Flavour of Month Feb & Mar 2017- Mlondozi S29 & Muntshe S122 loops

[Lisbeth]

Very empty!

[Lisbeth]

2012

[Flutterby]

Lovely scenes.

[Lisbeth]

It is surprising the difference of the amount of water from one year to another during the same month

[Richprins]

A leachy pic:

Variegated Bush Snake (Spotted Bush Snake) Philothamnus semivariegatus




Copyright leachy

[Richprins]

A pic by Blutuna, at the Mlondozi turnoff:





https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... 1&start=10

[Richprins]

And a less-professional 2010 Bushcraft visit...

https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... f=46&t=116

2km before Mlondozi we found this rhino lying in the grass. I must admit that to me it looked like a large rock with a bird twitching on it (that was its ear). The sighting must have been as exciting for the kids who were more interested in bacon and eggs by now.




The usual Mlondozi zebra showed up just before the dam. The male was trying to get a little too friendly with a mare and I didn’t feel like explaining this to the kids, so it was off for breakfast. (I didn’t know at the time that I would have some major explaining to do later in the trip).




When we arrived at Mlondozi, which is a special place for us, we were amazed to see how full the dam was, which will be brilliant for the area in the dry months to come. There were 3 other people at the picnic site, a couple sitting at a neatly laid table and a tour guide slaving over 2 skottels. They kindly warned us about thieving monkeys that were trying to steal bread. Garth proceeded to let them know that they should be more afraid of our troop of kids then the monkeys.

We started the bacon on our hired skottel and tried to get the kids to sit quietly at the tables and wait. Halfway through cooking the bacon, we started chatting to the tour guide (to find out if they had any good sightings), when he asked if we had seen the cheetah on the side of the road, just before the picnic site entrance. Much to our horror, he showed us where they were, the telltale traffic jam still visible from Mlondozi (we drove straight past them on our way in). After a 2 second conference, breakfast became bacon rolls.

It turns out that our breakfast companions were correct about the monkeys though, because as soon as Garth and I were away from the table the monkey thieves ran straight across the table and stole 3 rolls out of Mel’s hand.

The remaining bacon rolls went down rather quickly and we were on our way.

We arrived at the cheetah sighting just in time to see her get up move around for about a minute and then disappear under a bush. We waited for half an hour hoping that she would reappear, but it never happened, so back to Lower Sabie for a toilet stop.

[Richprins]

From a 2013 aat report:

I like the S29 early morning, small road and many many good memories about this road over time. Tuskers, Black Rhino, Lions, Leopard and birth of an Impala (story 1 of this series of stories)

We were driving for some time, looking left and right… slowly so missing nothing.
No Cats, no elephants, no rhino… but suddenly something crossing the road in front of us.
What’s that ? we asked loudly and simultaneously

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Huhhhhh…. A Python ? “yes it looks like one”

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Wowww… realizing we never have seen one with daylight. Years ago with a night-drive but not so close.
Getting closer we could see him or her better and just lucky the Python showed his head.

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What a belly…. Looks like he had a wonderful breakfast
part 1 of the python…

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followed by part 2

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From another angle. Great with pythons…they don’t run away so time enough to change position

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Difficult to estimate the length, but must be between 2 and 3 meters, guessing close to 3 meters

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It certainly was a special encounter and this is what I like so much in kruger.. unexpected sightings at unexpected moments. Rock Python active with daylight.

https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... 1&start=30

[Richprins]

Kruger Sightings
‏Verified account @LatestKruger
18h18 hours ago

13:00
Leucistic steenbok on the move
S29, 1.4km from H10 NE entrance
Near Lower Sabie
Tinged by Jean for Discover Kruger Safaris

[Richprins]

Got this pic from Will Lane, a tourguide.


It is a single roan antelope on the Muntshe loop (S122) this weekend....utterly unheard of in that area!