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Part One

Olifants restcamp
To some extent, this entire RSA trip has been overshadowed by anxiety over the failure of central reservations to rectify the error that they made over this part of my KNP reservation. As I discussed in my earlier Olifants trip report, Olifants has always been my favourite KNP camp, ever since my first visit in 1984, and since then, I have always planned my visits around my Olifants booking. For this trip, I booked my two stays at Olifants the full 11 months in advance, and I specifically asked the reservations agent which booking code was the right one for #9 and #13 and then booked for the code that she told me was the correct one for those units. Imagine my horror when, less than a month before I was to leave for South Africa, I discovered that the agent had given me the wrong booking code. While a cancellation made it easy for central reservations to make good on their error for my April visit to Olifants, no such convenient solution arose for my May dates, which were planned to be the perfect finale for my entire trip. Sadly, central reservations not only did nothing apart from waiting for the possibility of a cancellation, they also neither accepted any responsibility for their error in having given me misinformation nor offered either an apology or some sort of compensation.

Indeed, the only SANParks person who showed any real concern for how poorly my situation was (mis)handled was the Olifants Hospitality Manager, Hein Grobler, and there really wasn't much that he could do apart from offering a sympathetic ear. Hence, this stay at Olifants was somewhat less than I had hoped, planned for, and thought that I was booking. At this point in a KNP stay of nearly a month, I had already spent plenty of time driving and had already had an abundance of sightings, so my plan had been to spend these last few days mostly relaxing and enjoying the pleasures of one of Olifants' prime riverview accommodations. In my opinion, the inability (or unwillingness) of central reservations to rectify their error and provide me with the class of accommodation that I had been assured that I was booking remains unforgivable.

That said, Olifants itself is a very healing place, and I made the best I could of a less than perfect situation. Since I really don't like the nighttime illumination over the river in front of units #1-8, I was happy to discover that rondavels #16 and #17 are also part of the BD2V category, and while they don't have the view directly over the river, they also don't have the lights that for me spoil my enjoyment of the night sky. While #17 is in some ways the better of these units, it was already occupied, but fortunately #16 was available.


Rondavel #16 (#17 in background) has no access to this lower level and its braai is to the side, between it and family cottage #14

early morning views from #16

Rondavel #17 has access to the lower level and its braai is on that level, in front rather than to the side

early morning views from #17

12 May - Talamati - Timbavati - Olifants
Another very cold morning at Talamati, so I again made an early start and again, since the gate was open, actually left about 10 minutes before the official gate opening time. I wondered a bit about the gate apparently just being left open by, I assumed, the early morning game drive? Since I'm generally not the first person out the gate in the morning, I have no idea whether this is general practice at bushcamps, and felt that it was rather more likely another example of the rather slap-dash and indifferent management at Talamati.

My morning was uneventful until I turned into the S36, where I found three hyenas walking up the road. Soon after I spotted a blackbacked jackal and have some atmospheric video of this backlit jackal in grasses suffused with the red-gold of the early morning sunlight -- hard to describe but very evocative. Shortly before reaching the H7 junction an oncoming car flashed its lights and I slowed just in time, as a lone white rhino dashed across the road and quickly disappeared into the bush. While from my direction this rhino was not visible as it approached the road, those in the other car had been watching it moving through the grass -- and it was moving at quite a good fast pace. If I had not been signaled to slow/stop, or if I had ignored the other car's signal, the rhino, notably short-sighted, might have plowed right into my car.

The rest of my morning drive brought plenty of general game but no unusual or notable sightings, although I did spend some time watching a pair of saddlebilled storks at the Olifants low water bridge before arriving at Olifants.

The weeks of uncertainty over this Olifants mess and the ultimate lack of a satisfactory resolution of the matter had been extremely stressful, and I was emotionally exhausted from the entire unhappy experience. Several soothing conversations about the whole sorry mess with Hein Grobler, the Olifants hospitality manager, went a long way towards restoring my equilibrium, and Olifants itself also worked its healing magic. There is something about the vastness and timelessness of that prospect (even when it is not from the "best" of the riverview rondavels) that puts things into perspective. After doing my laundry, I decided to forego a late afternoon drive and just relax on my stoep and watch the changing colours over the river and veld as the sun sank towards the far horizon.

sightings
S145: nothing
S36: hyena, zebra, juvenile fish eagle, blacksmith plover, cardinal woodpecker, blackbacked jackal, white rhino
S39 Timbavati road: impala, blue waxbill, slender mongooses, giraffe, buffalo, grey heron, crocs, darter, ?green dragonfly, ?lizard, zebra, ?eagle, wildebeest, helmeted guinea fowl
H1-4: impala, zebra, ?tawny eagle, hippo, ?swifts
S91: giraffe, hippo, impala
S90: saddlebilled storks, ellies, blacksmith plover, threebanded plover
S92: impala, breeding herd of elephants


is this a cardinal woodpecker?



