SANParks.org Forums

Thanks Pumbaa



Hippie- you are getting personal Except the hair is all gone and the bulge- Ok lets not go there Thanks Bushbuddies



Hi Aat, lovely to have you join here. Can't believe YOU have not seen Caracal in Kruger. Then I was blessed indeed. Next time-Just make sure you check out all the Duikers . Thanks for commenting Aat. Much appreciated .



Yep, amazing is the word! Still would like to know why there were only two? Most enjoyable to see them though! Thanks for commenting CoS. Appreciated as always .

Thanks Trrp-trrrr. Hippo on the road is very strange. Treated I most certainly was. Thanks for commenting Trrp-Trrrrr. Much appreciated.

Moving along on this cloudy overcast day. The Raptors were once again in abundance.

I saw my first headless Fish Eagle


And got a skrik (fright) when it turned its head.


And a Brown snake Eagle


A tawny (I think)


A Wahlberg


This Hyena completely ignored me


Trundling of to who knows where


And so good to see this-repairs to the bridge on the H12 over teh Sabie River Except when I got back to JHB,I read again about the floods Wondered if they carried on with the repairs. The baboons would be happy

Noel...Absolutely awesome of the Raptors...

Know those bum shots all too well ...leaving the wrong view.

Wow wow wow Noel! Wild dogs in the road! Hippo in the road and headless fish eagles you are for sure a lucky man! Now its time to play the lotto

And yet another Wahlberg Eagle.


Decided I would explore the road to Tshokwane rather than the H11. Little to be seen- so I said hello to a Shongololo


A magnificient Kudu Bull in a riverbed.




The swallows were non too happy with the poor weather.


An beautiful White Helmet Shrike




And my friend, the stunning European Roller


Good night.

Love the raptors, noel.
You got a nice variety and it is amazing how big they really are when holding them on your arm.

The White helmet shrite is also stunning.

Bums and headless animals-sounds a bit like Macdonalds Farm .




You go da secret on da numbers?? Not Lucky-just blessed.



Thanks Kaapsedraai. Always a pleasure to see the White Helmet Shrike. That eye is just plain beautiful

Thanks for commenting everyone. Appreciated.


Good night!

Thanks for your stunning birdie pictures, noel,

especially the raptors

The repairs on the bridge over the Sabie and Sand river are meanwhile completed Same is looking great again

Wonderful raptor pictures, Noel

I often find them very frustrating to . They will be clearly visable... in front of a branch... or just out of reach.. or directly in the sun the minute you focus the they are inspired... to fly away.

Lovely Wild Dog sighting Noel! And a Hippo in the road .... I thought it was normal? Maybe we were just lucky to have found them in the road or under a tree in the middle of the day.

Great shot of the "headless" Fish Eagle, although I prefer them with a head!

Handsome Kudu, and huge Shongololo!

Beautiful bird and raptors pictures!

Love all the birdie-pics! It 's interesting - the more I go to the bush, the more I enjoy the birds! I'm scared I might turn into a "twitcher" soon...

Pumbaa, I am so glad to hear that the repairs are done . They were working on it the first few days I was there, but did not continue when it started to rain, and the of course the floods. Thanks for your kind comments .



So very right MM, which is of course why I appreciated that there were so many of them, and most of them close to the road, and in no mood to fly off anywhere. Not that I appreciated the rain, but still, I got to see so many raptors, and I LUUUUVVVV raptors. Thanks for commenting MM



Hilda, you were lucky to see Hippos on the road. First time in 30 years, and that included many many times of being out as soon as the gates open.
Thanks for commenting Hilda .



I thought all Krugerians (that's us) were twitchers. Too late I'm afraid. Welcome to the world of twitchers. Its fun, its crazy, its expensive, and its wonderful. I came to that conclusion after visiting Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens last year and there was a huge hype about the Grey Wagtail. Some bird club had come all the way from Pretoria, a bunch of them scouring, sometimes running (at the hint of a sighting) loaded with Binocs, Digiscopes and Cameras. BTW I'm not, repeat not, a Twitcher All photos of birds in this TR are my Camera's own doing!
Thanks for commenting Bishbuddies .

Still om my way to Tshokwane.


And arrive there, a quick check that there are no Ellies around (like once before where one made himself comfortable in the parking lot, and started munching on the trees) and obey the call of nature. And a gentleman starts chatting about sightings and we exchange our sightings-nice Kruger camaraderie-and he tells me he saw a lioness about 6 km north of there. Decisions decisions. Should I chance it? Ok, I'll go. so off I trundle, north towards Satara. 5 km later, 6 km later, 7 km later, 8 km later. I conclude the lioness has disappeared. Logical deductive reasoning . Oh dear, still no Lions. Just then a very cheerful chap comes past, happy as a lark, and he tells me in a foreign accent, lions at Baobab tree. He was obviously happy at having seen some lions, and wanted to share it with all and sundry. I discovered he told about a gazzillion people that he passed on the way to Tshokwane. Why thank you sir, I appreciated that bit of information very much and now more decisions. Its still early enough for me to do the trek to the Baobab tree. Check the map for distances, and its about 20+ km. and if I do a steady 40-50 kmh I should get there in plenty good time. No stopping allowed. I pass buffalo, giraffe, zebra, raptors (its still raining) and head straight for the Baobab tree, and sure enough there are lions. Now some more logical deductive reasoning comes into play.
Did I just travel 30km to see this- a couple of females and teenagers?




You know you are a Kruger Junkie when you ....... Well never mind, I was happy to see some golden kitties at last, and forgave them for their posture .

One lioness woke up


but that was all.

One got up and started munching on some grass-huh? Not just lazy lions, but also crazy lions


All shot through the window as it was still raining, and none of the other 6 cars there were going to budge to let me have a better view or turn in such a way that I could take photos through the passenger window. Ah well! I saw lions.








Very soon the number of cars increased to 12, with more arriving, and a queue forming, so I opted to leave. I was glad I had made the trip to see these lions. Now to head back to LS.

Good night.

Well 30km out of your way Noel but its the best 30km ever driven those are beautiful cats it woul seem they had a bit of an upset stomach but nonetheless gorgeous