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I should really be studying but feel rather guilty for not submitting trip reports for the last 2 trips . So…decided to do a pics followed by anecdotes rather than day by day report as I REALLY should be studying
The last trip, 18-28 Sept. was not based in KNP, but I travelled back and forth through the park as I was 1km away from the Paul Kruger gate.

All the above pics were taken early morning at the Lake Panic bird hide; this has become one of my favourite spots and to have an ellie visit while bird watching was an absolute treat
Spotted all the usual suspects, White faced ducks, Greenbacked herons, Grey herons….but a juvenile Blackcrowned night heron was a first for me and a Grey heron mommy feeding her very demanding, rather large chicks…actually she “ran” away after a while! There is no pic of the juvenile Balckcrowned heron as the youngster hid in a tree, albeit a few centimetres from my nose, my camera could not- would not focus on the well camouflaged bird

Ok, next instalment during the next study break…maybe tomorrow

that's mommy Grey heron feeding her 'overgrown' chicks ...they literally mobbed her with those sharp beaks!

I was amazed at how casually the (Greenbacked) heron stalked around the croc, nerves of steel methinks

Stil at Lake Panic, the ellie drinking water. Just look at the length of those eyelashes! It stayed around for quite a while and although the bird hide was full to popping with people, it was wonderfully quiet.
The single heron is the mommy Grey heron when she flew off to escape the kids.

We ran out of food, so we decided to pop through the park, in Paul Kruger gate and out Phabeni gate, to Hazyview. It was a morning for babies: 3 little hyena, but unfortunately only an action shot as they were running nervously, and I think rather naughtily in and out there hidey hole.
We also saw the tiniest ellie ever, and baby warthogs. And then this very big ellie, who if you check the second pic of him, had only one tusk! Well, all in all not a bad grocery shopping trip.

On another day we all set off for lunch at Lower Sabie. About 4km into the park, through Paul Kruger gate again, we came upon a lump of cars parked crazily, totally blocking the road, yup, could only be a cat . We drove slowly forward, actually wanting to just get through the knot of cars, as we got to a gap I looked right and there under the trees, in a dip, lay a huge, beautiful leopard sinking its first bite into a bushbuck! Neh, sorry no pics , my camera was having a hissy about branches in front of the subject again, eish.
There were birds aplenty on the way, including this Martial eagle;

the colours were so lovely, a nice huge lens would most likely have done the scene more justice, but amazing to see anyway.

And then the tamest Burchell’s Coucal ever, it was right next to the car, of course that didn’t guarantee it stood still for very long, was like photographing a child!

We rounded a corner to see this green mamba on the road. It was the friendliest snake, cocked its head to one side when I spoke to it, and it was so close to me

I actually needed to remove 1.7x converter (lens), but didn’t want to waste precious time faffing and maybe miss the pic.

The last bird one of the twitchers will have to ID for me…

I have to tell you the park was veeeeery busy down south, it being school holidays and a long weekend in the middle, but even with the ear jams and awfully busy restaurants, I still loved every minute!
Ok, next report will be after Decembers trip

Hi guys,

As far as I know there ain't any green mambas in Kruger. Very interesting sighting in any case. I'd say boomslang looking @ the big eye.

The last bird is a yellow-billed kite. Good pic there Jay.

Jay,

what you have there olive whip/grass snake. as WTM said no green mamaba's in the park