ID help please for this BBJ?

... and for this BBJ?

Part Two

13 May - Olifants - Letaba - Olifants
Today brought me one of my most memorable and moving experiences ever — in my family 13 is considered lucky and this proved a very special 13. It was a very misty morning and the view from my rondavel over the river and the plains was quite magical. Driving north along the river roads, everything was shrouded in mist and visibility was poor — if there were animals about, they were mostly well hidden. Rather than continue alongside the river, I instead took the S94 and at its northern end, where it crosses an unnamed stream shortly before rejoining the S46, I had my first ever sighting of a black stork. As I sat watching this stork, I next spotted a pair of pied kingfishers, then a pair of Egyptian geese made a spectacular side-by-side landing farther up the streambed, and I eventually also saw a pair of threebanded plovers and a pair of painted snipes. The snipes were far too far away for good photographs, but can be discerned in the first photo, in front of the geese.



I'd wondered whether, after seeing him twice in April, I might again find the elephant bull with the distinguishing notch and hole in his ear. As I drove north on the H1-6, I saw a group of vehicles ahead, all stopped because a large elephant was standing out in the road, calmly chomping away at the shrubs alongside the road. It wasn't until he moved off the road and I could see his left ear that I realised that this was indeed "my" ellie — almost as if he had been waiting for me! Cars came and went, but I stayed watching him for nearly an hour, and for much of that time I was there alone. Many cars didn't bother to stop at all and those that did didn't stay very long — further evidence that elephant sightings are now so common that a lone bull isn't worthy of much attention.

On the two other occasions when I'd seen this ellie, he had had an askari with him, but today he was definitely all alone. As I was heading northwards, I was across the road, but even so, I was very close and as he was very relaxed, I turned off my engine (amongst other things, I like to avoid engine noise when I'm shooting video). The ground slopes down towards the river along this stretch of the Letaba, so there isn't really very much space between the edge of the road and the downwards slope, so when this bull was ready to move on to find another tasty shrub, it was easiest for him to walk along the road. When he first began to move up towards the road, I thought that perhaps I'd best start my engine and back off, but decided not to — and while the elephant certainly didn't need to pass as close to me as he did, I chose to stay put and he chose to come within less than 10 feet/3 meters of me. WOW!!!




I can't explain the emotion I felt to be this close to this extremely mellow ellie — exhilarating and deeply moving and utterly unforgettable. As he moved farther up the road, off the road to browse and back onto the road again to move to another toothsome shrub, I moved along with him. Other cars continued to pass by, occasionally stopping briefly, from both directions, but most of the time it was just me and "my" ellie. And each time that he came back up onto the road, he chose to pass breathtakingly close to me, until after nearly an hour he finally headed down into the riverbed.





When I returned an hour later, the elephant was now quite a distance away in the riverbed, drinking and grazing, but I spent a further half hour watching him, as well as a small family group of ellies that appeared on the far bank. While there didn't seem to be any sort of contact between him and the group, I wondered whether they knew him, or if they were making contact that I couldn't detect, or .... And I also wondered what had become of the bull's askari.



A further question arose because I'd seen a photo in the 27 April (vol 3, no 3) issue of the Kruger Park Times that appeared to identify this elephant as Timaka, one of the known emerging tuskers. However, apart from that photo that shows the notch and hole in the left ear, everything else that I know about Timaka, such as that his range is south of Shingwedzi and he's mostly been seen from a helicopter and not near roads, would indicate that this is not, in fact, Timaka (most likely the wrong photo was published). I have sent a few of my pix of this ellie to Dr Whyte and hope that he can shed some light on the matter.

