Kruger National Park – Day 13

2017-11-24 | puppy1952

22 November 2017 – Birthday Surprises

I am celebrating my birthday in my most favourite place in the world. Who could ask for a better gift than that! And all my birthday wishes came true today. The creatures of the Kruger National Park popped up to say Hi.

I had no plans to celebrate in any way – just being here was enough for me. But my darling husband arranged for us to make a breakfast stop at Mopani Rest Camp because they have such a lovely restaurant overlooking the Luluvu River. Letaba’s restaurant is closed and there is only The Rustic Kitchen to replace it. This meant quite a long drive there but we had some lovely sightings and every time something interesting happened, Pat said, “Happy Birthday, Helen!”

And it did seem as if though some of the animals knew it was my special day. A giraffe crossed the road, stopped and looked right at me ane I believe sent me a birthay greeting.

And so did this buffalo!

Who’s the birthday girl then?

This warthog provided some amusing entertainment

Mud, glorious mud

I need a good scratch

Oh Hi, didn’t see you there – Happy Birthday

Birding is our passion and today we saw some lovely specials

Marsh Sandpiper

White-Crested Helmet-Shrike

Red-billed Ox-peckers on a buffalo’s back

Namaqua Dove

Kori Bustard

My birthday breakfast was fantastic. What a view we had and what lovely birds we saw from the deck.

The deck at the Mopani Restaurant

A really scrumptious breakfast

The temperature got up to 40 degrees C today but we were relatively cool in our airconditioned vehicle. However, opening the windows to take photographs let in the hot air and by the time we got back to Letaba we were all ready for a swim.

In the pool I chatted to an older lady who was such an inspiration. She and her hubby were still travelling and having lovley holidays together. Then she went out and the next thing I knew she’d slipped and fallen. I leapt out of the pool to see how she was. How amazing was her attitude. “I’m fine,” she said, “It’s just my dignity that’s damaged!” There were two young men immediately on the scene and her husband said, “Don’t pull her up by her arms.” He put a towel under her arms and then said, “Pull her up using the towel.” It worked perfectly and she was absolutely fine.

I went in for a little longer and then we all got out and would you believe – Pat slipped and landed flat on her back hitting her hand hard as she fell. Oh horror! We used the towel trick to get her up too. Unfortunately her hand was really hurt. Back at camp we iced it and I put an ice-pack in the freezer that she could use in the night. Earl strapped her up as best he could and she insisted that she would be fine. (I am writing this two days later so I can report that she went to Skukuza the next day to consult a doctor and is now in a brace and on medication for the pain. If the swelling does not go down she will have to have x-rays but right now she is comfortable.)

Without my noticing, The Earl slipped into the park shop at Mopani and bought a bottle of champagne which he chilled in the car fridge. So when we were about to pour our sundowners out came the champers to celebrate my 65th birthday!

Cheers! ( I’m sure my sister approves)

The Earl refused to let anybody help with the preparation of my celebratory meal tonight and presented us with a Master Chef quality chicken dish. It was to die for.

Enjoying my dinner in the bush

Pat with injured wrist on ice managed with one hand

Another African day under the belt!

Kruger National Park – Day 11

2017-11-21 | puppy1952

20 November 2017 Letaba to Olifants

Once again it was very hot in the Kruger National Park today. We are caravanning/tenting at Letaba Camp and are so grateful for the shady trees. It is not difficult to get up at 5 in the morning here. Natures alarm rouses you with the cheerful dawn chorus of the birds.

By 6:15 we left to drive along the Letaba River to Olifants Camp where we had breakfast. When The Earl and I used to stay in the chalets, Olifant’s was our favourite camp. They don’t have camping facilities so we’re not staying there this time round.

We had a stunning time there and back, as the birding was fantastic. What fun we had watching their antics and debating what species we were observing. Although we’re not the type of birders that chase after rare birds to get our tick list up, we do keep holiday lists and try to see as many species as The Kruger will show us. Today we did pretty well.

Scenes like these never fail to give one a thrill.

