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*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 60 – Happy Easter with SABLE

First of all a happy Easter !!

Remember story 48 about the beautiful SABLE along the S36 ?

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Well, like most or all of you we were really happy to see a Sable during a trip.
But luck was with us during Elly’s birthday trip…
It was another day and not very early or late afternoon, but around 8:00 in the morning when we were driving our beloved S36.
Just complaining about the road condition… last part of S36 was a real washboard when we saw something laying in the grass a bit protected by some bush.
Forget the complaining part…. One can turn into another mood and getting exited as soon as you see beautiful antelopes and not just antelopes …no Sable !
This time not just one but a whole group … counted 18

First look and shot….

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About 50 meters ahead a Sable was watching the area , like you see Impala doing same thing… a group and some watchers….at the lookout positions for danger…

Here’s the watcher…

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Back to the group and believe me…heart pounding and hoping they are not disappearing into the bush. Sable are shy and prefer the thicker bush…
But no, they were relaxed pfffffffffffff
This male , just have a look , no words needed I think

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and as portrait

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It was difficult to make pictures because of the bush between us and them and I did not want to start the car to move forward or backward…afraid they would move away. So a bit of patience and hoping they showed themselves
It worked so some impressions of them

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mhhhhh lucky with this shot

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Just behind some branches but to nice to skip…

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In south-african language (afrikaans) their name is SWARTWITPENS (swart = black , wit = white)
Here you can see why they became this name…

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and

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These two were curious who was taking pictures of them… lovely posing

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Heart still pounding with this sighting but getting more relaxed… another one getting curious

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Wowwww… what a beauties and just for ourselves. No noise , other cars , just them, bush and nothing to disturb this scene…

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The females with the youngsters were a bit more shy and because of the bush and branches more difficult to capture… but as good as possible …here some impressions of other members of the group

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and with two younger ones

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and

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Moving a bit forward…. Some more members were visible.
Most of them were standing up , before they were laying down in the grass and almost impossible to capture them…

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Another 3 of this group

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A last shot before they were moving away into the thick bush…

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We are happy to share this special and wonderful sighting with you and thanks again for spending some time for this story…. More to come ? yess … think some cats will be performing next story


Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 61 – It’s a males …world….

You know this song by J Brown? It’s a man’s world…

I think I said in one of the other stories about Lions we have seen a lot of them in 2 ½ week in Kruger… more than 70 in total.

This story is about the Male Lions we have seen. Remarkable we have seen most of them walking, on a mission and just a few laying down, on their own, with their pride or together, in good condition and one in bad shape… I think all together a good overview of the different way’s you can meet them…..

Ready to join us and go through Kruger on the Male Lion Mission ?

Let’s start on the main road from Crocodile Bridge towards Lower Sabie…. It’s 5 o’clock in the morning and first glimpse of the sun… we just came from a small dirtroad and after a few meters on the main road this guy came towards us…

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So, stopping engine off , camera and action…

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You can see he did not go the the hairdresser for some time but still impressing

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One day later… good reason to go to Skukuza for money-refill… ( why do petrol stations still do not accept credit cards … aren’t we in 2012…? ). On the way back, just out of nothing lions on the main road , just coming out of the bush…. Nice bonus.

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and

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Second male was not very succesfull with the girls he was in love with I guess… look at his face… a fight about who should do the housekeeping ??

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and in portrait

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Ready for next one ?
This is about male lions on a mission… we are on the H10 coming from Satara to the south… it’s about 6 o’clock in the morning and suddenly on the right side a male lion appeared…not just that but he started a nice roaring act…

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It was clear he was on a mission… no time to look left / right for crossing the road no …straight forward so now at the left side… walking…walking…and roaring…

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We “walked” with him in the car and….. suddenly about a hundred meters ahead another male … also on a mission… walking roaring…. Fffffwwwwuuuuwwww.

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Difficult to get good pics when they are walking fast… so stopping sometimes and trying to capture them well

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Both males walked away from the road distance was growing and growing… and another surprise …a third male further away but too far to make a picture….
Mmmmhhhh we were looking at each other… looks like a lion day… knowing we have seen a pride earlier with some beautiful cups… more about these kind of sightings in another story…

Since it was still early we decided to go to Crocodile Bridge for breakfast and coffee… (best coffee in kruger …)
Just finished our breakfast someone told us she had seen two male lions !! near the S28 ..so what can you do ? In the car and go…. Just a few hundred meters on the S28 and yesss , there they are…. Friends or brothers….whatever…they are beautiful and still just 9 o’clock in the morning our third lion sighting that day

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and

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Pretty if they stand up to pose for you … thanks guy !

