SANParks.org Forums

bucky, I will surely not get out of my car. Not because it's not allowed, but because of safety. wow, crocodiles, hippoes and elephants passing by, I will have to blink twice the first time I see these wonderful big animals in the wild.
I will be staying in shingwedzi , satara and skukuza, so I'm really glad to see that these areas are good, both for some dragonflies, but also for game viewing.
But remember I don't really come to Kruger for dragonfly watching, I would much rather see a leopard than 20 species of dragonflies in the park.
I will do my dragonfly watching at Modimolle (Nylsvley), Blyde Canyon area and Wakkerstroom.
As usual I have a very busy shedule for my trip, and will need some sleep when I'm back home Look foreward to get up at 4 AM or so in the morning. It will surely be some long days in the park.

Erland

Ahh yes, the cool thing is that there is only one species which occur both in Denmark and South Africa. All new species to enjoy. And if I should get a picture of this one species, a Blue Emperor (or Emperor Dragonfly) I wouldn't mind, as I only got a few poor pictures of the species from Denmark.

Not sure what you have seen Lisa, but maybe it could be a Jewel, of which there are three species in South Africa. They are so beatiful, but are in fact damselflies (both damselflies and dragonflies are in the same insect order called Odonata, and sometimes dragonfly is used for both). But these damselflies really look like dragonflies.

Erland

Those camps are equally as good for viewing , I will be up in shingwedzi also in december , if I see anyone taking photos of dragonflies with a 180 macro , I will know who it is

Hi Erland -- There are field guides to dragonflies and damselflies of South Africa written by Warwick and Michele Tarboton. I do not have the details of the Damselflies but here is the info on the Dragonflies

A Fieldguide to the Dragonflies of South Africa
Written by Warwick and Michele Tarboton
ISBN 0-620-29887-1
privately published by authors in 2002

I am sure you will be able to get details of the Damselfly book on one of the on line sellers like Amazon

hope this helps

I may take my 150 mm instead, it's bit smaller, better suited for travel. I always use a black monopod, so that will be easy to spot.

Erland

I have recieved the Damselfly book, but are having trouble with the dragonfly book from 2002. I think it may be out of stock.

I am going to visit Warwick, so maybe he can help me.

Erland

A great place to photograph them is Lake Panic.

I also suggest you stop on any little low water drift with water flowing over it and wait a bit to see some activity. Good spots for this is on the S65, the stretch from the end of the S100 towards Nwanetsi, the Biyamithi weir and the low water bridge at the back gate of Shingwedzi.

The photos below were all taken from Lake Panic Bird Hide. As said Skukuza and Satara has various ponds and water features that is frequented by "Drangonflies" and might be the best spots to get good close ups

Not sure what the species "Wild About Cats" has photograhed, but it may be Trithemis kirbyi (Kirby's Dropwing)

The three pictures below is:

Trithemis arteriosa (Red-veined Dropwing)
Ictinogomphus ferox (Tigertail)
Rhyothemis semihyalina (Phantom Flutterer)

Lake Panic is surely on my list of things to do when I'm at Skukuza.

Great I signed up for this forum, everybody is so helpfull.
I really enjoy browsing around the forum and learning more about Kruger.

cheers
Erland

***edit***

Maybe it would be a good idea, if a moderator moved this topic to the animals section of the forum ?

Erland, I suggest that you go on a morning or afternoon walk. Make sure that you specify your interest. I think that if you stipulate it when you make your booking that they will accomodate you in a positive manner and go out of their way to take you to good spots. There are many awesome spots out there in the bush away from tourist roads.

That's a good one!

You'll love the walk anyway, even if you see not a single dragonfly.

As to WTM's suggestion maybe a question he or someone else can answer that might have visited the new broadwalk at the Skukuza nursery. As this is close to Lake Panic this should also be a good place to find some "dragonflies".

Anyone that's been there that can say "Yes" or "No" to this

francoisd, I was at the Nursery, and was able to photograph one species there, that I did not see anywhere else in SA. Drive past lake panic entrance, and the road ends at the Nursery.

Trithemis aconita (Monkshood Dropwing), male.
16/12 2006, Lake Panic /Nursery, close to Skukuza camp, Kruger, at 11:07.

In Satara camp the water level was pretty low in the circular pond, but I managed to see two "new" damselfly species there.

At Lake Panic bird hide, it is not that easy to photograph dragonflies, but I managed to capture a single species with a 400 mm lens, which I did not see anywhere else in SA. That was an Urothemis assignata (Red Basker).

All in all I saw 64 species in the north-eastern part of SA, and photographed 59 of those.

In this forum-thread on a Danish site, I made a report about what I saw. A lot of pictures can be seen of many species.
http://insekt.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=520
Note the link is more than 2 MB of pictures.
The forum is in the Danish language, but underneath each picture, it should be possible to see the name of the insect, and the location. The thread spans over two pages, and contain a single lion picture too, but also some landscape pictures.

Absolutely amazing photos, Erland. Thanks for sharing. These dragonflies seem to have little faces. Link to Swamp Bluet

Tak

Wow, Erland, great pics
Am I right in thinking the red veined dropwing is the one we see mostly in Kruger
This is more confusing than birds