The Heat is on and the Lions as well

[Lisbeth]

Wonderful birds!

[Michele Nel]

Oh my word...this is not good ...not good at all.
All these beautiful bird sightings are causing me to get very excited about our trip to Kruger...and why does the time seem to be dragging so....
great stuff Pumba

Is Malelane a good place to stock up with provisions?? We will be entering at Malelane gate after spending more than a week on the road and I am sure we will need to stock up before entering the Park

[Richprins]

Some nice episodes, Pumbaa, it almost seems as though you wanted to stay at the lodge another day!

Interesting that you found the water warm in the pool, never thought about the European view.

A shrike fest on the first park morning, and those wydah shots are great!

[Pumbaa]

Wonderful birds!

In the beginning of that trip we had in fact an incredible number of different birdies

[Pumbaa]

Some nice episodes, Pumbaa, it almost seems as though you wanted to stay at the lodge another day!

Interesting that you found the water warm in the pool, never thought about the European view.

A shrike fest on the first park morning, and those wydah shots are great!

In fact we could have stayed longer there but Kruger was calling heavily so we simply had to enter the park

[Pumbaa]

Oh my word...this is not good ...not good at all.
All these beautiful bird sightings are causing me to get very excited about our trip to Kruger...and why does the time seem to be dragging so....
great stuff Pumba

Is Malelane a good place to stock up with provisions?? We will be entering at Malelane gate after spending more than a week on the road and I am sure we will need to stock up before entering the Park

Definitely there is a large Spar as well as a Pick'n'Pay, both do have a wide range of simply everything - We love it to stock up there A large pharmacy is also available as well as several garages, just in case and a couple of smaller shops

[Pumbaa]

During the drive from the gate to Berg en Dal camp the birding was in fact fantastic as we also detected a plum coloured starling,



a tchagra, a bird specie we saw this year a couple of times but these birds are always not easy to photograph so we were happy that the first sighting ended in a decent shot already.



Also a yellow canary crossed our path before we stopped shortly at Berg en Dal camp where we had to walk to the dam because we still had the pictures in our mind from our last year’s stay as the dam was overflowing heavily after the heavy rains, this year there was in fact no dam any longer only a very sad looking larger puddle was left.



After that short break we straight drove into the direction of Matjulu as all these sand roads were closed last year so we thirst for a drive on all these roads after one year’s break. We made it slow as we first had to admire that view with the many grazing impalas and the lovely mountains in the background.



The rest of the 4 kilometre stretch to the waterhole was quiet but the closer we came same the more zebras we saw in a row heading straight to the waterhole we saw heavy pregnant ladies and some already with the offspring close by



others simply allowed us to take a picture. We waited a bit at Matjulu and also here we enjoyed the view and



even noted our first woodland kingfisher during that trip



and a couple of starlings were around as well.



As we wanted to come back later during our afternoon drive we did not stay that long there but I suppose on dry summers like that it would be a lovely spot to stay a whole day there and to watch the animals come and go but as we only entered the park shortly we simply had to drive around and check all our favourite places in that area out. We noted a really very hidden giraffe surrounded by thick green vegetation,



detected a hamerkop on a dead tree a bit far away and for sure had to stop and photograph a group of impalas



who were full of red-billed oxpeckers



who the impalas allowed to do their work quite patiently and only after a while we left the group.

[Pumbaa]

To our luck we even found our very first rhino during that trip but same was not that cooperative as same never lifted its head



but therefore we nearly overlooked that little chap who somehow appeared suddenly on the roadside behind a bush – luckily he was a friendly one.



We enjoyed the presence of a warthog family



with a nicely posing mom,



in total three cute piglets



plus a very protective Dad



and all of them were so extreme relaxed that we could not take our eyes away from them



and even when they were nearly invisible.



Somewhere along our drive we even spotted one of the extreme rare puddles in which also still a bit water was left and same was suspiciously eyed by two wooly-necked storks



and on a rock in the puddle two hamerkops had the pole position.





to be continued…………………………….

[Lisbeth]

The zebra has just taken a shower It looks more like colours asking for an attack than the contrary, when they are in a herd

Great pic of the Burchell's starling.

Maybe the rhino is ashamed because he/she has no horn anymore

[Richprins]

All sorts, Pumbaa!

Ja, it does look dry in places!

Love the plum starling and canary!

And a special pic of the giraffe under the trees!