Category: South Africa

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Flowers, Stars and More: Day 4: Stars, at last

Day 4 arrived, cold, dreary, overcast, not what we had been hoping for, but true to the weather forecast, which had been accurate for once. We decided, nonetheless, to take the drive to the Skilpad section of Namaqua National Park. The locals in Hondeklipbaai advised us to take the detour, returning to the N7 the way we had come, due to road conditions.

We stopped in Kamieskroon to get fuel for the car and ourselves. Entering Kamieskroon, we saw a beautiful little church.

In Kamieskroon, I also saw a street carrying my name, but quite sure not named after me or any relation.

After fuelling the car, we drove towards the National Park, stopping along the way for breakfast at Die Murasie

Once in the Park, we decided to forego the planned hike, since it had started raining and we did not want to get drenched. Instead, we drove the two circle routes in the Park, one of which is new and labelled a 4×4 route, but really a very easily driveable route.

As expected, in the rain, most of the flowers were hiding their faces. However, this did not really detract too much from the spectacle and we still had a really good time.

Near the end of the 4×4 loop, we saw a few Springbok in a field of flowers, a very special sight.

Making our way back to Hondeklipbaai, we were quite pleased with ourselves about the lovely day we had and the fact that we would be able to get to bed early, but this was not to be. About 20km before our destination, we encountered a quartet of elderly people struggling to change a flat tyre. By the time we had finished assisting them, not only were we rain drenched, which we had avoided in the Park, but also covered in mud.

Eventually arriving at out accommodation at Dogstone Cottage, we took a quick shower and then went to the Rooi Spinnekop Restaurant for an early supper, which turned out to be an excellent choice. The reception was very friendly, the atmosphere relaxed and the food excellent. Liana had a marrow bone starter and I had prawns. For mains she had lobster and I had pan fried snoek and sweet potato.

Exiting the restaurant, we were just in time to catch the sunset, the clouds starting to clear.

With the clouds rapidly clearing, I was able to grab a few Milky Way photos as well.

Tomorrow we turn back south, heading towards Clanwilliam.

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Late afternoon at Cape Recife Lighthouse and Blue Supermoon

On 19 August 2024 we had a blue moon and supermoon occuring simultaneously, normally a rare occurrence, but this the second within a 12 month period.

A supermoon occurs when the full moon is closer than usual to earth, resulting in the moon appearing larger than normal.

A blue moon can be either a second full moon within a calendar month or the third of four full moons in a given season, since there are normally only three full moons in a season.

Since moon rise would be occurring within minutes of sunset, I decided that this would be a good occasion to visit Cape Recife Lighthouse for a few photos.

The sunset was beautiful and I managed to get a sunburst photo over the lighthouse, while a few African Black Oystercatchers were enjoying the last light on the beach.

Soon the moon started rising over the sea.

With the sky still tinted pink and orange, the moon completed the picture beautifully.

As darkness set in, the moon appeared progressively brighter.

Finally, all that was visible, was the supermoon.

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Keeping busy

Since returning from our trip to Chobe, I have been keeping myself busy with a few other photography projects, not wildlife related, but my other major interest, sport.

One of the worst promoted/advertised events in PE, was the World P750 Inflatable Powerboat Championship. I missed the first rounds, which were held on North End Lake, but luckily I heard about the ocean event and managed to get there to take a few photos.

Dog jumping and agility events always give some great opportunities to practice my action photography skills. This one, held at Baakens Valley, was great fun to photograph and I got to support Liana and Yoda and even got to see Boo participate.

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Ten Days in Kruger National Park

Updated with new video by Liana

We spent ten days in October 2023 in Kruger National Park, ably guided by Bernhard and Hennie of B1 Photo Safaris. Their vehicle, perfectly equipped for photographers and their knowledge of the Park, animal behaviour, photography and videography, gave us the best possible opportunity to get good photos and video.

I detailed our trip in daily blog posts, which are linked below.

Some days produced many more photo opportunities than others. This post contains my favourite photo from each day, not necessarily my ten best photos from the whole trip.

Each photo provides a link to that day’s full post. Please click on these to see many more photos and a more detailed description of our time spent in the Park.

