And then the rain set in or at dusk the bush comes alive

[harrys]

Nice birdies but those Lion cubs are too cute

[Peter Betts]

Great Pics of your trip

[Mel]

Lots of beautiful birds again! The squacco and the barbets are my favourites

But of course, hardly anything beats lion cubs of that size. How cute are they!

[Richprins]

WOW!!!!!

Well-deserved, Pumbaa, your detwermination always pays off!

Lovely cubs and so lucky!

My favourite is the wet dikkop, they look angry at the best of times, so I had to laugh!

[Flutterby]

Lovely birds and stunning lion sighting!!

[Sprocky]

Pumbaa, what a pleasure to catch up on your TT again! Great pics of awesome sightings.

[Pumbaa]

Thanks so much Lisbeth, Harrys, Peter Betts, Mel, Richprins, Flutterby and Sprocky for your magnificent comments and compliments

Thos Lion cub sighting was indeed the highlight of that day although must say the rest was also not that bad but sometimes one needs simply a bit of luck too

[Pumbaa]

The cubs presented themselves from the best and we even could take some comical moments - Such as this one



and one of them was a bit bugged by a small fly or something else





and started to catch same with its huge paws





whilst one of the other cubs needed a break.



We were so happy that mom decided to present her cubs to us as obviously the puddle in the veld were too large and they were not in the mood to get wet and so walked on the normally busy tar road.





Finally and as already expected car after car arrived and more too soon a traffic yam built up whilst we still had the pole position as we now could not move even forwards or backward and so they started to gather



and mom walked now straight into the bush



whilst her offspring unwillingly followed her - One of them even laid again down onto the road and was not willing to follow but finally



mom lioness drummed all the cubs together and disappeared into the bush.

[Pumbaa]

WoW - What magical 20 minutes this were and we were still thrilled about that wonderful sighting and so we were indeed not that unhappy that the rest of our drive until we again reached the low water bridge across the Sabie was completely quiet and to our surprise also this causeway was car-free and so we could park in one of those parking areas on the causeway - We again met a hamerkop



and today even a white breasted cormorant



was sitting on top of a tree and spread its wing



to dry same - Also this is one of the rarer birds we got to see in Kruger!



The great white egrets as well as little egrets were still hanging around there



and as still no other car was in sight we took also here shot after shot and we stayed as long as we could dare not to get back to camp too late





and as meanwhile the crowd of cars was about to arrive we tore ourselves away from the bridge



but not to forget to take a very last picture from one of the many hippos.



On our way back to camp which we still reached in time we only could discovered again a grouß of red faced mousebirds but they were so busy in flying from bush to bush that we could not take any decent shot but what for a day we just experienced with wonderful sightings despite the rain and this was once again the proof that also around a busy camp such as Skukuza the sightings are in fact not that bad.

Our evening we spend with a wonderful braai on our verandah whilst the night sounds of the bush started to come alive.

Saturday, 17 February 2018 - Skukuza - Satara

Our explored roads: H11 - S1 - S65 - H1-1 - H4-1 - H12 - S36 - H7 - S12 - S40 - H1-4 - S100

Not only was today moving day but is was also half-time - The first part of our trip was over and as already experienced days seemed to move faster when the first part of the holidays is over. After we had packed everything together we for sure had to drive the S65 once again for the very last time during that trip but before we reached same we had to stop for a breathtaking sunrise.



Then an elephant bull had to be photographed



as well as a Wahlberg eagle,



a bateleur



and finally also a juvenile.



to be continued.....

[Flutterby]

How lucky were you with the lion cubs!

And then more lovely sightings of birds and other stuff.