Africa Wild

There was no toss

Just a push into the mouth and down the hatch













Fish billed Heron



Gulp

Thanks Flutterby, PJL, Toko, Lisbeth, nan, Bushcraft

When you drive out of the Sweni Hide there is a little loop that takes you close to the river. From this loop we saw an Egyptian Goose



and another GKF, which made a succesful dive but flew out of sight with its catch



On the S100 we got a waterbuck



and a young,mangy male lion. He was not looking well at all and was eyeing some wildebeest across the road









The usual game on the drive back to orpen and in camp the female white bellied sunbird????

Could be an amethyst sunbird? Difficult to judge the curve of the bill

Lisbeth wrote:Could be an amethyst sunbird? Difficult to judge the curve of the bill

Could be Lis. I also thought so but saw many male white bellied sunbirds so thought this may be the female

Today we had a long drive to Biyamiti which we were going to do via the H7, The S126 Sweni Road and the H1-3/H1-2 to Skukuza and then the S114 to Biyamiti.

It was a cold morning again. Baboon warming up looking like he had the world's problems to sort out



Wire tailed swallow



Green pigeon



Just before the S86 loop, a brown headed kingfisher



and another one in the S86 loop





As we came out of the S86 we found three Bateleur Eagles on the H1-3. They were preening and warming up.







And when a bird off loads chances are it will take off. The driver was taking these pics as they were on his side and I did not move to the back seat. He was all ready for the take off

So the driver was ready focussing on the bird that off loaded, but the one below the other two is the one that took off first



Then the one he was waiting for



Driver was still slow to get the first two pics framed correctly









This beautiful scene at Mazithi Dam



and a giraffe drinking

A steenbok on the S35



Cover up poo



Impala where the saddle bill was fishing the day before



Thirsty zebra at Leeupan



We get another black mamba



When it felt the vibrations of an oncoming car, the mamba turned and headed back the way it came



Check in at Biyamiti and relaxation.

On the afternoon drive

Fascinating mamba

We were first out of Biyamiti the next morning and headed for the Weir. Not much on the way to the weir. At the weir a fish eagle



and green backed heron.



We decided to do the S26 loop road and then take the S114 back to the weir and on to Malelane and exit from Malelane gate. On the S114 we found a spotted hyena den

There wre two adults and 4 cubs, one was very small still having a black coat















Back at the weir, Egyptian Geese


and we thought we had found a juvenile black crowned heron but it was a juv green backed heron



I was admiring a puffed up pied wagtail when a beautiful fisher bird arrived and sat on the weir wall, justa few meters from us

A Malachite Kingfisher (MKF) appeared out of nowhere and sat right on the weir wall

Our first sighting of a MKF at the weir





Beautiful Bird



Ready for the dive



The dive was succesfull but out of view but the MKF returned to the weir wall to have its meal





A happy MKF



which then tried out a few different fishing spots for the next catch







A car approached and we had to move on