From Floods and Surprises in River beds

[Flutterby]

You had the perfect light on the lions and i love the red dust on the ellie!

And such lovely bird pics too!!

[Klipspringer]

Great sightings again, Pumbaa I love the cuckoo, great capture.

These lions don't look healthy to me perhaps a sarcoptic mange infection

[Mel]

Sublime bird sightings again

But the rest of the tour wasn't shabby either. I like those lions in the rising sun
and the ellies are beautiful as well. I just like all the colours in those pix.

[Richprins]

What a very rare clear cuckoo pic, Pumbaa!

Also never heard of an indigobird!

The lions look ok?

My favourite is the red ellie!

[ExFmem]

Consensus says: the Cuckoo and Dusky Indigobird are great finds! Thanks for sharing, as I'll probably never see one in the wild.

[Pumbaa]

You were lucky to see an African cuckoo out in the open

There were loads of European rollers in the park in February. I am sure that I saw dozens every day

Dusky Idigo Bird I have only seen it in the bird book

Compared to last year the park was flooded by European rollers - It was lovely to see so many of them

You had the perfect light on the lions and i love the red dust on the ellie!

And such lovely bird pics too!!

Me too - That is the colour of the S28

Great sightings again, Pumbaa I love the cuckoo, great capture.

These lions don't look healthy to me perhaps a sarcoptic mange infection

Yes, we were so happy about that cuckoo sighting

[Pumbaa]

Sublime bird sightings again

But the rest of the tour wasn't shabby either. I like those lions in the rising sun
and the ellies are beautiful as well. I just like all the colours in those pix.

Yes finally we also were blessed with sunshine and less clouds and grey sky

What a very rare clear cuckoo pic, Pumbaa!

Also never heard of an indigobird!

The lions look ok?

My favourite is the red ellie!

I guess they could have look better

Consensus says: the Cuckoo and Dusky Indigobird are great finds! Thanks for sharing, as I'll probably never see one in the wild.

Definitely our bird sightings especially in the South were not that bad overall

[Pumbaa]

and a thirsty elephant bull



before we once again stood on the Lower Sabie causeway watching birds such as masked weavers and



African jacanas as nothing else was willing to show up that day we headed forward to camp for another short break there.



Next stop was then at Sunset dam where today we easily could photograph a wattled plover



as well as a black winged stilt



and in the distance a juvenile yellow billed stork was staring onto the water.



A giraffe with a strange “turban” on its head peeped through the bushes whilst watching all the birds there



as the black winged stilt was still foraging



and finally also the three banded plover came close enough for decent shots.



After quite a while at that dam we carried on Northwards and tried not to miss nearly all the loops along the tar road. In one we stayed a bit longer as in the distance we recognized a giant kingfisher on a large rock and again many red bishops but all the birds stayed too far away but at least we could capture the beautiful view we had

[Pumbaa]

at least one of the many birds we saw was willing to pose close enough for a picture.



The rest of our drive on the tar road was then uneventful but as always we drove via the S79 and there was enough water left in the pond at the causeway that the fishes were willing to greet us.



N’Watimhiri waterhole at the tar road was not that full as we expected same but at least it had enough water and even more mud left to make a gang of buffaloes



and two smaller elephants bulls extreme happy.



Especially the elephants had a great time in the mud and were splashing and spraying around nearly everywhere



and the parts of the body which could not be reached were finally covered by a body roll -



it was pure bliss for them and watching them made us lucky.



The S21 was then extreme quiet and partly extreme boring to drive as simply nothing came across but at least at one of the causeways you had to cross was enough water left for a glossy starling



to take an excessive bath



and when one bird is around more are not far and so attracted some red billed fire finches doing the same.





to be continued......

[Lisbeth]

The elephants really love muds, all kinds of mud and not only because it is has a purpose