Having the Time of my Life revisited (October 2016)

[Mel]

What a nice squirrel
Brownies wholesale
Greetings to Huffle and Puffle
I love the skink and mäuslein drinking
Where are the birds

Brownie wholesale ->

I promise you more squirrels to come.

No small birds this time. I was content watching them At the end of the day, there are so many photos of them in my database by now,
and the bird baths don't make for the nicest feature in photos...

[Mel]

What a trip so far!
Loved all your owls and your brownie morning was amazing! And what can I say about the lions!
As for Safran - I can imagine the words! At least you saw the cub (Matlho), nobody can take that memory away. Last trip I came around a bend in the road between Kannaguass and Ljiersdraai and Safran was jumping out of the road, gave me one last look (just a nose and eyes peeking out from the tall grass) and disappeared. Worst is I was to blame! Now I will CREEP around those bends!

Okay, I shall give up pouting now... at least I managed a couple of shots of Safran before they ran off. But will keep your experience in mind for future trips!

Wanda

[Mel]

great shot of that Brownie , sorry I took so long to comment again, but I put my computer into sleep mode and it did just that , would not start up again

A computer not working would annoy me big time... no internet no forum no social networks and worst of all: no looking at photos from the last trip



PR

[Mel]

Great shots and sightings again, Mello!
Ja, as I understand those brownies are sensitive souls and don't really do hunting?
But the lion kill them anyway if they get a chance?
Dunno if they hurt each other when fighting...lots of display and funny sounds, if I recall...
Idea! Maybe put a stone INSIDE the water container for the little things...that should keep it stable?

Someone must have gotten hold of that brownie. I have no idea what they do when it comes to sharing food. Maybe it was a clan member that fought for the morsels they found

Like Lis said - there were stones inside the bowl. I'm not THAT stupid But the one in front was a stepping stone for the skinks that didn't manage to drink from the fencing log

[Mel]

AH, Grootkolk's glorious sunsets! Signals the transition between the daytime characters and the nighttime ones - "shift change"
What an impressive # and array of sightings for one (LONG) day! Must be a record day - it sure would be for me!
Hope Huffle and Puffle are newbies so you get to name them - it really is a special feeling every time they are seen subsequently.
Thanks!

It was an excellent day for us too. I think it's amazing how the sightings drop on you for an hour or two and then everything goes quiet for a looong time.
And all of a sudden it rains on you again. But there will be another day that even topped this particular one We were incredibly blessed with our
sightings this time.

Huffle and Puffle, well, let's see how this will turn out. Hopefully I will get some more photos of them to be sure about the newbie status

[Mel]

For those of you who are not into birds... you might want to switch off for the next few pages... I got about 40 pictures that I intend to post over the next episodes

Let's start with one of my favourite bird sightings - crimson-breasted shrike chicks

At the start of our stay on the Auob side, they hadn't even their eyes open yet and were mostly sleeping unless one of the adults came to feed them.



By the end of our stay, just short of a week later, you could actually tell what sort of bird was growing there

[Mel]

The next one is a gruesome shot and I actually only took it for the story... We were sitting at a cat sighting when this raptor flew in.
A car parked next to us asking what we were looking at. Now we had strict orders not to reveal that the cat was around because the
person who had found it had caused a major mayhem before with cars tossing and turning and it had just become quiet again, so said
person wanted it to keep it that way. It was just as well because when we told those people in the car that we were looking at that
raptor, Mrs Know-It-All in the other car answered with slight disdain : "Oh, that bateleur"



... when of course this is a sub-adult black-chested snake-eagle

To make amends... I don't like deceiving people about sightings and when they passed again, we did tell them about the cat

[Mel]

Beautiful Bont Bee-Eaters

Itchy!



♫ Food is in the air ♫

And love as well

[Lisbeth]

The chicks are at the same time ugly and sweet

The bee-eaters are splendid
Lovely light on the last one

[Mel]

I always thought of them as pouting... pouting because the other one had received the food. And it didn't matter that they got in turns, each of appeared to think that it was the disadvantaged guy

Lis!