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

[Flutterby]

You certainly saw lots of game.

[Lisbeth]

You saw a lot of little ones on this trip, especially waterbuck calves which are so cute

[Pumbaa]

The upside of catching up is that you get more episodes in one go and therefore it feels even more like riding through Kruger oneself
Facing the last moving day is always dreadful, but from the point of view at this time, it's not that awful anymore. Soon it'll be time to
go back again. February is just around the corner again!

What I loved most about the last entries was the lourie juggling the berry in its beak, the ever so cute waterbuck babies - never seen any
of that size. I don't think, I ever even saw any other pix of them like that. Totally adorable, naughty looking or not

And just now the zebra mum with its foal. A very touching pose

I don't think, I have to mention the birds anymore. I just continuously admire the sightings and photos

Thanks so much, Mel - I now try to pose more often as I intend to get this one finished before we depart - We will see whether this will work

[Pumbaa]

Too many fabulous pics to mention one-by-one, but the obvious standouts are the elephants crossing the river (classic!), the toy hippo (it was too teeny to be real) , the waterbuck kidlets, the calling fish eagle is not just a still photo, but brings with it the evocative sound of the bush, and the Yellow-billed storks who look like they are wearing lace or crochet pink shawls.

But being a bug lady , the Whip Scorpion is WAY too cool

Finally someone who is looking for creepy crawlers Wish one day we will be successful with our shots as you are

[Pumbaa]

Grand tusker, Pumbaa, wonder what its name is?!

And so nice and clean after rain...freshly-washed zebra!

I also like ostrich...there seem to be lots these days!

I posed the pictures of the tusker under the relevant topic now I also had the feeling of seeing indeed quite a lot of ostriches during that trip

[Pumbaa]

You certainly saw lots of game.

We in fact could not complain and especially the area around Mopani is always interesting

[Pumbaa]

You saw a lot of little ones on this trip, especially waterbuck calves which are so cute

They were indeed such cuties and never saw that much at such a young age as during that trip

[Pumbaa]

Mooiplas is also such a place where normally a lot is hanging around and we could have stayed there far longer but as it still was a long way to go and we even wanted to pay Shipandani hide a longer break we only took another picture from the zebras



and even more ostriches



before we stood in front of the causeway where already a car parked but we could not cross same as same was already occupied



and we were delighted first because there was still water flowing over the causeway and secondly because of the sunbathing crocodile, the yellow-billed stork, the grey heron, the black stork, the green backed heron and the hammerhead who blocked the causeway.



After we got our shots and after having asked the other vehicle whether we can pass we did so but what to say the crocodile did not move a single millimetre and stayed where it laid. Today we first left Shipandani hide behind and paid a visit to Pioneer hide which was indeed not that far. The view onto the dam was beautiful and on top we discovered a lot of different coloured dragonflies of all sizes extreme close by. We saw striped ones





and on top lizards of different shimmering colours could also be studied on the rocky area right in front of the hide.





There were so many dragonflies to be seen and when one flew away new ones landed on the same place as the one who just left.



Besides the striped ones



now purple and red ones arrived



and even complete red ones.

[Pumbaa]

As already said the view was also more than lovely and I loved to see that dam so wonderfully filled.



After we indeed spent quite a while there we left and when we left the parking area a kudu male looked extreme curious after us as we obviously disturbed him whilst feeding.



At Shipandeni hide Timon just discovered a juvenile diederik cuckoo and fired away



but there were indeed far more birds around as we spotted then another burchell’s coucal,



far away masked weavers and finally the diederik returned



and allowed Timon even more shots



and posed extreme nicely for us. To our delight we also spotted another black crowned tchagra who was busy in swallowing something green and yummy on the ground.



We noticed an uncountable number of crocodiles taking a sunbath



and a yellow-billed stork who just caught a far too large fish supervised by a grey heron.



We already spent far too much time in the hides and so we decided to carry on but for sure the causeway stopped us once again as now the green backed heron was willing to pose as well.



to be continued…..

[Richprins]

Great pictures and sunshine all round, Pumbaa!

I like how the birds are feeding in an orderly and disciplined fashion at the causeway!

Never been to those hides...looks great!