2017 Elephant and rock formation near Letaba

2017 Elephants running to water late afternoon Letaba river bridge

2017 Hoepoe having sandbath Mopanie to Letaba rd

2017 Blue wildebeest having a sandbath Mooiplaas near Mopani

2017 Ostrich doing mating dance Mooiplaas near Mopani

2017 Peacefull grazing scene Olifants river bridge

2017 Elephants midday rest under and against trees with lions nearby near Babalala1

2017 Elephants midday rest under and against trees with lions nearby near Babalala

2017 Elephants midday rest under and against trees with lions nearby near Babalala BW

2017 Pied Kingfisher hovering Balule bridge

2017 Pied Kingfisher commensing dive Balule bridge

2017 Re billed quelea swarm taking off Letaba river bridge

2017 Tawny Eagle between Shingwedzi and Mopani

2017 Lone Elephant demonstrating expanse Olifants river viewpoint

2017 Vervet monkey stolen pear out of my car Olifants river viewpoint

2017 Elephants with calf drinking Punda Maria camp

2017 Elephant drinking mother and calf Punda Maria camp

2017 Nyala at waterhole Punda Maria camp

2017 Chacma baboons keeping the guard at waterhole Punda Maria camp

2017 Elephants rushing to waterhole Punda Maria

2017 Elephants hurrying out of the way of herd of Buffallo swarming the waterhole Punda Maria

2017 Elephants and Buffallo taken with iPhone Punda Maria

2017 Cape Buffallo with Yellow billed Oxpecker Punda Maria camp

2017 Cape Buffallo with Yellow billed Oxpecker Punda Maria camp1

2017 Giant Kingfisher near Punda Maria1 portrait BW

2017 Martial Eagle feasting on a lizard near Punda Maria

2017 Martial Eagle with a lizard nesr Punda Maria

2017 Martial Eagle feasting on a lizard near Punda Maria2

2017 Martial Eagle feasting on a lizard near Punda Maria3

2017 Magpie Shrike near Punda Maria camp

2017 Secretary bird just after take off Kloppersfontein

2017 Secretary bird nest atop a dense bush Kloppersfontein

2017 Lions at Kloppersfontein early morning near Punda Maria

2017 White fronted Bee eater on branch Pafuri area landscape

2017 White fronted Bee eater on branch Pafuri area portrait

2017 White fronted Bee eater setting off from branch Pafuri area

2017 White fronted Bee eater with butterfly Pafuri area1

2017 White fronted Bee eater with butterfly Pafuri area

2017 White fronted Bee eater with insect Pafuri area1

2017 White fronted Bee eater with insect Pafuri area

2017 Elephants a particularly large herd at Nsemani Dam near Satara Rest Camp

2017 Elephant herd at Nsemani Dam Near Satara

2017 Elephant leaning into tree in shade north of Satara

2017 Elephant watering Shimanquaneni reservoir

2017 Elephants tussling Shimanquaneni reservoir

2017 Elephant with clouds setting in Olifants to Satara

2017 Elephants drinking at Nkayapan near Satara

2017 Elephants tussling at Gudzanidam near Satara 1

2017 Elephants tussling at Gudzanidam near Satara

2017 Black shouldered Kite near Punda Maria

2017 Black shouldered Kite hovering near Punda Maria

2017 Baboon on stump just north of Satara camp

2017 Red billed Hornbill with grasshopper Satara camp

2017 Hoepoe foraging for insects Satara camp

2017 Lions along roadside Satara to Nwanetzi

2017 Lions along roadside Satara to Nwanetzi panorama1

2017 Lions along roadside Satara to Nwanetzi panorama BW

2017 Lions along roadside Satara to Nwanetzi portrait

2017 Lions along roadside Satara to Nwanetzi portrait BW

2017 Lions with a kill Satara to Nwanetzi

2017 Lions with a kill Satara to Nwanetzi1

2017 Lions with a kill Satara to Nwanetzi1 BW

2017 Lions with a kill Satara to Nwanetzi2

2017 Lions with a kill Satara to Nwanetzi3

2017 Impala peacefully grazing Ngirivane

2017 Sunset Nzemani dam near Satara panoramic

2017 Zebra in typical stance Satara camp in the background

2017 Zebra in typical stance Satara camp in the background BW

2017 Zebra in typical stance Satara camp in the background sepia tone

