From Floods and Surprises in River beds

[Flutterby]

Wow, so much going on everywhere!

[Sprocky]

Great bird shots, Pumbaa!!

[Pumbaa]

I have no problems stopping for minutes, it over the 15 minutes that it gets hard if there is nothing to see

Lovely birds....again I have never seen a wattled starling as far as I know and wonder why

The tallons of the fish-eagle are impressive

We always say let's wait 15 minutes and after 15 minutes let's wait another 15 minutes but if then nothing happened we will continue as well - This time we do had luck

[Pumbaa]

Millions of birdies, Pumbaa!

(I'm not such a big bird fan but these pics are so gooood! )


My favourite is the hornbill in the tree!

Lovely green scenes again.

We simply love our feathered friends - We saw masses of ground hornbills this year

[Pumbaa]

Wow, so much going on everywhere!

Yes, luckily although must say our stay at Olifants was quiet compared to this last day at Satara

[Pumbaa]

Great bird shots, Pumbaa!!

And for sure more to come

[Pumbaa]

A couple of impalas were hanging around too

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before it was time for another short break at the Timbavati picnic spot which is one of our favourites in the park – always extreme clean and on top the view is lovely. A stop at Ratelpan hide was disappointing as no water was around – we never saw that area that dry and even during the drought there was a bit water left but this year none! Also Piet Grobler dam was as low as we never saw it before but the positive was that behind that dam and further North the Timbavati was again carrying water and consequently water birds were around and we spotted lots of Egyptian goose, blacksmith plovers and even a goliath heron on a rock.

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The rest on this road turned out to be completely quiet but for sure the view into the Timbavati riverbed compensated us a bit but we indeed never experienced the S39 so quiet. Along the Olifants water was for sure available and consequently also the elephants were hanging around

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and we were happy that all of them were so extreme relaxed

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[Pumbaa]

and we could take a couple of pictures from them.

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There were happy elephants around

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as well as little ones.

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We came across another brown snake eagle,

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[Lisbeth]

For once the lovely steenboks are without flies

Poor grasshopper, but also the rollers must eat

Sometimes evolution exasperates me: Why are there so many kinds of herons for example I suppose that each of them have their place in the eco-system

[Flutterby]

I love the steenboks.