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Last impression of both

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Enough or continue with more ??

Let’s move and skip two days…. After some great sightings we took the S33 (between Tshokwane and Satara) and we met this really beautiful young male , naming him Mr Pretty

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and ladies for you …. A portrait of him

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Next day…. Again very early and going down from Satara towards Tshokwane… we met this male 5 o’clock in the morning…. Looks like he had a good meal…

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turning to the H11 we met this guy , bit lazy and sleepy …but looking with pride eyes to his wife and children…. More about that in another story

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and

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Very much in contrast with the well feeded male earlier we also saw this poor guy… sick or old or hungry … he was limping so maybe couldn’t get a meal anymore…
As said…I will show you the males in all kind of situations and this is part of life too… was not a nice view and you feel tears coming up , saying ohhh nooo…

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Last day of our trip…. A pride hided in the high grass near a bridge…. Just this one was visible … lovely goodbye from Kruger when you are on the way to the gate…

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Ok…. Please leave the vehicle … tour has come to an end , hope you enjoyed it

Will there be another story ?


Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 62 – Cubs..cubs and cubs

My previous story was about Male lions…. Next to fighting each other and being lazy , sometimes hunting and mainly sleeping and eating they have another hobby… .chasing lionesses to take care of the future…..
The result is Cubs, Cubs and Cubs….. well, we were lucky to see many lions during our trip and this time a lot of cubs in different parts of Kruger.

Ready to jump in the car for a ride ?

Let’s start this story with some nice cubs along the H5… coming around a corner and see… lions along the road. I was busy to capture some lionesses and suddenly a few curious cubs came out of the bush to see what was happening…. They just stayed a few seconds before getting back into the ticker bush…
Next to mother

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and nr 2 appearing

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Leaving the H5 and moving to the S28…. Some lionesses in the higher grass with 2 cubs
Sometimes you are lucky with the location / position, this time they did not really move and were sleeping..sleeping and sleeping… just a few moments the cubs were visible.
The picture shows one cub close to moms with a lovely expression at her face, the other cub almost on his/her back sleeping…

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and… not a very good picture but shows you the lovely eyes of the cub

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One day later… on the main road between Skukuza and Lower Sabie we met a pride coming out of the bush …walking on the main road for about a kilometer and disappeared in the bush again

I am still wondering if this is the same mother of yesterday along the S28 with the collar and the two cubs
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and

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and the little angel

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and a last view

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You still like watching cubs ?
For next story within this story we move on towards Mopani.
Ok… it’s late afternoon, Elly decided to stay in Mopani camp and I decided to do a drive to “hunt” tuskers…. Some reading my stories know they have my special attention…

Passing Tihongonyeni waterhole (new version) …no tuskers… mhhhh , so taking the old main road trying out my luck there…. no way…. Getting later and later, 16:15 and decided to go back… then suddenly at the right side of the road… a lion ? mmmhhh no.? yes.. ! Lions are not that common here … at least not for us… have seen them a few times but not that often. Nobody around , just me and them… stopped the car , opened the window and camera ready…
What happended was special. First I saw a lioness walking through the grass

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At the right side of here I just could see two cubs walking away and hiding in the grass.. being invisible for me.
The lioness was also hiding a bit… her head just a bit visible

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At that moment I was happy to see the lions but a bit sad I almost could not see them… so nothing else to do and started talking to the lioness… saying stupid things like “hello… where are your babies… , please come closer and show your cubs…, will skip all other words

After some time, 20 minutes later moms moved a bit towards me and was making some sounds…calling ?
Yessssss…. Did my talking help, I will never know, but it looked like mom trusted the situation and called her cubs to show them to me.. Proud mothers like to show their babies isn’t it..? The cub was still looking unsure…

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And then a lovely show started….
Looking at this picture I am moved again… remembering this special moments..

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Proud mother and curious child…

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Moms taking care doing a cat-wash… My feelings at that moment… was watching them saying ohhhhh and wowwww to myself…. Such a private show … only possible in the north I guess…

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The cub was so curious… looking at me almost all the time… maybe first “vehicle / humans” for the cub ?

