Enjoying The Kruger Without Staying In The Park

[ExFmem]

So many atmospheric scenery shots I must follow your lead and "look at the bigger picture" in the future.

The ellies are always entertaining, and I love the mud baths. You are getting some really decent Roller shots there, young woman.

The ducklings and waterbuck youngster are adorable, and the Open-billed Stork pics are quite lovely as well.

I totally agree about the Fever Trees - such enchanting colors, I almost expect little fairies to be hovering around, or dwarfs dancing in a ring around the trunk.

[Lisbeth]

Engelhardt Dam looks only nice when you manage to keep the concrete out of the photos

But generally the scenery was rather pretty - lots of colours, especially the fresh green and the deep blue.
And I also like the colour of the earth in some pix as it reminds of the red sands

Good variety of game and birds too

Not entirely sure what my favourite photo could be, but I lean towards your first fever tree photo

The concrete is what makes it a dam and must be shown if you want to tell a story with some facts (I also hate the concrete in nature )

Tons of great scenery, Lis!

My favourites are the hippos out of the water, always nice and unexpected!

I was very surprised to se the hippos grassing happily under the sun

Nice ellie shots and at least there were lots of birds to keep you entertained!

Thanks goodness for the birds

Wow love the different animals and birds

That dam has plenty water in

We haven’t been to that hide for ages

The hide did not offer much, but was nice and cool

WoW Lisbeth,

really love the variety of birds you saw and love especially the shots from the openbilled and yellow billed storks

The landscape shots you took whilst travelling in that area are amazing and makes me wish to return right now

and then on top those bathing ellies - Simply totally Kruger - Sigh

Thank you Pumbaa! You were in the Park at more or less the same time

So many atmospheric scenery shots I must follow your lead and "look at the bigger picture" in the future.

The ellies are always entertaining, and I love the mud baths. You are getting some really decent Roller shots there, young woman.

The ducklings and waterbuck youngster are adorable, and the Open-billed Stork pics are quite lovely as well.

I totally agree about the Fever Trees - such enchanting colors, I almost expect little fairies to be hovering around, or dwarfs dancing in a ring around the trunk.

Yes, the fever trees radiate a fairytale atmosphere Thank you for the "young woman"

The tree above is a Baobab

Engelhard dam is usually quiet and a nice spot. Is it also on the to be blown up list?

The bird hide view is very pitoresque

Thank you for confirming the Baobab

I did not meet a car during the whole round trip on the S62. Don't know about the dam

[Lisbeth]

It was now some time that I had been thinking of going further north in order to change the scenery and the day before I had booked two nights at the Shingwedzi Camp. Unfortunately, the weather forecasts were rather discouraging, but done was done and I had to get the best out it so on a Wednesday morning I left Phalaborwa heading north.

Shortly after the gate a Steppe Buzzard

At the viewpoint just before the bridge across the Letaba on the H14

Ellies in an almost dry riverbed

A Southern Grey-Headed Sparrow

From the access road to Mopani:

A lonely Elephant

And a couple of tsessebes

The common tsessebe or sassaby is one of five subspecies of African antelope Damaliscus lunatus of the genus Damaliscus and subfamily Alcelaphinae in the family Bovidae. It is most closely related to the topi, korrigum, coastal topi and tiang, and the bangweulu tsessebe and bontebok in the same genus. Wikipedia

Mass: 110 kg (Adult) Encyclopedia of Life

Scientific name: Damaliscus lunatus

Gestation period: 238 days

Trophic level: Herbivorous

Conservation status: Least Concern (Population decreasing)

I stopped at

for breakfast, which I cannot recommend

At least there was a bit of wildlife

A praying mantis

A pin-tailed whydah

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And a Woodland Kingfisher which took me by surprise when it hit the window luckily without consequences

I also took a photo of the Three sculptures which I find rather interesting

[Lisbeth]

I was back on the road rather quickly and reached

Which was completely empty

Unfortunately nothing made me stop before

Finally appeared some animals even if only elephants; they love water and mud and I love their antics

Bye,bye

As empty as all the other waterholes

Unfortunately there wasn’t much around, but arrived at Red Rocks there was at least the scenery. A little more sun would have been nice, but at least it was not raining......yet

It is all much prettier in three dimensions though

The sign is deplorable in any number of dimensions

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[Klipspringer]

Going north is a good idea, even on a rainy day

I love the up side down hanging Common Green Mantis (Sphodromantis gastrica), cool photo!

[Lisbeth]

Red Rocks was not completely without life

European bee-eater

Playing with the colours

Something alive, a three-banded plover

An empty trunk. Not even a tail showing

Aha, there are animals in the north

Somewhere along to the River Shingwedzi

Mammals!

Roadblock

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[Alf]

An empty trunk

Yeah you going north

Did the deck at Mopani collapse like the breakfast

Lovely variety of animals

[Lisbeth]

The trees can be fascinating and a great hiding place

A nice herd of elephants appeared along the road

This vulture is the only one of which I have taken a photo and I do not remember to have seen many others, one or two in flight, but that’s all

In the river bed of the Shingwedzi there was a lovely group of female waterbucks. The male was on the slope

Finally I discovered why the females were all grouped on the wrong side of the river

All the time the swifts were behaving like spitfires doing an acrobatic show.

IMG_3345.JPG (57.05 KiB) Viewed 144 times

[Lisbeth]

In the meantime, the weather had started changing and some menacing clouds were building up

The waterbucks were still there, but the male had descended in order to see what was happening

The croc was still around

I left them with their problems as I wanted to do the low-water bridge before the rain arrived

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Great Egret

IMG_3357.JPG (293.05 KiB) Viewed 143 times

Little Egret

IMG_3359.JPG (211.38 KiB) Viewed 143 times

Juvenile yellow-billed stork + hamerkop

IMG_3362.JPG (207.79 KiB) Viewed 143 times

But the crocodiles were not far away

At this point I had arrived, before the rain, and went to check in at the Shingwedzi camp i.e. I had to wait for quite some time, because the employee was very busy chatting with the ones from the shop. If I had known that it was her, I would certainly not have waited for so long . She had seen me coming and looked at me, so I could not imagine that she was the one at the reception

Tomorrow is another day

[Richprins]

A wide selection again, Lis!

Lovely colours and summer scenes!

Ja, animals are sparse enough in the North without recent rain and water in the veld!

Plenty birds, though...a bonus!

And clouds!