A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Park*

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Dewi
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

Post by Dewi »

Just caught up at last STF. Phew. Missed the flaming train and had to flag down a passing donkey cart.

Great sightings & pics so far. \O ^Q^

The "Steppe" Eagle is a Tawny. \O As far as I am aware, Steppe have not been recorded in the region in August. Almost all the ones that do get as far as SA are juveniles, which would show white edges in the wings and would not be as streaked as your bird. Gape is variable - have a look at the pale bird on top in your other pics. Adult Steppes are usually found much further North in Africa. \O

Agree with others on the Brown Snake-eagle. \O

The Firefinch looks like Red-billed to me? (Check out the leg colour). \O

Cannot wait to see what is coming up. 0() 0() 0()


Dewi

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steamtrainfan
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

Post by steamtrainfan »

Dewi wrote:Just caught up at last STF. Phew. Missed the flaming train and had to flag down a passing donkey cart.

Great sightings & pics so far. \O ^Q^

The "Steppe" Eagle is a Tawny. \O As far as I am aware, Steppe have not been recorded in the region in August. Almost all the ones that do get as far as SA are juveniles, which would show white edges in the wings and would not be as streaked as your bird. Gape is variable - have a look at the pale bird on top in your other pics. Adult Steppes are usually found much further North in Africa. \O

Agree with others on the Brown Snake-eagle. \O

The Firefinch looks like Red-billed to me? (Check out the leg colour). \O

Cannot wait to see what is coming up. 0() 0() 0()
0/* 0/* Hi Dewi. I was so worried that we had missed you but I could not keep the train waiting. Glad the donkey cart caught up and to have you on board.
Thanks for clarifying the Steppe Eagle - the long pants and gape had me thinking Steppe.


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steamtrainfan
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

Post by steamtrainfan »

SUNDAY 18 AUGUST - LOWER SABIE TO TAMBOTIE. Part 1/3

As Joe and Yvonne were at Skukuza and would take the H1 and H2 to Tshokwane we decided to take the roundabout route via the H10 and with luck meet them there for breakfast.

Dawn from our hut at Lower Sabie.
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Our first sighting was this guy at the low level bridge just outside Lower Sabie.
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Followed by this swallow.
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Further along the H10 Joan got this Bataleur with what looks like a Dark-capped bulbul doing a high speed flypast.
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A rear end view of Black-shouldered kite hovering.
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As he would not turn around Joan took another rear end view because the sun looked good on him.
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Driving through the koppies we saw this lovely klipspringer who posed so nicely for us.
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This little chap also wanted his photo taken and posed for Joan.
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On the final leg to Tshokwane a very co-operative LBR. Still trying to get a good shot of one in flight.
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We had some breakfast at Tshokwane. I can now see why Cow and Hawkeyes got so sick after eating a chicken mayonnaise saamie. The birds fly in and out of the kitchen and even roost in the kitchen. End result - more bird poo than cream in the mayonnaise. So we ate Corn Flakes and skipped the toasted sandwich.

H1-3 TSHOKWANE TO NKAYA PAN.
After 45 minutes still no Joe and Yvonne so we trundled on up the H1-3.

Very quiet drive up until we saw this waterbuck at Kumana Dam.
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Every time we travel this road, up or down, we pop in to see if we can see the "resident" leopard at the southernmost baobab. Once again no sighting. I am beginning to doubt if there is a leopard there.

Popped in to Nkaya Pan.

A dagga boy.
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Egyptian goose, grey heron and a kori bustard.
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A close up of the kori bustard.
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There were also two crocodile lying low in the water nose to nose. No photo.

The some impala came down to drink and we saw the one crocodile swim very slowly toward them and then disappear beneath the water. :-? :-?
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NEXT: ACTION AT NKAYA PAN.


