Atlasville, 26 Aug 2006
Our daughter is visiting from the UK to make final arrangements for her wedding next March here in South Africa. Her fiancé is a South African whom she met in London. Her fiancé’s mother from Port Elizabeth is also staying with us. So we arranged a timeshare mid-week at Ngwenya Lodge to discuss the arrangements in a nice relaxed setting. This time, though, with the focus on the Kruger Park we made 3 day trips into the Park and a half-day on our last day, returning home yesterday evening. I wasn’t allowed to spend as much time stopping and admiring birds as I usually do!!
Our first day got off to a poor start, with a heavy mist shrouding the area north of Crocodile Bridge, as this photo of a giraffe shows. Thankfully the mist didn’t take too long to disperse and we had clear skies as we arrived at Lower Sabie, where the winter-flowering Impala Lily (Adenium multiflorum) was putting on quite a display. Moving north to Tshokwane we encountered Common Warthog, Chapman’s Zebra and Blue Wildebeest among others, while at the Tshokwane Picnic Site a very tame male Bushbuck moved around between the picnic tables. From Tshokwane we took the gravel roads down towards Skukuza, encountering a large bull elephant at Jones Dam. At Skukuza the Peters’s Epauletted Fruit Bats are still roosting under the thatch of the lapa outside the cafeteria. This one is fitted with a tracker. Heading back to Lower Sabie along the Sabie River Road we came across a pod of hippos. Sighting of the day, as were just 5 km from leaving the Park at Crocodile Bridge, had to be this male cheetah beautifully lit by a very low soon to be setting sun.
Only bird photos of the day were some common species that one tends to overlook most of the time – Laughing Dove, Dark-capped Bulbul (now regarded as a sub-species of Common Bulbul) , Hadada Ibis and Spur-winged Goose.
The following day we again entered at Crocodile Bridge and headed up to Lower Sabie on the main tar road where we came across this really cute baboon infant at Sunset Dam. From Lower Sabie we did something I wouldn’t normally attempt when stopping multiple times for bird photography. We headed for Satara Camp via the Muntshe Loop, Tshokwane, the Trichardt Road to Nwanetsi and the S100 road. Along the way we saw a Steenbok fawn and had a bit of roadblock with a herd of African Buffalo. On the return leg back to Lower Sabie we had a very close encounter with a large bull elephant and picked up Klipspringer at the always reliable spot of Nkumbe hill.
Only bird photo of the day was this Yellow-breasted Apalis at the Nwanetsi picnic spot lookout.
On our third full day it was yet again into the Park at Crocodile Bridge but this time striking west along the Crocodile River Road, then along the Bume Road to Mpondo Dam and the Randspruit Road via Renosterkoppies Dam to Skukuza, a decidedly uninteresting morning to this point. From Skukuza we headed for Paul Kruger Gate, calling in at Lake Panic Hide, turning off just short of the gate onto the Sabie River Loop, then cutting back south onto the main Doispane Road from Pretoriuskop to Skukuza, where at last there was something to photograph. Not one of the ‘Big Five’ though, with which I am sure you are familiar – elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and buffalo. No this was one of the ‘Little Five’ – Elephant Shrew, Ant-lion, Leopard Tortoise, Rhino Beetle and Buffalo Weaver. Bypassing Skukuza Camp we carried on towards Lower Sabie where we watched a Nile Crocodile at Sunset Dam trying his luck at catching one of the drinking impala – he didn’t get remotely close to achieving this. I can honestly say that this was one of the poorest game viewing days I have ever had in the Kruger Park.
I did manage a few bird photos though. Red-capped Robin-Chat at the filling station in Skukuza Camp, a Black-crowned Night Heron at the Lake Panic Hide, Southern Ground Hornbill both male and female near Skukuza, a Grey Heron at Sunset Dam and best photo of the day, as on the first day just 5 km from leaving the Park at Crocodile Bridge, a Tawny Eagle.
On the final morning we entered the Park at Malelane Gate, then to Afsaal via Berg-en-Dal, on to Pretoriuskop Camp then out of the Park at Phabeni Gate. A repeat of yesterday’s poor showing was only slightly rescued by a sighting of Tsessebe near Afsaal and a small flock of Brown-headed Parrot in the Coral Trees just inside the entrance gate at Pretoriuskop Camp.
