Mavimet's Weblog

A little camp resident, a Bushbuck was my first sighting again today.  I headed over to the viewing area at the restaurant to watch the sun rise before heading out and saw both the Bushbuck and a Vervet Monkey.  The Bushbuck would not stay still long enough for a picture in the low light, but the Vervet seemed happy to oblige (amazingly enough).  A Saddle-billed Stork landed in front of the viewing area to give me 3 sightings before leaving.

I stopped at the high-water bridge to get out soon after leaving and saw Egyptian Geese, Blacksmith Lapwing, Black-wing Stilt, Ruff, Black Crake and Cape Turtle Dove.

Other sightings for the day include Waterbuck, Impalas, Elephants, Wildebeest, Zebras, Warthogs, Giraffes, Ostrich, Cape Buffalo, Slender Mongoose, Fork-tail Drongo, Oxpeckers and Tsessebe.  I’ve never heard of Tsessebe before, and they are not even in the book I have but the expects on Kruger’s Facebook page have identified them for me. There were a lot of swallow type birds flying around in one spot, but I can not figure out what they were.  They appeared to be all dark, except for a white rump.  They were flying too fast to get a picture.

Some of the Elephants provided some excitement, with a large breeding herd crossing the road in front of me.  I gave them plenty of room, just like the vehicle on the other side of them, but the police decided to go through.  They parted for their vehicle, but I wouldn’t have done that.  Later on a couple of very large bulls were close to the road.  One on the left and one on the right.  The huge one on the left decided to cross over to the right.  Again, I gave plenty of room.  Then he decided to walk along the road, so I stayed put – he was heading the opposite direction, but I wasn’t about to pass him – he was huge!  Finally he decided to complete crossing the road and I went by him.

I have no idea what the temperature was this afternoon, but I finally closed the windows and turned the air conditioner on.  I hated missing out on the sounds, but it was just too hot.

I ended the day watching a bunch of little squirrels running around, mating and just having fun.  I assume they are tree squirrels, since they climb trees – but they do spend more time on the ground than in the trees.  I also saw the bats all take off for their evening of feeding.

I gave right of way to this big guy.  🙂

Continued here.

Click here to start at the beginning of the trip instead of reading backwards.  🙂