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

[Pumbaa]

Typical lions sitting out in the open when it rains ...Great to see Senegal Lapwings in the East on the clay soils ..They normally are found on the west around Orpen on Granite and especially Gabro plains at the turn off to Tamboti/Maroela camps on the H7

Senegal lapwings are indeed birds we do not see that often in the park when we are there

[Pumbaa]

Cut Throat Finches in Kruger ...AWESOME !!..The Robin is fairly common especially in well wooded camps etc

Also for us it was the first time seeing cut throat finches

[Pumbaa]

What absolutely unique sights, Pumbaa!





Amazing water behaviour, and yes, there is no way one should even think of going through a rapid causeway like that!

Love the muddy ostrich!

Gladly when the rain stops these rapid causeways have to stop at least eventually

[Pumbaa]

Wow, that was a lot of rain! And you still saw quite a lot of animals.

Yes but before the rain setted in it was indead extreme quiet animalwise

[Pumbaa]

That was some serious rain but part of the game especially in February

And on top the park needed the rain as it was compared to other trips extreme dry

[Pumbaa]

So much rain! But one has to love it, even if sightings slow down a little.
Just the feeling of the rain drumming on your car roof while being out on a drive - totally awesome

Wonderful sightings and great pictures over the previous episodes that I caught up on and followed quietly respectively, too

Although living in a normally very wet area in the world I never get irritated by the rain - I love it and rain in Kruger is WoW

[Pumbaa]

Meanwhile the rain stopped completely and the sun tried to made its way between all the dark clouds and even succeeded against them as it got sunnier and sunnier and to our delight we met a monitor



and same was grateful to us and posed extreme nicely



as normally these guys do cross the street and are no longer visible



and this one even showed us its extreme long tongue.



Far too early we were back at Satara but only after a short break we were again back on the track along the S100 and there we encountered a very miserable looking ground hornbill on top of a log trying to dry its feathers



more of them could be seen on the ground whilst this one was also sitting on a smaller log and took off.



Was this road earlier in the morning birdwise extreme quiet we now had more luck and we stopped for a couple of black storks on the ground,



a redbilled fire finch



and a troop of baboons was hanging mostly around on bushes



and enjoyed quality time with the family.

[Pumbaa]

Meanwhile it looked as if it had never rained only earlier that morning and wildebeest mom was busy



in feeding her little one



and more general game appeared on the road in form of zebras,



impalas already under a tree as the sun heated up again



and a very relaxed waterbuck male.



Another nice sighting already on the S41 into the northern direction was a very well hidden burchell's coucal



and a waterbuck lady.



to be continued.....

[Lisbeth]

The monitor looks quite big, but it is difficult to judge from a photo if you do not know how tall the grass is

Nice pics of the wildebeest and calf

Also some nice birds

[Mel]

Great again! All of it... well, minus the wildebeest… I get to see them often too.
Not the rest though! And the hornbill captures are particularly nice