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About 5 minutes later , just when I was looking around for the other cub nr 2 showed up

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Both cubs were exploiring the area around their mother and she was looking at me with eyes like… aren’t they lovely ? I answered Yes… they are !

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Cub back to mother… still looking curious… what’s that clicking I hear…?

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The other cub laying in the grass a few meters from mom was curious too… so two staring cubs… I really was enjoying this sighting sooooo much…

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And finally…all 3 together for a few seconds

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Then suddenly the lioness decided to move on and crossed the “old main road” in front of me

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and followed by her cubs… this one gave me last curious look

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Like cubs normally do… playing a bit…

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A last view on them before they moved into the thick bush at the other side of the road…

When I moved on I was impressed for a long time… the lioness showing her cubs because she thought it was safe… , I felt happy and lucky and thinking… the lioness could disappear to the other side into the high grass and hide…but she did not…



Well…. Thank you for being with us again… I don’t want to make the story too long so will show more cubs in another story to come

Just a note:
I can see many people are reading the stories and like to say to the ones who don’t know my special interest for the tuskers of kruger they are free to ask for ID’ing the tuskers they have seen during their trip(s).
Link to my tusker website is shown down here and at the Mammals forum there is a special thread about the Big Tuskers…

Bye and see you next story….

Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 63 – What a Beauty….

The story of Elly’s birthday trip has not ended yet… After cheetah’s, many lions, tuskers, sable, roan, eland, tsessebe’s, african wilddogs and even two black rhino’s she got to find the Leopard…did she?

Day 4 of the trip… driving from Crocodile Bridge to Afsaal for a breakfast… we saw many animals inclusding some lions. After breakfast we could not really decided what road to take. So by 6th sense we took the small dirtroad H2-2 and then left to the S114 towards Skukuza.
Maybe you recognize… driving and telling each other “not much on or near the road here” and “we never have seen much here near this road” then suddenly something was moving in a tree at the right side of the road, close to “renoster koppies dam”.
Stopping the car for a better look and yessss…. The spotted cat… a leopard enjoying a nap in the tree.

First view…

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approaching this beautiful cat a bit more…

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It’s always difficult to find the right position spotting a leopard in a tree… branches, leafs taking away a good view and in what position is he/she in the tree.
Only one car coming from opposite position so moving a bit forward finding a better spot..
Waiting …waiting… come on dear lovely cat… lift your head…please…

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This one was really sleepy so a final shot

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Allthough we enjoyed watching this leopard there was not much action so after some time we left the location and moved on to Skukuza for a nice coffee

10 days later…. We were staying in Satara. One of these lazy days…not getting up early… enjoying a late breakfast and a bit of swimming… it’s holiday so what…..?
After lunch we decided to go for a drive… leaving Satara, taking the H6 and then right the long S37…. Going to find Cheetah’s … well, no cheetah at all, we found a promising (tusker) bull , a lazy Jackal a nice group of Kudu’s. Lazy day it was, so going for an icecream at Tshokwane and going back to Satara… there was a road sign for the S86… I don’t know why but decided to go for this small loop…you never know…

It’s a nice little road… and coming around one of the corners… huhhhhhhhhhhh..?????
Elly…look…no….yess…. just a few meters near the road our second Leopard.
Turning of the engine..taking position and hoping…hoping the leopard did not disappear…
First view …

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Wowww…. Sitting there not moving …not paying any attention…

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Then enjoying the sighting… what a nice surprise…and with this great background

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Zooming in…

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A shot…just how we were looking at this beautiful cat

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Pfffff heartpounding with some ohhhhhh’sss… and ahhhh’sss , big smile’s on our faces…
Lucky again…. Just saying..”another great present Elly” and taking another picture….

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Mmmm breathtaking these kind of sightings….
Please do not move… like to make a portrait of you….



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Just after the click…. The leopard started to move and we expected this was our last good view at the cat…
But no… leopard decided to go through some bush and taking position on a branch…(what else ???)
** the S86 is along a riverbed so the position is strategic , a good overview on the whole riverbed for the leoapard…

First this beauty was laying down this way ….

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But was not happy with this so turned around and offered us another great view with riverbed as background

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and

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A last kind of “did you capture me well now ?”