P1110353 P1110359 P1110360

Along the way there are many little ‘omrits’ or loops that take you closer to the river so you can get a better view. There you can stop and enjoy the birds. At our first omrit we heard the Diederick Cuckoo. He tends to hide among the foliage of the trees so when he posed in the open for us, we were thrilled.

Diederick’s Cuckoo

We also got this beautiful kingfisher

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

The small creatures of the bushveld are just as exciting as the larger predators. Seeing two scrub hares was a real highlight as they’re shy and not often seen.

Scrub Hare

In the shallows of the river there was a great deal of activity.

Great Egret

Yellow-billed stork and Egyptian Goose were wondering what all the fuss was about

What a handsome fellow is the Saddle-billed Stork

As we left our omrit to get back onto the road again we got an enormous scare when we found this chap blocking the road. Luckily there was another track that bypassed him.

The leaves are yummy and I’m not moving til I’m done,

You’d be surprised how hungry intense birding can making you. Our many stops to see the feathered friends delayed our breakfast time and we were starving by the time we reached Olifants. The Rustic Kitchen is set up there too. It is at the lookout point which is just the most stunning venue. Hopefully, they will be there for a very long time!

view from The Rustic Kitchen

There was a treeful of Marico Sunbirds just outside the entrance to the old restaurant.

Our return trip was even more enjoyable than our trip there. We went to the low-level bridge across the Olifant’s River and didn’t want to leave as there was so much activity to watch. The highlight was a green-backed heron that kept hiding behind the rocks but then eventually emerged and showed us how to catch your own breakfast.

Wood Sandpiper

Reed Comorant

He caught a fish

Finally the green-backed heron gave us a show

The Grey Heron doesn’t mind showing himself to the world

We were very happy with our mornings sightings and returned to camp for or midday rest. We went out again for a short drive to Matambeni hide and were back by 6:15 These were the best photographs I could get.

Terrapins sunning themselves on a lovely flat rock

There were many crocodiles and we watched them swimming slyly through the water before some decided to slither up onto dry ground.

Pat and Tony were the designated cooks tonight and they made us a delicious beef stir-fry on their skottel. Who would believe you could eat so well in the middle of the African Bushveld.

Kruger National Park – Day 10

2017-11-20 | puppy1952

19 November 2017 – Shingwedzi to Letaba

By 6:30 we were packed and ready to leave. Letaba is 108km from Shingwedzi so we planned to take a break at Mopani and have breakfast at the restaurant.

Once again with caravan in tow we stuck to the tar road and only stopped a few times to take photos of interesting creatures.

The much maligned hyena is considered to be a cowardly and nasty character and features as the ‘baddy’ in many folklore and children’s stories. In fact these creatures are not just scavengers but efficient and powerful predators. Spotted hyenas live in structured groups. A group of hyenas is called a clan of hyenas. Did you know that the females rank higher than the males and an alpha female leads the clan. They whole clan helps to raise the young. When you get to know them you just can’t help loving them and that’s why we were thrilled to find three lying on the side of the road this morning.

It was a tough night, please let me sleep

Oooh I’m so comfortable here

What’s going on – why did you wake me!

Alright I’ll smile for the photo

Now I’m going to find a quieter, shadier spot to sleep!

What do you mean, I must come with you?

Oh, alright then, I’m coming!

We left the sleepy things in peace and moved on toward Mopani but not before stopping for to get a photograph of the most magnificent eagle in The Park.

The proud Martial Eagle

We’ve become accustomed to road blocks too and patiently waited for these wild cows cross over.

This is our road and we’ll take our time if we want to.

The view of the river below the restaurant was as stunning as always but today we saw an osprey in a tree – too distant for a photo but nevertheless great to see. These are some of the other birds we managed to photograph

White-faced ducks

African Jacana

These gorgeous girls stared at us before we arrived at Letaba.

Female Waterbuck

It was really hot when we arrived in Letaba. We drove around the shady camp looking for a good spot to set up, met another Gecko owner from Somerset West, chatted to them and then while we were filling our water tanks, someone whom I recognised walked by and made a jokey comment about caravanning. He and his wife were tenting nearby. After chatting a while we discovered that we’d stayed a their B&B a few years ago. Hugh had organised a bird guide for us. It was an awesome trip. Today he showed us where to find the Scops Owls.

