Brown Snake Eagle | Diary of an Adventurous Retiree

FRIDAY 2 APRIL 2012

Pretoriouskop is a lovely camp and we sat outdoors and braaied our supper last night. It was lovely to see the row of fires as our neighbours all did the same thing. A group of loud American tourists were next door and their guide came over to apologize for the noise. He promised it wouldn’t last long as they were all tired and would be going to bed early! We quite enjoyed hearing them joyfully recount the events of the day – they’d clearly had a good time.

Today was our last full day in the park. It has not been the most productive holiday game wise that we have had but we each day has had its special sightings. Earl and I are delighted that we have been able to find the Big 5 for the children and that many special creatures have been seen. The only thing left on our wish list was Wild Dog. We really wanted to show them these beautiful animals also know as Painted Wolves and Cape Hunting Dog. They are vulnerable and through conservation efforts have been brought back from the brink of extinction.

We took a long route via Lower Sabie to get to our final camp, Berg en Dal. Check in time is 2 p.m. so there is not point rushing straight there. The roads we travelled were rewarding.

Miraculously we had everyone dressed, fed and packed by 6 a.m. and Jay couldn’t resist taking a picture of the sunrise.

The periods between sightings can be long and boring for young children specially if they’re ADHD. Jay is fine once his medication kicks in but he is a natural clown and entertained his cousins by taking their stuffed toys and pretending they were ‘out to get them’. Poor Grandpa was very patient when Monkey appeared at his window while the kids collapsed in mirth.

But at a sighting the excitement was transferred to the real animals and they all competed for window space to get their photographs. Jay being the oldest and at the top of the pecking order managed to get the best ones as he shoved the younger ones out of his way!

Early on in the day we found a heap of buffalo. There were mothers with babies and young bulls fighting and the kids enjoyed watching it all happen.

Elephants also made a friendly appearance and Shannon shot this lovely shot of a young one.

And this one from Jay.

Giraffe were elegant as they browsed from the tops of trees. Today they were in the mood for a photo shoot.

Shannon was amused to see that not only does a giraffe have a very long neck – he has a tongue to match!

It was not even half past eight when we saw a bit of a traffic jam ahead and there on a rock lay a lazy leopard – our third for this trip! Its not often we seem more leopard than lion!

So then we had three of the big five for the day. All we needed were lion and rhinoceros – usually this is not difficult – but today was to be different.

We stopped at Lower Sabie for toasted sandwiches and continued our drive. We stopped when we saw interesting birds and the bee-eaters were really having a good time today.

We also found purple rollers and managed to take some good shots.

And Lilac breasted rollers are probably the most photogenic of all. Here is one with a gogga in his beak.

It was just before midday when we finally got the one animal we were hoping to see. Grandpa was felt that his mission was successful – he’d shown his grandchildren the best that Kruger could offer.

After this excitement we stopped at one of the picnic sites for a loo break and to get some ‘slushies’, ice cream and crisps.

A fourth member of the Big Five was spotted next. At first he refused to lift his head but finally we managed to get a good shot of him.

Other creatures we saw today brought us great joy. We are so proud our grandchildren enjoy the smaller stuff as much or even more than the Big 5 and mega stars of the bush. Josh is more aware of the creatures around him and asks questions about how they survive. Simon at only seven remembers the names of all the birds he has seen. Shannon is becoming quite a little expert and Jay is completely converted to conservation and gets mad when he sees bad behavour of other tourists in the park.

They have all enjoyed getting their pictures and here is a selection of what they captured today.

Magpie Shrike

European Bee Eater in flight

Brown Snake Eagle

Turtle in a mud puddle we nearly ran over!

European Bee-Eater

Lilac-breasted roller

We arrived at Berg en Dal at half past three. The kids went for to the pool and returned a little later saying that Simon had vomited in the pool – I think he swallowed some pool water because he was quite fine when they brought him back. “Jay saved me,” he declared.

We had a delicious chicken casserole that Lauren had made and frozen for us and after our ‘prize-giving’ it was early to bed. They were all winners – Jay for the most enthusiastic spotter. Shannon for naming the most birds. Simon for patience and quick learning of bird names and Josh for spotting birds that Gran really wanted to see. They were thrilled with the little puzzles, key rings, ‘canned lion’ and bath toys they won. Hopefully this is a holiday they will never forget. Grandpa and I certainly won’t.

