10 November 2015
A start of the
day as daylight broke and we were told about a pack of wild dogs not far from
Skukuza. We followed the tip and it paid off. We found a pack of about 15 wild
dogs snoozing at the side of the road. And they weren't alone. Three spotted
hyenas were hanging around hoping the wild dogs would get up and kill something
so they could be lucky with some leftovers. But while we were watching them
they didn't move much. Just the twitch of the ear and the occasional raise of a
head, but nothing else. They were either tired or feigning it to throw the
hyenas off in the hope they would give up. Still, finding wild dogs is always a
great sighting as they are so rare. And this was a great sighting as they were
right next to the road!
Another
highlight was being at the right place at the right time when two male lions
walked out of the bush. They paused a little bit when they noticed all those
people in cars watching them. But then decided to cross anyways and continue
walking on the other side. Within 30 seconds they walked through the bushes and
within a minute they were completely hidden from sight! We got some nice
pictures in the short time span though :-).
Other
interesting sightings: kudus, vervet monkeys, zebras, two sightings of nyala
females and males, plenty giraffes, warthogs, a leopard, a herd of elephants, a
large herd of buffalos, hippos, more lions, waterbucks, a tree agama, a sable,
blue wildebeest, elephant bulls, white rhinos, baboons, side-striped skink,
more spotted hyenas and lots of impalas.
Birds included:
a giant kingfisher, an african finfoot (an ever first for me!), blacksmith
lapwings, african jacanas, grey go-away birds, Burchell's starling,
white-bellied sunbird, yellow-billed hornbill, red crested korhaan, green
woodhoopoes, white-backed vultures, hooded vulture, bateleurs, marabou storks,
an african fish eagle, brown snake eagle and a lilac breasted roller.
On their sunset
drive the guests saw the same leopard but further away and quite obscured by
bushes, southern ground hornbills, a leopard tortoise, a scrub hare, elephants,
white rhino mother and youngster, a glimpse of a lesser bushbaby and a
hyena.
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