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Chobe 2024, Day 6
On our last full day, we once again had an early start, leaving the hotel at 5:30. We entered the park by a different route to the previous times. First stopping by a group of zebra for a few photos, we continued on to a watering hole, where we saw a Kori bustard, browsing in the tall grass, with beautiful golden light from the rising sun.
A long, sandy road followed, where the main attraction was a couple of squirrels in a tree stump, who kept us entertained for a while
We had heard the previous day that there were lions around a giraffe kill and went in search. Most of the lions had clearly already eaten their fill and departed. From the smell, it was clear that this was no fresh kill, but a lioness and her cubs were still hanging around, while all around, vultures were patiently waiting in the trees
After a coffee stop, I got to practice some more lilac-breasted roller shots. One day I will get the perfect one…
A chameleon showed unexpected speed and we just managed to grab a few quick shots before it disappeared into the vegetation
The afternoon session on the river started with a search for Jacanas. Along the way we also found another Malachite kingfisher
I can never get enough of the African fish eagles, such impressive birds
A Woodland kingfisher was a pleasant surprise
Red-billed oxpeckers were playing on the buffaloes
Once again, the Chobe sunset delivered, with elephants, crocodiles and hippos all playing their part
Chobe, February 2024, Day 4
This is the day on which the lack of sleep finally caught up to me, thus the delayed blog post. Once again we had a very early start, coffee at 5: 00, with a 5:30 departure to the Chobe National Park entrance gate. Entering the park just before sunrise, we were greeted by the eerie silhouettes of Marabou storks sleeping high in the dead trees
Soon they started waking up and taking off. These birds, truly magnificent in their ugliness, are surprisingly elegant in flight
Up next, was a group of lions, lazing about in the middle of the road and causing a traffic congestion, which unfortunately made photography rather difficult
Driving along the river bank, we saw Little Bee-eaters hunting
Hippos were seen lazing about in the shallow water, where the water lilies could also be seen in the early morning light
Next up, was a very lazy lion, clearly having recently eaten his fill and now just lying under a tree, occasionally opening one eye to look at us, but otherwise barely moving
After a stop for morning coffee, we started making our way back, stopping to photograph White-fronted Bee-eaters hunting
Getting back to the hotel just in time for brunch, we then had a few hours available to look through our morning’s photos and video. As usual, I tried culling as many as possible of the unwanted photos immediately, in order to leave me with a manageable number to finally go through and select my favourites.
In the afternoon, after high tea, we were back on the river. An African darter, sitting on a log against a dark background, gave us opportunity to experiment with low key photography, before flying off, giving us further opportunity to photograph it in flight
Elephants and hippos are always interesting to observe and photograph.
As the sun was getting low on the horizon, a Fish Eagle came to the water’s edge for a drink, giving a smaller bird quite the fright when it decided to take off again
With the setting sun behind them, a herd of elephants also came down to the water’s edge to drink, with a lazy crocodile looking on
We arrived back at the hotel just in time for a quick shower before dinner. After dinner it was back to downloading and culling photos and charging batteries. At this point my own battery also needed some charging and I decided to get an extra hour sleep, rather than writing my blog post.
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.
Liana’s video of birdlife in Kruger, open in You Tube to get the full experience.
Liana got great video of an elephant attacking and killing a tree. Watch in You Tube
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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.
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!
Kruger National Park – Day 5
Days 1, 2 and 3 here, here and here
Day 4 here
Day 5 started at 6:00, going a few kilometres north from Lower Sabie. We spent time at two dams next to the road, being entertained by numerous birds: various kinds of egrets, herons and storks, Hamerkop, Weavers, Kingfisher and an African Fish Eagle.
The Saddle Billed Stork did not like the others encroaching on his fishing spot and kept chasing them away.
A brief return to camp for coffee was followed by a drive to the south. We encountered a male lion in hot pursuit of a lioness, who appeared to be doing her best to ignore him.
Further south we also saw a cheetah in the distance, not interested in coming closer, so the best I could do was a landscape shot with a cheetah as part of the landscape.
We saw another Fish Eagle and a Tawny Eagle along the way, as well as many elephants.
We returned to camp for lunch and to download photos, of which I had about 1500 from the morning, in order to clean our cameras’ memory cards for the afternoon session.
In the afternoon we went north again, seeing birds, giraffe, buffalo
and eventually ending the afternoon with a big yawn or two.
Kruger National Park – Day 3
Day 1 is here
Day 2 is here
Day 3 was an early start, queuing at the camp gate at 5:30 to be on the road at sunrise, exploring the area north of Satara, towards Olifants camp.
This turned out to be the day on which we found Wild dogs, after a long search, despite having been informed of their exact location. We eventually found them late morning, resting in deep shade among the trees, very hard to spot. As a result this was not an ideal photographic opportunity, but managed to take a few pics, just to document that we had seen them.
Much of the morning and later also the late afternoon was spent trying to photograph birds in flight, with limited success.
First, a pair of Fish Eagles at the viewing site at Olifants rest camp
Several attempts at Lilac Breasted Rollers (Troupant)
White-browed Coucal (Vleiloerie)
Southern Ground Hornbill
During the course of the day, we also saw quit a few elephants, a hyena, Kori Bustard, Red crested korhaan, Waterbuck, kudu
and a bit frustratingly, given my dislike of baboons, probably my best photo of the day, a troupe of baboons in a tree at Olifants bridge.
We also managed to get a family portrait of some lions in the grass,
saw some elephants crossing the Olifants river
and played around with some landscape and sunset/sunburst photos.
We ended the day with some venison sausage and chicken kebabs on the braai.
Kruger National Park – Day 2
Kruger National Park Day 1 can be found here
Hennie and Bernhard of B1 Photo Safaris picked us up at 06h30, to go looking for Wild Dogs, but we only found vultures in the location where the Wild Dogs had been seen earlier.
Along the way we also saw some Hornbills
and Nyala
The bird sightings continued with a Brown Hooded Kingfisher and a rare sighting of a Verreaux Eagle-Owl sitting out in the open.
Then it was time to move on from Skukuza to Satara, with some great sightings along the way. First was a Giant Plated Lizard and a few metres away a Rock Monitor.
We also found a lion sleeping in the middle of the road, some giraffes, elephants, steenbok and many impala
But the most exciting of the day, was a leopard which we nearly missed because it was lying partially hidden under a bush. When we stopped, it got up and crossed the road right in front of us.
Just before arriving at Satara, Bernhard got news that the unique white lion, which lives in the area, had been seen just north of the camp. Arriving at the sighting, there was the expected traffic jam, everybody wanting to see the lion, with the lion fast asleep next to its brother, ignoring the cars and people.
We decided to check in to our accommodation first and then went back for a second look. He was still quite lazy, but at least lifted his head, yawned and then got up to move a few metres before lying down again, giving us some opportunities for photos.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset.
Etienne's Camera 