The Heat is on and the Lions as well

[Pumbaa]

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

Simply love these shimmering colours on the burchell's starlings

[Pumbaa]

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!

and the drive is not yet over - That area is indeed great for nearly everything

[Pumbaa]

We paid a visit to Renosterpan but as nothing was around we carried on and prior to Afsaal where the area is extreme open the usual suspects in from of zebras where around – The little foal obviously needed a lie in



and whilst mom yawned the little one sat up for a while.



Sporadically we saw also wildebeests in the distance but we were again attracted by a large group of impalas



who were not quite happy by the presence of the red-billed oxpeckers



therefore we again had fun in watching and photographing them.





As always I had difficulties in choosing the best shots of them. After a while we could drag ourselves away as also nature was calling heavily and after a break at Afsaal we carried on but it got quieter and quieter.



One of our favourite gravel roads in that area is the Biyamiti loop in which we finally turned and here we were entertained by a group of baboons who occupied a couple of rocks



or bushes from where we were eyed suspiciously.





Today we once again escaped the extreme hot temperature as it was nearly the whole day overcast but we had as maximum 33 degrees but with each day it got hotter and hotter from now on. A couple of elephants could be seen



on a more open area along that road whereas the kudus we saw were far too hidden

[Pumbaa]

but that little steenbok was willing to pose a while



and the views into the nearly not existing river were as always lovely.



In a tree along the roadside Timon stopped for a nicely posing African hawk eagle



and with that stop we nearly caused a traffic jam as suddenly lots of cars appeared at least most of them were also interested in the eagle.



Close to Biyamiti weir we detected a juvenile saddle billed stork



and finally we reached the weir itself but same was extreme sand up and not much water around. At least one of the obligatory pied waigtails was around



we also discovered a hamerkop and a three banded plover



and after a while we saw something colourful landing in a bush and we even discovered our very first malachite kingfisher during that trip.



We were the whole time at the weir all by ourselves and we even would have stayed longer there but a huge elephant bull had sneaked up from behind so we soon carried on and it got quiet again. At least along our drive along the S114/S118 we now stopped for a steenbok female,



a brown snake eagle,



for vervets on the lookout,



another pintailed whydah



and European bee eaters before we finally turned again into the H3.



to be continued………………

[Lisbeth]

33° is what we are having here right now and I have just returned from outside and it was darn hot A pity that I cannot take 5° along going to Denmark next week, as I have the impression that it's pretty cold up there. Are you going to Denmark this year and if yes, where? I am going by car, so maybe we could arrange a meet up

Lovely African hawk eagle

[Richprins]

A wide selection, Pumbaa!

Love the baboon pics.

the eye-level bird views at Biyamiti weir are extraordinary!

I wonder if they will ever dig out the sand?

It is scary when one regards 33 as cool still...

[Pumbaa]

33° is what we are having here right now and I have just returned from outside and it was darn hot A pity that I cannot take 5° along going to Denmark next week, as I have the impression that it's pretty cold up there. Are you going to Denmark this year and if yes, where? I am going by car, so maybe we could arrange a meet up

Lovely African hawk eagle

We will in Denmark as from next Saturday onwards for 2 weeks. As always we will be on Langeland

[Pumbaa]

A wide selection, Pumbaa!

Love the baboon pics.

the eye-level bird views at Biyamiti weir are extraordinary!

I wonder if they will ever dig out the sand?

It is scary when one regards 33 as cool still...

33 degrees are in fact not cool especially not for us North Europeans but compared to 40 degrees or more it is far cooler They digged out the sand two years ago at Biyamiti weir but after the floods in 2023 the sand is back

[Pumbaa]

Meanwhile it was late middy / early afternoon already and we were prepared for a quiet drive to camp for check in but close to the turn off into the S110 we noted a traffic jam and noted a tail with a white tag in a tree, well the white tag in the tree was the only thing we saw for a while as the many cars at that sighting did not move so we had to wait and hoped that the leopard might stay long enough in the tree at least for a couple of descent shots.

Luckily it then took not that long that we could drive a bit forward so that we finally had a better view onto the spotted beauty still a bit hidden by bushes



and then it got quite fast that we could carry on further and had that view, I would say a perfect one.





We never would have counted with a leopard on our very first day and on top not in the midday heat but as already said we always take what we get and this was indeed a jackpot already.



Our spotted beauty had chosen a lovely shady spot in a tree not far from the road and even got a bit sleepy



but after a while looked again around and to our luck the traffic jam got less so that we could stay on our place a bit longer as meanwhile each one had a good view onto the leopard.





She was such a beauty and it was hard to take the eyes from her especially when posing like that



after half an hour she got a bit restless and got up but only turned around and made herself comfortable again on the branch





but that took in fact not that long until she decided it was now time to leave the tree and although we as well as others tried to find her again in the thick vegetation on the ground or maybe she might climb another tree in the vicinity we never detected her again and so we drove straight to camp for check in.

[Pumbaa]

Unfortunately there had already build up a queue at the reception so it took in fact quite a while until I had the key for bungalow No. 31 in our hands – Timon got already a bit restless but finally we could move in and after a while after we stored everything away we even decided to go for a walk along the Rhino trail as this is always a must for us. As the dam was not existing as already revealed we could not count with water birds or other animals who wanted to take a drink but for sure lots of black collared barbets were around





and joined us during our walk



as nearly on each tree we noted at least one and this one even had found a whole in a tree and compared to last year we in fact missed a bit the great variety of birds we could admire in that camp. We were already blessed with so many fantastic bird sightings at the lodge so that we could get over that.





Therefore we could today observe several different elephant herds from the fence



who checked out the dry riverbed



and even came closer to where we stood.



In the distance we also detected a group of waterbucks whilst the many elephants could be admired extreme close





all of them were so relaxed and only interested in feeding so we sat for quite a while on a bench along the trail and simply enjoyed their presence.



On our walk back to our bungalow we even noted hadedahs in a tree and we came across this strange looking cicada? I was soon fascinated by the huge turquoise/orange coloured eyes.



to be continued…………………