SANParks.org Forums

For the benfit of cammers and to save me a headache, my daily wildlife reports and weekly " census " will be moved to this thread. However, it would be super if you could do the following!
Could you please take time to post all sightings at my OTHER thread. It doesn't matter how small and insignificant the creature, I would love to know! Just post at "PLEASE POST ALL SIGHTINGS" and be sure to mention what you saw, when ( exact time please), which cam and any other info. No pics are needed and there is a daily, friendly competition for sighting of the day and runner-up!

21/09/09

Although Orpen and Nossob have been quiet Satara has been alive since nightfall. This morning several impala passed by followed by several zebra, possibly in a group of 3. A peculiar shot turned out to be 2 guinea fowl going for a dip, but this didn't hide a lack of birdlife. For several minutes I was fascinated by 3 or 4 giraffe drinking, my RUNNER-UP for sighting of the day. 2 hyena, denning nearby, seemed to be spooked by a colossal group of buffalo. This large group were around for 10 minutes or more, and were undoubtedly my SIGHTING OF THE DAY. At some points beautiful Daggha bulls were staring into the cam. Well into evening small antelope were to be seen drinking. At 8o'clock a jackel was sighted, very possibly a striped. However, as it is not positively identifiable, it cannot be a sighting of the day. A late-night jackal was definitely a BBJ and I would LOVE to see the jackals and resident hyaenas come face to face.

Orpen is always alive in the morning with birdlife, small antelope and the kudu put in a virtuoso performance. A well-conditioned Daggha wasn't as photogenic as Satara's but was still a midday special. A lone warthog, the omnipresent impala and birdlife were very amusing to watch. Just after dusk, Orpen's lighting switched off. When it relit a small antelope became visible. This was most likely a duiker or steenbok At 11:16 a large animal came to drink, most likely hyaena but slightly resembling a wild dog. I will post it in the morning.

Nossob is a great waterhole. Although limited sightings today, there is always the guaranteed sightings of black wildebeest and springbok. A marabou stork was around in mid-morning, and came face to face with a lone wildebeest, but neither acknowledged the other. The resident BBJ's cross the cam every few minutes and today was no exception, but they are still a joy to watch.

Happy cam-watching!

22/09/09

Hi guys, time for the daily sighting report!

Wow, wasn't Orpen amazing last night! About a dozen thirsty lionesses made my night, followed by a couple of single lions. Breathtaking! During the day Orpen was full of the usual traffic, but still enthralling. Black Wildebeest were frequenters at Orpen, along with some wonderfully patterned zebras and the usual impies. Warthogs looked almost graceful whilst drinking and they shared their evening beverage with some kudu. But the day wasn't over. A lone bull Ellie with some beautiful tusks was a great sighting! Reports of an aardvark turned out to be a white-tailed mongoose - still a great sighting!!! At 22:11 a honey badger appeared momentarily. What a day!

Satara was quite quiet today, with several jackals and hyena the only animals around in the darkness. As the sun rose, a large herd of antelope descended the waterhole, as well as those beautiful zebra. Guinea fowl pottered about around midday but those buffalo stole the show, hanging around for 15 minutes, with those majestic Daggha bulls posing for the camera. Amazing sighting! A late hyena probably means they'll be around late into the night

Nossob was extremely subdued, but the resident herbivores were entertainment enough. Wildebeest and springbok gave good close-ups, especially the wildebeest. Unfortunately, it was the wrong end of them! The BBJ's continued drinking at regular intervals, not in the least bit perturbed by a very pretty secretary bird An Oryx at 9:15, one of my favourite animals, is my first cam sighting of one so far! Danie was kind enough to zoom in at 21:33 and there were the resident pair of BBJ's!

I hope you enjoy this post and if there is anything I could improve please let me know! I will post every night at 21:00 SAST from now on and I will give you the facts and figures on each weeks sightings each Monday at the same time! Thanks!


SIGHTINGS OF THE DAY TOP 3

1. Simply Amazing Lionesses! Well done Imberbe and Melph68!


2. The all too often underrated white tailed mongoose! Congrats Boorgatspook!



3. That beautiful ellie at Orpen that blew my socks off! Great Sighting to Bishop3006, Kamadejo and Tilandi!

23/09/09

Hello all! Bit of a quiet day on the cams, wasn't it?

