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Hey guys... I went to Kruger on Saturday 18-11-06. We left Nelspruit very late (08h00) and went in via Numbi gate.

As the topic suggests it did not stop raining once in the day. of 12 wild dogs. Taking pics was difficult as it was raining so hard I couldn't put the lens out the window...

They had just killed an impala and they were still a bit excited. We arrived about 3 minutes to late to see the kill but they finished the carcass in a VERY short period.

Some pictures of the Wild dogs are here:
http://www.baffers.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=230
http://www.baffers.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=232
http://www.baffers.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=235

After a very wet & rainy lunch at the Skukuza day visitors site we made our way up to Tshokwane. Right at the Kruger Tablets - (A spot where normally you can alight from your vehicle) we spotted three white rhino's. Needless to say the rain was not the motivating factor for not getting out of our vehicles

I apologise for the glare on some of the pictures but it is difficult to stop the glare from a wet rock

Here is some of the rhino's:
http://www.baffers.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=237
http://www.baffers.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=239

We also spotted this guy on his own:
http://www.baffers.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=241

Please guys I would like to encourage all of you to remember to log sightings of Ground hornbills and to send it to the EWT working group. Read more about it in this topic:

http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11906

It would help them a lot in their research.

Even though it was a rainy day we spotted lots of smaller things that you don't normally see a lot of.

Anyway it was rainy and wet but it was a lot of fun (as ussual)
Hope to be in the park next weekend again... I'll be wearing my Yellow Ribbon

Yup I have had them to.

I was rather surprised to see what I did see. We had planned the day trip three weeks in advance and we were not going to stop it because of a bit of rain

I must say that it is a beautiful time of year with the impalas giving birth. Lots of "babies" around that gives the ladies no end of pleasure.

We actually saw some lion as well but they were about 150 meteres away and even with a 500 mm lens I couldnt get any good quality pictures.

We saw Rhino on 5 different occasions although the above mentioned sighting was the best.

Actually I have had worse "sunny days" come to think of it
I must say I am very fortunate to be so close to the park (Nelspruit) to be able to go next weekend again.

Still looking for the elusive leopard Me and the leopards just don't seem to go well together....

Well apart from the rainy day on Saturday we have had rain almost every day this week here in Nelspruit.

The rain is very good for the park. Its not overgrown yet but everything has the green look to it so at the moment it is fabulous to visit.

I am going again on Sunday so I am looking forward to some great sightings again. I will be wearing my yellow ribbon...

Hi guys.

i went to Jeppe's Reef today for some work and decided to do a little "lunch detour" thrue the Malelane gate.

I traveled up to Renoster Pan (+- 16 km) without seeing anything accept impalas. On my way back toward Malelane gate I happened to come across this fellow. He was moving fast so the pictures are not the greatest.

First Picture
and
Second Picture

It's rather rare for me to see Leopards so I am rather proud of my sighting

So the inlaws visited and we decided to go to the Kruger for the day. Of course it is impossible to get the entire family out early so we only entered at Malelane Gate at 09h00.

(Ohh yes before I go on I aplogiose for only having links tot he pictues as the Gallery I use uses a database interface and wont make let one show a picture on the forum)

It was a strange day where everything seemed to be quiet.

We started of with some very tame Guinea fowl

As we made our way up to Afsaal Picnic spot we stopped over at Renosterpan / Renostergat as there are ussually a rhino or two in the area. Unfortunately this time there were none. We did however stumble across this fine example of a Foam Nest Frog Nest

We went on our way again and about 100 meters from afsaal we came across this Whalberg's Eagle. He was being bombed by what appeared to be swallows. He sat for about 20 seconds being very agitated and then flew of. While he was flying away the smaller birds kept bothering him untill his speed took him away.

The angle of the sun didnt allow me to take a picture of the smaller birds attacking him and even in this picture I had to do some editing to reduce the very sharp backlight.

After having a pancake at Afsaal *YUMMIE* we started making our way toward Skukuza. About 1 kilometer past Afsaal we found a very nice White Rhino.

Kirsty - My sister in law managed to grab this picture even though this fellow wasnt to obliging and he stayed behind some dense shrubbery.

Of course that area is also known for Kudu and we found a group of young bulls near the intersection of the Malelane road and the Road coming from Pabemi. This younger bull didnt mind at all that we parked next to him and after this photo just continued eating as if we didnt exist.

Ok folks thats all i have time for now... I will post the rest of our sightings a bit later when i have finished the work thing...

We went to Skukuza Main camp and browsed the shop. (Compulsary when inlaws from Centurion are with you). I managed to sneak away and go down to the river to see if there was something.

Nothing in the iver but I did manage to get some bird pics.
Here (Still have to check out the exact name) and two King Fishers in the big tree at the restuarant.

I also got a great shot of this pigeon / dove - If one fo you bird expert guys could help me out with some of the exact names for the birds that would be great. As I said I have all the Sasol book but so many of them look the same

After a bite to eat we departed from Skukuza and ove the low water bridge. Right on the bridge I had to hold up traffic for a minute as this little Pied Kingfisher didtn seem to even notice my car and afforded a great photo opertunity.

On the far side of the bridge we met up with 5 youngsters in a VW golf that had absolutely pumping music booming from the car. I wonder if they wonder why they didnt get to see anything. It also looked like they had passed through there since we didnt see anything any more till the Tshokwane / Lower Sabie split...

Once we turned of toward Lower Sabie and Crossed the Bridge onto to the Lower Sabie road we found some really nice sights.
The best of these must have been a troop of baboons: There were very young ones who seemed to have a hard time deciding as to wheather it was more important to hold on to mom or to drink... Decisions Decisions Desicion...

There was also some clasical baboon behaviour. I guess in Baboon world if you dad says stay still he means it.

We made our way down to Nkulu Picnic spot where we stretched our legs and I got some shots of this lizard. Once again if someone knows the name please tell me as I have no idea what kind it is.

On the road to Lower Sabie we saw a massive grasshopper / locust. Very nice detail and if someone knows a name then also please fell free to tell me

Baffers, had two great drives from Malelane gate this weekend.

25th - stunning leopard in tree 4km's past Berg-en-dal turn-off. No-one else saw it - what a great spot!

Two wild dog in the tar road about 7km's before Afsaal.

Tons of Ellie, rhino and general game.

26th - leopard on the river bank AT THE GATE before we entered!

Impala ewe dropping her lamb on Lower Sabie road - very special.

ALSO - very big Tusker about 14km's up. It COULD be Muliluane - has anyone reported him in this area lately????

Thanks again I will change my Picture details acordingly...

I will add the rest of my pictures tonight. I found a bird in teh water at Croc bridge and I cant even get close to a name in the Sasol bird book... I'll be wanting expert opinions on that one to

Now to find someone who knows what that lizard is called There use to be an Honorary Ranger called Laurie Smit. He unfortunately passed away a few years back but he would have known... He was a walking talking Kruger encyclopedia!

A giant among men...

Ok so here goes the final bit of report....

We left Nkulu picnic spot and made our way down to Crocodile bridge... We came across some fighting elephants but I couldnt get a picture... *SIGH*

Of course there was plenty of Giraffe and Zebra

And then a favourite of the ladies... The Impala "babies"

Of course at Lower Sabie reception area we saw the huge amount of Finches and this Pied Kingfisher at Sunset Dam

It was a wonderful day and although we didnt see much in terms of predators and Big five we enjoyed it as always. Upon our exit at Croc Bridge we found this bird that I need some assistance in identifying?

Once again Kruger prooves to be the best even when you dont see "much" in terms of Big five and predators....