Africa Wild

Thursday 24th August

The Hunt for Pel's

We were up early for the Morning Walk. There were quite a few others joining us so I hoped their experience wasn't diminished by us looking for Pel's Fishing Owl. We met our guide Dennis outside reception, who was joined by Jeffrey. After some delay we eventually piled into the OSV and made our way down towards Balule Camp. As we were running late there were already a couple of private vehicles out on the road, one of which we overtook on the S92 sand road. As we reached Balule we turned into the bush to drive east to our parking place. Suddenly Dennis stopped the jeep; there was a private vehicle following us off-road! After a heated discussion Dennis helped the guy to make a u-turn and directed him back onto the road. Apparently he was upset about us passing him on the S92, claiming we were speeding, and wanted to catch up to us so he could give Dennis a piece of his mind. Dennis politely informed him that he was not speeding, that two wrongs do not make a right, and that he should keep his vehicle on the public roads at all times!!

There were a number of very tame Spotted Hyenas around the camp perimeter, and we were quite annoyed as we realised that they were obviously getting fed by campers. They did make for good photographic subjects in the dim morning light though... We soon parked the vehicle and started out on foot. It was beautiful along the south bank of the Olifants River, and in between stories about plant and animal life Dennis checked all the suitable trees for the Owl. Sadly it did not seem to be in residence. There were however several active White-backed Vulture nests, and it was pretty cool to see an Aardvark burrow! We again enjoyed the hide-and-seek antics of the hippos. After a little while Dennis led us out onto the riverbed and found a suitable breakfast spot. It was so peaceful just sitting and watching the birds come and go, and the light quality was superb for photos. While Lyca trained the camera on a Three-banded Plover I spent a bit of time observing the foraging behaviour of a Pied Wagtail. We made the return journey to the car, checking out the many animal tracks as we went. At one point close to the car we even found Lion spoor from the previous day.

Dennis had promised us earlier that if we couldn't find the owl at this site we would leave enough time to check a second location on the drive back to camp. This site turned out to be a deep side gully off the Olifants which was lined with large trees. While walking up the gully we suddenly flushed a pair of big, orange birds from one of the trees. Pel's Fishing Owl!!! They flew a short distance and then perched again, so we climbed the opposite bank and carefully made our way towards their position. We were so fortunate as one of the birds had perched in a relatively open location and gave us cracking views. Lyca and I each took the time to enjoy the bird in binoculars before I got a couple of shots off with the camera. It soon flew back in the direction it had come from, and we elatedly made our way straight back to the OSV rather than disturb it further. We thanked Dennis profusely for his fantastic work at finding this stunning, rare bird. I am sure Dennis could appreciate how genuinely grateful we were from the size of our cheesy grins. The grins did not disappear as we paused on the low-level causeway to check out the antics of the local 'boon clan and soak up the ambiance of the Olifants. What a beautiful vista!

Lyca and I were really falling in love with this Kruger place...

wow you got it
Young Hyenas are beautifull too

I knew Dennis would find it for you!

Dennis and a bit of luck did the trick

Lovely views of the river

Ai! Ja, Rattle, what a joy to walk along the river...did it once when I was a kid from Olifants Trails Camp, an also saw a pair! So great you got to see them1

But the walk and falling in love is just as good...

Well done indeed, have a

Thanks nan, FB, Lisbeth and RP.

Hooray for Dennis! He did a great job finding us those owls. Such a unique-looking bird.

Thursday 24th August

Olifants to Satara for lunch - H8 - H1-4

Back at camp I sent Lyca off to do some birding around camp while I packed the car. It was the least I could do since the visit to Olifants/Letaba was meant to be about birds in the first place, but the previous day we got a bit sidetracked with all the spotted ones! She had a wonderful bird walk and added quite a few species to the trip list, including some lifers. When I drove to reception to pick her up she excitedly led me a short distance back down the driveway to where a pair of Brown-headed Parrots were feeding on an aloe. I was stoked that she had found them as the two we saw in flight on the S100 previously had been such a poor sighting that she wasn't willing to count it. Using the car as a hide we managed to get nice and close for photos, even though the light was tricky. We stopped for a gate photo as we departed. After turning south onto the H1-4 we dropped into the N'wamanzi Lookout to again admire the Olifants River. We had been informed of an African Rock Python that had been residing in the storm debris piled up against one of the high-level bridge pylons, but the previous day had not been able to locate it. We theorised this was because the debris had been in sun for some time and the snake had probably ducked for some shade as it got hot. Today we were earlier so hoped it would still be showing. As luck would have it the sun was just starting to fall on the debris and the python was still out in the open. As a reptile keeper by profession this was a huge find - an iconic African snake - so I waited until the beast was in full sun before grabbing some pics. A couple of Water Monitors were also enjoying the warmth of the sun. While I was 'reptile-chasing' Lyca had the binoculars trained on the riverbed to again check for any new birds. A Wood Sandpiper popped up, one of the few birds we are familiar with as it also visits Australia. Then Lyca overheard some other birders discussing a very interesting sighting indeed - a Glossy Ibis! She got quite excited and made her way over to join them. Now I must say at this point that walking around in public looking at birds in binoculars will get you strange looks almost anywhere in the world. We are totally accepting of the fact that most places we go people think we are seriously weird, but Lyca was loving being in Kruger where she fit right in with binoculars permanently strung around her neck. And here she had found some of her very type - birders! As she gleefully joined in on the attempts to confirm this interesting waterbird she was soon bitterly disappointed to find that the person had rather misidentified a common Hadeda Ibis. It turned out that they were eager but not very experienced birders, and when they tried to argue against her identification of 'their' Ibis as something thoroughly unexciting she quietly snuck away!

We left the birders to their ibis and piled back into the car for the run down to Satara.

To be continued...

Always nice to see the parrots, and lovely python sighting!

Pity Lyca didn't get her Glossy Ibis.

How big was the python?

The parrots are pretty birds, but with the birds that you have in Australia the SA birds are not that outstanding......apart from the ones that you do not have

Some very good shots there, from a distance, Rattle!

Birders are an acquired taste, IMO...

Interestingly there was a python there a couple of years ago! a report from Mattie!

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