Satara was by far the busiest waterhole, despite a quiet night. Having said that, the regular water buffaloes were about very early again providing brilliant close-ups! They reappeared just after dawn - its as if they know the cam is there!- followed by a lone wildebeest. I'm loving the wildebeest at the moment, and they made several other appearances throughout the day with the regular impies and the zebras hung around for hours! They were beautiful! But I fell in love with one of the hyenas, which showed us its adorable face in the daylight hours - very unusual!

Orpen was very quiet today, with more action in the morning than noon. A fantastic sighting of a white tailed mongoose made staying up worthwhile! The regular traffic passed the time : impies, wildebeest, zebra and a dozen guinea fowl were followed by the Dagghas that I enjoy seeing so much!!!! Wish I could get a close-up of one of the big boys! They reappeared just before nightfall, but the night has been very quiet so far with just 1 Egyptian Goose Lo and behold, an ellie! Very pretty too! Lets hope this is an omen for tonight!

Nossob provided the goods yet again The BBJ's were out in force as usual and the wildebeest were very photogenic. I was very surprised when at midday a BBJ and springbok came face to face, but neither registered the other as threat or food! Maybe the BBJ wasn't hungry
The secretary bird is becoming a regular, flashing his feathers in early afternoon.

SIGHTINGS OF THE DAY
TOP 3

1. That unbelievably confident hyena at Satara! Congrats Joyce and Boorgatspook!

2. That increasingly rare white tailed mongoose! Well done Melph and Aussie Ranger!

3. That very pretty herd of Satara zebra! Great spot Bishop, Melph and Katja!

24/09/09

Hi all! Cams were a lot busier than yesterday!

Satara was the busiest of all 3, with some fascinating birdlife to boot! Whilst I was tucked up in bed the waterhole was visited by that regular steenbok, a herd of those gorgeous buffaloes and some zebra when dawn was just breaking at 5 o'clock! The buffs reappeared at 6, followed closely by the ever-amusing guinea fowl, and the zebs came back twice in the next hour! Between 11 and 1 PM there were the usual zebs, wildebeest and impalas as well as the guinea fowl. There was a flurry of activity at 5, with a hamerkop, a black bellied bustard and the buffalo. One of the bulls had a nasty-looking abscess on his right front knee. Will he survive? A spotted hyena came to drink soon after dark.

Orpen? Ellies, ellies and more ellies. We were knee-deep in the big boys today! It all kicked off at 2 this morning, a lone bull hanging around for about 20 mins An hour later the possibly new resident white tailed mongoose came for a nightcap. 8 seperate groups of impala today! They were joined by warthogs at 11:30 and 12:30 and by a sensationally pretty eagle at 12:38, topping up his tan! Any definite ID? Warthogs made a final trip to Orpen at 4:07 and were closely followed by..... ellies! They hung around for AGES and finally left for good just after 5 PM. Lovely Sighting! 6:30 saw some Daggha bulls VERY close to the cam, best sighting in highlights at 6:48!

Nossob's BBJ's only came out at dawn and dusk today, maybe a stronger sun than usual? I know they're predominantly nocturnal, but I still seem to see them in the day quite often. Wildebeest around in very early morning, and at midday along with the impies. Spookily, the impala appeared like clockwork at the final minutes of every hour from 11:40 to 2:57 and were seen last with that very impressive secretary bird!

SIGHTINGS OF THE DAY

1. Ellies at Orpen! Congrats Melph, Katja, Kath, Tilandi, Lionspoon, Joyce and Ceazer!

2. That amazing hyena doing front crawl at Satara! Well done Joyce and Katja!

3. The buffalo close-up at Orpen! Good sighting Joyce, Tilandi and Spotted Cat!

Well done Joyce! Gold, silver and bronze! Remember, whoever gets 1st, 2nd and 3rd place is gaining points towards being my cam-watcher of the week, month or year!

25/09/09

Hi all! An average day in terms of waterhole activity, but a couple of special sightings!

Nossob had very few surprises today, but one sighting was very nice.
The day started of with a BBJ at 9 but was quiet until 1, when several springboks and wildebeest appeared. The "nice" sighting was one of these wildebeest kneeling for a drink! The springboks and wildebeest reappeared soon after, accompanied by a secretary bird!

