Africa Wild

I am striking! too fast

Poor cheetah shot...not good enough, I'm afraid...

That hut looks familiar!

Dewi wrote:Eish, slow down BC.

Great leopard sighting.

The wood-hoopoes are engaging in allopreening. They do this as a social function which helps to keep the group together. It defines the hierarchy in the group and also helps in territorial defense. Great capture.

Nice family pic.

Can't slow down Dewi

Thanks for that info on the hoopoes I learnt something new

Alf wrote:A spotted spotty or the backside

And the luck continues

Yip, a spotted backside as we were too slow

Richprins wrote:Poor cheetah shot...not good enough, I'm afraid...

That hut looks familiar!

I will inform Hawkeyes that you weren't impressed

Yip, the hut is familiar

10th Skukuza

The weather still wasn’t great when we woke, so it was another 20 degree cloudy windy day, which was starting to irritate me, however RP had telephonically told me it was going to clear from around the 12th, which meant there was some warm light at the end of the tunnel.

This morning we planned to drive down to the S79 causeway and return to camp for breakfast, but the H4-1 was very quiet and by the time we reached the H12 bridge we hadn’t stopped for a single pic, so after a debate we decided to do the first 5km of the S30 which has been productive for us in the past.

A few km in we spotted 2 hyenas that were walking in and out of the road, so I slowly and quietly approached which I thought was the correct thing to do, but the 1 hyena didn’t spot us until we were 3m from him and then got a massive “skrik” and took off.

Eventually the hyenas realized that we weren’t going to cause an issue and calmed down enough for a few pics.





I turned just after the hyena and ducked back down the H4-1 towards the causeway, but Bushpig got in on the action minutes later with an Eagle Owl, ellies made an appearance in the riverbed and then a little further 2 cars were tracking a cheetah in the bush which turned into a mission as the cheetah was on patrol at pace, however we eventually managed a few pics each time it paused, but after 2 minutes it was out of sight.







There’s a particular area on the causeway where a leopard has been regularly seen for months, so when I spotted 2 cars stopped in that area I started chirping all in our car “Leopard, get cameras ready”, however when I stopped we couldn’t see anything and my clan thought I had gone mad.

The occupants of the 2 cars weren’t the social type and refused to even acknowledge our existence, but there was another car a little further on so we cruised over to them.

A very happy and excited lady greeted us “Hello, there’s a leopard lying down over there”, which got my hype going again; however we still couldn’t see it.

The lady then tried a “different” way of explaining

“Do you see the big green bush swaying in the wind in front of us?”

I thought this was about to follow one of the Cow’s “do you see the tree” explanations, but at the same time she went into a full blown Macarena dance in the front seat to illustrate the bush movements, which immediately set the rats off cackling in the back seat and I was battling to keep a straight face, however there was only one bush moving that way, so we quickly spotted the leopard.

She then kindly offered her viewing spot as she was moving off, so we thanked her profusely and pulled into her spot.



A few minutes later a buffalo pulled in so I got over excited again, because I thought the leopard would get up and move off, however it didn’t blink an eye and in fact went to sleep.





While this was happening another car pulled in next to us “What do you see?” I was concentrating on not missing any action in case the leopard bolted, so this left the Cow in charge of the explanation which started with “Do you see the swinging green bush over there” however without the Macarena demonstration it didn’t have the same result. Eventually the Cow got her arms going and they spotted the leopard, which by this stage was snoring, so we took a last pic and moved off so the new arrivals could have our spot.



The drive back towards Skukuza produced all the normal gang, but nothing new so we only pulled the camera out again on Alpha loop just outside Skukuza as a bushbuck was parking off next to the road.



Around the middle of Alpha loop we spotted an OSV and the one guest seemed excited and was pointing repeatedly, however the rest of the guests and driver/ranger seemed lost, so I just continued on, however 20m later I stopped as something didn’t feel right and that guest seemed overexcited, so I reversed back towards the OSV and just as I stopped 3m from them the Cow shouted “Leopard’s tail”.

A leopard was walking in bush next to the road, however all one could see was the tip of its tail every few seconds, so I slammed the car in reverse and roared up to a spot on the road where one can see better and seconds later the leopard showed himself.



To be continued

Superb!

I love the "Macarenha" story!

And leopard sleeping with buffalo!

What is your fuel budget on these trips?

Two leopards in a few hours ....and a cheetah

Incredible the "no reaction" of the leopard when the buff passed

Lovely eagle owl and bushbuck

With five sets of eyes you certainly don't miss much!

More great sightings! Still haven't seen a cheetah on the H4-1, or a leopard on the S79!! You guys certainly have the right stuff!