Africa Wild

Flutterby wrote:Such a shame about Nkuhlu!! Great sighting of the Crowned Hornbill. Lovely sunset pics!!

Quite right about Nkuhlu and it gets worse, as you'll see in the next episode.

steamtrainfan wrote:Nice pics all round BT.

First time I have ever seen a crowned hornbill.

BluTuna wrote: I was happy to get a passable picture of it

Passable picture To me its flipping brilliant.

Thanks for the praise but the shot was taken into the light and I had to do some serious messing with the brightness and contrast to get the details visible.

Katja wrote:WOW, I've never seen a Crowned Hornbill Lake panic is always special and I remember well, that I didn't wanted to leave the hide anymore.... too interesting. Wonderful day again

Thanks Katja LP is quite a special place!

Crowned Hornbills are usually seen in or around riverine forests (I think).

Amazing WD piccies (although quite a few seem to be missing ) .

Great sighting of the pelicans at Sunset...never seen them there before!!

More troubles with food?!

I'm back in the land of the living after being KO'd by a nasty sinus infection and it's time to finish off this TT!

Day 3. Monday 28 July 2013. Sanbonani -> Home via Crocodile Bridge.

The end of the trip, there was no traffic jam at Phabeni Gate this morning so we entered there and were greeted by a wonderful sunrise.


A Hyaena cub patiently waits for Mom to arrive with breakfast.


Guess who else we bumped into?


The Alphas were still inseparable



And the rest of the pack were chilling







And playing (or "honing their skills" as our dog trainer puts it!)





Here's a very craggy looking Wartie.


A Giant Kingfisher on the Sabie Bridge


The clouds were thinning and the birds were using the thermals.


Just north of Lower Sabie, a pair of Giant Eagle Owls


Sunset dam produced some Pelicans


a picture containing 9 species! (Hippo, Crocodile, Yellowbilled Stork, Openbilled Stork, Spoonbill, Water Thicknee, Pelicans, Gyppo and Grey Heron)


and young Hippos honing their skills




Down the S28 and very little to see. Outside the hide, a pair of Yellowbilled Hornbills.


At Croc we were ready for breakfast but the kitchen there has been closed too! The reason given was the same as Nkuhlu, the kitchen license was not renewed by SANParks. BOO-HISS!

Is this a deliberate stategy by SANParks to try to force tourists into Wooden Banana? The only place in the south of the park where one can get a resonably priced meal is at Afsaal. We discovered that Afsaal is now run by SANParks and I suspect it is only a matter of time before the kitchen there is closed too. BOO-HISS SANPARKS! From now on I will be either heading out of the park for breakfast or I'll be cooking my own: I'll also be cooking my own evening meals more often.

So we exited the park hungry and headed home! (We stopped at Millys, they have raised their prices since March and their breakfast is now just as measly and even more expensive than WB's)

Flutterby wrote:Amazing WD piccies (although quite a few seem to be missing ) .

Great sighting of the pelicans at Sunset...never seen them there before!!

More troubles with food?!

WOW, you must have jumped in as soon a I posted that! I deleted it as soon as I saw there were pictures missing but you got in first!

The missing pictures have been fixed!

Yep, more trouble with food. I'm going to avoid Wooden Banana restaurants until they do something about their massively overpriced food.

poor BluTuna... I hope you are much better now

Pélicans at Sunset dam
magnificent Giant Eagle Owls... Wild Dogs and 9 species in one photo

what a wonderful episode

Man oh man - such amazing sightings. Pelicans at Sunset.

Wild dog family again.

It is such a pity about all the kitchens being closed..

awesome photo's BT, love the painted doggies
that wartie does look rather craggy -O -O -O