At this moment we are in White River with a very old and good friend of Natalies - Tina Aponté and Eli. We leave for Johannesburg tomorrow. We chatted to a gallery this morning which was very positive in Casterbridge about my birds. Lets see what happens? There may be a chance that we go to Zambia for two nights on Wednesday? Who knows?
It has been a super trip so far - being back at Kirkman's Kamp was very special. Thank you Duncan, Catherine, Richard and Ndumiso and all the staff for making our trip so great. Richard, our ranger is training at present but will make a wonderful guide in the future. Great to see Steph and Marcus - what an adventure you have to look forward to!
We had some incredible sightings - a male leopard stalking some young waterbuck which at the last minute was thwarted by a breeding herd of elephant that picked up the scent of the predator and came crashing through the bush towards the leopard and us - a speedy departure for us all!
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| A male leopard looking intently at a group of waterbuck |
It is amazing to me that you see a lot of White-fronted bee-eaters in the Kruger and then you don't see as many on Kirkmans which adjoins the park. This one that we found was basking in the glolden glow just before sunset! I missed an opportunity that a photographer dreams about - early one very cold (5°C) morning when the sun was just coming up and the mist heavy - that brilliant light we all know if you have been to the bushveld - there infront of our room on a branch were 10 Little Bee-eaters huddled together seeking warmth. The tiniest scrape of the door was enough to send them all zooting in every direction! Some profanities so early in the morning had to be the beginning of a great day!
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| White-fronted Bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) |
On our second last drive - a bit panicked that we were not going to see the lttle cubs again, requested the ever patient Richard if we could please follow up on them. They were located by another vehicle on Kingston in a dry river bed - the two large males we had seen previously, 4 lionesses and the 3 cubs on a buffalo carcass. What more could we ask for? The males, being a coalition of two brothers - one being more dominant with the females and the other being more over the food would not let the lionesses get anywhere near the food that they had infact killed, but would let the cubs. There was some great interaction between the different relationships within this group of lions. This was the first time the cubs would have tried meat.
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| Two of the cubs overwhelmed by the smell of delicious buffalo |
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| The bold little male cub in the glory of late afternoon sun |
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| A lion cub getting a good clean |
We were sitting at a water hole watching a hippo when we heard this wierd sound - could not quite make the scraping out so we went to investigate across the drainage line in an open area. There we found four rhino; a big male, a female and her old calf and then a sub-adult were running chasing each other - mock fighting, turning around and running in circles. All seemed very excited. They have a bounce, almost a trot to their step. It was something I have never witnessed before. It really is a huge armored tank of an animal that moves at incredible speeds. I wish more poachers got in their way!
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| Four over excited rhino together - mock fighting and chasing eachother. |
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