Urgent work trip May...

[RogerFraser]

We left early the next morning to go to the Site .The only animal sighting we saw was two Wild dogs in the distance briefly before they disappeared into the bushes


SO was convinced there was something in the water hole but when we took a picture and zoomed in it was just an animal shaped branch


and a lovely weaver


After working all day we went back and stopped in at the dam again . There was no Lions hiding behind the bushes .A birdie in the water


and we watched as a herd of Elephants came down from the hillside and made their way to the dam .




and great fun watching the two youngsters playing around


The resident Hippo was waking up


The medium sized one decided the water by the rocks was better


The sun was getting low on our way back to camp for the night


The next morning was early again leaving to work onsite .The only sighting along the S3 was this piggy


Turning onto the main tar road towards Phabeni we found or rather the two wild dogs found us .They came running towards us followed by some GNU chasing them followed by a huge queue of cars following them .We basically just stopped and watched them all run and drive by ...






after all had passed we carried onto the site to work for the day ...

[Lisbeth]

Maybe the weaver is a black-collared barbet

The little one is a three-banded plover

Tinyphants playing is a joy for the spirit

"what a big mouth you have"

Too many cars

[Richprins]

Catching up, Rog!

Lovely sightings, grand stuff with the lion at Shitlhave!

I swear we saw that buffalo too at the beginning of July!

And doggies too, you really racked up the predators!

[RogerFraser]

Maybe the weaver is a black-collared barbet

The little one is a three-banded plover

Tinyphants playing is a joy for the spirit

"what a big mouth you have"

Too many cars

they must have been in the road before we arrived that was the most cars we have seen at Phabeni gate

Catching up, Rog!

Lovely sightings, grand stuff with the lion at Shitlhave!

I swear we saw that buffalo too at the beginning of July!

And doggies too, you really racked up the predators!

Quite possibly the resident Dagga boy

[RogerFraser]

That evening we came in from the site across the S3 and drove around and then turned towards Shilthave and met a roadblock


He eventually decided to head into the bushes after a few hundred meters of reversing ...
At the dam there was some fishing going on .


A stunning evening with the sun starting to drop lower .


The fishers decided to try by the rocks


and old big mouth put on a bit of a show for us




We left and headed back to Pretoriuskop camp as the sun was much lower now.


Some lovely steak on the Braai that night

[Lisbeth]

I wonder if the heron is an immature black-headed heron

Grilling steaks: Getting the coal/wood to the right point = 30 min.

Cooking: 10 min. (if porc; much less if beef )

Eating: 5 min.



Old Big Mouth is showing off

[Richprins]

Nice, Rog!

I also wonder what heron that is?

Old Big Mouth indeed! (Remember the Chomp ads?)

Nice food pic!

But charcoal, not wood...

[RogerFraser]

I wonder if the heron is an immature black-headed heron

Grilling steaks: Getting the coal/wood to the right point = 30 min.

Cooking: 10 min. (if porc; much less if beef )

Eating: 5 min.



Old Big Mouth is showing off

It not the first time with old big mouth .We have seen his show a few times now .On the drive we did on the last trip the guide insisted there was two hippos but we have never seen two so recon he is lonely so keeps amused with the shows

Nice, Rog!

I also wonder what heron that is?

Old Big Mouth indeed! (Remember the Chomp ads?)

Nice food pic!

But charcoal, not wood...

we use charcoal when traveling on business its quicker and easier but we do try do at least one or two wood fires

[RogerFraser]

We were up early the next morning before sunrise and did some loops around camp before we went back to pack and head off to Malelane for the night .

From the top of the hill behind camp there was some mist around .


It was a misty eery sunrise .


Some early Dikkop


We went back to camp and packed up .Of course we stopped at Silthawe dam again .
We watched some Waterbuck in the water


and then noticed the rock monitor behind them


A giant Kingfisher was also on the rocks


We left and stopped by transport dam on the access road the night guard was sleeping


A crock was sunning itself , there seemed to be a lot of traffic and allot of them drove past the dam and down behind the wall .


By the time we turned around there was a traffic jam of note with cars going nowhere anytime in all directions .From the side we got a glimpse of the cause .


We did not want to get involved in that scrum at all so left and carried on .On the tar road we found a not very camouflaged character and waited for it to make it all the way across before driving off .

[Pumbaa]

Thanks so much, Roger,

stunning sightings of wild dogs and leopard as well as from Shitlave dam and for sure breathtaking sunrise and sunset shots

Also need such a work trip urgently