Flutts, The Brat and Mommo Looking for Caracal

[Flutterby]

[Bushcraft]

Great tusker to start your trip off with a bang

Mommo looks cool in the mirror with the shades on

Wow, what a leopard sighting You kept this one quiet

Ellie with a broken leg

Fantastic owl pic BB

[nan]

a Shikra... beautiful Shikra

again naughty Vervets... good for the Ants
magnificent Owl

[Lisbeth]

A pity about the night drive and a pity that the Brat has not had enough of that

[Richprins]

Queleas or whydahs?

We are in late autumn, so not the great breeding quelea swarms...they may even be elsewhere?

Are these all subadults together?

The whydahs have the same sort of breeding timescale...and about the same size as queleas, if slightly larger?







Nice to hear you giving names to animals, Brat!

[Bushveld Jock]

Hi Bush Brat and Flutterby,

That leopard sighting is awesome and would not have mind to see him/her myself. Lovely scenery capture near Red Rocks. Wanted to return to the same spot in the afternoon, but never had a second chance, because we left too late on out night drive.

The little buff is so cute. Did you also met up with a lot of breeding herds. I can still hear them trumpeting when we came around a corner and found a baby ellie entering the bush.

Love to see what happened further at Shingwedzi and Satara.

Just a comment on the night drives: I browsed through the sightings book and saw sightings of 22 lions on the one drive and the next day cubs and lions. Wonder what was written down after your drive. Unfortunately we did not go and cannot proof that you do get lots of lions on the drives.

[Pumbaa]

What great time you had

Your leopardess is indeed a beauty and magnificent pictures you got of her - Although we drove that road quite often we never had such a luck on same

Also the Little buffie is a cute pie

[Flutterby]

Wow, what a leopard sighting You kept this one quiet

No we didn't...you just weren't listening.

RP, I also thought they were whydahs.

Hi BJ, welcome back. Yes, we saw lots of breeding herds up at Shingwedzi and lone bulls...and we found them a lot more aggressive than the ellies down south. Interesting what you said about the night drive...should have thought to check it out.

Welcome Pumbaa , thanks for your lovely comments. I'm sure it was pure luck that we saw that leopard - I don't think they are too common up there. Even the guide on the sunset drive vehicle was really chuffed at us for finding it.

[Flutterby]

The next morning we were up at 4.30 to shower and pack for our move to Satara but we have obviously got this packing thing down to a T, because we were at the gate at 5.30...could have had another half hour in bed!

We left camp and almost immediately found ourselves in a traffic jam as an ellie casually strolled down the middle of the road! We eventually got past him and headed down the tar towards Letaba. Our next sighting was another first and earned me spotter of the day. Two Whiteheaded Vultures that were in long grass quite far off.



This Tawny stood out against the bright sky.



A zebra who likes to mix it up a bit!



As we headed south the sky was getting darker and this Baobab looked lovely in it's autumn foliage against the dark blue sky.



At Bowkerskop we found this herd of bulls and some zebras.



This bull needed an itch scratched.





The largest bull kept having a go at one of the smaller ones.



They then crossed the road and he decided he didn't like that vehicle parked there and moved closer. Eventually the ellie lost interest and left them alone. My dad was moaning at us because we wouldn't let him get closer to the action...he wanted to be in their car! When we drove up next to them we asked how close the ellie had actually got and, with eyes as big as saucers, said he was almost touching the car. They were British and explained that they were parked when the ellies came onto the road, and the ellie had approached them so they thought it best just to stay still...probably the best thing.



But this bull obviously wanted a fight so he picked on the same ellie he'd had a go at before.

[Toko]

The northern elephants just don't like cars on their roads

The Baobab photo is beautiful