Orpen was actually quite busy today! An early ellie was funnily scared off by guinea fowl, of all things! Impalas and Warthogs frequented Orpen well into the afternoon, before all fell quiet...... not for long. A late explosion of activity saw several buffalo and a daggha come for a close-up!

Satara was woken up nice and early by a herd of zebra and impalas. Almost all activity was in the morning, with a blue wildebeest and several other impala and zebra herds. Late in the evening a momentary glimpse of a water buffalo would have been satisfactory, but I was blown away by a gorgeous hyena and a lone ellie

To vote from a shortlist for sightings of the day, go to " YOUR favourite sightings"

25/09/09
Top 3 sightings
As chosen by YOU

1. JOINT - Kneeling wildebeest/ herd of zebras!

2. JOINT - Satara Hyena/ Early Orpen ellie!

3. Satara Ellie!

26/09/09
Wow! A very busy day on the cams

Orpen was VERY busy, with the first sighting at 7:30 with a handful of wildebeest and impalas. The latter reappeared about an hour later, the second of 6 sightings! 3 warthog sightings along with a colossal group of Guinea fowl set up a great day at Orpen. Within an hour and a half at midday, there were black wildebeest, magnificent kudu rams, baboons and a kudu cow and calf! At 1:20 a giraffe made a ten minute appearance, not all that common anymore But the ellies stole the show again with two appearances at 2:00 and 5:35, the former lasting almost half an hour! 4 buffaloes at 17:54 completed a wonderful day of sightings. An uncommon hyena showed up at Orpen late on, now doubt attracted by trash being thrown over the fence

Satara's zebras weren't shy at all today! 5 appearances from 7:15 to 13:34. Early morning sightings of buffalo and impies were truly great, but a midday elephant was simply gobsmacking! An extraordinarily beautiful specimen! Late into evening my much beloved hyena put in a show

Nossob's sightings was made up of the usual traffic today. Early and late BBJ's and wildebeest kept me amused, plus 3 sightings of that secretary bird and impalas!
Happy Camming!
To vote for your fave sightings go to " YOUR favourite sightings" and choose from a shortlist of 8!

26/09/09
YOUR favourite sightings!

1. Magnificent Kudu rams at Orpen!

2. Giraffe doing the splits at Orpen!

3. Huge ellie herd at Orpen!

All please vote tomorrow at 19:30 SAST at " YOUR fave sightings"

27/09/09
Wildlife Reports

Hi all! A day of repeat sightings and a couple of very special ones!

Orpen was very busy, just as it was yesterday with that late leopard, with 22 separate notable sightings. The day started very early with a lone bull elephant just after midnight, the first of five sightings of the tuskers today! These were at 00:09, 11:22, 14:54, 16:43 and 18:30, unbelievable shots of the young ones! In early morning, there were two reasonably distant shots of steenbok, two shots of wildebeest and two shots of drinking warthogs! The impalas were unusually photogenic today..... 10 sightings! Despite the ellies sightings, the afternoon was much quieter, with just two more warthog sightings to speak of.... but the last of the two was quite remarkable. The ellies had trudged through Orpen, leaving pools of cool, inviting mud.... and at 14:08 one warthog took full advantage of this, by taking a bath!

Nossob was full of the usual traffic, but one very early sighting astonished me! At 05:01 I can confirm a sighting of a brown hyena, which is becoming increasingly uncommon! As usual almost all sightings occured in early morning, with 2 wildebeest, 3 BBJ's and a secretary bird! The springbok were also very nice to hang around for the best part of half an hour. A very impressive sighting of a Martial Eagle was captured at 17:04!

Satara was very subdued today..... but that still means a lot of animals to watch! In the morning several sightings of impalas, wildebeest and zebra herds. Several good sightings this afternoon though, a hamerkop, more magnificent kudus and a small herd of buffalos!

I will post again tomorrow, along with my FIRST WEEKLY CENSUS! Please remember to vote for your fave sightings at http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37115

Now for my FIRST WEEKLY CENSUS!!!

