It was already quite hot despite the early hour and as it was obviously a hard night as a couple of them were still very sleepy.
In that area it was also slightly greener than around Berg en Dal although the grass looked far higher and greener as it actually was
at least the bushes were green enough to provide enough shade as this was also not always guaranteed in other areas of the park this year. I love the all ears shot!
After finally all the doggies were hiding in the shade motionless and as most of the time it was only an ear visible it was also for us time to leave them but for sure what a wonderful way to spot them again already during our first full day in the park.
There were birds around such as this lovely European bee eater but they only occurred sporadically and not in the normal masses as normally in February so we were in fact happy about the few we saw and same for sure had to be photographed at length.
A short break at Afsaal was meanwhile urgently needed which thought all the other people obviously as well as this picnic spot was quite packed. Our usual ice cream break had to be heralded as well and on top it was simply great to get the legs a bit stretched as well as we still had to get used again to sit in the car nearly the whole day.
But that it is in fact no complain and we normally do not stay that long as we are far too excited that we might miss anything on the road especially on the first days of our stay so as soon as the ice cream had been eaten we are back in the car.
A group of impalas started already to position themselves under trees and bushes
but for us such conventions are always a brilliant opportunity to admire their beauty and to take hundred of portraits.....
Another must do drive on our very first day is always the Biyamiti loop and so same turned out to be another more than brilliant drive. Although the Biyamiti river was far drier than usual there were in fact some smaller and even larger puddles with water left and also the vegetation was not that sparse as in other areas so consequently lot of animals crossed our path. We saw giraffes, kudus,
and buffaloes
and even had our first lions during that trip at least a couple of lion bellies as they were only visible from one spot and they did not move a whisker but lions are lions and normally it always take a couple of days until we got out first lion sighting.
Due to the heat and distance we did not stay that long with them and instead carried on as it might still take hours until they might get up.
to be continued......