A Fantarantulatastic Trip To Kruger - April 2017

[Flutterby]

Just caught up here...great start to the trip. Wow, the grass is long! Wonder if there's any chance it will be a bit shorter in 3 days time when we get there!

[Lisbeth]

You'll have to send someone to cut it

[mposthumus]

We soon became acquainted with the night time visitors and fell asleep to the roars of nearby lions - it was great to be back in the bush

Wonder why I got a lump in my throat when reading this sentence nostalgia perhaps

Grateful you reached your destination safely after a such a long journey

Beautiful sightings so far

[PJL]

Just caught up here...great start to the trip. Wow, the grass is long! Wonder if there's any chance it will be a bit shorter in 3 days time when we get there!

There was more rain the day after we left, so I'm guessing the grass will still be high Flutts
However, despite the height of the grass, when you do get sightings we found them to be better quality than our last visit - probably because it's right out on the road next to you
Have a great trip

[Flutterby]

Thanks PJL!

[PJL]

love the Roller... european one with breakfast

and your little family

Thanks nan. Those European rollers are a bit of a pest as they chase away the other resident rollers

A pretty family, Peej! lucky fish.

The kudu could be twins, it does happen?

Why not put it up here and we can ask the experts?

https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=243&t=2747

I've certainly never seen two together so similar in age as that before... might be possible

Great family pic PJL

The rest are quality pics also as per normal

The rats are getting big Jezz, time flies

Thanks bushcraft... yep the kids are shooting up - yours too

Great family pic

The little kudus look very much like twins

Lovely pic of the roller

Thanks Lis. There were lots of rollers around on this trip... I think I only photographed them for a day or two then it got a bit repetitive

We soon became acquainted with the night time visitors and fell asleep to the roars of nearby lions - it was great to be back in the bush

Wonder why I got a lump in my throat when reading this sentence nostalgia perhaps

Grateful you reached your destination safely after a such a long journey

Beautiful sightings so far

I wish I could be back there right now mposthumus
Great to have you tagging along as well

[PJL]

April 1st Continued

D remembered seeing crocodiles on the edges of Nsemani dam from our previous visit and was keen to head that way in the afternoon so we planned a route along the H7 then up towards Timbavati and back. We were amazed how full Nsemani was - the banks which had previously had crocodiles were completely submerged! It's great that the park has filled up with so much water. I didn't take a pic of the dam this day, but you'll see it in a future installment

On the opposite side the the dam this woodland kingfisher caught my eye



Driving up the S40 it was still hot, but there was still some general game to be seen





There were yet more European rollers, as well as a few red-billed hornbill





Just to the west of Timbavati on the S39 there had supposedly been a lion sighting earlier in the day, so we figured we would drive a few km that direction to see if we came across a traffic jam trying to see lions flat out behind a bush, but there was absolutely no sign of any vehicles. Instead there was a lioness occupying the road



It was just her and a male lion, but from where we were parked he was hard to see so we drove past her into a position where we could see them both... how fantastic to have these 2 all to ourselves



Mr Lion kept a very close eye on us



Whilst Mrs Lion gave us some nice glances



I had anticipated what came next but was far too close to the lions to get decent photos as they crossed the road, and our change in angle didn't help either







The mating lions also generated quite a few questions from the rear of our car

Fairly soon they both settled down again. It had been brilliant to spend a good amount of time with them with not another vehicle in sight, so we decided to continue on our journey and leave them to some privacy

[Lisbeth]

Lovely hornbill photo and a great lion sighting

[Flutterby]

Awesome lion sighting.

[Twigga]

Super sightings so far PJL

The area around Satara will always be special to me, every visit I notice something new