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Then head down…looking away from us and started a nice sleep…..

Both of us laughing… lazy day today but a great day as well….

Next day december 10th Elly’s birthday…, well I wrote a story about that day earlier… with big 5 as present…. The leopard we saw was same as this one and almost at same position / location.

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Hope you liked the Leopard story, bye for now and next story will be a short one about a nice friendly family in Kruger….

Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 64 – All in the Family….

I promised you to come up with more cubs and I like to do what I promised.
So another story and this time just about a wonderful Lion family.

We were staying in Satara and this day we decided to go south for a breakfast in Crocodile Bridge. So we woke up very early and left Satara , following the main road south, going left after Tshokwane and over the hills down to Lower Sabie.
On the H10 … what a nice road it is for us… we spotted a male Lion, still a bit sleepy, laying down in the grass.
Seeing a male lion is always great but at the same time you look around if there are more lions nearby.

But first… the Male as we found him

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Just a few minutes later some noice ….. produced by lady lioness
Coming from out of nothing she suddenly was there with a very friendly look on her face…

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It was just 05:30 in the morning… and what a start of the day…
A couple in love but not too much activity between the two lions….
Was there a reason ?
Yes there was a very good reason, two lovely cubs appeared after mother’s calls

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Mhhhh believe me…you feel happy with a morning view breakfast with a male lion and lioness and our eye vitamines were even more filled after looking at these two cubs.

Buttttt….. it is not over yet… eyes to the left by a movement and look what was sitting there..
Yes, cub number 3

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Cubs are always hungry and moms had to go down for her babies
Wowww… we were just saying to each other … a trip with many lions and more specific many cubs… and I hear you thinking..”never enough cubs to look at”
So I love to share these pictures with you , specially for the mothers

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Mmmm… 3 cubs drinking with mom. Looking at it I realized we haven’t seen such a scene that many times so it was a great moment.

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You never get enough of this isn’t it ? , so a bit more closer

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And then this weird thing… thinking we were looking at her and the cubs all the time and thinking we counted 3 cubs…. Moms got on her feet and moved on forward, followed by the kids…then we produced some kind of HUHHHHHHHHHHH???? And at the same time we said “there are 4 cubs” !!

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Really we were so surprised about this, but a very very nice surprise, well, you can imagine

Back to daddy …what was he doing… well Daddy was still laying down, leaving all the care to Moms but a proud look at his face…. You could see him thinking, 3 days of making love and 4 children… not baddy for daddy

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From that moment off the Cubs-Show started. You remember in one of the previous story with two cubs I got the feeling we were maybe one of the first humans in their life.. well, I got this same feeling here. The way they were looking at us , so curious , big eyes and so , so lovely
Let’s start the show
(it was still very early so had to use ISO1600)

All 4 coming a bit closer…a bit hesitating

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and

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Could not resist to make a close up of one of these cuties…not so easy, it was very early and the light was not that good

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4 brothers and sisters , all together now…all together now

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Keeping them all 4 together ? try with little children… no way, but 3 is not really bad

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With some luck… all 4 again

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and so cute… so nice sitting down and just being a little bit curious…

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4 cubs, 4 individuals, some laying down and sure at least one too curious and coming closer and closer

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In the mean time lady and mother was looking proudly at her kids… with a look like “it’s OK”

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So close and so cute asking for another picture

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Moms was getting on her feet and decided “come on kids, come with me”

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and like all children do, they listen to moms !!

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and

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and Daddy ? He did not move , still laying down and saying “Life is good”

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Like always I hope you liked this story too.
Another story soon…..think so, with unexpected species maybe ???

Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 65 – 12 of a kind-


After many Cat stories it’s time to meet many different antelopes, some you see often and some you don’t see that often…speaking to some people in kruger , even after many years they haven’t seen some ever.

Let’s start with an antelope we used to see. I must say that seeing Kudu’s is one thing , to photograph them and getting nice pics is something else… they usually walk away, you see them from behind or hidden after branches etc…
This one was just crossing the road and payed some attention to us

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From Kudu to a small antelope… Steenbuck

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This antelope almost never give you the opportunity to get your camera ready in time, that’s why his name is Duiker (Diving away…running away) If you see him / her it’s the backside…but lucky this time

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Impala , everywhere and sometimes they do pose so nicely , you can’t resist to make a photo

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The next one is the Waterbuck, common but depending on location and background this one was asking me for presenting him in this story.

