Africa Wild

pooky wrote:Beautiful pics of the little bee eaters in and out of their nests

Glad you managed to change your booking, that heat was hectic

It was a real steamer but being able to jump in a pool and use an electric fan helped a lot.

Richprins wrote:Much better pics, BT!

And I love you even more for your strict "No Heat" policy!

Well done on changing the booking, but we could have warned you Balule is tough in Summer!

Ja...not going well with hippo in the Park at the moment...

We have been to Balule enough times in the heat of the summer to know what it's like - When I saw what the weather-guessers were predicting I had a suspicion that we wouldn't be spending our all of our allotted 5 days there! We both love the camp because it's usually nice and quiet but that's not the first time we've changed our booking due to the heat.

Pumbaa wrote:Fantastic bee eater shots, BluTuna

and then love these river views and that very last shot - Sigh

Thanks Pumbaa. Its' such a pity that cameras don't capture the full beauty of a bush sunrise or sunset!

ExFmem wrote:So many wonderful pics here! The baby impalas are "awe"-inspiring, but your bird photos are nothing less than spectacular.

Thanks ExFmem, I'm pleased that you are enjoying my pictures.

Wednesday 2 December 2015 - Letaba.

I managed to rig up the fan to blow through the tent during the night which meant that we could actually sleep. I was up before sparrows and out just after the gates opened in the morning - Stargazer loves Letaba Camp and stayed behind to make the most of it.

Just before sunrise, a Marabou Stork.


I took the S47 Mingerhout Dam road but there wasn't much to be seen.




Heading south, at one of the river crossings, a very battered Giraffe and a Wood Sandpiper?

Back at the campsite, a Redbilled Hornbill was busy sealing his mate into her nest. It took a few attempts but I managed to get some pictures as he flew in with building materials.



A young Rock Monitor was looking for food in the leaf litter.


Cicada husks were everywhere. Th Cicadas were making an incredible noise, the volume and pitch made me feel dizzy at times!



Stargazer spotted something interesting in the bush behind the trailer. The bush was alive with Dragonflies.

A Violet Dropwing female.


One I haven't identified.


Common Hooktail.

And a magnificent Common Tigertail.



Strangely, we didn't see any more dragonflies in this bush for the next three days!

In the same bush, A Greenbacked Cameroptera.


No afternoon drive today, just a walk around the camp to see what I could find.

Someone had reported a missing showerhead and I found a Vervet Monkey proctologist who was looking for it.


In front of the restaurant, a tusker, this is Malopenyana.


He was accompanied by the grandaddy of them all - this was my first meeting with Masthulele!



A Yellowbilled Kite.


And a Squirrel in the kitchen trying to cool off.

Where to start with all this wonderfulness! (It's a real word, I looked it up due to the 2 English police here. )

The 2nd Sandpiper with its reflection is sublime, Mr. Hornbill Homebuilder is fabulous, and LOVE the Hooktail and Tigertail dragonflies.

The proctologist monkey (tee hee hee), very clever.

The dragonflies are

and of course I LOVE the squirrel in the kitchen; very high cuteness factor

Great sighting of the BIG GUYS

Hello BT

You had a dragonfly festival there

Lovely YBK and Cameroptera photos and the elephant bull is a special encounter, too