Africa Wild

Once you could be sure to see rhinos on a trip to the KNP, unfortunately this is no more the case

Lovely pics of the Klippies

Nice to see the Rhino .Don't think we saw any while the roads were closed

Love to see the tinyphants with the herds

Lots of stuff to see indeed, Pumbaa!

Love the klippies and the eagle interaction.

Interesting how quickly the rhino horns grow back...

Lisbeth wrote: ↑Thu Jun 29, 2023 11:27 am Once you could be sure to see rhinos on a trip to the KNP, unfortunately this is no more the case

Totally right and so sad

RogerFraser wrote: ↑Fri Jun 30, 2023 7:03 pm Lovely pics of the Klippies

Nice to see the Rhino .Don't think we saw any while the roads were closed

Love to see the tinyphants with the herds

Then we were indeed lucky with that sighting Last year when it was far dryer with nearly all roads open we had a couple of different rhino sightings

Richprins wrote: ↑Sun Jul 02, 2023 6:00 pm Lots of stuff to see indeed, Pumbaa!

Love the klippies and the eagle interaction.

Interesting how quickly the rhino horns grow back...

That day was a nice one not only the weather got far better but also the sightings were not that bad along the tar roads

All the elephants at this age are frantic or at least they predict they are against cars. My opinion is that they are more uncertain how to react. Nevertheless they are always entertaining but we keep always our distance.





Besides those teenager elephants the really small ones are the cutest especially with their fluffy hair on the head



and they always got such a special protection by the herd which is always wonderful to watch







and so we stayed with them as long as they were visible



and for sure we always do keep our distance.



After the elephants were gone we stopped for a group of very relaxed impalas and after all the rain the previous day where we mostly spotted birds it was fantastic now to spend time with them.





At the turnoff into the S113 a wildebeest was lying in the middle of the road obviously same was taking advantage of the road closure.



We reached again Kwaggaspan up to which we drove yesterday before we turned around and today we discovered in the small lake there an African jacana



and on the other side of the road in a dead tree a black stork.

Luckily along the tar road today there was a lot to be seen and we stopped for more impalas,





zebras,



a brown snake eagle in the distance and a red-billed hornbill.



At De La Porte we were happy that the river was extreme low at that day and we stopped there to capture one of the many hamerkops hanging around there



but a bit behind De La Porte there were road signs and we noticed that parts of the road where washed away. At least at that moment the road was drivable but in the long run same needed to be repaired.

Now we were happy about the short break at Skukuza but we stayed not that long and wanted to explore our magical square a bit at least the part of the square which was open at least a short drive into the direction of the Sabie causeway revealed that same still was flooded so we turned around but noticed a smaller loop which is leading away from the tar road closer to the Sabie which was not closed and for sure we turned into same only to turn again around a kilometer further as there you had to cross a small river bed which was for sure still flooded – Obviously they forgot to close the road as from the other side of the loop same was also open.

So we carried forward only to find us standing on the bridge across exactly the stream which could not be crossed and here we noticed in a treetop a bit hidden a giant kingfisher.



After a while we continued and stopped for carmine bee eaters,





a yellow billed kite,



and more impalas



with lots of oxpeckers



and luckily to even complete the Big 5 on that day a huge buffalo followed his buddy down to the river.



to be continued…………………..

Newly born tinyphant and as an extra also a cute little zebbie

Nice bird shots, especially the giant kingfisher

Lots of birdies again, Pumbaa!

Love the hairyphant, not that common to see!

Interesting they left the one road open by mistake, I'm sure it's not easy!