sightings
H8: nothing
S44: hyena, impala
S93: impala
S94: doublebanded sandgrouse, black stork, pied kingfishers, Egyptian geese, threebanded plover, painted snipes, bataleur, bushbuck
H9: baboon, impala, yellowbilled hornbill
H1-6: ground hornbills (flying across the road), bull elephant (possible emerging tusker)
S95: waterbuck, fish eagle
H1-6: waterbuck, bull elephant (same one), elephant family group on far bank of Letaba, hippo, impala
Letaba restcamp: ellie in riverbed, resident bushbuck
S94: impala
S46: nothing
H1-5: nothing
H8: impala
Olifants restcamp: blackeyed bulbul, giraffe walking along riverbed, ellies on island in riverbed, hippo in river

I had a very nice email from Dr Whyte, confirming, as I'd expected, that "my" ellie is definitely not Timaka. However, he says that the "likeness" between the two is "astonishing". He also says that he was not aware before of this elephant, so is glad to have my record of him

@leopardspotter: Would be absolutely great if you should also see this ellie when you are at Letaba. Would be great if we forumites can keep a record of him! He seems amazingly comfortable with cars/people about, so I was really surprised that he was heretofor unknown to Dr Whyte and his colleagues.

Part Three

14 May - Olifants - Satara - Olifants
This morning I awoke to a vista flooded with moonlight — heartstoppingly beautiful! Even after sunrise, the full moon was still quite high in the sky and the quality of the light, mixing limpid moonlight with the first glow of the sun's rays, was magic, so I remained on my stoep enjoying the spectacle for quite some time.

I had realised that I was running short of videotapes, already well into #22 and with only one spare one left, and both the Olifants and the Letaba shops were out of stock. Today I'd planned to head Satara way, but now a visit to their shop became an urgent priority. However, I took a fairly circuitous route, encountering a large breeding herd of elephants with quite a few youngsters and one engaging tiny one soon after I left camp, and many LBJs (a few of which I may have managed to ID) in the grasslands further south.




Down in the donga across from Nsemani Dam, whiteheaded vultures were feasting on what I was told was originally a cheetah kill (the cheetah were long gone), and there were hooded vultures circling overhead and waiting in the trees for a chance at the leftover scraps, should there be any.





Unfortunately, the Satara shop was also out of videotapes, so I would have to try elsewhere and decided that I would likely have more luck (and more choices for my search) in Phalaborwa than at the Mopani shop. But that would have to wait for tomorrow. My return drive to Olifants brought one of my very few buffalo sightings — and only the second larger group (more than 2-4) that I'd seen over the entire month.




Back in camp, Juanita Grobler alerted me to that evening's 50/50 broadcast that was to include a segment on the new Olifants Backpacker Trail. This was the first time I'd seen 50/50 (I'd not managed to catch it whilst I was in Cape Town) and even tho it was hard for me to follow the Afrikaans portions of the programme, I was impressed with the show overall. I enjoyed both the segment on the Backpacker Trail and another on ground hornbills, and it was interesting to see Olifants Hospitality Manager Hein Grobler in a different role, as one of the backpacker trail guides. However, it was also a bit of a culture shock to be watching TV in Kruger, and I was glad to return to my preferred KNP evening entertainment, the moonlit vista on view from my stoep, with the accompanying variety of nighttime sounds.

sightings
H8: breeding herd of elephant, impala
H1-5: grey heron, giraffe
H1-4: impala, zebra, wattled starlings, ?Richards pipit, ?stonechat, 4 kori bustards, Burchell's coucal
S127: chestnutbacked finchlark, sabota lark, Namaqua doves, ?duiker, steenbok
S39: nothing
S40: zebra, giraffe, redbilled oxpeckers, redcrested korhaan, kudu, wildebeest, baboons, impala
S12 Girivana waterhole: grey heron, pied starling, black crake, blacksmith plover, crocodile
S40: bataleur, giraffe
H7: fish eagle, hippo, ?egret, impala, waterbuck, whitebacked vultures, whiteheaded vultures, hooded vultures, marabou storks, tree squirrel
H1-3: zebra, impala
H1-4: giraffe, impala
S90: steenbok, 2 kori bustards, Cape buffalo, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, impala, kudu, hooded vultures, hyena, waterbuck, Egyptian geese, elephant, pied wagtail
S91: impala
H1-5: nothing
H1-4: giraffe, impala
S89: hippo, impala, whitebacked vulture, juvenile? whitebacked vulture on nest, zebra, wildebeest
S90: whitebacked vulture
S92: waterbuck, impala
H8: elephant



Sabota lark

morning giraffe and afternoon giraffe

I'm definitely not certain of this, larks are still a mystery to me, but I would rather guess a Sabota Lark. They have quite a prominant white supercilium similar to the one on your pic.

