Africa Wild

What a close shot of that roller

Mel wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 3:06 pm WOW, another beautiful leopard sighting with fantastic photo opportunity.
Great shots And he definitely is a handsome boy

This chap was close Mel and we should have better pics. If one parked behind him the morning sun was in the correct spot, but if you wanted facials then you had to take pics into the sun and we haven't worked that one out yet

Lisbeth wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 3:09 pm Beautiful pic of the lilac-breasted roller

Only one leopard a good one though

1 leopard only The morning has just started, still a few hours to go

Alf wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 6:25 pm What a close shot of that roller

The Cow took the pic with her point and shoot camera, I had to sneak up to that roller with a ford ranger double cab

26th Skukuza continued

My boet, Supernova, contacted us while we were sitting with the leopard, so I sent him a WhatsApp pic which probably didn’t make his work day, however I couldn’t resist.

After half an hour a fair number of cars had stopped and the leopard didn’t seem to care and he settled down to rest, so we continued on towards the H3.

Just as we entered the H3 the Cow spotted some stopped cars down the road, so we ducked that direction to check and found a couple of lions lying around.



Flat lions can get boring, so after 10 minutes we turned and headed back up the H3 towards the H1-1, however stopped quickly at Afsaal for an ablution break.

The H3 was rather quiet once again, but we did stop for a few animals including a squirrel perched on a branch and some ellies in the Kwaggaspan area.

Just prior to the H1-1 we found an old couple stopped and there was some frantic hand waving going on between the 2 old timers, so I slowed and crawled forward towards them, but the ballie didn’t put his window down and just pointed over their car bonnet.

I instantly checked the spots as I followed the finger’s direction, but the leopard was lying in a semi game trail and unless you were parked in front of the trail it was almost impossible to focus with a camera through the twigs, so I switched off and we waited for them to move on.

15 minutes later the old timers were still parked off. They had 2 cars stopped behind them who couldn’t see a thing, however nobody was moving.

Minutes later 2 OSV’s arrived behind us, so I got major edgy and with good reason, because the first OSV pulled up next to the Cow’s window straight away and chirped “What is it?”

Before I could react the Cow said “leopard” to which the OSV driver said “Oh” and started to move forward which set me off and I started my car, pulled off to block him and switched off.

This got the Cow going as she was trying to stop a confrontation

“Just let us go past and take some pics over that car and then we will move on for you”

But I was getting rather irritated with the entire sighting “No stuff him, they must wait like us!”

The old timers were watching this unfold, but still refused to give anybody a gap, hence my patience ran out and we took some quick pics over their car bonnet before moving on.


It was before lunch, so we decided to duck down the road at the H3/H1-1 intersection to check out Transport Dam which produced plenty zebra, impala, etc but a waterbuck with broken head gear got the most attention.


I knew about a hyena den down the road from transport Dam, so we decided to go and see if the juniors were out, however we stopped first for a bateleur that was walking around next to the road.

More cars then stopped and the bateleur took off so we moved on to the hyena den.

The junior teenage hyenas were out of the den and the one chap caused a stir because the Cow and Rats were sure that he/she was smiling at us.


To be continued

Catching up a few episodes again. Love the porcupine in the Camp that is on SO's most wanted list Then all the spots again lovely the one in the V of the tree .Great to see you also saw a Squirrel and closeup of the Roller and Lions also great to see the Bateleur and smiley Hyena Super tail telling

Bushcraft wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 7:57 pm

Mel wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 3:06 pm WOW, another beautiful leopard sighting with fantastic photo opportunity.
Great shots And he definitely is a handsome boy

This chap was close Mel and we should have better pics. If one parked behind him the morning sun was in the correct spot, but if you wanted facials then you had to take pics into the sun and we haven't worked that one out yet

Mine would look exactly the same... and I usually like them.

As you said at the beginning: You only take photos basically when being in the park. Same for me. So, I guess we'll never play in the pro league

Anyways... more great sightings, and, yep, there is yet another leopard in this episode

There was an interesting discussion in the Kgalagadi Sightings on the book of faces about how to behave in a situation like that.
Quite varied but one thing people agreed upon: You don't make space when ordered to do so by an OSV driver. Guess, they
are always under pressure to deliver special sightings for their high paying customers.

Great bateleur, btw, and also the hyenas

I won't make it in the south. I would end up driving over an OSV