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steamtrainfan
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

Post by steamtrainfan »

SUNDAY 18 AUGUST 2013 - NKAYA PAN

We had only been at the waterhole for about 3 minutes when suddenly the water exploded and Joan started clicking away. We have the chosen which we think are the best 15 photos out of 22. Unfortunately most of the action took place beneath the water. Here is our record of our lifer. Doubt if we will ever witness such an event again.

There were only two cars there, ours and another, and the other guy did not have a camera. He has asked us to e-mail the photos which we have done.

No comment necessary. All I will do is put the time as per recorded on the camera above each photo to give you an idea of how fast it was. The pics have been heavily cropped as Joan was using her 500mm lens and was on quite a wide angle as she did not know where or when the action would start.

11:31:29
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11:31:29
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11:31:29
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11:31:29
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11:31:30
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11:31:30
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11:31:30
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11:31:30
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11:31:31
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11:31:33
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11:31:35
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11:31:37
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11:34:57
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11:40:26
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Finally at 11:54:26
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An interesting point to note is that the hippo did not move during all this commotion.

NEXT: We move on up the H1-3, H7, S106 to Tamboti.


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steamtrainfan
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

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SUNDAY 18 AUGUST - PART 3/3 - NKAYA PAN TO TAMBOTIE.

Headed straight up H1-3, did a left turn into H7 and then the S106 detour as the H7 road here is still closed after the January wash away. BC was right, this road was in shocking condition. Joan and I call this type of road a T.W.. Try and work that out.

Still at a Nkaya Pan - it only took 10 minutes from the time of the kill for the vultures to start arriving.
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While waiting to see if anything further would develop we watch two young warties wrestling.
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At the Sweni River bridge we saw these buffalo having a dip.
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Nothing much more until we got to Nsemani Dam. We were on the left hand side of the road looking for the resident leopard but everybody else was parked on the right hand side. We moved to our right to get to the left hand side of the road facing on coming traffic and could not work out what people were looking at. Eventually we spotted this male lion fast asleep among the bushes. We were quite excited as this was the closest we had seen lion since we arrived. We waited a while but he was sound asleep and not going anywhere soon.
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At Rabelais Pan Joan got a lovely shot of a fish eagle who posed ever so nicely for us before flying off into a tree. He was sitting there staring into a small puddle. Quite what he was looking at we could not see.
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On the S106 just beyond Rabelais Pan there is small dry river with a donga on the right hand side with water in it. Flutterby I think this is where you shot your video of the ellie trying to get into the road and the responding sound effects from within your car.

We were lucky enough to see ellies drinking and buffalo lying around.
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Back on the H7 an ostrich and a southern ground hornbill.
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After checking at Tambotie we made a braai and the waited for the nightly raider. Spot on time he came waddling up the path from Tent 3 towards us. Sorry about the quality of the pics but my little pocket camera does not like night photography.
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He walked right past us, ok we were a little bit higher than he was as we were on the deck of the tent, and headed for our dustbin.
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We were amazed at the ease with which he opened the so-called baboon/honey badger proof dustbin lid. I was clicking away but through the small screen I could not see what I was photographing and the flash was firing like a machine gun. The honey badger suddenly jumped out of the dustbin, looked at us, nodded his head up and down a few times and then ran towards us at a pace that belies his size. Joan and I both scrambled for the door at the same time, me trying to push her out the way and she was pushing me out the way as I had bolted the door shut. O/ O/ Try and open a bolted door when you are in a serious case of panic mode with visions of those claws ripping into your tender legs. We eventually we got the door open, charged in, slammed the door shut, and collapsed into each others arm shivering and shaking with excitement or was it fear? How we both squeezed through that door at the same time we will never know. In the meantime the honey badger had run under our tent and not onto the deck to attack and ravage us. It was only after an hour that we started to laugh about the situation and collapsed into bed with the adrenalin rush starting to slow down.


