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You, of all people, to have to see dead snakes.

Lovely kudu you saw, and I love the cloud pic too.

Love also the kudus, the baboons and the steenbok, Mel,

and on top whilst having nice braai a civet I am still about to find my first one ever - Would really love to watch some of these pictures

Great Kudu and love your baby baboon Melph, I think they must be born cheeky.

Seems you are having a bad run with snakes. Poor things, I really do not get it, no need for this to happen, we saw one snake only and could see it easily from a distance and no way would we hit it while going at the correct speed.

Mel!

It's a shame how continuous travels can get in the way with staying on top
of the TRs one started to read and comment to. Sorry.

Anyhoo, love your impala of the day idea! Just goes to show your eager
approach to anything minor or major you might encounter in the park.

The raptor is an osprey, I think. But someone might want to confirm that
(or not )

Civet in the camp - how exciting!

And glad to hear that you and Dad had such a beautiful evening with Karin & Co. again!!!

Wonderful Kudu pictures and steenbok picture

Too bad you have found another dead snake

Hello everyone!!

Again I am so grateful for all the lovely support each new installment receives.

Thank you hilda, Heksie, Melrockson, Rookie2009, chirinda, Pumbaa, VicRob, Lionspoon and vinkie

OK, hold onto your hats, lots of excitement ahead

Berg-en-dal Day 2: Morning drive

Oh dear. Something wrong with my tummy so off to the toilet at 2am in the morning
Tried to go back to sleep but was still awake when the alarm went off at 4am
Poor Dad also woke with a funny tummy so we tried to get dressed and ready in-between tag-team toilet stops.
Dad reckoned it was those cheese Russians we had at the braai last night.
What terrible timing – just before a 3 hour drive!

Dad and I just crossed our fingers and hoped we could keep things under control until we got back to camp

So we put on our best cheery faces to meet Karin at the car before driving to reception.
Karin was hoping we'd go in the small truck, but slowly more and more people turned up so we took off in the big one, with Raymond at the wheel

First up was a hyena walking alongside the road in near darkness


Next up a white rhino


And then OMW what is that in the bushes over there?
Karin and I were shouting for Raymond to stop!! Reverse!!
Unfortunately by the time we got back down the road the blackie had gone further into the bushes
But here’s a pic showing at least some of this special animal


WOW we all felt so excited!
And incredibly privileged

That's Dad sitting behind Karin. I think Karin got a better photo on her camera with all of us in it


A pair of grey louries matched the early morning light perfectly


And a vulture waited patiently for the sun to warm his wings


Raymond stopped the truck as we drove over a low water bridge.
Almost straight away the local terrapins came out to say hello


We were held up for a few moments by a giraffe roadblock


And next up was an ellie having breakfast. Mmmmm breakfast – we were getting pretty hungry by then!


On the final stretch back to camp another safari truck pulled alongside to have a chat with Raymond.
We couldn’t hear the whole conversation but it was something about “madach one click from the next turn-off”.
Madach? Then Karin told me madach was “wild dogs”. WILD DOGS!!!!
Oh Raymond please take us to see the wild dogs

Unfortunately they weren’t there when we arrived at the spot

BUT just a few kilometres before camp a car was pulled over and a lady was pointing out the window to something in the bushes.
OMW – a leopard!!!!
Unfortunately it disappeared before we could get any photos, but at least we saw it

WOW, what a way to finish off the drive with 3 of the Big 5 sighted!

Fantastic Melph, a blackie, how special and rare.

Ok let me in on the secret, cheese Russians?? . Is this a Kruger thing we don't know about yet

Hi VicRob

The "cheese Russians" were some kind of sausage in a packet we found in the fridge section of Skukuza.
They actually didn't taste too bad, but they certainly did not agree with our tummies

Mel - so sorry to hear you woke up with upset tummies, but good on you for going on the drive anyhow... how awesome to see a black rhino!!!

Shame you missed the wild dogs - hopefully you only missed them this one time?

I'm itching for more!!!

Glad you didn't miss the game drive with Karin - even if the wild dogs weren't cooperating

Love the baby baboon

Hailey

Mel, I'm not sure why but my computer won't let me see your pics

I'll be back later to check again. It might be a photobucket problem. I wonder if anyone else is having the same problem.

Same here Meandering Mouse!

A blackie - OMW!!! I'm sooo

But your morning drive was a rather successful one anyway,
apart from not feeling well that is. Hope you managed to get
through without problems!

Lovely morning drive you've had Melph68! With so many lovely sightings, I don't think there was time to think about an upset tummy! And a Blackie of all animals! You were very lucky indeed!