In Search of Some Good "Spots"

Post by **Flutterby** » Sun Sep 17, 2017 5:14 pm

We have also seen SSJ's on the S100. $\O$

Leopard?

Post by **Mel** » Sun Sep 17, 2017 6:05 pm

You have progress already nicely and I enjoyed catching up here. I'm not sure if I like your photos better or your writing.
Probably both. In any case your enthusiasm is inspiring and contagious $O\/$

Thanks so much for sharing your trip so far

(Oh, and the grey honeyeater is probably one of the most non-descript birds I have seen

)

Post by **Lisbeth** » Sun Sep 17, 2017 7:14 pm

Nice mongoose pic $O\/$

"LEOPARD!!"

Post by **Ratel** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 10:06 am

Wednesday 23rd August (continued)

That word was....

"Luiperd"

My head almost exploded!! We thanked him profusely as I moved the car forward to get a clear view.

"Oh wow, its right there!" Lyca said, and I leaned forward to look for myself. Right there indeed, little more than 10m from the road, was a male Leopard sitting in the grass facing away from us. Suddenly he turned his head to the side and Lyca raised her camera to capture this magnificent moment. All I heard was;

"Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep..." and then nothing. Then again;
"Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep..." and then nothing.

She exclaimed something about the timer as I dived for my camera. By the time I had it trained on the Leopard he had started to walk off, so this was the best I could manage. Lyca's camera still had the timer set from the previous evening so never fired a single shot sadly.

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He disappeared behind the bushes that had prevented us from seeing him in the first place, so I reversed to get a clear view as he appeared on the other side. All we saw was a hint of his shape moving off through the long grass and out of sight. The other cars departed leaving us all alone. We drove forward to check his tracks and get a feel for whether he had been travelling the road and therefore might return once it was quiet, but it seemed that he had merely been crossing. Probably returning from drinking down at the river.

As we departed the scene I found myself marveling at the fact that all the cars that would pass this site for the rest of the day, including those immediately behind us, would have no idea this was the site of a Leopard sighting. We had simply been in the right place at the right time, and as a result had seen spots! Woo hoo!!! Brief, but awesome! $O\/$ $O\/$

Turning onto the S41 we continued to search the bush for Lions, though we also started to see cars returning south who we had earlier seen on the S100. Presumably they had looked for the white boy and failed. We detoured first to Gudzani Dam, then Gudzani East, but to no avail. The white Lion would be seen with his crew at Gudzani East much later that day, but not by us. Wherever he was in the early hours of the morning it was not in sight of the road.

The S41 again gave us some good photo opportunities of general game. We will definitely re-visit this road if we return to Kruger one day.

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Towards the northern end a Bateleur was conducting low-level passes with his landing gear down, so we assumed there must have been some tucker in the grass. Eventually he landed and emerged with a prize!

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Turning west on the S90 the Black-shouldered Kites were again out in force and the vultures started taking to the air signalling that the day was warming up. Near the western end of the S90 an Elephant herd grazed peacefully and I wondered if it was the same crew we had photographed on the H1-4 the previous day with the well-endowed female?

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Post by **Lisbeth** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 10:43 am

At least you had a good look of the leopard

Lovely portrait of the waterbuck $O/\$ $O/\$

Post by **Ratel** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 1:30 pm

Lisbeth wrote:At least you had a good look of the leopard

I had a great look at the Leopard! $O/\$ And the day is far from over yet

Post by **Flutterby** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 1:50 pm

Leopard...yay!!

Nice pic of the waterbuck. $\O$

Post by **Mel** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 6:42 pm

Happy that you got to see the leopard... shame that it was only a brief sighting... But the trip is not done yet
and who knows what you come up with still

I too love the waterbuck photo. Really, really nice

Post by **Pumbaa** » Mon Sep 18, 2017 10:13 pm

A leopard is a leopard, Ratel $O/\$ $O/\$ $O/\$

but you took a lot of stunning shots as well - The sunrise is breathtaking or the shot of the waterbuck plus ground hornbills and mongoose

Post by **Bushcraft** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:16 am

I’m also not a fan of the night drives, but I suppose one has to hit a luck at some stage and civet and genet are always great to see

Leopard $O\/$ $O\/$ $O\/$ $O\/$ , pity about the timer story on the camera. I would have had a meltdown.

Right place at the right time

Africa Wild

In Search of Some Good "Spots"

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