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the full title should have read

of ants and elephants and turds and terrapins and other silly tails... i mean tales...




so having been forced by my conditions of employment

i was stuck with more than a month's vacation time during december and january.......

what to do ?? what to do??

ah ha !!



two weeks in the park in december and then.....

after a few days back home to wash the car, do the laundry, eat some vegetables and exchange pleasantries with friends .....

another two weeks ......

feel free to join me as i relate most of the events (those that i can still recall) from this trip.

we will meet new people, meet some old friends, experience "lifers", encounter some characters and even discover a brand new species !!!!!

it may be a drawn out affair as i need to sort through approximately ten thousand (yes - 10 000!!) photographs that i took during this time, i will most likely be deleting most of them, but as you will see, the photographic luck gets better as the trip progresses.

crocodile bridge was my port of entry as the first week's stay would be at lower sabie in my favourite and most affordable spot.

entering at croc bridge is always guess work
as you have to guess whether to park and report to reception or drive straight to the booths. this is the case at phabeni, phalaborwa and numbi
i went straight for the gate and was greeted by a very polite and helpful attendant who welcomed me and as an overnighter and was ushered through with haste and efficiency.

i first popped into the camp to unpack my cameras and stuff and to use the public amenities
and the first creature to make my acquaintance was this delightful mantid.



i then set off

the park is so pretty at this time of year





and all the little ones waiting to become a tasty morsel

these community nest spider constructions seemed to be everywhere.



and then of course the landmark sausage tree that reminds you that you are close to lower sabie.

i wonder how many folks have parked under this tree to enjoy the shade and got more than they bargained for ??





i arrived at my lodgings and was pleased to see that the gardens had been extended since my last visit in october and very pleased to see that all the items that needed attention in unit 41 and the surrounding areas had been attended



to and even more chuffed to see that the disability ablutions had been revamped into a practical and workable unit...

i took a leisurely drive to mlondozi and was rather astounded to see the water level so low, and this for december is quite unusual




while at the picnic site i took some time to snap the structures of the horn moths as they established themselves

on their keratin pantry







and to marvel at the skeletal scull of this feared yet mostly placid animal






so heading back towards sunset dam

these red-billed oxpeckers seemed to be carrying out some sort of a mating dance on the back of the bovid







and these vultures where heading off to roost somewhere..





the water level at sunset dam was rather low and as you can see water was being pumped into the dam from the river



the next morning i would be ..... as robert likes to put it.... "at my favourite spot"... to see if i could match my october luck......

so next morning there i was....... parked at sunset dam............... a bit late though............

i had slept in a bit 'cause the early morning was overcast.......... cloudy mornings just do not do it for me....

the fish eagles, egrets and herrons had finished breakfast by now and the gyppos had settled down

only the yellow-billed storks and hadeda ibis and a kingfisher or two were still hanging around

now..... those common and garden noisy hadedas that wake you up at home can put on quite a display of affection while in their wild habitat.







the following is parental guidance approved rating

there was a mating ritual taking place at the top of the sunset tree that seemed to have been monitored throughout by an observer or chaperone of sorts...





maybe it was a novice that was observing the ins and outs of maintaining the species ??

so i wandered off down the h 10 ... or is it up the h 10 ????


a bit of social interaction in the road









heading for the den under the road where so many seem to be



then it is always intriguing to see the baboons

this chap having a snack



so, too this little fella

who was sure not to stray too far from is mommy







now....
we are mostly familiar with the physical changes that "baboonettes" have to undergo

when they want to entice the advances of the male gender of their kind

and it, together with other hormones floating around, is meant to "turn the guy on"

however........

when this change seems to invade almost the entire rear end of the lady's body

it might become a bit too intimidating for some "men"

as we see with this guy who is just pretending he is too busy to notice her

so it seems as though there is a subsidence in the water levels

many uncomfortable people and lots of repair work to be done.

so ...........................................................

shall we continue ????????????????????????

having left the h10,,, i headed down the h4-2 towards crocbridge and came across this very busy african harrier-hawk








while he was busy snacking away he was being constantly harassed by a very agitated starling

(i could be mistaken, but i think it is a starling
help me out if i am wrong, please)





he either got a bit annoyed

or he just moved on to another tree close by









where this persistent starling continued to show his dissatisfaction





so.................................

after what looked like a bit of an exchange of "squawks"

the harrier-hawk decided to move off to other feeding grounds

or should that be "feeding trees" ???




with all the activity over

i too, moved on.......................................................

i stopped to watch these guineafowl rummaging in the elephant dung

for some undigested tasty morsels .................................




and,,,,,, as i was about to drive off,,

i looked up to see the moon was evident in the late afternoon sky

and there was a brown snake-eagle just sitting there waiting for his photo to be taken

(i could be mistaken, but i think it was a snake-eagle..

help me out if i am wrong, please)

usually when we can't identify a raptor it becomes a brown snake-eagle by default.

what is the name of that movie about the americans in vietnam that was around in the 80s ?

