeway and back. There wasn't much happening until heading back along the S79 where we found a big herd of buffalo crossing the road



There were plenty of youngsters amongst the herd







We even saw a yellow-billed oxpecker on one of them which I presume is pretty far south in the park for that species



On the way back down the H4-1 a fish eagle had settled close to the road



We pulled in at sunset dam and whilst the skimmer wasn't to be seen, we did find a pair of mating monitor lizards
Not sure how often that is seen





After the leopard sighting from a few days back on the S130 we were keen to do that road on the way back, but there was also the possibility that the cheetah might have moved to a more visible place. So we decided to take the S82 down to check out the cheetah area and then swing up to the S130 before heading home. The cheetah had indeed moved, parking itself about 200m off the S82 and facing away from us

Still... we managed to pull into a spot at the end of a long line of cars and get a view of it which was good





Something got its attention for a moment and we thought it might get up...



But soon enough it flopped down again



With the cheetah seemingly not going to move we continued on our way and were surprised to find that our spot at the end of the lineup of cars probably had the best view

The S130 unfortunately didn't have any leopard waiting for us this time round, but we did come across a young hyena





We rounded off the day with a sun-bathed steenbok and a sunset looking back along the H4-2

[Richprins]

Ah, lovely relaxed sightings and pics again, Peej.

Very rare to see the mating monitors...they have the most disgusting giant willies!

And the Yellow Oxpecker so far south!