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Beautiful TR dream im so glad i ventured in here because i never tsedze and mopani were so exquisite!! Your pics are stunning can't wait to read the rest of your TR!

Eish the Marabous, long thin white crystallised legs keeping up a huge head and body ..... My Dad always called them "ashoopvoëls", translated: rubish dump birds.

Thanx for the bits of info Dreamer, love leaning more!

Looking at the dry, dusty road, it is difficult to believe that it is now in flood.

The Marabou has certainly earned it's right to belong to the "ugly five", both in looks and habits.

Gorgeous marabou photo

I do love them with their slow motion wandering. They never seem to be in a hurry

hilda - it was all news to me.

Sheenaugh-Lee - Thank you and hello.

Super Mongoose - Good nickname. I remember, as a child, seeing them around rubbish dumps.

Meandering Mouse - The speed with which a landscape can change is truly awe inspiring. Not a pretty bird, no.

Sharifa - They do seem to be in no hurry at all, ever.

At the dam a lone impala grazed on the far shore and Egyptian geese pecked at the ground as they wandered along the grassy apron on the near side.

The geese fussed and honked. They nodded their heads and flapped their wings. They seemed to have a lot to discuss.




A stork party was underway towards the dam wall.



The storks strutted self importantly back and forth. They looked like old fashioned professors wearing academic gowns.

Very good description Dream Weaver!

hilda - thank you.

Chacma’s camera had always seemed too complicated to me, but now I asked him to show me how to use it. He explained where to press to take a shot and where to twist to change the focus. Then trustingly he surrendered it into my hands. I balanced it gingerly on the window frame and set about twisting and pressing as instructed. After a lot of spectacularly blurred efforts, I felt quite proud of my final attempt at capturing this little blacksmith plover as it dashed to and fro



As well as these pictures of another busy little body,



Kittlitz’s plover, who scurried about in the tyre tracks at great speed

The lessons paid off as the pics are stunning.

Those little legs can really move at incredible speed, however you got great shots.

You are a fast learner Dream Weaver! Great shots of the birdies!

Trrp-trrrrrrrr - Thank you. They sure are speedy little things.

hilda - Thank you, too. Not fast enough maybe, but more on that later.

Oh dear, and academic Professors can rather enjoy their own importance at least they don't share all the Marabou cooling traits.

After we had eaten our breakfast we stayed a while, watching the goings on of the birds on the ground and admiring a couple of fish eagles that were keeping watch from the bare branches of a drowned tree.

Then we drove down a track that ran beyond the dam wall.

We passed a spider commune.



The track led to a sort of secluded hollow that, although there was no sign marking it as so, seemed likely that it was the site of Joubert’s grave.
The little dell was greener and softer looking than the surrounding landscape.
It felt peaceful.


It seemed like a good spot for a final resting place.

Thank you for your nice pics and TR. Love your "spider commune".