FRIDAY 30 MARCH 2012

Earl was so exhausted last night that he could hardly eat so we decided to make a late start this morning. I thought this would mean – leave camp at about 9 a.m. but he was totally refreshed when we woke up and our ‘late’ start was at 6:30 instead of 5:30!

Although each day in Kruger has its special moments, some days can be slow with little game appearing. Yesterday was such a day and I knew that if we didn’t do something to keep the kids interested we’d have some rioting in the car. So we started straight away with the points for first sightings and the competition was on!

Our first excitement were elephants crossing in front of us – they’re a favourite with the kids although they get the adrenalin going when they get too close.

Then buck – not impala – a different buck – Jay called out in excitement – and there on the side of the road was a lovely Male Bushbuck – so different from the female they’d seen yesterday at Afsaal. That earned him 5 points as it’s not a common one to see.

Jay kept ahead with spotting birds and animals first but Shannon was better at naming them. Josh insisted that the people in front had an advantage but Jay still seemed to beat me to it. We laughed when he then insisted that it was because he was on the wrong side of the car.

Of course when he won 10 points for finding Granny a Marico Sunbird no mention of unfair advantages was made.

The competition certainly kept the eyes glued the bush and we saw lots of wonderful things in the time that it took us to travel from Skukuza to Nkulu picnic site.

Female Red-backed shrike with breakfast

Bad hair day for this hamerkop

Nkulu is on a river bank and we love stopping here. The only problem is that the monkeys are rather naughty and you have to be very careful that your breakfast isn’t stolen. Our attention was distracted by a green-backed heron on the opposite bank when our order was placed on the table. Fellow tourists yelled a warning when a cheeky Vervet snatched half a toasted cheese sandwich from Joshua’s plate!

He was horrified but placated when I offered him my chips and half a toasted chicken mayonnaise. Shannon told us she didn’t really like monkeys – they scared her and a large male must have sensed this as he actually threatened her with a grunt and a made a move toward her. Earl shouted and she hid behind me giggling nervously.

Cheeky monkey enjoying Joshua's breakfast

Jay is enjoying Nkulu's famous buffalo pie

As soon as we’d eaten we packed up left over buffalo pies and sandwiches and continued our journey. Shan was sitting up front with me. We stopped to photograph some very young monkeys and Shan was really enjoying them until Earl pointed to a big one right next to her window – she started to wind up the window and I said – “no – don’t I just want to snap his portrait” she burst into tears and leapt over onto Earl’s lap. I think the incident at the Nkulu upset her more than we realised. After a cuddle and comforting words she was fine again and we warned the boys not to tease her about monkeys, please!

We had further fun with primates when we stopped on a bridge and a troop of baboons had the kids in fits of laughter with their antics – chasing each other, play fighting and tumbling and almost 0ff the bridge.

They then went and climbed the sandy cliffs and foraged for termites or whatever lives in the bank.

There were other interesting things to see in the water too. Simon spotted a legawaan on the rocks and another where the monkeys were climbing up and down the bank.

A Goliath heron patiently fished in some fast running water

Birds of prey earned our young spotters lots of points and gave us an opportunity to teach them how to tell one from another.
The brown snake eagle has yellow eyes and feathers only to its knees while the lesser spotted eagle has ‘stove pipes’ , pale eyes and yellow feet. And the don’t be too convinced that you’re right – all birds of prey are tricky to identify – even the experts make mistakes. But the martial is unmistakable with its black chest and white, speckled tummy.

Brown Snake Eagle

Lesser Spotted Eagle

Martial Eagle

At Sunset Dam the challenge was to see how many crocodiles you could count – they camouflage so well and perhaps there were more than the 10 we got. Plenty of hippos lazed and grunted in the shallows and the shore birds gave us lots of pleasure.

Wood sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

After a refreshing drink at Lower Sabie we made our way home. Simon had been as good as gold but was now starting to ask when he could go for a swim. It was really hot today.

The elephants could not let us off lightly today – a rather angry looking bull decided not to make way for us as he trundled down the middle of the tar road. We had to reverse until he found a place that suited him to get off the road. A lovely adrenalin rush to end the day!

After the kids had a swim we went to the nearby hide of Lake Panic for just half an hour. There were hippos and birds but at this time of year not the variety that we usually see. Still it was good to see that no damage had been done by the floods.

A thunder storm cooled things down this evening but put rather a dampener on our braai. Jay stripped to his waist and used a storage box lid to prevent the fire from going out while he finished off cooking our chicken.