Africa Wild

All we could determine was that there were at least two Lions sleeping in the grass a fair distance from the road. And this was only because there were two tails intermittently flicking into the air. Since we would be passing this spot again on our return to camp we decided to press on north.

South of Ngotso Dam we encountered an Impala roadblock. There was a herd of over 200 making their way across the road, along with a few stray Wildebeest. What an amazing sight! We would encounter this group again in the same area on the following days. We cruised the Nyamarhi area looking in vain for Leopard, instead being treated to a distant SBS and a batchelor group of Kudu with their amazing spiral horns, before turning around to meander back to camp.

At the S127 turnoff a herd of Elephants were slowly making their way north in beautiful light, so I turned onto that road and positioned the car for Lyca to get some photos as they approached. The last individual in the group, a young bull, was about 50m behind the herd, so I moved the car forward for some head-on shots as he approached (my favourite view of Elephants). Once we had a couple of nice pics I moved out of the way so as to not block his path. He was so relaxed and continued to munch on his take-away dinner as he strode across the road. Fantastic! What an Elephant afternoon we were having. On our way back to the Lions at one of the river crossings a Verreaux's Eagle Owl was perched in a dead tree beside the water and appeared to have just had a bath. It is so special to encounter this massive owl so we took some distant pics but they are not great so I haven't included one here. We also found a few "vulture trees" where the scavenging ones were communally roosting for the night.

There was slightly more action from the Lions on our return so we waited for a little while as the sun set. We were now able to determine that there were at least 5 including large cubs. We thought there was some chance they might come and lay on the road but it soon became apparent that it was not likely to happen before gate closing time so we moved on. Since it is only 3km from Satara we spent our final minutes at the Hyena den, where our day had begun all those hours ago. It was quite dark but the colour of the light was great so I took a few videos of the action then this one pic to remember it by.

Great trip so far and some beautiful photos

like the Elephant in golden light

plus a tail

Hyenas too and huge herd of Impalas

It's always great to see big herds of animals.

Nice sightings for the afternoon.

Yes, now I can see the tail I was concentrated on the thingie to the left, most likely a stub

Lovely ellie shots

Your writing is tops

Really love your elephants shots, ratel

You must be the first person in history to rave about a big herd of impala, Ratel....but right you are!


Nice ellie shots, and seems to be much more grass about after the drought, but still not back to normal..not sure...

Also Pumbaa does it

Richprins wrote:You must be the first person in history to rave about a big herd of impala, Ratel....but right you are!

RP there is a bird in my neck of the woods called a Grey Honeyeater. Google it. It is possibly the most unattractive bird in the world. But it is rare and hard to find which makes it very sought-after. Birders come from all over to see it. I am reluctant to take people out to find it as if and when we finally see one their response isn't normally excitement or wonder but rather relief at being able to finally "tick it off". After so much effort they quickly want to move on to something more interesting...

But consider a 200-strong herd of Impala.
Stop for a minute and look closer.
Look at the male tapping the female on the leg. He wants to sneak one in!
And check out the two males sparring. Their horns aren't fully grown yet. They are just youngsters practicing for when the big day comes.
And what about the ones on the outer? Are they male or female? Seasoned adults or naive youngsters? Are they alert for danger or succeptible to predators?
There is drama in such a scene. Common animals, but lots of action and drama. Much more than back at the sleeping Lions with their flicking tails!

I love the way that you watch and explain the details and "the not very special"