Africa Wild

More rhinos obviously just having had a nice mud bath





together with a thirsty elephant - The elephant and the rhinos shared indeed the same puddle and needless to say that the elephant declared this puddle as his own and chased the rhinos away.



After that very successful first morning / midday drive it was time for a short nap at least for me whilst Timon grabbed his camera and made a walk along the Rhino trail up to the dam he came across lots of beautiful butterflies.





He even could capture a cute and very beautiful Paradise flycatcher female which was not easy as she was extreme agile,



a green pigeon



and more birdies.



Although even in camp it can never get boring as there is always something to be seen. Before we left the camp again we paid a short visit at the shop in order to satisfy our ice cream appetite for that day and whilst having same in hand we walked a bit around the dam observing lots of white faced ducks and brown-headed parrots but they only could be heard and stayed the whole time to very well hidden.

With only 1 1/2 hour left we started to our afternoon drive and were please to find a group of ground hornbills one even carried proudly a snake in its beak.



Same always threw the snake up in the air and caught it again afterwards and we could watch this behaviour on and on until the hornbill could no longer be seen.

It was still extreme hot and so a large group of buffaloes took over the Matjulu waterhole and quite a lot of them still were lying down and tried to cool down a bit.



Suddenly from everywhere animals swarmed to the waterhole and we simply had to park and wait - Really love that four headed giraffe shot - Gladly all look at the same time into the camera as if they were trained to do so.



The sun already started to set and we could hear from far thunder so it looked as if a thunderstorm was coming up and we hoped for some rain. Also the buffaloes stood up and started to walk away



leaving the rhinos alone as previously they shared with them the waterhole and you can imagine that all the grey ones looked as if they were stacked on each other in the water.



It was such a nice evening and some of them were in fact in no mood to join their herd or to leave the water



but we had to go as it was nearly gate closing time. This evening we hoped that we could finish our braai without any rain as suddenly it got dark, very windy and thunder could be heard all around us and it cooled even down a bit but the whole evening and even during the night not a single raindrop came down at least in camp. I cannot remember of a stay at Berg en Dal were we did not have thunderstorms so it was a bit more like feeling home.

We had just finished the downloading of our picture onto our laptop when the electricity went out and I had first bounced my feet and knees nearly against everything until I found the torch. Gladly we were already ready for bed so we took this as signal to do so but indeed I did not sleep well that night because it was so unbearably hot in the bungalow and with no fan on it got even worse. Meanwhile the thunderstorms were gone and I dared to open a window in the hope that it might have cooled down outside and so in fact was with a nice wind blowing fresh and cool air into the bungalow so I opened each window and finally fell into a deep sleep.

Sunday, 15th February 2015 - Berg en Dal - Crocodile Bridge

When we woke up in the morning the electricity was gladly back and also cooled down our food again for our moving day today.

Roads we drove that day: S110 / S120 / H3 / S118 / S119 / S25 / H4-2

After the thunderstorm last evening it was still extreme cloudy and dark whilst we left camp and although we noticed on the road to Matjulu waterhole right outside the gate a common duiker, a group of kudus and a lone waterbuck



nothing more came across on our way to Matjulu and most of the pictures came out blurred because of the darkness. Today we then drove via Steilberg and here we noticed that it must in fact have rained in that area a lot during last night’s thunderstorm as we had to drive via lots of large puddles and also the views we normally do enjoy on that road were covered by mist and clouds and to find something positive out of that morning it was not that hot as the day before and gladly so it stayed the whole day.

Nevertheless we spotted a lovely crested barbet on that road,



some amur flacons and then we only heard something rustling in the grass and saw finally a very skittish warthog popping its head out of same – surrounded by a lot of flowers



and a European roller was also in the mood to pose.



to be continued........

On the tar road we then came across a hyaena den with two very well educated youngsters hanging around same



which brought finally the buttons of our cameras getting hot again.



All in all both still were a bit sleepy whereas one was a bit shy and the other a bit curious.







