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The rains have a true blessing, I must say lots of water in the veld but not a lot of animals.

This is the Crocodile River, I took this when we went in at Malelane Gate



I will post on my T.R.

Rainfall for 10-day period ending at 08:00 on Saturday, 21 November 2009
(Preliminary Data)

The report was created on Monday, 23 November 2009 at 11:13

This information is provided by the South African Weather Service.

MPUMALANGA Rainfall in mm

Bethal 117
Ermelo Weather Office 79
Graskop Aws 180
Kruger Mpumalanga Int. Air. 137
Machadodorp Aws 76
Secunda 110
Skukuza 107
Witbank 95

LIMPOPO PROVINCE Rainfall in mm
Alldays Haly Ars 52
Bandelierkop 121
Gravelotte 56
Gravelotte Ars 136
Haenertsburg Ars 112
Hans Merensky N.S 103
Hoedspruit 101
Lephalale 44
Levubu 162
Marken 23
Mokopane 50
Phalaborwa Airport Aws 109
Polokwane Weather Office 59
Pontdrift 92
Punda Maria 163
Roodewal Bos Ars 65
Thohoyandou Weather Office 85
Tom Burke S.A.P.S. Ars 45
Tzaneen-Westfalia Estate 156
Villa Nora-Pol 17
Warmbad Towoomba 62
Waterpoort N.S 103

Some before and after pics:

Pafuri road on Thursday (19 Nov) before the rains fell:




Mahonie Loop Sunday 15 Nov:


Northern Plains Adventure Trail Wednesday 18 Nov:


Friday 20 November, Pafuri road:




A turn off the Pafuri road to view the river - totally flooded:


Mahonie loop - Friday. This 'dam' was bone dry on Thurday morning.




Klopperfontein over flows:


The mopani veld closer to Punda on the main road between Punda and Pafuri:

Tony park reported Shingwedzi campsite was awash with rain yesterday .
From SA weather services website
Rainfall measured in the 24 hrs up till 8 a.m today .

MPUMALANGA 24-hour Rainfall
Graskop Aws 39
Kruger Mpumalanga Int. Air. 28
Skukuza 15

LIMPOPO PROVINCE 24-hour Rainfall
Bandelierkop 2
Gravelotte 32
Gravelotte Ars 31
Haenertsburg Ars 10
Hans Merensky N.S 16
Hoedspruit 26
Levubu 43
Louis Trichardt 109
Mara 11
Mokopane 4
Phalaborwa Airport Aws 24
Polokwane Weather Office 3
Roodewal Bos Ars 56
Soekmekaar - Pol 35
Thohoyandou Weather Office 57
Tzaneen-Westfalia Estate 21
Warmbad Towoomba 7
Waterpoort 17
Woodbush 9

Thanks Ndloti - very imformative. Was in LS this weekend - and had quite a bit of rain in the area over this weekend as well. The bush is lucious and green, and everywhere are little pools of water! Some pictures I took - look at the lovely GREEN surroundings of the bush!

According to the South African Weather Bureau the rainfall figures for Nov are as follows. (Only towns that are close to Kruger and in Kruger itself.)
Skukuza 171mm (new record for Nov)
Phalaborwa 144mm
Punda Maria 184mm
Hoedspruit 138mm
KMIA 206mm

Woodbush 472mm (average 182mm)
Louis Trichardt 337mm (average 86mm)
Gravelotte ARS 177mm
Tzaneen 241mm
Soekmekaar 301mm (average 83mm)
Thohoyando 150mm

The above towns are in the catchment area of Kruger rivers.

These guys?



They were so funny to watch ... as we got closer to them, they would hop like crazy and dive into the closest muddy pool (and there were many of those!).

If you had told me 24 hours prior to seeing these guys that I would be seeing bullfrogs in the dry bushveld, I would have battled to believe it!

Nature is truly so amazing and wonderful!

Olifants today . Sent via mms by a friend .

Never seen the Olifants River that way Ndloti.

This is the way I have always seen it.

Yesterdays

A)max temp (B)rainfall
Phalaborwa A)37.5 B) 8.2mm
Skukuza A) 35.8 B) 44.5 mm

Rainfall last 10 days
Phalaborwa 92mm
Skukuza 82 mm

Happydaisy, it does seem that the rains are more frequent this year. The rains have usually subsided by the end of feb. Remember, it is seldom that rain really "sets in" for a few days. I have been in Kruger often during the rainy period, in fact have just returned from the Park. Despite the rain, or maybe sometimes because of the rain, I have had wonderful sightings.

It can be very hot in Feb and you might find that a bit of rain cools the earth and brings the animals out from under the shade. I also regard a lowveld thunder storm as another of Kruger's magnificent attractions. It has to be seen to be believed So relax and "enjoy" the anticipation of a special holiday.

This included a large male Lion strolling down the middle of the road.

I don't mind the rain. We've had some wonderful sightings in the rain, espescially cats. Often animals will come out into the roads to escape the wet grass.

There are negatives. Sometimes dirt roads are closed because of dangerous road conditions - and I love the dirt roads. And when it's raining you might need to close your windows - I like them open. If you're camping, rain isn't nice - but it does add to the camping experience. Thunderstorms are a bummer - but they usually only happen towards the end of the day - still 8 or so hours every morning / early afternoon to drive around.

Like MM said, the rain usually doesn't stay around for days on end, but the best game viewing in my opinion is on cloudy days. Then it's not too warm, the animals seem more active because of the cool weather, you can drive around with your windows open and can take in the fresh smells of the grass & dirt and the sounds of heaven that is KNP, which seems to be enhanced by the wetness... if it happens to rain a little in between that's fine.

If I were you I'd be wishing for some cool, cloudy, even rainy weather.

According to the "Latest News" on the website the filling station at Shingwidzi is temporarily closed because the tanks got flooded last night.
Anybody know how much rain they had - must have been a lot!!
The Shingwidzi river must be in flood - something I would dearly love to see!
Anyone in the vicinity that could provide some pics? Please?

Weather SA reports 118 mm at Punda Maria in the 10 days ending at 8 am today .

A few days ago I was a few seconds too late to capture the best of the sunset painted scene when the sun disappeared behind a cloud .