Lions On The Loose

[Lisbeth]

I have seen then fighting at the end of December

Your Snake Eagle is much better than mine

The heron with the raised hair looks very funny

Never seen so many crocodiles out of the water at Sunset Dam

You saw quite a lot of niceties

[PJL]

A lovely afternoon, Peej!

Very intelligent-looking baboon, I must say.

Never seen the heron with its hairdo like that!

And the giant turtles are there at Sunset still...they are huge and maybe you can zoom a bit?

Did you manage to have some tea?

We were also confused by the heron hairdo
No tea... some ice-creams though

Lovely uppercut shot of the Giraffes

The hornbills are such a "pretty" ugly bird with the long lashes

Wow that is lots of Crocs there

Uppercut... good one
Ground hornbills do at least provide a bit of entertainment when you see them. Often catching stuff along the way

That's plenty of crocodiles

That was the most densely packed section, but there were loads more stretching along the bank

We saw lots of giraffes fighting...do they also have a "rutting" season?

Lovely bird pics.

Maybe their rutting season is exceptionally long... like their necks

I have seen then fighting at the end of December

Your Snake Eagle is much better than mine

The heron with the raised hair looks very funny

Never seen so many crocodiles out of the water at Sunset Dam

You saw quite a lot of niceties

Thanks Lis

[PJL]

Heading back south we had found a nice herd of elephant drinking from the Sabie



We then came across our first predator sighting of the trip - a hyena



It was clearly a very shy hyena as it totally refused to look our way and continued parallel to the road well disguised in the long grass



We assumed that we would have better hyena sightings to come, so we continued on our way and dropped into the S130 as our detour south. At the first bit of muddy water there was a herd of impala thinking of drinking, including this nice ram



However he decided against a drink and was more interested in the ladies



The only other sightings were some kudu and the fun of watching some dwarf mongoose playing around. They proved to be tricky to photography what with being so small and the fading light







Our final sighting of the afternoon proved even more frustrating than the hyena. Just back onto the H4-2 there was a major traffic jam coming from the north at a drainage line crossing where a leopard was resting. As we had skipped round on the S130 we didn't have any kind of queue to face which was at least helpful, but the cat was so well hidden in dense bush that it really wasn't a decent sighting. It turned out to be a leopard and cub which would have been really great to see if the view had been any good. We took a very quick pic when it became clear that it was all going to turn into mayhem for a very poor visual and continued out the park. Nice to see some spots, but a shame they were hiding so much... the cub is on the left and the mother on the right in this pic

[Flutterby]

Nice ellie sighting. We always seem to see mongooses on the S130. Pity the hyena and leopard sightings weren't great, but at least you did seem them!

[Richprins]

Interesting that pan on the S130 is drying out already...it is a very nice spot!

A leopard is a leopard, so good sightings for a short trip, Peej!

[RogerFraser]

Like the Ellies with the little-un

Hyenas seem to be very good at staying in cover and parallel to the road

Don't think I would like to drink from that muddy puddle either

At least you still got to see some spots

[Lisbeth]

What about telling SANParks to cut the grass more often? Lots of sightings ruined by long grass

I like the elephants and they show so well

[PJL]

Nice ellie sighting. We always seem to see mongooses on the S130. Pity the hyena and leopard sightings weren't great, but at least you did seem them!

Ja it was good to see some spots - gave us hope for the trip

[PJL]

Interesting that pan on the S130 is drying out already...it is a very nice spot!

A leopard is a leopard, so good sightings for a short trip, Peej!

Would have been good with with some more water in that pan for sure!
A leopard is a leopard... and with a cub is 2 leopards. Good sightings indeed

[PJL]

Like the Ellies with the little-un

Hyenas seem to be very good at staying in cover and parallel to the road

Don't think I would like to drink from that muddy puddle either

At least you still got to see some spots

Those hyenas are naughty, but I agree that the S130 waterhole was more of a mudhole... can’t be nice
Spots are spots