NEXT: Morning - H7 to breached bridge +- 18 kms and return. S106 to Rabelais Pan and return. S140 for +- 10km and return.
Afternoon - H7 to breached bridge and return - not much else to do.
This episode is going to be in four parts due to the variety of sightings.


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steamtrainfan
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

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MONDAY 19 AUGUST CORNER H7 AND TAMBOTIE ROAD 06:40 TO 06:55.

Here we met 3 magnificent male lions. We spent the most wonderful 15 minutes riding beside them. This whole chapter is devoted to them.
Unfortunately the weather was lousy and overcast so the photo conditions were not condusive to good photos. Our apologies for so many pics of these magnificent three but it is not often that one gets to spend 15 minutes with such a close encounter.

First this guy peeped around the corner at us.
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Then started to walk past us.
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This one looked at Joan and licked his lips after which Joan promptly closed her window.
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They were spread out and did not agree to our request for a group photo.

They then crossed the road where the bush was a lot thinner - thank goodness.
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NEXT: We move on down the H7.


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steamtrainfan
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

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MONDAY 19 AUGUST 2013 PART 2/4 07:11 TO 09:24. H7 TO BREACHED BRIDGE AND RETURN TO TAMBOTIE.

Not very much to be seen as we trundled down the H7 to the bridge construction sight - we never ever saw any one working on the bridge.

A giraffe in a nice setting and early morning light.
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A steenbokkie posed nicely for the camera.
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Some monkeys using an old nest as a grooming parlour.
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A southern ground hornbill patrolling the H7.
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Mom and Dad vulture preparing the nursery.
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Back at the H7 and Tambotie Camp road junction we came across this fellow snuffeling around.
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He suddenly sniffed the air. Had those male lions made a kill nearby?
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We looked around and then across the road we were to see another interaction between a bird and an animal that we had never seen before.

This coming up next.


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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

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19 AUGUST 2013 - PART 3/4 - 09:25 TO 11:38 - H7, S106 TO RABELAIS PAN AND BACK TO S140 +- 10KM AND RETURN TO TAMBOTIE.

On looking around we saw this tawny eagle sitting an a low tree stump.
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This is what he was looking at about two metres away.
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Looking at the feathers lying around and in the jackals mouth Joan and I both assumed that the jackal had killed either the tawnys mate or chick.

We just wish that we had been around to see what actually happened.

However, we will never know.

Another pic of the tawny.
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The tawny then flew over the jackal, we thought that he might attack the jackal, and settled down to watch the jackal from the other side.
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Once the jackal had finished his meal the tawny flew off.

We then motored on down the S106 - nothing to be seen. At Rabelais Pan we had this francolin try and fly into the car. When we closed the windows he proceeded to fly onto the bonnet and peer at us through the windscreen.
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No more to be seen so we decided to motor down the S140. We did about 10km before turning around and headed back to camp. On the return trip we came across this road sentry.
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Back at camp we saw that our metal mesh cupboard had been raided. We had had a whole avo in this cupboard and this all that was left:
See that avo pip left on the lid of the plastic container. The avo was further back in the cupboard where we thought it would be out of reach. See also the scraps of avo skin lying around the base of the cupboard.
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The culprits footprints.
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Joan trying to make friends with a yellow-billed hornbill.
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NEXT: An afternoon drive along the H7 to the bridge and return and our first ........... sighting.


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steamtrainfan
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

Post by steamtrainfan »

Sorry, meant to ask if anyone had other ideas as to what bird the jackal was eating?

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Looking at the feathers lying around and in the jackals mouth Joan and I both assumed that the jackal had killed either the tawnys mate or chick.


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nan
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Re: A leisurely 13 day train trip behind steam to Kruger Par

Post by nan »

I don't think is the Tawny and no more the chick (who is almost as big as the parents)
Tawny is strong enough to fight with a Jackal... my opinion :o0ps:
maybe another bird (once I saw a Coucal was ate by... maybe a Jackal) :-?

good question \O


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