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Coming to the ones “Tsessebe” we don’t see everywhere in KNP. We found this mother taking care of her baby in the Mopani area.

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and

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Another day this mother with two youngsters hiding in the shadow.

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And then…. Another day in the Mopani area, taking the Old Main Road just after waterhole Tihongonyeni (Capricorn Loop). It was very early in the morning , just woke up and could not believe my eyes…. Sable ? Here ??? Yesss , first time we saw Sable in the northern section.

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They did not show themselves that well as the ones we saw near the S36 but…so special…
And curious they are…first walking away but turning around to see who was looking at them

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Same day and a bit rainy… driving to Shingwedzi along the road we found Nyala. Beautiful antelopes , specially the males.

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and

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A new day and new opportunities…we went to Tihongonyeni to see if we could find some tuskers….no..not that day, butttttttt…………. Yes… Eland !
A bit far but to nice to keep it away from you so showing you the best pictures I could make with 400mm by hand…

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Funny to see when you prepare a photo for this story to find another species … a jackall at the left…

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We could count 9 in total but not all were good visible

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As said …they were far… and I made a stupid mistake… We saw these Eland from the waterhole… if we had followed the road we could have seen them much better… and closer… this was a real BLOOPER from me !

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Male was laying down and not really showing himself… at the end he raised and run away , followed by his wives and youngsters

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Last shot

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Still angry about this mistake grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

But let’s continue…. Told you about difficulty with Duikers….well , did they change their behaviour or just lucky again….this one was not paying attention at all… “dummy” but nice for me

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after the camera click….I only saw some dust….gone with the wind…

Driving the small roads…near Mopani and almost hidden, this Tsessebe was asking for a “shot” …

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Mhhhh still missing one of the large antelopes. Just talking about them during a drive in the Mopani area. We almost got used to see Roan but so far no luck… then from left to right some Roan crossed the road and disappeared in the thick bush, just one was friendly enough to show his head…. So captured and thanks…. Big 3 Antelopes in one area (Eland, Roan and Sable)

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Another nice surprise… not far from Satara we found these Nyala’s. We haven’t seen them often in this area so big eyes.

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and

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In the southern area not far from Skukuza we saw this Bushbuck at the left side. Just trying to capture him he decided to cross the road as quickly as possible…. So, this time only a flying Bushbuck…

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I really loved this view …. So like to share it with you

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almost coming to the end… our last day and another nice surprise… number 12 of the antelopes, the Klipspringer (rockjumper) and what made it so nice is the fact they were posing at the rocks as it should be …

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Getting closer to Pretoriuskop, last minutes in Kruger …direction gate… they drive we always Hate!!
A nice goodbye from another Klipspringer couple

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This was 12 of a kind …. Next story … yes…about what… I don’t know …smileeeee


Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 66 – The Other Ones -

Many stories written and shared with you about all kind of species we have seen. Where are the forgotten ones ? Species we probably see often but not taking time to capture them or trying to but results are not that good… Some fly or run away or you just can’t take the right pictures from your car. It happens all the time.

I “walked” through my pictures from last trip and like to share these with you.

Let’s start with a snake we met during our first few hours, just somewhere on the road.
I don’t know what kind he or she is , but I am sure one of you know the name

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Warthogs…. You see them everywhere… I liked this scene with moms and 6 kids

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Another one we all recognize in all kind of situations… I selected this picture because he came close and was posing well.

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And what to think about mother and baby posing so nicely , the big eyes of the baby.

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Interesting to see the Big Business of a Dung Beetle, lovely to see other animals using the mega-tons of dung dropped by the elephants.

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In all restcamps you see them…no introduction needed…just lovely watching them.

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Out of the car to capture these butterflies. Not easy… ready to shoot and gone, moving , blurr…sometimes you’re lucky like this with two of them together.

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No cat or antelope crossing the road but a Chameleon. For me time to stop and watching him (or her) with that special walk. Yes…no…forward / backward and yesssss one step and so on and so on…. (in the mean time waving to roadmaniacs to be carefull !)
The colours…so beautiful , I really like them

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Since this one was taking all the time and I decided to copy that…taking all the time to get this portrait

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Talking about taking all the time and why not , it’s holiday , it’s getting green in Kruger , flowering started and worth to show you some flowers

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and

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I don’t know the names of these flowers but among you ? I am sure !