Please note: all figures are accurate as of time of posting, figures are the absolute minimum amount of sightings, as they have to be confirmed etc.
All sightings are completely seperate e.g. sightings of impala at 11:00 and 11:05 are probably the same animals

ORPEN
39 impalas
16 elephants
10 warthogs
8 wildebeest
5 kudu
5 water buffalo
5 guinea fowl
4 steenbok
4 white tailed mongoose
3 spotted hyaena
3 lions
3 zebra
2 Martial Eagle
1 Honey Badger
1 Owl
1 Egyptian Goose
1 Baboon Troop
1 Giraffe
1 Leopard

SATARA
22 zebra
20 impalas
14 spotted hyena
12 water buffalo
9 wildebeest
6 steenbok
6 guinea fowl
4 BBJ's
2 hamerkop
2 elephants
1 kudu
1 black bellied bustard
1 giraffe

NOSSOB
31 BBJ's
26 springbok
19 wildebeest
9 secretary bird
2 brown hyaena
1 marabou stork
1 martial eagle
1 oryx

Please vote for the best daily and weekly sightings at http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37115&start=45

Finally, cammer of the week award! It has been VERY tough, you have all been absolutely fantastic! However, congrats to Kamadejo! Really amazing work Katja!

Now for my daily sighting report!

Why was Satara deserted today? Loud campers in the camp? Nothing to speak of at all at Satara.

Orpen was very productive today though! 9 impala sightings from 05:49 to 12:13, and one with a wildebeest at 06:12. The morning continued with a rather large birdbath at 06:18, and the birdlife continued to be very prolific with a very large mid-morning eagle, followed by a very big group of Guinea Fowl! Warthogs and zebra round midday entertained us, but the show was stolen at 16:14. A colossal herd of elephants came barging through, with some very cute little ones having a drink!

Nossob was also very quiet, with just 3 BBJ sightings, 1 wildebeest and the secretary bird...... and that was it

Satara finally had some action with an early evening spotted hyena!

Please vote for your fave weekly and daily sightings at http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37115

Please report all sightings at http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37022

And take a look at my weekly census here!

29/09/09
Wildlife Report

Nossob has been down all day and a broken bulb has prevented any sightings at Satara after dark, but the day was quite productive.

At Satara, in the first 75 minutes of daylight there was a spotted hyaena, a small herd of buffalo, a drinking wildebeest, guinea fowl, a troop of baboons ( 06:29 close-up!) and a herd of impala! The impala appeared again at 11:00 and several zebra and a couple of waterbuck ( a first for me) at 2pm.

Orpen had an average day today. Early morning birdlife was quite prolific, with a large heron and a flock of guinea fowl to be seen. Just 2 separate impie sightings to mention: at 9:43 and 10:09. Two wildebbest sightings at similar times were fleeting, but the warthogs hung around for a bit longer. Another great sighting of kudu bulls at 9:59 really made me smile, as did a lone ellie at 16:45. After darkness fell a small herd of water buffalo graced Orpen with their presence

Vote for your fave sightings at http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37115

Please post your sightings which this thread relies on at http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37022

Thanks!

30/09/09

Nossob's back!
Matthys and all the SANparks team!

Once Nossob was reactivated, there was only time for a fleeting springbok sighting, oh well.

Orpen had a good day with a spotted hyena and a BBJ well before dawn. A very amusing synchronised wing-stretch could be seen at 05:36, folowed by the first of 7 impala sightings. A troop of baboons passed through at 6:30 am swiftly ensued by a handful of buffalo. Throughout the afternoon kudu, wildebeest, a herd of ellies and 3 buffalo were spotted at about 2 hour intervals.

Satara was alive at daybreak, buffalos and a hyaena the most notable sightings in the early sightings. But WOW, wasn't it a bit of a zebra day today! 7 sightings of the stripies compared to just 2 impie sightins. Should be the other way round, surely? The waterbuck seemed to be hanging around the past few days, and they made another appearance at 12:21

Don't forget to vote for your fave sightings at http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37115
Thanks!

Due to the hectic happenings in the biologists world over the past few weeks, I am finding I have not enough time to "report" each day, as such. Instead I will give you the number of sightings of each animal at each waterhole!
Sorry I couldn't keep the work up
Happy Camming!