Africa Wild

WOW, a Whip Spider/Scorpion, the best sighting of your trip so far I'd love to get my camera on one of those!

That spider

The zebras in the rising sun is a smashingly beautiful photo!

As for KTP: I'm sure you'll love the close-up encounters with the big cats.
And you'll also find small stuff to look at when everything else fails.

Lovely pic of Gudzani!! That spider would also have had me screaming ..how big was it?

A relaxing morning drive, but that spider in Wendy’s tent would have had me shrieking next to her We have spotted plenty at Satara

Scorpion at Croc Bridge I remember the last time we met you didn’t have shoes on

Lisbeth wrote:Nice scenery pics and I love the ellies.

The cheeky vervet is a cutie

I have always like CB camp .......and the S28

I think the general game that had most of my time were the bobbies and vervies, they are so entertaining with their antics
I do agree about the camp, the nicest campers are there, we had such lekker chats with the people in the camp and the S28 was actually very quiet in the mornings but I didn't drive it as many as I wanted this trip... there were just not enough time and too many roads to check out

PJL wrote:

Heksie wrote:

Amblypygids range from 3 to 23.6 inches (7.6 to 60 cm) in size according to legspan.

Yikes! How big was this one?

Love the sunrise over the zebra

It was the size of my outstretched hand so +- 15cm so for me, it was huge and gross and I think it was creepier than a scorpion as it was the first time that I saw this insect and didn't know if it was venomous etc

Richprins wrote:Only catching up now, heksie!

Great stuff!

I like today's rhino...a creative pic, IMO!

Those whip scorpions are rare, and disgusting! Don't get very big down here, about baboon spider diameter?

Very glad that I didn't see spiders the size of that thing

nan wrote:nice Zebra's bums in nice landscape
like too the baba-vervet
a lot mised teeth/horns
very beautiful view of Gudzani, indeed a nice pond

THanks nan, I thought it was an interesting pic as I haven't caught zebs in such a pose with an amazing rising sun in the background, it was a beautiful morning

Toko wrote:Beautiful Emerald spotted dove

The elegant arachnid is Damon variegatus totally harmless to humans having no venomous bite.

THanks for the info Toko
Unfortunately for someone who didn't know the species, it didn't look harmless, but lucky for him, I only kill mosquitoes and cockroaches

Twigga wrote: Heks!

i looove that "g@tvol" sunrise Priceless!

CB a special gem

Toko wrote: The elegant arachnid is Damon variegatus totally harmless to humans having no venomous bite.

Look like a lab experiment gone wrong

love your wording of the pic
I do utterly agree about CB, even though it is at a gate, the intimate setting makes it very special and a different type of visitor stays here

BluTuna wrote:WOW, a Whip Spider/Scorpion, the best sighting of your trip so far I'd love to get my camera on one of those!

You are lucky BT, you have a macro lense, so some close ups would've been taken but I wasn't so lucky and mine is a bit blurry...

Mel wrote:That spider

The zebras in the rising sun is a smashingly beautiful photo!

As for KTP: I'm sure you'll love the close-up encounters with the big cats.
And you'll also find small stuff to look at when everything else fails.

That spider is scary
Thanks for the kiekie compliment
I would love to go and will consider 7 days in October next year, hear my hyundai i10 would not disappoint me on the main roads

Flutterby wrote:Lovely pic of Gudzani!! That spider would also have had me screaming ..how big was it?

THanks Flutts, it is a beautiful spot, would've been better if we were allowed to get out here
And the scary experiment beast could fit in my hand so +-15cm

Bushcraft wrote:A relaxing morning drive, but that spider in Wendy’s tent would have had me shrieking next to her We have spotted plenty at Satara

Scorpion at Croc Bridge I remember the last time we met you didn’t have shoes on

SOmetimes you shouldn't worry about cats but just enjoy whatever the Park gives you
Have you seen a lot of these creepy crawlies? My first ever sighting, thought it was a mutant
The ground was a bit hotter this time around so during the day it was slops but during the night I prefer walking barefoot, it is the way to go in KNP

Day 13… a long drive produces some special sightings

23 December

Wendy wanted to sleep in so I took off this morning very early, something that astounded me was the fact that CB is very chill when it comes to waiting at the Gate, it was 4:20 and I was standing in camp checking the gate and there was only one car waiting so I decided to go join him… no rush what so ever. I planned on searching for servals this morning so I took the H5 to skuks then the tar to LS and S28 back to camp.
I do like dirt roads but the worst road in the Park is the H5, I was rattling all the way to the S114 that morning but that is the thing you do when you search for something special. Did I find one? EIsh, no. But some other special and a new sighting was seen that morning.
Ground hornbill



I saw this hyenas dashing across the road and when I got to the spot, I only saw him poking through the grass.



Some mr. Majestics





And then a new one for me, a female kudu with leucistic blotches



A tortie



And on the Skuks low water bridge I got my first marabou quenching his thirst



Then some yellow billed kites sunning



And there were ellies all over the Sabie river, they were in desperate need of some swimming, these were two separate sightings… but to tell you guys the truth I saw a herd almost every 500m.





I got Wendy at Lake Panic and after stopping for some cold refreshments at LS we were on our way back to camp. The road was so dry and dusty, just accentuated the summer heat, and it was a reason why didn’t have so many sightings on our way back.



And some buffies crossing the road after a refreshing mudbath



We stayed the afternoon in camp, and I took an afternoon nap, when I woke up it was time for another afternoon drive and Wendy was joining me on this drive. There aren’t really loopies to take around CB like the other camps so the only route I thought would be nice to drive in under 4 hours was the S25->S26->H5->camp.
Our first roadblock was this ellie, I made it safely to the other side but had to wait as the beast didn’t really like huge cars…





More ground hornbills, this one had the intestines of some unfortunate animal



Kudu



And to end a great day with a beautiful sunset…



That night I had my legs up the whole time, wondering when a scorpion would visit again but fortunately no nightly visitors came to our camp. We braaied some wors and had baked potatoes with some melted cheese on top. We talked and shared sightings till about 9:30 that night, enjoying our ice cold KPA’s and then it was time to go to bed as tomorrow starts early again.

To be continued…

That sounds like a lot of driving

again an Hingeback
nice Ground Hornbill
Cherokee Hyena
Kudu with skin problems