Not really roadrunners but like other small ones…try to capture them and see… head away, turning their backside to you, getting in the high grass so you almost don’t see them and so on. Opportunities likes these ? I stop and say “thanks” to them. I always keep in mind that without the small ones there are no big ones , without the small ones there is no real Kruger.
(mhhhh how to get this in the “brains” of the people who are driving too fast on the roads ??)

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and somewhere else his cousin

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After a long day, tired and just laying in bed… you hear something Elly ? “Yes”… what can that be…? It’s always us (men) who have to go out again for a look… taking your torchlight and then looking into this face…. ehhhhhhhhhhhh

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and

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Yes, it is Satara camp… and yes I forgot to trow something away..

Tortoises are not that fast but there are species even slower and crossing a road is almost suicide for them, a Giant Snale on the road after some rain.

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Ending this story about the other ones with a lovely sunset at Satara

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Hope you liked this story, recognizing most species I think
Next story … something like a fairy tale

Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 67 – Tihongonyeni -

Hi all…. Took some time to get to next story.
Do I have a good excuse ? Yes, caused by you…
I received a lot of Tusker ID requests and since I like these magnificent friends a lot they are priority nr 1. Result is a lot of updates at my tusker site.

For the ones reading this story and don’t know where I am talking about…try my tusker site
http://www.tuskersofafrica.com
You will find all named tuskers of Kruger and other areas.

Going through the pictures I made during last trip the idea for this story was born. I am going to take you with me to Mopani and more specific the Tihongonyeni waterhole area.
It’s one of my favorite places in Kruger NP. Why…? Well answer is easy … as said I love tuskers and in this area I met a lot of my friends during previous visits. When we arrived this time in the south I emailed some of the tuskers to meet again so I was curious if they keep their promises.

Let’s roll…. Driving the Capricorn Loop to the garden of Eden for tuskers and let’s see what we find… so jump in the car and enjoy.

I just told you that I received a lot of pictures of tuskers with ID requests… well I am going to show you how to capture a tusker properly. Most of you never learn !!

First of all ask the tusker to pose in different positions and tell him to locate himself so you don’t have to remember where you have seen him. His name ? NWAMBU

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After the photoshoot you say thank you to the tusker like I did and you can see he liked that very much looking so friendly to me.

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After this lesson (for free this time) we move on to Tihongonyeni waterhole. And what a surprise , the waterhole area has changed. This water, in front of the original concrete waterhole was not there last time. As a result we have seen many many buffalo here… sometimes it was a queue of buffalo herdes.
I love to show you the landscape with the interaction between the Heavy Weights and the Buffalo Bills

This bull really likes the new guests a lot…

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Tradition and New situation
The bulls still like the concrete waterhole, the buffalo enjoy their new muddy water area

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Then… mhhhh what are we going to do with this situation…do we allow the buffalo or chasing them away ?

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Let’s talk about this my friend , what do you think ?

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Answer…we will wipe the buffalo away

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Hahahahaha….we did it….

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Mhhhhh as old bull I prefer a peacefull area without all these buffalo

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In this area you can see many bulls but sometimes the ladies show up with their families

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and … 3 generations together

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And then this nice promising tusker

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Driving a few km’s on the Old Main road , suddenly this guy coming out of the thick bush.
Collar and nice big left tusk… I could not know that this tusker was MPENZA… later at home receiving pictures from others I realized that Mpenza lost his right tusk

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Another day and who was showing himself again? NWAMBU. You see when you are friendly to them like first meeting they are friendly to you , he came very close , this picture is without any cropping or zooming… just near the car… who said I am a tusker whisperer ….

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A little further another tusker showed up… MASASANA. Not really posing that well but ok…first time I met this guy so next time maybe better.

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Time for some landscape / tihongonyeni impressions….

