A Flutter with a Few Firsts

[Lisbeth]

Brown snake eagle, even if Dewi says "no"

Nice bateleur too!

[nan]

superb Brown Snake Eagle
also love the Hyena

and you can keep the... spider... for somebody who like sit on

[Dewi]

Great photos Flutt's.

Love the Bateleur and Monitor pics.

[Flutterby]

Fantastic episode Flutts

That Golden Orb gives me the creeps

Love the hyena pics

Tx BC. I can tolerate them if they stay away from me.

Awesome episode Flutters

The water monitor looks so casual with his arm stretched out-
but what claws

Great pics all round

He was a very cool monitor!

Your bataleur and BSE pics are fantastic.

I would love to have seen what left that imprint in the sand.

Tx STF. From the size of the print we guessed leopard.

That hyena is a cutie pie. Like the bateleur and the eagle as well.
I think, you're right on the brown snake eagle. But better wait till
Dewi confirms. -O Also, the water monitor - just love its posture.

Young hyenas are very cute, just a pity they lose their fluff as they get older. -O

Brown snake eagle, even if Dewi says "no"

Nice bateleur too!

I like you style Lis! -O

superb Brown Snake Eagle
also love the Hyena

and you can keep the... spider... for somebody who like sit on

Would that be someone who claims to be crafty about the bush? -O

Great photos Flutt's.

Love the Bateleur and Monitor pics.

Tx Dewi! I assume from your silence that you agree it is a BSE?

[Pumbaa]

Great sightings you had whilst staying in Skukuza, Flutterby

Great to find the cheetah again and then wild dogs and all these beautiful raptors

The S65 is obviously "you just missed a leopard crossing" road as we experienced such sentences often whilst travelling there - Next time we obviously need to be a bit earlier there

[Flutterby]

Thanks Pumbaa!!

Skuks is always a good area for us...it was just nice to be there out of the public school holidays...much quieter.

We've tried earlier and later and always get the "you've just missed it" story!!

[Bush Brat]

Good going Mom!

[Flutterby]

Mon. April 23, 2013
Skukuza, Part 2

We made a quick pit stop at Lower Sabie and heard a lot of talk about a buff kill on the S128. We had wanted to do the H10, so thought we’d go up the S128 and back down the H10. We found the spot where the kill had been – lots of flattened grass but nothing else. The only thing we saw on the S128 was this Shelley’s Francolin…another first for me.



The H10 was also relatively quiet with some ellies in the distance, giraffe, zebra and a secretary bird. We decided to head back to Skuks, and it was so quiet that we were all having a hard time keeping our eyes open!! At Skuks we decided to have a drink on the deck, which is not something we normally do as the Brat is always too impatient to get back in the car. We got talking to an American couple next to us and moaned about our lack of sightings and they replied that they had had a wonderful morning. We excitedly asked them what they had seen…A giraffe, A kudu, A steenbok and some impala, oh and some hadedas!! We realised then how spoilt we are!! We thoroughly enjoyed taking some time out (at least my dad and I did) and it reminded us of years gone by when we would sit at the Olifants look-out deck for hours, sometimes not even going out at all, and have decided we must do it more often.





When we got back to our bungalow we saw we’d had some visitors!! The baboons had raided our fridge even though we had put chairs in front of it. They’d eaten half a cucumber, a baked potato, some boiled eggs and some chocolates!! Before going out again, we turned the fridge all the way round and put all the chairs in front of it!! We decided to head up the H1-2, across the high level bridge and back on the H4-1.

It was another relatively quiet drive, with some kudu, bushbuck, ellies and impalas.

A Pied Kingfisher on the low-level bridge.






When getting to the H4-1 we decided to drive to Nkuhlu and turn back. A troop of baboons kept us entertained for a while, but the light was fading, so not great pics!



We came round a corner and saw something in the road….wild dogs…again!! There were only two of them, a male and female, who looked quite pregnant. We were the only car (on the H4-1!!! ) apart from some employees who just went past! Again, the light was really low and we were moving so my pics were terrible.



I gave up on the photographs and videoed instead…also not great!

View video

As you can hear in the video we had to get back to camp and it was almost dark. Next thing something caught our eye next to the road…a civet!!! It watched us approach and then ducked into the bushes! We tried to get pics but it was now totally dark and impossible!! We have seen a civet on a night drive before, but never spotted one ourselves…so another first!! About a kilometre further on a hyena crossed the road, but now there was no time to stop. For some reason there were thick-knees all over the road which we had to dodge...anyone know why they like the road at nightfall?

We made it back to camp with seconds to spare, so the Brat didn't have to pay any fines! As we unpacked the car, we noticed a few things lying around our parking space….the baboons had been back! They had moved the chairs and turned the fridge around!! This time though, they had cleaned us out!! There was a tupperware which had had some leftover pasta in it which was gone, the margarine tub was gone, all our salad things were gone, all our chocolates were gone. All they had left us were the drinks. We later found the empty tupperwares behind the bungalow. They had even managed to open a jar of sweet chilli peppers, but they obviously didn’t like them and had left them. -O Thank goodness we’d put our meat in the bungalow to thaw and we’d bought some rolls on our way out, so that was our dinner. They left quite a mess....not sure what this?



After cleaning up as best we could and picking up all the chocolate wrappers, we soon saw the funny side of it and sat down to relax. The bushbabies were all over the place and the Brat was snapping away. While chatting after dinner, a bushbaby actually came to sit on our verandah – another first for us!! He was licking whatever the baboons had spilt or deposited!!



Last pic for the night – two amorous babies!

[Lisbeth]

The baboons in camp are a real nuisance They must buy fridges which can be locked!

Cute bush babies

[Flutterby]

I agree Lis, or put a cage around the fridge like they do in other camps.