2017 Aardvark in tree likely leopard kill near Satara

2017 Brown hooded Kingfisher at ratelpan hide on Timbavati road

2017 Brown hooded Kingfisher at ratelpan hide on Timbavati road1

2017 Elephants with calf watering crocodile Nkayapan

2017 Elephants with calf watering crocodile Nkayapan sepia

2017 Dragonfly at Lake Panic near Skukuza

2017 Dragonfly at Lake Panic near Skukuza1

2017 Dragonfly at Lake Panic near Skukuza3

2017 Malachite Kingfisher at Lake Panic near Skukuza

2017 Malachite Kingfisher at Lake Panic near Skukuza1

2017 Pied Kingfishers at Lake Panic near Skukuza

2017 Pied Kingfishers at Lake Panic near Skukuza1

2017 Grey Heron on Hippo catching a fish Sunset Dam Lower Sabie

2017 Grey Heron on Hippo catching a fish Sunset Dam Lower Sabie1

2017 African Wattled Lapwings being amorous hide at Gardenia rd

2017 Founders of Kruger Skukuza EnviraAlbum 2

KNP 2017 — 11-23 September

I visited SA at the end of 2016 for a couple of months and spent most time in Cape Town and therefore decided it would be a good opportunity to visit KNP later the year to experience drier season and especially up north (This was a thus pre rain-season visit). KNP gets mostly summer rains with accompanying flooding rivers (rain starting around October-November) and with that the mosquito season. Summer increases the flying insect and birdlife so January-February is generally very good for birding. A two-week visit was all I could manage this time round.

During the previous visit I was impressed by the hide located on the Punda Maria campsite with viewing over a waterhole which has a constant inflow of fresh water. I took a lovely photograph of an elephant at the waterhole at a previous visit so I decided to stay there for 3 nights and explore the areas, but more so just chill out and watch the animals visiting the waterhole — and was I rewarded! There seemed to be a constant flow of activity around the waterhole. This happened day and night (campers along the fence reported leopard and lion visiting during the early hours — some amber lighting over the waterhole makes for good viewing at night). Probably the best encounter was when a herd of buffallo charged the waterhole and elephants just gave way. Kloppersfontein, which is a short distance from Punda Maria camp made for good secretary bird viewing including their nest location. It was good to see a pride of lions and the usual elephants. Gettin some excellent photographs of bee-eaters close to Pafuri where they were feeding on some insects was one of the highlights of the northern visit. Pafuri is famed for it’s bird-viewing. The dry season helped with locating predatory animals at or near to water, but I was amazed at the relatively large number of predatory birds I saw. I tried to take as many photographs as possible of birds during some feeding or other activity. I was rewarded with with some nice images of kingfishers (very difficult to capture them entering or exiting the water as it’s generally difficult to locate and time correctly). Lake Panic near Skukuza was very good for kingfishers.

I spent a total of 12 nights in Kruger (camp sequence: Orpen 1; Letaba 3; Punda Maria 3; Satara 3 and Skukuza 2) and followed the same routine in travelling into Kruger as before. I was somewhat disappointed when I expected to have a Qashqai but got a Focus sport instead which was not as well appointed for game viewing. One of the butchers I normally visit for some excellenst steak, boerewors and biltong had relocated so that led to some time wasted on the Orpen journey, but I arrived just in time before gate closure. Orpen is one of the gates where one is permitted to arrive after normal closure hours (the gate camp is a few minutes careful drive in the darkness from the entrance gate).

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Kruger NP 2017

KNP 2017 — 11-23 September