Flavour of the Month: October / November 2017 - S50 Kanniedood Dam Road - Shingwedzi-Mopani Dirt Road

[Lisbeth]

I have that one. Not very important anyway.

[Richprins]

It IS important...guests need to see!

[Lisbeth]

Nan can see it, so maybe also the others. After all it is only one video. From whom by the way?

[Flutterby]

I have Adobe Flash and also can't see either. I get a message that this type of file can be harmful to my PC!

[Richprins]

A pic of Grootvlei Dam dated 7/7/1988

The biggest herd I've ever seen, this is only a small part.

[Flutterby]

Nice old pic.

[Richprins]

From a 2012 aat story:


https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... 3&start=10

Passing Tihongonyeni waterhole (new version) …no tuskers… mhhhh , so taking the old main road trying out my luck there…. no way…. Getting later and later, 16:15 and decided to go back… then suddenly at the right side of the road… a lion ? :big_eyes: mmmhhh no.? yes.. ! Lions are not that common here … at least not for us… have seen them a few times but not that often. Nobody around , just me and them… stopped the car , opened the window and camera ready…
What happended was special. First I saw a lioness walking through the grass

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At the right side of here I just could see two cubs walking away and hiding in the grass.. being invisible for me.
The lioness was also hiding a bit… her head just a bit visible

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At that moment I was happy to see the lions but a bit sad I almost could not see them… so nothing else to do and started talking to the lioness… saying stupid things like “hello… where are your babies… , please come closer and show your cubs…, will skip all other words :redface: :redface:

After some time, 20 minutes later moms moved a bit towards me and was making some sounds…calling ?
Yessssss…. Did my talking help, :hmz: I will never know, but it looked like mom trusted the situation and called her cubs to show them to me.. :dance: :dance: Proud mothers like to show their babies isn’t it..? The cub was still looking unsure… :doh:


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And then a lovely show started…. :lol:
Looking at this picture I am moved again… remembering this special moments..

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Proud mother and curious child… :k

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Moms taking care doing a cat-wash… My feelings at that moment… was watching them saying ohhhhh and wowwww to myself…. Such a private show … only possible in the north I guess… :whistle: :whistle:

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The cub was so curious… looking at me almost all the time… maybe first “vehicle / humans” for the cub ? :hmz:

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About 5 minutes later , just when I was looking around for the other cub nr 2 showed up :dance:

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Both cubs were exploiring the area around their mother and she was looking at me with eyes like… aren’t they lovely ? I answered Yes… they are ! :thumbs_up:

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Cub back to mother… still looking curious… what’s that clicking I hear…? :cam:

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The other cub laying in the grass a few meters from mom was curious too… so two staring cubs… I really was enjoying this sighting sooooo much… 8) 8)

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And finally…all 3 together for a few seconds

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Then suddenly the lioness decided to move on and crossed the “old main road” in front of me

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and followed by her cubs… this one gave me last curious look :D

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Like cubs normally do… playing a bit…

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A last view on them before they moved into the thick bush at the other side of the road…

When I moved on I was impressed for a long time… the lioness showing her cubs because she thought it was safe… , I felt happy and lucky and thinking… the lioness could disappear to the other side into the high grass and hide…but she did not…

[Richprins]

From a 2013 Heksie Report:

Day 5… exploring Shingwedzi

We woke up this morning all bright and ready, we were in a bit of a rush yesterday as we had to get somewhere but today we decided to take a chilled-out drive and get to know the area of Shingwedzi. We also decided to save a bit on petrol and share Wendy’s Jimny. We packed the car with the essentials, made a fresh cup of MMC and then to set out into the unknown. Just before we left the camp I had to take a pic of the full moon…



The first thing we saw this morning was a marabou stork



And then a Shingwedzi sunrise



Our route that morning was the S50, I just love any route next to the river of some kind. It bring a calmness to a person (now except he H4-1, always too busy for me). We wanted to see kanniedood dam and the two birdhides on this road. The first sighting on this road was a highlight for us two. We drove every single loop and the second one we took we heard this weird sounds, we searched the trees for these sounds and then we spotted three Verreaux Eagle Owls. A lifer for me… each made their own distinct sound which was a first thing I saw as well. We stayed with them for about 20 minutes.





Now for you birders out there, this road is fantastic for you as we saw a lot; Goliath Heron, Yellow-billed storks, darters, grey hornbill, Ground hornbill, great egret, white-fronted roller, Woodland Kingfisher



Grey Heron



Red-billed Firefinch



And then the highlight of my day, I was looking and hoping for this sighting for almost a year now, this bird flew past us and I almost had a excitement-fit. A lifer for me-> broad-billed Roller, we were swooning over this bird for about half an hour, just taking pics when Wendy commented that tent to one a leopard passed us and thought to himself that we are crazy birders…



Some other sightings on our drive were:











Something you don’t see very often is an extra looong around the tree bending nyala



Another sighting of a Verreaux...



And more buffs



Now this was a different sighting for us both, not anything we have seen in the park… a white/albino impala ram

https://www.africawild-forum.com/viewto ... =46&t=3021

[Richprins]

A more recent leachy pic of Grootvlei Dam:

[Richprins]

And broken Kanniedood Dam: