Flavour of the Month: February 2014 S65 Waterhole Road

[nan]

naughty Baboon

Ground Hornbill with material for nest
13.3.2011

[dup]

Maroela time in the lowveld and specialy on the S65 ,pic's taken last Saturday.

[flying cheetah]

Thank you all for your pics abd input here
Time to report about another memorable sighting that I had on this road:
It was in November 2012 when I saw an Elephant who was ripping down the bark of a tree. It was the first and until today the only time that I saw this. It was very interesting to watch how the Elie was using his tusks to get the bark of the tree and I was really surprisedto see that the Elie was actually eating most of the bark he took off the tree Of course I felt sorry for the tree because I knew that this was more or less a death sentence but it also was very impressive to see this.
btw .. if anyone has an idea what kindof tree the Elephant was eating here please let me know. I checked my tree books but without success
Here are some pics:










Exactly one year and one day later I was back on this fabulous road and of course I was looking out for the tree that was treated so rough by the Elie. The tree still looked green but I'm very curious how it will look during te next years. But during all my future Kruger visits a stop at this tree is a must!!

[Richprins]

It looks like a big "knoppiesdoring"... (Acacia nigrescens)

Trees are used to elephant hammering them, and just need a sliver of bark running up unscathed to survive...

Unfortunately, elephant don't give a damn, and I think this tree will die soon, unless there is a bit of bark left around the back one can't see?

Luck?

Very good, fc!

[nan]

en route, 12.5.2011

[dup]

A week ago driving this road , and suddenly ,roadblock......have to look underneath the vehicles to see what is in front.


After a while one vehicle pull over to the other side and we where able to see "them" at the drift.


Not the best photo's but just what we could manage in the spirit of the moment and time available.At that time cars where piling up and we make turns to drive forward and back to see (like a peep show).


Then the Lions left and so the people's. Due to the cellphone and radio technology there where 22 open safari vehicles and 10 other cars at the end of the sighting.

[dup]

No problem(RP) and with due respect to our subject , just the following;
- yes nan, they used radio's it gives them the advantage that they could listen to each other all the time, what they can't do on cellphones.
- this road is important as the tour operators work from Numbi- and Babeni gates
- When something is spotted OSV's use the S65 to DASH South or North.
- For that reason you got 22 OSV's within 30 min at a sighting.
The use of radio's and cellphones to chase sightings has only loser's;
- the poor tourist that hang for live and death onto the OSV not to fall off.
- the animals that must run away from the roads to stay alive.

[flying cheetah]

Thank you all for your posts I also think that the tree could survive and I believe (and hope) that the bark on the backside of the tree should be intact.
Great sighting dup As you will know I had similar experiences with JJ's and other people on this road but that's another story..

Today I want to show you some pics that I took when I just wanted to leave the S65. This beautiful cheetah was heading towards the sign post that's on junction S65/H1-1 First he was marking his territory and then he jumped on it to have a nice view into my road. If you look carefully you can see that he obviously has eaten a short time ago. After 5 minutes and before another car arrived the show was over ad the cat walked away into the bush behind him...

[Duke]

Wonderful fc

I have this sighting from way back in 2007. Could only get one shot with the point and shoot camera I had at the time. He was iidentified as emerging tusker Madolo and seen just south of the waterhole



Have seen a cheetah on this road and lions a few times buy before the digital age

[nan]

White-backed Vulture - 12.5.2011