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Bulls do walk on their own or in groups (with askari’s) and sometimes together with a friend

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As a group

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How funny , Third time in a few days my new friend NWAMBU saying hello after a shower and a mud-bath

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Mixed with buffalo around

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Let’s finish the stories with two very good tusker friends… I just missed the right timing but so nice to see these big boys again… a bit weird to meet them 3 trips on a row .. it gives that special feeling , difficult to explain

First MARHUMBINI
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and later on almost running out of time for closing time at Mopani
NSHAWANI , you just can see his big right tusk

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Hope you liked the Tihongonyeni tour and maybe a little understanding of my fascination for Tuskers.
FYI .. In other stories I showed many other species we have seen in this area, like Lions, Tsessebe , Eland, Roan and Sable antelopes
Kruger NP is great, Tihongonyeni even better

Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 68 – Come and Go -

Helloooooooooooo
Some time ago isn’t it ? Well, next to a full time job I have been watching the Olympics over the last few weeks….and I enjoyed it and ….. a load of tusker pictures filled my mailbox resulting in many updates of my Big friends.

But it is time now to write a new story. The title is based on what we experienced and for the first time the pictures will tell the whole story, so no much comments or narrating by me… I hope you will enjoy it….

Situation and location: It was morning , not that early near Mpondo dam (southern section of KNP). We just left Mpondo dam after watching some birds, kudu and a rhino family.
On the way back we heard something coming our way and yes a roadblock ahead…. Buffalo !

Not that difficult to guess they were heading to the dam so decision made and back to our first class seats on top of a small hill ready to see them coming.

Amazing so many animals can be so quiet …

Here we go … starting with the roadblock

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As said we returned to a good position at the dam and it was just waiting for the first ones to arrive

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From that moment on….hundreds and hundreds of buffalo came over the hill …

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and the were coming….and coming

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You are looking at this exactly as we did … sharing a sighting bit by bit…

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You can see the number of buffalo is growing every minute….
(I was listening to a song by Kate Bush … with the well known words “Running up that hill….”)

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and the first ones were walking into the water…. Still it was quiet…so amazing.

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More and more…. The old bulls ahead… mothers with their babies and kids following

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Preparing this picture it almost felt like looking at a painting…

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The big “tube” filled with buffalo… still arriving…hundreds of them in the water

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Peacefull… you could see them enjoying their daily bath

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So many together … sharing this water and no fights…no noise (almost)

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And still coming over the hill… a really big herd

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We were staying there for some time and looking at still arriving buffalo…the first arrivals started to leave the water…

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Zooming it a bit at a part of the herd…

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Packed together but no sign of irritation , all faces at “nice”

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and suddenly… they started turning their bodies… following the leader(s) and leaving the water

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Amazing to see all these buffalo turning and leaving the water same way as they arrived… almost no noise … quiet…. And again hundreds and hundreds leaving….

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A last view

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Well…. A different kind of story but looking at the pictures I felt like “I have to share these moments with you”
Maybe not that exiting like the big cats but believe me …this was special too

See you around later on for another story
Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 69 – Nice and Lovely they are -

Hi to all,
It’s has been some time ago but another story is ready to present.

This story is about an animal we love or hate, we say how nice and others say “ugly”.
I like them, specially when you get the opportunity to watch them as a family, how they socialize and their behaviour.

This trip we have seen plenty of them so I selected some pictures to tell the story.

Not far from Crocodile Bridge , late afternoon we found a Hyena den with 12 hyena’s sleeping, playing and walking around. Some older ones and many youngsters.

Well… let’s show them

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6 together

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Younsters greeting and asking …”anything for dinner ?”

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If you are young enough you can find some food with mom

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another older one suddenly appeared and saying hello

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and more in detail….

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Another day another location …..
Captured these 3 Hyena’s not far from the road
Liked the expression on the face of this younster
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and looking at me …

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Another one a few meters ahead adorable or ?

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Mom did not look that happy but was posing nicely

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Driving the small roads near Crocodile Bridge we found the Hyena family again and lovely enough to show a few others of the family

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Do I hear something ?

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No alarm …so let’s sleep…

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Other youngsters arrived and just checking…are you a brother or sister ?

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Finding a spot close to mom , you never know …

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Up in the north … mom laying down after enjoying a big meal….

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and her baby curious about that “thing” and like many try…checking the tires…

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Early morning … sleeping on the road…

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Who are you….? Too lazy to stand up but checking you can be done this way…

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Mhhhhh I don’t like be disturbed … don’t like you…grrrr

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Last one getting away from the road…. Looks like this one did not like me either

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And just before getting into the bush this one looked at me …byeeeee

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The day before we left during sunset…. With the golden light on these two

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Sleep well to all and see you next time

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So this time no Hyena’s with bloody faces, looking nasty or ugly but trying to give you an impression of their social live. I really liked the expressions on their faces…
I just hope you like it too

See you around for next story….
Aat & Elly


Many other pictures of last en other trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com

*** NEW Stories ***
This is not a day to day TR, all stories are based on sightings during our last trip from november 26th 2011 till december 14th 2011.

