From Floods and Surprises in River beds

[Mel]

Oi! We're headed towards February - your pace is picking up

Super ellies

And do I still have to mention the birds

[Flutterby]

So many birds at the weir.

Great sightings at the waterhole.

[Pumbaa]

Thanks so much Alf, Peter, Richprins, Lisbeth, Mel and Flutterby for your Always so lovely and encouraging words

Indeed I have to hurry a bit now

[Pumbaa]

Some herds were about to leave,

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some were wet and busy with the water,

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[Pumbaa]

the antelopes with good reason stayed in the distance

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and we could not drag ourselves away as still so many elephants were around

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and a bit farer away now we still could hear the fury trumpeting but then it was also time for us to leave as the clock was ticking.

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Due to the location of our bungalow with the view onto Pioneer dam we already decided to braai again as we normally would have visited the restaurant as same is always fantastic there but as we only stayed one night we simply had to enjoy the view with

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[Pumbaa]

and without us

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and we even had our own private baobab and

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after such an eventful day we fell asleep immediately.

Friday, 22. February 2019 - Mopani – Shingwedzi

Explored roads: H1-6 – S142 – S50 – S143 – S50 – S135 – H1-7 – H1-6 – S52

First stop after we packed everything into our car was for sure the Shipandani causeway and against my expectations was same already blocked

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by two huge crocodiles and a couple of birdies

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[Pumbaa]

unwillingly one after the other cleared the way and we after all felt a bit guilty because we scared them up.

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It was still quite early and it could have been brighter but at least we spotted the green backed heron

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as well as a grey heron and then we heard branches cracking and an elephant bull appeared on the scene

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he was thirsty and originally I got scared again because he was so huge and close

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[Pumbaa]

but luckily he was not interested in us but only in his morning drink

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and so all of us relaxed quite soon and after a little while he disappeared again and we carried on only to stop next for this breathtaking sunrise.

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Mooiplaas was at that early morning deserted but along the S50 we spotted a couple of waterbucks busy with their breakfast

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but the rest of our drive on the S50 was extreme quiet but Timon discovered something in the distance in the high grass which turned out to be a lone buffalo – nevertheless I like the shot because of the dense vegetation.

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[Pumbaa]

On our way to Tihongonyeni we then came across a family of black backed jackals

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out of which in the beginning only one of them could be seen

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to be continued……….

[Richprins]

A lovely selection of quality pics again, Pumbaa!

What number unit is that again?

And a unique crocodile view indeed!

Lovely ellie action shots!