Day 1 – Arrival at Skukuza
Day 2 – Skukuza to Satara

Liana’s video of birdlife in Kruger, open in You Tube to get the full experience.

Day 3 – around Satara to Olifants
Day 4 – from Satara to Lower Sabie
Day 5 – around Lower Sabie
Day 6 – around Lower Sabie and further afield
Day 7 – Lower Sabie to Berg-en-Dal
Day 8 – around Berg-en-Dal
Day 9 – Berg-en-Dal to Skukuza

Liana got great video of an elephant attacking and killing a tree. Watch in You Tube

Day 10 – Drama and Departure

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Kruger National Park Day 10

Link to Day 9

Our last morning in the Park brought relief after the previous day’s heat. This clearly revived the predators, who were out and about.

Our first sighting of the morning was a Hyena family

While we sat watching them, Hennie got word of a pack of Wild Dogs nearby. We immediately abandoned the hyenas and set course for the Wild Dogs. We arrived to find a pack of thirteen of them jogging along the road and fooling around with one another.

Clearly someone had lost a cap and they were using it for a game of tug.

Things soon turned serious and they started hunting.

Their first attempt was unsuccessful, but this did not deter them. It was fascinating to see the teamwork involved, some flushing the impala out, while others did the takedown. Their second attempt was successfull, but due to the gruesome nature of the photos, covered in a separate post, linked here, not for sensitive viewers.

The impala was devoured within three minutes. Even the dog with a sore leg, who had surely not been of great value in the hunt, managed to eat its fill.

In the meantime, vultures started arriving to see whether there would be anything left for them.

While all of this was taking place, a Tawny Eagle also arrived on the scene

A Drongo took exception to the Eagle’s presence

After leaving the Wild Dogs, I had another opportunity to photograph an Oxpecker, this time cleaning a rhino’s nose

A stop at Lake Panic gave us opportunity to watch a Malachite Kingfisher and a Squacco Heron fishing.

Then it was time to pack up and leave for the airport.

On the way there, we still had one last surprise: a leopard trying (unsuccessfully in the time we had there) to crack a tortoise’s shell

Thus ended our week in Kruger National Park with our excellent hosts and guides, Bernhard and Hennie of B1 Photo Safaris

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Kruger National Park Day 9

Follow the link to Day 8 and from there, links to the previous days.

Our last full day in the Park turned out to be a scorching hot day, the temperature reaching 41 degrees Celsius. The animals seemed to have gone into hiding in these conditions.

Fortunately the birds were still out and about. We encountered a Gray Go-away bird, Red-billed Hornbill, Brown-headed Parrot, Hoopoe Cardinal Woodpecker and a Southern Ground Hornbill, bearing gifts for his girlfriend, amongst others.

Stopping on a bridge, we saw multiple birds enjoying the small pools of water in the river bed and sitting around in the trees next to the water. A Fish Eagle came sweeping in a few times.

Eventually the Saddle-billed Stork decided to take flight

Further along, we saw a Tree agama and a Water monitor. Clearly the reptiles didn’t mind the heat.

A fight between two impala rams, to add to the elephant and kudu fight scenes of Day 7

After our morning drive, it was time to pack up and head out from Berg-en-Dal, back to Skukuza, completing our round trip of the southern part of the Park. Along the way we stopped at Afsaal for their famous roosterkoek, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

After checking in at Skukuza and resting a bit to recover from the heat of the day, it was time for an afternoon drive. We encountered a lone hyena, lazing about next to the road, a pair of Purple Rollers who properly frustrated my attempts at taking photos of them in flight, but at least gave me opportunity to photograph them sharing an insect and European Bee-eaters, who were once again too fast and unpredictable for me to photograph in flight.

An elephant came strolling along, first spraying itself with water at a water hole close to the road and then casually strolling up to a tree and pushing it over.

Video by Liana

Once more we had a magnificent sunset.

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Kruger National Park Day 8

Follow the links to Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7

We made another early start, leaving the camp at 5:30. A few kilometers into the day, we had a magnificent sighting of two lionesses with six cubs, lying next to the road.