We found a suitable campsite and unhitched but we did not set up until a little later when it was cooler. And do you know what? The Earl put up the canopy almost single handedly. All I had to do was help with one pole and the ground sheet. He now has a system that really works for him. And I managed to push up the roof all by myself!

Entrance to Letaba Rest Camp

Scops Owl

As we are staying here for four nights we decided not to go on a game drive this afternoon. Instead we took some down time to just chill in camp.

Later in the afternoon I saw a fellow camper pointing his camera into a tree so I asked what he was photographing. This is what he pointed out to me.

A Bushbaby!

The temperature got up to over 35 today and the evening was still hot. We kept the lights off as much as possible so that the insects didn’t bother us and The Earl cooked us a delicious chicken curry and thus ended another perfect day in Africa.

Kruger National Park – Day 3

2017-11-14 | puppy1952

12 November 2017 – Visit to Letaba and Tropic of Capricorn Loop

Today we decided to do a trip to Letaba Rest Camp and back taking the river loops along the way. By 6:30 we were ready to leave.

First to greet us this morning was a wildebeest. (Erich, if you’re reading this – we gave him your regards 🙂 )

Our most exciting sighting of the morning was when we stopped at view point to get a closer view of the river. Looking down we were delighted to find a grey heron, a hamerkop, two pied kingfishers, two fish eagles and two saddle bill storks fishing in a shallow pond. We spent a while there enjoying the scene and taking photographs.

Female Saddle-billed Stork

Fish Eagle

The Bug and Mean – oh sorry The Mug and Bean have been a resounding failure in some of the camps and Letaba is one where the restaurant is closed till further notice. However, there is temporary arrangement in the form of The Rustic Kitchen operating an open air or under canvas restaurant. What a stunning idea – so much better than the Bug! You sit at a simple wooden table and your food is cooked in the rustic kitchen and served on tin plates. Coffee is also served in a tin mug. It was fun and we enjoyed our fried eggs, venison sausage and grilled tomato!

The highlight on our return trip was just as we approached the Tsendse bridge we noted a stationary car with his lights flashing. He’s seen something we thought as he indicated to the car in front of us to stop. Said car ignored and overtook him. Then I spotted them lying flat on the river bed. There were five of them. They were so well camouflaged but then one got up and moved his position – wild dog. We watched them sleeping for a few minutes and when we saw they were not going to do anything for the rest of the afternoon we left them in peace.

Back in camp we had a cup of tea and I started downloading photos and The Earl pottered about sorting out technical stuff to do with the car fridge. A few hours later we went for another game drive.

On our afternoon drive we found the usual zebra, giraffe, buffalo, elephants, waterbuck etc. We took the Tropic of Capricorn Loop which produced some lovely sightings. Sometimes there are stretches of nothing and one can lose concentration as I obviously did at one point. Omiword – The Earl slammed on breaks. Did you see that. I looked back and saw a bird of prey on a tree but he flew off. Darn we missed him and he was on your side – why didn’t you see him. Maybe because he was so small? Not that wasn’t it – I’m usually on the lookout for small raptors. Just a lapse in concentration I’m afraid.

The Earl wanted to carry on but I persuaded him to go back to see if we could find him again – and we did. He led us a bit of a dance flitting from one tree to another but in the end we got a nice shot of him and were thrilled to identify him as a Gabar Goshawk.

Other sightings that we enjoyed were the following:

Tsessebe having a rest

The Iconic Lilac-breasted Roller

Heaviest flying bird – the kori bustard

Sadly it was our last night in Tsendze but we really loved this camp and will certainly be back.

Kruger National Park Day 10 Day trip to Letaba

2014-07-26 | puppy1952

8 July 2014 Day Trip to Letaba
We started the day at 7 a.m. warmly dressed and expecting rain. It did drizzle for an hour or two so we decided to take the tar road to Letaba, have breakfast there then take the dirt roads home. This turned out to be a wise decision as the rain stopped for our return journey.
First up today – Impala. If they’re around you know the park is healthy! Stopping on a bridge we found a huge herd of buffalo crossing the river.

