Africa Wild

A few last sightings from our (shortened) stay at Tamboti -


Some resting cheetahs....Zzzzzzz






Our first ever Striped or Le Vaillant's Cuckoo







Playful hippos








Our only Wild dog sighting of the trip - ( in keeping with the TT theme of lackluster photo ops)








And our nightly visitor who never seemed to conclude there was to be no meal from this particular tent







There was also an impala in a tree (no need to post a gruesome pic) that day after day many people stopped to wait for the leopard to return, but no one we talked to ever caught a glimpse of it.

After our move to Skukuza, we visited Nyamundwa Dam on several occasions. There was always a pair of Saddle-billed Storks that kept us entertained with their mating dance maneuvers.























I suppose constructing a nest might be akin to putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and this Saddle-bill seems very proud of finding just the right piece!

Great pics, Ex!

Lovely stork action and one can sort of see the difference between male and female, I forget which is which now...

The storks are brilliant

Female has yellow eyes

I'm with Lis - the storks are awesome!

And I had a good laugh about the hippo youngster biting mum in the nose

Other than that I can totally relate to far and few between photo ops

Lisbeth wrote: ↑Mon Aug 20, 2018 9:18 am The storks are brilliant

Female has yellow eyes

Seems the male also has a yellow waddle, but I also read that either sex can have one

Thank you my AW friends for your comments - ALWAYS appreciated.

WHEW! I hope you've all caught your breathe after the nonstop action-packed, riveting stories and sightings of this trip so far….

Unfortunately, this entry will be no different - ZZZZzzzzz


Some more sightings from the Skukuza area:


































After all the day's excitement, we lit the charcoal and settled in around the evening fire.

I began to reminisce about days gone by and my own experience with making charcoal.



Charcoal: a lightweight, black residue, consisting of carbon and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances.

How Was Charcoal First Discovered?

I'm pretty sure I know, as I once made charcoal unwittingly. (Who makes charcoal "wittingly" ?)

One mundane Friday night during my college years I put a potato into the oven to bake. Shortly thereafter I received an unexpected phone call from my boyfriend (and later husband) inviting me over to his place. At that age dinner was one thing, young "love" (used in its loosest sense), another. God did not intend them to be an either/or choice, I was pretty sure. As the saying goes, one thing led to another. You could, it seems, have your (beef)cake, and eat too. (Apologizes to Marie Antoinette or Rousseau, as it is rumored}.

Three days later I returned to my apartment. There, in the oven, was a beautiful black concrete lump - viola! charcoal!! An excellent example of an unexpected benefit of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

I could imagine it becoming a new Redneck pick-up line: "Hey, baby, you and me ('cause proper grammar is the least of their skills) could make sweet charcoal together…"

Or a new limerick:
I once knew a single-minded guy
Whose offer I couldn't deny

I forgot the tater in the oven
For a weekend of lovin'

And returned to a nugget for the braai.

To this day I smile each time I open a bag of charcoal and think about all the lucky lasses who also inadvertently made these lumps of love in their youth.

(I'm pretty sure Elvis's song "Hunk'o Hunk'o Burnin' Love" pays homage to this very phenomenon.)

Extremely witty, Ex!

Lovely pics, I especially like the dueling zebras!

You sure know how to make up for a dull Kruger day. Your wit is without boundary

There some very nice pics though

Priceless!

Maybe not action packed but still quite enjoyable! And you did get zebras in action