SANParks.org Forums

Another month in which I have yet to visit!
Maybe the Impala babies are being born after the start of the rains?
it is usually a seniors special price month so some can take advantage of this.

All things considered this is for me the best month. Not only seniors get discount very often there is a 40% discount in main camps - makes a big difference.

Have the mozzies started breeding yet? I like to avoid taking anti-malarials as two types I have taken have made me feel terrible!

Is there a definitive list of birds that arrive back in the month of November?

I bet the park smells wonderful after the first green shoots emerge?!

The spectacular woodland kingfishers are back!
I think November is a Malaria high risk month!

the birds start arriving during November - every year it is a different time. I have started a holiday when there is not a single woodlands around and then by the end of the holiday they are back and are the first bird that you hear and the last one every day.

Bird 'arrivals'
"Prime Origins guide to best birding in Kruger" has the average arrival date of the woodies in Skukuza as 11 Nov, and earliest arrival date as 3 Nov in 1978/86/89.

African Cuckoo - average arrival date = 28 Sept
European Bee-eater - average arrival date = 6 Oct
Diderick Cuckoo - average arrival date = 12 Oct

Most of the birds on the list on page 57 have arrived by Nov.

I personally have yet to see European Roller in the park in Nov.

The park in Nov:
We LOVE going to the park in Nov, and try go as often as we can in Nov each year.

Why? The park comes alive (if there has been rain) in that it turns green over night. The mopani trees burst into the most gorgeous green, looking stunning against the blue sky.

One year, at Punda, we had an invasion of 'Christmas beetles/bees' (cicada) - they were everywhere, and light attracted them in droves at night. Driving out of Letaba and also elsewhere along the roads, their song is deafening, and just amazing to experience.

And the impie lambs - an experience not to be missed. They seem to drop their lambs at different times during the month, the earliest I have read on the forums is about 4 Nov .... but we have always only seen them in the second half of the month.

As soon as you have rains, the malaria risk increases.

But, we have also been in Novembers where it has been dry, with not much rain. The beauty of a Kruger visit, always unpredictable And it can be very hot.

Some of my best sightings have been in November. The grass is still short, the animals tired from winter and predators are on the move.

Dinky-bird, do you know if that Prime Origins book is still available? Thanks for the facts!
M.M., great photos! Mating wild dog?!

Kite, waking up from their afternoon sleep.

One of the most amazing bush experiences is the waking ritual. They are pretty much like my domestic pack when I open a tin of Husky There is an excited running around and a bonding ritual where they do lots of touching and smelling. I believe that the high energy movement is a psyching up for the kill. A bit like the Scottish bagpipes.

Like the Scottish bagpipes they use sound to raise the "emotional" temperature. Once you have experienced this ritual, you will never forget the sound.

Great leopard shots and lion on buffalo kill as well, MM!