Story 70 – A Farewell Party -


Hi to all,
Based on trips in 2010 and 2011 I was able to present 69 stories to you and shared a great number of pictures of many great and special sightings….

Well…. It is time to stop... about 5 weeks before we enter Kruger again for about 4 weeks.

Elly and I appreciated all the nice comments and many thanks for the great number of visits to our stories.

This last story is about my favorites and – or special ones to create a nice Goodbye to all of you.

Just a note: I really could not find too much time to visit and comment on all your reports, sorry for that !
Next to my work I spent and am spending a lot of time to keep my Tusker website up-to-date and providing many many Tusker ID requests.

So as promised I will take you through some highlights.
If you missed the story and interested to read and look I will mention the page number

Starting off with: Story 48 (page 86)

A very special encounter with a male Sable along the S36
He was really relaxed and posing for a while
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Story 49 (page 87)
Along the S102 we met a lion pride, very unexpected just near the road. Allways great to see lovely cubs
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Story 50 (page 88)
Somewhere in the south we have had one of our best sighting for years.
Suddenly … two Black Rhino’s appeared … coming very close and really it was breathtaking and I was so exited I had difficulty to handle my camera… after some minutes I was able to keep the camera steady …
Looking at the pictures again now… impressed again

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Note: It is so very sad that so many rhino’s have been killed by poaching for NO valid reason at all. People in some countries still think the hair/nail combination is a medicine …. So sad….so sad…. Soooooo sad…..Reading the updates about this subject…makes all of us getting tears in the eyes …


Story 51 (page 90)
Probably some of you know I have “something” with Tuskers….
I was very pleased to meet NGODZI , one of the named tuskers in kruger. Met him just north of Letaba

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Story 52 (page 90)
Some pictures of New Life in Kruger…. November the time the new borns , innocent entering the beautiful and dangereous Kruger
Showing this one since not all of us do see Tsessebe with a baby …only up north

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Story 54 (page 92) Walk on the Wilde Side
Driving from Skukuza towards Lower Sabie suddenly out of nothing this lion pride came out of the bush and just that moment almost no other cars… Lovely this beautiful cub.

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Story 56 (page 95) All about Cheetah
Lucky with nice cheetah sightings along the S28.
Just a few impressions of these sightings , they are Elly’s favorites and ok… I do like them too…

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and.. in total there were 4 of them…posing here 3 on a row

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Story 59 (page 98) Picasso the sequel… African Painted Dogs
Some pictures of the African Painted Dogs (I prefer this name).
Talking about a special sighting … these Dogs are special…
I found them near a location I know they have a den… crossing the area from there to S36, Satara and other places…
During this sighting I counted 19 of them … no one else around .. another highlight of the trip

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Story 60 (page 99) Sable
Sable is our favorite Antelope … Think I don’t have to explain why….

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Story 62 (page 102) Lions with cubs
I selected these pictures because I met these along the S50 , a mother with two cubs.
Looked like they had never seen vehicles – people before… so curious … also one of my personal highlights. You understand if you read the story, about a proud and caring mother…

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Story 63 (page 104) What a beauty
Leopards are beautiful… getting the opportunity to photograph one at short distance , about 10 meters away is not a daily thing…at least…not for us…

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Story 67 (page 109) NWAMBU
As Tusker whisperer… (some do think I am…., don’t know why…)
I met NWAMBU , one of the named tuskers , so always a highlight
This one included the location where I found him…so nice

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Ok….. this was it….
If you liked the stories and think it is nice to see new ones after our next trip (nov/dec 2012) please let me know… I like to write a set of new stories to share our sightings with you.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS AND COMMENTS








Byeeeeeeeee for now and see you again………
Aat & Elly

I can’t advertize enough for my beloved Tuskers of Kruger so interested in them?
[url]http://www.tuskersofafrica.com[url]


Many other pictures of last and previous trips:
My Wildlife Photography Site
http://www.awv-photography.com