Nevertheless we had a fantastic time in simply watching them, sipping from our coffees and take from time to time a picture



Both were gorgeous cute pies and behaved and posed so very well that we were in heaven again.





They allowed some nice close ups and then both decided to take a nap together until the next car came across as this then had to investigated first.

I cannot remember how long we stayed with them but it must have been quite a while already and as always we were the only car that stayed that long





After such an enjoyable time we said good-bye to them and hoped to maybe see them again on our way back from Afsaal but somehow they were gone when we returned from our pitstop there.



It was not much around on our way to Afsaal but we saw lots of amur falcons along the H3 some were resting a bit farer away on some dead tree stumps but then we found also some which were located close enough for a couple of shots.



Love this one as well with the European roller sharing their tree



with fluffy falcons.



We only stopped shortly at Afsaal which was already crowded on an early Sunday morning. On our favourite road were we hoped to find mom and baby rhino again we spotted a hammerkop, a sleepy rhino, (it was Sunday so why waking up too early!)



lot’s of flycatchers, magpie shrikes



K0A1336

and other birdies.



to be continued.....

Lovely pic of the giraffes a couple of pages back. Nice hyena and falcon sightings.

Nice Pumbaa! Will try and send on the rhino?

Thanks so much nan, Mel, Toko, Alf, Lisbeth, Tina, Harrys, Bushcraft, Flutterby and Richprins Always a pleasure to receive such a feedback

As already said it kept the whole day far cooler than the previous day with some sporadic raindrops coming down and even with some sunshine in between but it stayed very windy that day and so it turned out to be another more or less bird day today, the European bee eaters were active





as well as the European rollers and the rattling cisticolas in catching their breakfast and so lot’s of them made just a kill and this cisticola just caught a praying mantis.



Unfortunately mom and baby rhino could not be found again, however, the plentiful woodland kingfisher sang us a morning song instead



and we even spotted a pair of common duikers on the other side of the riverbed



Crested barbets as well as woodland kingfishers occurred plentiful



and then we found our first juvenile bateleur for that trip it sat on a branch and threw some comical glances into our direction and was



fascinated by its feet which we already often observed whilst watching raptors obviously they do care intensively for their deadly weapons.



A brown snake eagle was also resting on a branch and withstood the heavy wind from the back.



We found ourselves again on the causeway at the crossing of the S114/118 and we even had the feeling that the causeway was a bit more flooded than yesterday so obviously a bit rain came also down here yesterday evening during the heavy thunderstorms. Today a pair of pied kingfishers were active in fishing and we for sure had another stunning time in observing them

and last year we had luck exactly at this spot with a pair of saddle-billed storks and at least today she was around again



as well as two hammerkops which also tried their luck in catching something for lunch.



Gladly carwise it was quiet so we had not to clear the causeway and simply continued in watching the cute pied kingfisher on a rock,



drinking



or even complaining about something.



Also whilst driving on the S118 we noticed some more puddles than yesterday and this continued also on the S119 – A fish eagle and also a Wahlberg eagle came across until we decided to take a break from driving and visit Gardenia hide again as last year we had a great time there



and because each trip to Kruger is different compared to the large lake we spotted there last year not much water left but instead a great amount of mud but that does not mean that it was quiet – First thing we spotted were these tortoises sunbathing in a row,



and then lots of active ones



plus a knob-billed duck male with his two ladies which kept him busy as he was extreme thirsty.



We felt as if we were observed and discovered in a nearby tree an arrow-marked babbler staring at us.

A pair of white faced ducks at first sight kept hidden in the bit of reed which was left in the middle of the huge puddle



trying to chase a crocodile away from their little ducklings and also the knob-billed duck male was trying to attract a lady.



The white faced ducks had in fact quite a lot of ducklings so after they found it was safe swam to the safe shore and walked with their offspring deeper into the bush



away from these huge prehistoric monsters.



to be continued.....