Africa Wild

Richprins wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2024 5:55 pm Lovely pics as always, Michele!

What a dastardly ostrich!

And a glorious sunrise indeed!

Thank you Richprins. :)

Not long after witnessing that beautiful sunrise we arrived at Leeudril alongside many other vehicles. The source of entertainment were three lionesses and one cub relaxing around the waterhole. We managed to find a spot to park and with that they all got up and walked towards a big tree and promptly settled down behind it totally out of view. These lionesses and cub were playing games with us ..I was getting a bit tired of hearing about them and just missing them. They had been dodging us for 4 days. At least this time I managed to get a few photos as they walked away from the waterhole ....of course that little one was 100% cute

Little One was causing a bit of trouble ..in the few minutes that we got to see them Little One went from lioness to lioness biting ears and tails to get attention but was pretty much ignored by the lionesses
I guess Little One thought it best to follow the lionesses and settle behind the tree .
We sat at the waterhole for a few minutes while most of the cars continued up North. Of course there was a huge absence of all four legged creatures so after a while we left as well....leaving the lioness and Little One still hiding (probably sleeping by now ) behind their tree.

The next little bit of excitement ( well for me at least ) was a Ludwig's Bustard walking up a dune...a far off dune but nonetheless it was definitely a Ludwig's and I don't recall seeing one so far South. Another tick for my bird list.
Crowned Lapwings were about all we saw from then on.
Kij Kij was quiet with only a Black-headed Heron perched in a tree.
We turned around and headed back to TR. There was no sign of the lionesses and the only bit of action on the way back was an ostrich having a dust bath but as soon as we stopped to watch the dusty spectacle the ostrich decided dust bath time was over....

We decided to take the Nossob road again in the afternoon...maybe ...just maybe we would see the three lionesses with Little One.
Just before Leeudril we came across another traffic jam. We sat in the queue debating our options when all of a sudden at least 5 cars in front of us just moved on and we ended up next to the lionesses lying very close to the road. I really couldn't believe our good luck but where was Little One ???
With that a little head popped up in between all the legs ......finally I managed to get a few shots of Little One . The lionesses were passed out and were happily letting Little One play with their tails or chew their ears or paws.
We eventually continued to Kij Kij and back, leaving ourselves a bit of time to sit with them before heading back to camp. Of course more cars had gathered in our absence and the lionesses were walking off into the dunes. We continued back to camp ( just stopping for a few seconds to photograph the rainbow) well satisfied with our sighting.... :) The Jaeger went down well that night !!!!

happy braai

for all those marvelous memories

What incredible lion shots, Michele

Also love the ostriches with the eggs and that Ludwig's shot is amazing as well

WoW what sightings you had

Was this really the first time, you have seen a Ludwig's bustard ? (Beautiful colours ) Well, I've never seen a leopard in Kruger

Little One is a real cutie pie

Is it at Kij Kij, that there always is a black-headed heron?

Thx all for the lovely comments....

@ Lisbeth - Yes, I have seen Ludwig's in the park before but not as far south as I saw this one ...and it was the only one that I saw the entire trip.
Also Herons do appear quite often in the KTP but they seem to occupy places where natural water tends to occur. So yes invariably when the Kij Kij dam fills up with rain water the herons appear. I have also seen them at the waterholes along both dune roads but only when there is plenty of water about.

Working on the next episode. :)

Absolutely superb, Michele!

What sightings, I can't believe it is so green there in the desert!

Love the kitten!