From Floods and Surprises in River beds

[Alf]

Amazing shots of the elephants laying down and then the egg photos

Wonderful photos

[RogerFraser]

Lovely photos of the Ellies and the Heron

[Flutterby]

I love the sleeping ellies and great bird shots.

[Mel]

I've watched a documentary just lately where they showed a crake mounting her eggs.
It looked exactly the same as with your Jacana

Generally, great photos again I love that squirrel and the sleepyhead most

[Richprins]

Lovely birds, Pumbaa, and squacco again!

Superb Jacana egg pics!

[Bushcraft]

Catching up again

The unguarded jacana nest is a spot and the squacco heron is very cool, but the malachite is my favourite. Your bird pics are fantastic and I’m not sure if it’s the time of the year guys’ visit, but you certainly see more action at Lake Panic then we do.

Lion cottage Does the noise from the new kids play area not worry you or is it quiet outside of school holidays.

Pity about the leopard but the very wet hyenas are still cool.

4 large male lions cruising together, brilliant and lucky sighting even with all the cars around. Sjoe and it gets better, fantastic sighting
I wonder if they are the 4 Jock males, the 4 Mpondo males, or the 4 Mantimahle males

[Pumbaa]

A very nice elephant sequence. Always something to watch when these small herds stop to drink or enjoy the mud

A beautiful squirel pic

Next year I am going to spent lots of time in hides, especially the Lake Panic one; bringing to eat, to drink and a book

Yes please do so and when a toilet break is Need you can drive to the nursery - Also a lovely place there

Amazing shots of the elephants laying down and then the egg photos

Wonderful photos

It was amazing to watch that ellie herd

Lovely photos of the Ellies and the Heron

We do love all kind of herons

I love the sleeping ellies and great bird shots.

And more bird shots to come and even in the rain

I've watched a documentary just lately where they showed a crake mounting her eggs.
It looked exactly the same as with your Jacana

Generally, great photos again I love that squirrel and the sleepyhead most

It was so amazing to watch that jacana on his nest that close

Lovely birds, Pumbaa, and squacco again!

Superb Jacana egg pics!

Always happy when we do spot a squacco

Catching up again

The unguarded jacana nest is a spot and the squacco heron is very cool, but the malachite is my favourite. Your bird pics are fantastic and I’m not sure if it’s the time of the year guys’ visit, but you certainly see more action at Lake Panic then we do.

Lion cottage Does the noise from the new kids play area not worry you or is it quiet outside of school holidays.

Pity about the leopard but the very wet hyenas are still cool.

4 large male lions cruising together, brilliant and lucky sighting even with all the cars around. Sjoe and it gets better, fantastic sighting
I wonder if they are the 4 Jock males, the 4 Mpondo males, or the 4 Mantimahle males

We are always in the park outside the school holidays and when we are at the bungalow early morning / evening it is in fact quiet - Over the day when in the bungalow I will not have problems with a bit of noise but it is definitely not a problem

[Pumbaa]

An African fish eagle was around,



the squacco simply had to be captured again



and now also a great white egret could be seen



and suddenly it came down heavily and nearly each bird searched for shelter in the thick bushes under branches not to get drenched.



The very well camouflaged water dikkops did not look very amused at all



but obviously the African darter did not bother





and sat nearly emotionless on one branch looking for something to feed on





and same even decided to do a dive to even have a closer look.



We again were now nearly the only people in the hide whilst in the distance we heard thunder and we simply enjoyed the fallen rain – It was such a magical moment and after the darter appeared again it got dryer and dryer.





Whilst the darter and the fish eagle were busy in drying their feathers

[Pumbaa]

the great white egret appeared again from under the bushes



and to our delight we spotted on top of one of the dry branches a juvenile black sparrowhawk (thanks to the experts for the id) another lifer for us.





The green backed heron appeared also again



and also Mr. Jacana who braved the rain and sat motionless on his nest and now decorated same a bit new



and also the darter started the hunt again.





As it stayed dry we decided to decamp as we wanted to pay a visit to the shop but before we left the hide we still had to capture the peaceful view – Sigh.





Back in camp an unpleasant surprise awaited us already when we entered our bungalow. The deeper we went into the bungalow the higher the water on the ground got – approx.. 10 cm – Timon originally thought the cleaning lady meant it too well with the floor but in fact the bungalow was flooded and not from the rain from the roof but from the rain which flooded the pipes the day earlier and that day from the bathroom……in the end we had no other choice then to grab all our stuff, throw it into the car and drive to the reception. Luckily it was empty and it took not that long until we were the owner of the key to bungalow 207 also close to the river another one was not available but for us it was fantastic and what was more important same was dry although the water still stood high on the walkway and parking area and so we had to do some jumps to reach the bungalow in which we soon moved and as a couple of my clothes got wet Timon built a provisional clothesline out of our tripods and after everything was packed successfully away we still had time to enjoy the view.





and to photograph again a red collared widowbird in the riverbed



who also was feeding on the many seeds.



to be continued…….

[Lisbeth]

That was a lot of rain that had come down

Lots of lovely waterbirds

The darter looks so different depending from which angle the pic is taken

What a luck to see a black sparrowhawk

Great scenery pics, both of the lake and from the cottage