Love your Hooded Vultures, especially the second pic.
I've only ever seen single birds.

Thanks, Johann. I have quite a few pix of the SAbota lark, and this bird looks different in all the ways that might make it a Richard's pipit. Perhaps someone else will also offer an opinion — please?

Glad you like my hooded vultures. They were quite close to the road in a tree right next to the den on "Katja's hyenae" on the S90. Looks to me like parents with a youngster?

Sorry arks, unfortunately for you, i agree with Johann. IMHO this is definitely Sabota lark. I don’t know any other lark or pipit with that distinct white supercilium (eyebrow) reaching way beyond the eye. The rest of the colouring, legs etc looks like Sabota. You must just remember they also differ between regions, age etc.

Richards' Pipit?? You totally have me with this don’t know it at all and can not find it in any of my books etc.
Is this maybe a non-SA bird?

Richard’s Pipit - Anthus richardi

A slender, pale brown, streaked ground thrush, with a fine bill and longish tail which it wags in an up and down action. Pinkish legs. Found almost anywhere there is open country, not migratory.
Bird Size - 16-19cm.
Food - Insects such as small grasshoppers, crickets, ants, beetles and caterpillars.
Nest style - Cup shaped.
Material used - Grass.
Nest Site - Under bush or tussock.
Breeding Season & Details - August - December. Lays 3-4 freckled eggs, incubated by the female, guarded by the male. Both feed young.
Habits - Sedentary, usually in pairs, but may form winter roaming flocks, inhabiting open country such as grasslands, pastures, coastal dunes, and road verges. Spends most of the time walking and running on the ground, perching on posts, rocks and grass tussocks when courting or disturbed. The perches are used by courting birds as a take-off pad for the song and aerial displays of dipping and curving before diving abruptly to the ground.

The Richard's Pipit (Anthus richardi) is a medium-sized passerine bird which breeds in open grasslands in Siberia. It is a long distance migrant moving to open lowlands in south Asia, east Africa and Australia. It is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe.

This is a large pipit, 17-20 cm in legth, but is otherwise an undistinguished looking species on the ground, mainly brown above and pale below. It has long legs and tail and a long dark bill. It often stands very upright. Its flight is strong and direct, and it gives a characteristic explosive "shreep" call.

In south Asia in winter some care must be taken to distinguish this from other large pipits which winter or are resident in the area, such as Blyth's Pipit. Like other pipits, this species is insectivorous.

Not an SA bird.....
This bird was named after the French naturalist Monsieur Richard of Lunéville.

Ok. I did some research on Richard's Pipit - Anthus richardi
I must admit that some, but only a few of the pics I found, does look like the bird in your pic.
However, information seems conflicting. Some people refer to Richard's Pipit 717, using the Roberts number. But 717 is actually the Long-billed Pipit Anthus similis (Nicholsonse Koester)
Others use Richard's Pipit 716 Anthus novaeseelandiae where 716 actually is the African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus (Gewone Koester), used to be Grassveld Pipit.
I could only find one sighting in Pilanesberg using the Roberts' 717 and another in Swaziland using the 716 numbers.

All very confusing. But I think I know where the confusion started. It seems like Richard's Pipit is also called Grassland Pipit in some areas. People might have confused that with our Grassveld Pipit and that's where I think the confusion comes in.

According to the info I found on the net, Richard's is found in the British Isles, Australia and Asia with some rare sightings in the rest of Europe (Spain, Norway) and the Middle-East.

(My post seems a bit late now, after DQ's. Was unfortunately interrupted for a long time before I could hit the 'sumbit' button)

This is the one that's in both my books, which are Ian Sinclair's Field Guide to the Birds of Southern Africa, 1st edition 1984; and Kenneth Newman, Birds of Southern Africa 1: Kruger National Park, 1980. Both old, but well loved, and as a relatively infrequent visitor to SA, I'm reluctant to upgrade. The Sinclair has marginal notes from all my trips ... might even have to compile a list

Sinclair says that it's found in "virtually any grassland, common throughout the region" Newman says: "occurs in regions of lush grassland where it frequently feeds by the roadside" ... which is precisely what it was doing — except that I have just realised that I posted the wrong pic

Yip, that one is indeed a Sabota lark. It's this one that I think is the Richard's pipit?



