25 September 2015
This morning
started action pact with lots of sightings of animals we had seen in the last
days, but is always still a pleasure to see.
We were totally
surprised by a sighting of a hyena though that suddenly crossed the road while
we were actually watching a brown snake eagle. We drove closer and the lovely
animal was kind enough to pose for some pictures, before continuing to cross
the road and disappear into the distance.
But our
highlight of today was a sighting of two hippos this afternoon. For the first
time in forever we encountered two hippos in Shithave Dam, there where one
ruled the dam alone for a long time. One actually challenged the other and it
accumulated into lots of action of hippos fighting. Thoroughly cheered on by
the guests they kept on coming for each other multiple times, but when we left
the sighting it was still unclear who the winner was.
Other
interesting sightings: many zebras, waterbucks, impalas and kudus, a couple of bull
elephants, a lovely white rhino, a swimming crocodile, a family of warthogs,
giraffes, common grey duikers, two small buffalo herds, steenboks, common
reedbucks, dwarf mongooses and some new animals were added: blue wildebeest,
klipspringers and the silhouette of a lion sleeping behind a bush, and the
occasional tail flick.
And we saw some
new birds two: Wahlberg's eagle, a black shouldered kite hovering, grey heron,
groundscraper thrush, saddle billed stork, helmeted guineafowls (teasing the
crocodile in the water by drinking close by), three banded plover, blacksmith
lapwing, and a blackheaded oriole.
26 September 2015
Today we
satisfied our hunger for lions as we had two separate sightings of them. And
more fun than yesterday as in this case both times we actually could see the
entre lion and not just a silhouette or a tail flick.
Our first
sighting was a mating pair of lion quite close to the road. It was too hot for
them to even attempt mating while we were watching them so they were pretty
much just snoozing the whole time, but nonetheless we had a good look at them.
Our second sightings was a pride of at least 9 lions. They were a bit further
away from the road than our first sighting but they were in open terrain so not
obscured.
Occasionally
one of the lions got up and walked to a different comfy place to lie down,
which was usually between 1 and 5 meters away. There was actually a white rhino
lying close by, but neither species cared much for the other. Apparently it was
too hot to get bothered, but also in colder conditions these animals just walk
by each other. We thoroughly enjoyed both sightings!
Our second
highlight involved a herd of elephants and a waterhole. Most elephants were
happy to have a drink of water and by the looks of it they seemed to be
draining the waterhole. One youngster already had his fill and seemed in the
mood for a water play, so it kept sucking up water and spraying it up like a
fountain. It looked like he was having much fun, until the matriach told them
all to gather their things and be on their way.
Personally my
favorite so it deserves a special mention was our hyena sighting this morning.
First there was one, then two. And three. In the end there were five! One of
them a very heavily pregnant female and judging by the swollen tits, about to
give birth. There were zebras in the area and they had a look at them, but
decided against hunting them. Instead they took refuge in a shady drainage line
to rest for the day.
Other
interesting sightings: a bachelor group of zebras walking in front of us,
elephant bulls, buffalo bulls, giraffes, vervet monkeys, a steenbok,
klipspringers, two warthogs nice and close, impressive kudu bulls, impalas and
our new species for today were baboons and a giant plated lizard sunning
himself. New bird species included ground hornbills (new for some of us that
is), Burchell's starling, a bateleur sitting in a tree, grey hornbill and
yellow-billed hornbills
In the afternoon
the last remaining guests went on their sunset drive and this time they at
least could enjoy a lovely sunset with some amarula. It was a rather quiet
drive, but it was a great experience to see, or mostly hear, a large buffalo
herd noisily cross the road. As they had turned off the lights and it was
already dark, it explored the other senses more than just seeing it. Other
animals they saw were scrub hares, a family of bush babies and a black chested
snake eagle.
27 September 2015
It was our last
morning and what we really wanted was finding a blue wildebeest that was not
obscured by bushes so the guests could take a picture of it. Unfortunately we
didn't find any at all but the guests were happy with everything else
too.
In addition to
all the great sightings we already had this safari we had another two great
white rhino sightings. One of a couple crossing the road next to us and one of
a very large male in front of us. But were excellent opportunities for filming
and photographing. And after all the zebras we have seen so far, we finally
managed to find one that was willing to pose long enough to take a nice frontal
face picture!
Other
interesting sightings included impalas (even at the airport we couldn't get
away from them), buffalos hanging out with a warthog, giraffes and later a
special giraffe hiding behind a tree, so we saw just its feet, waterbucks,
elephants, steenboks, common reedbucks and this time there was only one hippo
again in Shithave Dam.
We also checked
some new bird species of the checklist: arrow marked babblers, red crested
korhaan, crested francolin, kurichane thrush and an african harrier hawk.
During this
safari I was one or multiple days joined by Ed, Pom, Ahn, Joanne, Nik, Christiane,
Mike and Kim and I hope they had a great time!! I very much enjoyed this safari
and safe travels to all, as all had to go back to your home countries. Maybe
we'll see you back one day
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