Thanks already Richprins, nan, Toko, Flutterby, Bushcraft, Tina, Mel, Lisbeth and Amoli
I think it is about time to start......
Friday, 13th February, 2015 – Berg en Dal
After one year of day dreaming of Kruger finally the day arrived when we had once again South African ground under our feet and the minute we disembarked the airplane until we found ourselves again on the bridge crossing the Crocodile River everything went well and these nearly 7 1/2 hours spun away as nothing – Sigh.
Whilst standing on that famous bridge my eyes realized a bit far away but still relatively good visible without binoculars already the first never seen but always wanted to see bird – a group of sacred ibises!
After a more closer look around we found already a black headed as well as goliath heron lots of Egyptian goose
and even a couple of hamerkops close to where we stood. Indeed a very promising start when it comes to birds already.
Suddenly a head of a hippo emerged from the deep water and Timon simply snapped away from this strange perspective.
The gate formalities went smoothly and finally we were back and drove straight to our first camp without any detours as we in fact were tired from the overnight flight with not much sleep and the long drive from Johannesburg, however, we allowed us plenty of time as we nearly had two hours until gate closing time. First animal we saw were impalas, indeed no surprise, but always a wonderful welcome gift after one year drought.
A family of three rhinos greeted us as well and after we admired them extensively
we arrived in camp and got the key to bungalow No. 31 close to the fence and Rhino walking trail. After we put everything into the fridge of the numerous food we just bought at the Malelane Spar and rearranged our luggage Timon already lit the braai and we sat on our verandah and soaked once again everything in. These first braais are always the best and as we know that time once the holiday started flew faster by then the time waiting for the next trip we enjoyed the first braai always the most.
Although this was disturbed suddenly because I noticed something inside our bungalow which definitely should not have been inside same – a small snake was slithering between our still open luggage and nearly disappeared already under one bag! What a scary and thrilling start. Whilst Timon went inside the bungalow I of course stayed outside and Timon indeed managed with the leg of his tripod to manoeuvre the snake into the direction of the sliding door which after a couple of minutes worked and gladly the snake left the bungalow and disappeared between a gap of the rocks out of which the bungalows are build with. At least the snake turned out to be a light brown one but in fact we were simply happy that we not had to share our bedroom with a snake!
We heard and read already a lot of Berg en Dal’s snakes but to be itself part of such a story was in fact unreal and for sure not an adventure I want to experience again. If we were not able to get the snake that fast out of our room we indeed had to call someone and I only allowed Timon one attempt otherwise I would have went to call help. The only bad thing was that we did not get any picture of the snake....After we finally had finished our braai Timon flashed with a torch under all beds and inside all cupboards not that maybe Mom snake appeared from somehow (we normally did not do that but we simply wanted to be safe) but nothing showed up so dead tired as we were we only fell into the beds and slept peacefully unitl we were awoke by the alarm clock the next morning.
Saturday, 14th February, 2015 – Berg en Dal
Roads we drove that day: S110 / H3 / S113 / S23 / S114 / S118 / H3 / S110
First full days are always the best also in view how fast the first full day turned into the last full day so we always enjoy these days inside the park as if this was the last day on Earth and soon after the first brewing hot coffee we were ready to start. Just to let you know gladly the snake did not show up again during our whole stay at Berg en Dal.
Just outside the gate the obligatory marabou storks in a dead tree made us stop
and also allowed enough time for some close ups.
Then the sun rose and Timon stopped again for some sigh moments and for sure for one or two shots.
We could not overlook these two sleepy buddies
and we already noticed that compared to the tree previous years that area which is always thick and overgrown in summer with lot of little streams flowing here and there was bone dry and the grass was not that high as usual - Well it looked awesomely green without doubt
and also the usual suspects occurred plentiful but without any good rains during the coming weeks it will become a very long winter.
At that stage we did not know that other parts of the park looked far more alarmingly dry but that are other stories which will be told later during that trip report.
Lot of wattled plovers, more birdies
and our first magpie shrikes during that trip appeared and for sure got a lot of attention from Timon.
When it comes to bird or animal photography Timon is always in charge as I am in fact not that patient with the animals and only take one or two shots whereas Timon is always taking nearly hundreds I am more the landscape photographer - This shot is one of my favourites as it so very well represents that area around Berg and Dal.
Although I drove Timon nearly mad by explaining and conducting him to the right spot which I was satisfied with!
During the last wet summers these flowers could only be found sporadically but this year we found them in the South nearly around each corner.
Thos very first days do make us always stop for each and every creature and we were happy to get the picture of our very first banana bird during that trip.
to be continued......
We had another brilliant trip with excellent sightings although I was shocked to see the park that dry already 
Nsemani dam and Tihongonyeni were bone dry and all the grass gone - Especially the area around Satara, last year it was as wet as never before there and this year is was as dry as never seen before 