After a while, they decided to cross the road. It was amazing to see the two mothers escort the little ones across the road, one leading and one at the back, ensuring that all were safe before proceeding into the grass on the other side. Once across, they lay down again for a while, allowing some family portraits, before disappearing into the bush.

After a quick coffee stop, we proceeded to explore the southwestern part of the park. This turned out to be a day of families and birds. We soon saw a troupe of baboons, who gave us another opportunity to take a family portrait.

We saw a number of birds, including a Hamerkop, Diederick cuckoo, a Crested Barbet, several Hornbills and many others.

Some rhino’s kept us entertained. It is just so sad to see these magnificent animals all dehorned in order to protect them from poachers.

A Dwarf Mongoose waved at us from his rocky perch.

After a few hours rest back at camp, we left for a late afternoon drive. We soon saw a Wahlberg’s Eagle taking off from a low tree next to the road.

We were surprised by a swarm of European Bee-eaters. Despite multiple attempts, I was unable to photograph one of these birds in flight, they are just too small and fast, with unpredictable flight patterns. Thus, I had to be satisfied with a shot of one sitting on a thorn tree branch.

The day ended with a magnificent sunset.

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Kruger National Park Day 7

Follow the links to Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5

I managed to keep up until that point, but then Day 6 (linked here) was a day late and, as I still struggle to get good internet connection, Day 7 is also late.

On Day 7 we decided to take an easy day, making an 8:30 start to our transfer from Lower Sabie to Berg-en-Dal.  This allowed me to catch up on culling and backing up photos from the previous day.

The drive between camps was full of surprises, which included a tree, bearing cattle egrets

two elephant bulls tussling, two Kudu bulls tussling,

a tortoise sprinting at full speed, a crocodile sunbathing

warthogs kneeling for their food, a surprise shot containing three animal species

and even more unexpected leopard and lion sightings, both of which I was too slow to photograph, perhaps due to my delayed reactions caused by the previous evening’s stresses.

Arriving at Berg-en-Dal, we found our accommodation very comfortable, but once again the internet connection too slow to upload photos for the blog.

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Kruger National Park Day 6

Follow the links to Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5

Day 6 started out at a frenetic pace, had a bit of a lull in the middle and then finished frenetically again.  I did not have internet connection on the evening of Day 5 to upload my blog post, woke up early on Day 6 and quickly uploaded the Day 5 post, before our 5:30 start.

Within minutes of being on the road, we came across our first sighting of the day, a lion couple mating. 

The rest of the morning, it was mainly birds, which included a Pearl-spotted owlet, Greater Striped Swallows and an Openbill stork, and also a skink. On our way back to camp we saw a very peculiar “rock” which turned out to be a hippopotamus in a jacuzzi.

I managed to download, cull and backup my photos from the morning, thinking that this would give me a head start on the afternoon, little knowing that I would end up taking almost 1700 photos in two and a half hours in the afternoon.

The afternoon ride started with promise of leopard and wild dog sightings which had been reported during the morning. On our way to the first reported leopard sighting, to our great surprise, coming around a corner, we saw a leopard strolling along the road towards us.  She crossed in front of us and casually disappeared in the bush.

Carrying on to the reported leopard sighting, we spotted the leopard’s prey in a tree and a large leopard resting on a branch.

After spending a while and deciding that he was unlikely to move soon, we carried on to the wild dog sighting. Arriving there, we were the only vehicle nearby and thus got a prime viewing spot.  They were lying in a dry riverbed, most of them fast asleep.  We sat watching them for a long time, but we decided to wait until the last possible minute before returning to camp.  Our patience was well rewarded as they eventually woke up, started moving and crossed the road right in front of us.

On our way back to camp, we encountered an elephant roadblock, causing us to worry that we would be late getting back.  Fortunately, they moved out of the way quite quickly and we made it back in time.

The evening was spent watching the rugby world cup semi-final between the Springboks and England.  This was an unexpectedly stressful affair.  With the frenetic pace of the day, this turned out to be the first day on which I didn’t even start working on my blog be the end of the day, but what a great day!