We Won An MZNP Game Drive

[Flutterby]

Love the fire.

[Richprins]

Looks a desolate place there, PZL! Where do they drink, these animals?
I also like the fire!

[PJL]

Nice fire

Took a bit of getting going due to wet wood

I'm totally captivated by those male lions... They are SERIOUSLY handsome!
We only ever saw the one that was a bit shy for you and already thought that he was
a real beau, but his mate is even more fortunate, IMO

Puncture, aka flat Glad Mister Minute knew a way to get it fixed quickly
(a rather rare feat in Mountain Zebra I learned last year )

The lions are handsome indeed. Really big males... you wouldn't want to meet them on foot I'm sure.

love Mountain Zebras and the braai

Thanks nan

Love the fire.

Thank you Flutts... was getting cold by then so despite the wet wood it was at least giving some warmth

Looks a desolate place there, PZL! Where do they drink, these animals?
I also like the fire!

It can be quite a dry place, but they have actually had a lot of water this year. There are a number of waterholes dotted around the park - even some we couldn't see from the road - so the animals have plenty of options

[PJL]

It was much better weather on our second morning, and we had a night drive to look forward to in the evening. With the tyre fixed we felt fine about hitting the 4x4 trails again... first up for the morning was Umngeni which is the roughest of them all

The lower section of the route is very nice and easy going. It's probably my favourite spot in the park as you never seem to get other people around and you can get some nice sightings between the hills and the riverbed. This morning there was a pale chanting goshawk warming up in the morning sun



The higher sections of the trail provided some nice sightings of kudu and mountain zebra, as well as a jackal checking things out in the grass







Once out on the top of Rooiplaat there were plenty of black wildebeest around, and we enjoyed the stunning scenery with a stop at one of the view points







After a good check around Rooiplaat and down the link road looking for lions which had now disappeared, we took the Sonnenrust 4x4 trail. It's the easiest of the three, but rather long. We found a young hartebeest and gemsbok at the start of the trail...





But then the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful apart from some nice springbok relaxing



Only at the end of the loop did sightings pick up again. We spotted a few ground squirrels around, and after stopping to watch more and more kept appearing... it seemed we were right by one of their dens



The kids loved watching them - particularly the cute youngsters







It seemed that perhaps some naughty people had been feeding them as a few came up to the car begging



Right at the end of the trail we were treated to a close view of a couple of secretary birds doing their patrol

[Lisbeth]

The kids loved watching them

Only the kids?

Lovely pics of jackal and zebra

The black wildebeests are very particular

[Richprins]

What crisp pics, PZL!

And a nice set of wheels there!

Just when one thought those wildebeest couldn't get any uglier...bloodshot eyes!

[nan]

Those Antelopes are much more hairs than in the Kgalagadi, especially Kudu, Springbok and Oryx

still have to see these Black Wildebeests

[Mel]

Awww... those squirrels ARE cute

We didn't do Umngeni in April; still too traumatized from last year Although I will have to agree on the fantastic scenery.
Loved that part of the journey a lot. Not as many animals though as you saw.

But we did Juriesdam Loop for the first time. With great success... got my first black rhino EVER and it was a pretty good
sighting too

[Flutterby]

Some really lovely pics..as usual!

[Pumbaa]

What a great variety of bokkies you saw, PJL,

awesome shots plus cute squirrels and wonderful raptors