Crossing the river

Crested Francolin were up early, zebra crossed in front of us and then we found our first tortoise of the trip. Strange that he was not hibernating on this very cold morning. Heather suggested that his burrow might have been flooded and he was forced out.

Tortoise crossing the wet road

Is his tongue stuck to the tar or does the tar make the water taste like coke?

A lilac breasted roller was fluffed up and wet looking rather sorry for itself.

Wet Lilac Breasted Roller

We saw bull elephants quite a few times. I feel quite sorry for the male of the species as elephants have a matriarchal society and the alpha female leads the family and when the males get to a certain age they have to leave the herd and are only allowed to visit.

Birds of prey have made themselves scarce this trip but the brown snake eagle is often around.
Baboons amused us several times today too.

So waaa to you too

We have not stopped too many times for birds as they seem to be scattered abroad. But we did find a few bird parties and this little lark had us guessing. We finally decided it was a monotonous lark.

We stopped to look at giraffe, zebra and elephant and then arrived at Letaba at 9:15.

Refurbing of the restaurant and rest rooms are in process. Bug and Mean have taken over and we were apprehensive as to the service having had two bad experiences at Satara and Olifants. Our waitress was lovely but we had to speak simply as she did not understand everything we said. Our drinks arrived in less than 15 minutes and our meal in less than half an hour which we find quite acceptable. The food was good. My coffee was the house blend which is bottomless. The first cup was not very hot but as I take it black it was drinkable. I was offered a second cup and I asked for it to be hot and it was! Usually their coffees are served in a mug but I asked for a cup and a cup I received. So we were impressed with Mug and Bean, Letaba! After breakfast we walked around the camp trying to find owls but they were clearly away on holiday. Instead we found a grey-headed bushshrike. It was not easy getting photographs as it moved constantly and his behind the foliage.

My shot with his bill behind the branch

Earl managed a clearer shot

Bushbuck love Letaba and find their way into the camp. We found one trying to look inconspicuous under a tree.

We took a slow drive back to Olifants along the river road but there was not much to see. The cold weather had clearly sent the critters into hiding.
There were of course stops to see the usual suspects of giraffe and zebra etc. The vegetation is very pretty in this area with Mopane trees in varying colours from autumn to new spring leaves. So the colours are green, yellow, orange, red, bronze. At one of our stops we found pied wagtail, 3 banded plover and a coucal in a tree.

African Pied Wagtail

Three banded plover

A flock of canaries startled us out of a reverie and we stopped for ages taking photographs. There were other species among them like grey headed sparrow and twin spot batis. Red winged starling flew into a tree and as I watched them I caught sight of a brown headed parrot hiding in the foliage. This caused a great flurry of camera activity and finally we all managed to get some decent shots.

This might be a female or non-breeding red-headed weaver

Chinspot Batis with yellow fronted canary in background

Yellow-fronted canaries

Brown headed parrot

After this excitement there was a dry spell of driving until among the beautiful burnished colours of the Mopani trees I saw a ball of grey. I called stop and Earl reversed and even when I saw it again I was tempted to say – no its nothing but I raised my binoculars to it and found a pearl spotted owlet. It took a while to describe to the others where I was looking and there was great excitement when everyone spotted it. We had a brief minute or two when suddenly it was gone and we could not see where it had flown too. A really special treat!

Pearl Spotted Owlet

We had tried to fill up with diesel at Letaba but they had run out so we needed to be sure to get back to Olifants before we ran out. We arrived back at quarter past 2, filled up, went to the shop and then had left overs for lunch at our huts. At half past three we went out again this time to find our crocodile and terrapin pond. We always visit this pond as the first time we found it a baby croc and his terrapin friends came rushing to the edge to meet any vehicle that happened along. Clearly someone had started feeding them and they still try to cash in on the deal. And yes they were there! The croc is much bigger and more frightening now but still ruler of the pond! I wonder if he will ever migrate away from it.