Tag: Nature

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Chobe February 2024 Day 2

Day 2 saw us making a very early start, awake at 4:15 in the morning, editing some photos and video from Day 1, coffee and a light breakfast at 5:00 and a 5:30 departure to Chobe National Park gate in the game drive vehicle.

Our first sighting of the day, was a group of Southern ground hornbills. It was still quite dark, but we did manage to get a shot or two

Next up, was a pretty grumpy looking lion, who wasn’t overly impressed with the vehicles filled with humans, crowding him and soon disappeared into the bush

We saw numerous Marabou storks, not the prettiest birds, probably best looked at in black & white

Various bee-eaters, lilac-breasted rollers and a few baboons made up the rest of the morning

In the afternoon, we were back to the river. Once again a rainstorm came through, delaying our departure. This time, though, we were also caught by a second rainstorm which caught us on the river, just as we were about to start. We quickly had to cover all our camera gear and ourselves with rainproof covers and ponchos (thanks Sabine for the photo). 

A malachite kingfisher was also taking shelter from the rain under a tree. 

Once the rainstorm passed, we proceeded with the afternoon’s photography activities on the river, again seeing an abundance of bird life, including bee-eaters, African darter, egrets and fish eagles

Baboons, as always, contributed to the afternoon’s entertainment

Crocodiles, dragonflies and hippo’s were not to be ignored

The afternoon ended with a spectacular sunset

Back at the hotel, Robson did not let us down and we had an excellent supper, before getting back to work, downloading, culling, selecting and editing our photos of the day.

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Chobe Day 1

After our previous excellent experience with Pangolin Photo Safaris , we were excited to be able to do another photography trip to Chobe National Park with them. Unlike the previous visit, when we drove all the way from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and did a more extensive trip through Botswana (links: Nata & Maun, Pangolin Houseboat, Pangolin Hotel and Mashatu) , we chose to fly in this time, for a 6 day visit. Our flight took us over the edge of Makgadigadi Pan.

Due to a delayed flight departure from Johannesburg and a further delay on arrival at Kasane airport, while another group’s lost luggage was being traced, we arrived at Pangolin Hotel later than planned, just in time for afternoon high tea. Just as we were about to depart on our first photographic excursion, a rainstorm hit, further dealying us. Despite these delays, we still managed to get a decent amount of time and some great sightings on the river.

The rich bird life around Chobe river never disappoints:

Playing around with some high key photography of an African darter:

My personal favourite bird, the African Fish Eagle:

The hippos, as always, very entertaining:

A very relaxed Nile crocodile allowed us ample opportunity to photograph it:

On our way back, a Pied kingfisher against the setting sun allowed us a final photography opportunity for the day:

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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!