Sorry for my confusion ... but then, these LBJs are very confusing

Jeez, you had me worried there lady. Had my Roberts and other guides all in a little bundle, ready to be thrown away Don't ever do that again!

Ja, now that looks like an African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus (Gewone Koester), formerly known as Grassveld Pipit.

The Richard's Pipit also known as Grassland Pipit does not occur in South Africa. Very similar looking bird though.

Am I getting as foncused as Jazil?



OK, both my books call the "Gewone Koester" the Richard's pipit, and both give it the latin name Anthus novaeseelandiae. Sinclair also includes the Robert's #716. So while it may have been renamed in the interim since my books were published, it looks like according to my books, it's a Richard's pipit. Neither of my books have either a grassland or a grassveld pipit or any with the latin name Anthus cinnamomeus . Would seem that there may have been some changes in naming/IDing pipits since my books were published?

Anyway, sure is "interesting"

The KNP Animal & Bird Checklist I bought in Kruger 3 years ago calls Robert's #716 Richard's Pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus). In the one I bought this year the name has been changed to African Pipit.

Part Four

15 May - Olifants - Phalaborwa - Olifants
Today is my next-to-last day in the park and instead of a leisurely drive revisiting some of my favourite loops, I'm off to Phalaborwa in search of more miniDV tapes! I've already started on my last blank tape, and with all the KNP shops that I've tried being out of stock, this has become a somewhat desperate mission. The drive to Phalaborwa is fairly uneventful, altho I do have good sightings of a fish eagle and a pair of whitebacked vultures. And my quest for videotapes is successful, although not at the camera shop, but rather at a home furnishings shop that also carries cameras, where the price was half of what it was in the park. Indeed, this was the best price for miniDV tapes that I found anywhere in the RSA!

When I re-entered Phalaborwa Gate, I stopped to grab a snack and also had a look at the excellent crafts shop there — well worth a stop, as they have attractive and unusual items, some quite different from things I'd seen elsewhere. However, tempting as the items were, I'd already done my gift shopping and knew I had no room in my luggage for anything further.

I decided, since I was so close, to revisit Sable Dam and took the narrow, twisting road — really more of a track — that leads to the end of the dam opposite where the birdhide is. As the road emerged from the thick mopani, I saw that a breeding herd of elephant was moving towards me, some still enjoying a mud puddle on the edge of the dam. They were moving towards me, but along an open, grassy area well — or so I thought — to my right, so I decided that I would stay where I was, on the leftmost side of this road/track, and watch them pass by.





The group was moving along quite placidly when, quite without warning, two of the ellies changed course and were heading right towards me! I quickly started my engine but I really had nowhere to go, although I tried reversing down the narrow, twisting track through the tall mopani shrubs. That proved to be hopeless and after a few very tense moments, I was able to move forward past all the elephants, down to the open area at the edge of the dam. Even tho I am in general very comfortable around ellies, this was a very scary few moments!! I stayed put at the dam for some time, while the ellies continued to move away in the opposite direction, with at least one of the youngsters trumpeting every few minutes. At least that way I could tell that they were moving away, and as they progressed away from the dam, across and along the S51, the youngsters were clearly having a great deal to say to any cars they encountered on that road.

Eventually, after I'd heard no further trumpeting for 15 minutes, I continued along the S51, returned to the H9, and had an uneventful return to Olifants, to make the most of my last evening at my favourite KNP camp. I was rewarded with giraffe and ellies on the plains below my rondavel, hippo in the river, and a muted but lovely sunset — as always somewhat bittersweet, loathe to leave and wondering how long it will be before I'm able to return again.

sightings
H8: nothing
S93: impala, crocodile
S46: nothing
H1-5: nothing
H9: impala, bull elephant, bataleur, giraffe, Burchell's coucal, buffalo, fish eagle, whitebacked vultures
S51: impala, breeding herd of elephant, grey heron
H9: impala, whitebacked vultures (possibly mating), saddlebilled stork, tiny leopard tortoise, redbilled woodhoopoe
S69: threebanded plover and chicks, elephant
H9: nothing
S94: impala, wildebeest
S46: zebra, impala, giraffe, bataleur
S93: impala, ?white helmetshrike
S44: impala, giraffe, terrapin
Olifants restcamp: giraffe, hippo, elephants





Is this a white helmetshrike?

Yes.