Unlocking Mountain Zebra

[PJL]

Our second day in the park dawned clear and cool. We made it to the gate for opening and were cruising inside MZ in time for sunrise



After the success on Ubejane the evening before, the kids were adamant we had to go that way on our morning drive. These vervets were still huddling for warmth



D was keen to do the Link Road, so we plotted a route up that way to Rooiplaat then down to the camp to get our permit. On the first section of the Link Road we had a nice sighting of a lone gemsbok, whilst further up there were mountain zebra close by





Near the junction with Rooiplaat, D had a good spot of a bat-eared fox moving around looking for food



Rooiplaat had all the regulars out and about - springbok, black wildebeest & blesbok







Along one section we spotted a rock kestrel with breakfast



Before dropping down to the main camp, this young mountain zebra posed for us



Down at the main camp reception we organised our permit then headed up the valley along Kranskop loop wondering whether the lion from the previous day might be around. We scanned all along the route until we hit a clearing and D with his keen eyes stopped us... but what for

[Flutterby]

Gorgeous sunrise!!

Nice sighting of the kestrel and the zebra is still so fluffy!

[Lisbeth]

A beautiful kestrel

The black wildebeests look so much more interesting than the blue ones, but most likely because they are seen less often

The vervets are all fluffed up against the cold

[Klipspringer]

Love the Kestrel close up.

What bird is sitting on the gemsbok?

[Peter Betts]

Red Billed Oxpecker sitting on Gemsbok

[Peter Betts]

Looks great

Always MUCH cheaper to stay outside any SANPark

Not if you camp ..but you cant camp yet and you waste time ..good light time getting in

[Lisbeth]

Peter, we all know that you camp. Not all of us want to or are able to do so!

[Richprins]

Very nice spread, Peej!

Great sunrise and kestrel!

Lion in the last pic!

[PJL]

Thanks all for the comments

It was indeed lion that D had sighted. They were hard to see through the long grass!



A couple of lion were closer to the road a little further on so we pulled up to them but they seemed very skittish and retreated quite quickly which took us by surprise - perhaps with the lack of cars in lockdown they aren't so confident about vehicles







We counted 10 lion in total which is a great sighting for MZ
Every so often a head would pop up for a bit

[PJL]

After a while the two outliers decided to move back to the main group which gave us a nice view of them