(there were loads of vietnam movies weren't there ?????)

i think it is entitled "apocalypse now" ?
when you hear that "gung ho" soldier,
after they had strafed a vietcong village,
shouting
"i love the smell of napalm in the morning"

well ...........................

i love the smell of dung in the morning !!!!!!!!!!!!!!



it reinforces my senses about where i am




so here is the thing.......................

don't you just love this notice that they erect at the start of most (should be all) dirt roads in kruger ??????



i mean


"take note of corrugation on road surface"
helloooo !!!!!!!!!!!!

and i often wonder how much does it have to rain for it to be sufficient ?????????
(i reckon perhaps if you wait long enough then the road will wash away with more than sufficient rain
then "problem solved")

but seriously though, because this road had loads of puddles along the way



and even one of the seasonal water holes had sufficient water in it



this is one of my favourite routes to take



as it has these stunning rocky outcrops



with these opportunistic "rock-figs" that seem to grow out of the rock itself



and these wild orchids that establish themselves in the trees ......




now i know where the landscape gardeners get the idea from

just after this fellow sprinted across the corrugations



i came across this verreaux's eagle owl



(i shall now stop using the new name..... cause it is too long to type and spell..... and it sounds gay... it's bad enough that this giant eagle owl is identified by his pink eyelids... now he must use this new name)

so after i reached renosterkoppies i headed north on the s114 and who should i meet but





i had now gone to skukuza and now tackled the "ben schoeman highway" back to lower sabie hoping and praying that i don't come across a traffic jam

for the first time i noticed this sign



why do they limit the speed at which a ground hornbill may travel ??

i actually had no idea that they could go that fast !!! or even read !!!

maybe it's the new breed that have those white running shoes that this is aimed at

Hey Leachy!

Pity I missed you … still, maybe another time. I stay at those huts in LS fairly frequently as they are SUCH good value for money!

Those signs warning about corrugation on the road surface are a joke! I did giggle when I saw this one when I was there in November though …



Awesome doggie photos!

so when i reach the luyelubye i notice this splattering on the armco barrier


apparently

when the hippo leave the water to graze at night they also mark their territory

by spraying their dung around the area,,,,,, be it on trees, or on termite mounds,,,,,,

or even on the armco barriers



a short distance down the road near to where i had seen these folks in the morning



this violet-backed starling and i



saw a fairly large herd of buffalo



make their way down to the river to drink




and then get spooked



and a whole bunch of them scamper off...................

they then get spooked again and scamper back towards the river



drink,,,,, and then calmly go back towards where they came from



there was a time that i came across a spot where this well built fellow was having a drink

and along waddled a scaly visitor who,

upon greeting,, apologised for the disturbance,

stating that he had merely come to monitor the water

to check on it's quality, as that was his job in the kruger





he too, then proceeded to have a sip



and insisted that, to get a better idea of the quality he needed to be fully immersed.....




the rhino sauntered off unimpressed



just then an intruder appeared near the water.

this poor chap looked very unhealthy indeed,

with a dull watery eye and a runny nose...

he was panting for air with a rather audible snorting sound



it was not long before he was chased away by the "local landlord" and he galloped away sprating a solid stream of dark yellow urine behind him.......




a bit later that day back on the h10 i observed these ladies......

all dolled up in there black stockings,,,,,,

maybe they were off to an adult stag pajama party as the "invited ladies"






to end off the day,, there was a traffic jam on the s 28

caused by this chap and his brother




so,, i did not stay long but headed for home and stopped to observe these two docile creatures.

so the next day i headed straight for my random water hole on the s22

'cause it was overcast and photography at sunset dam was futile.

just before the turn off i came across this unfortunate sight

eish .....................................



check out those skid marks ........







regardless of all the speculation and hype around this scenario it remains plainly and simply

an unfortunate sight..

apon my arrival at my random waterhole i was greeted by a multitude of ox peckers................





who seemed to be overwhelming these impala





it was like a scene from a hitchcock movie "the return of the ox peckers" as they sought to gain recognition after being removed from the oxen






even the lambs were under their spell





some of the lambs managed to sneak off to exchange secrets behind the shrubbery....



besides the ox peckers there were a few other feathered friends flitting about.







i was quite mesmerised by this quaint little paradise fly catcher who seemed to be in her own little world of isolated bliss....









this seemed to be the case until i was distracted just in time to catch this little show off

who was having what looked to be some sort of a splash and go to disrupt the peace and quiet of the flycatcher







did you ever go to a public swimming pool as a youngster

and just want to be on your own and have some peace and quiet

and inevitably the local show off boy was there

and he would wait for you to come walking past

then he would run and jump into the pool and make a "bomb" near you just to get you all wet ?????



well this seemed to be the plan of this "woody" just as the flycatcher was flitting past peacefully...



cowabunga



the kingfisher continued to show off










so i left

now somewhere i spotted this rhino

i can't for the life of me recall where ??????

however, it was quite a distance away so the detail is lacking

but from what i see of the back and the head and the ears i am dead certain that it was (and hopefully still is !!) a blackie !!!









later on in the day i decided to go back to my random water hole to see if that show-off bird was there

i wanted to get some clearer shots of his water antics..

not much was happening at sunset dam

except this silly bird trying to imitate me



and these pretty flowers on the s 22




i arrived in time to catch this family of warthog trotting along to quench their thirst....







now we should all be familiar with the topic on the forums

"birds in flight"

after this day....... i wanted to start a topic entitled.........

"turds in flight"

this "dagga boy" was just standing there...... and then he lifted his tail



and began to discharge waste from his bowels



i was rather impressed with myself



i managed to capture the turd four times in flight before it landed

on the ground in a moist green pattie








there were one or two feathered critters from the morning still flitting about











but the woodie was nowhere to be seen



then i saw them........................

the oxpeckers (one word) had returned.........................

this time they had targeted a tower of giraffe

that had arrived at the pool for their sundowners
(did he just use the word "tower" as the collective name for giraffe?????)

and were most certainly making their presence annoyingly obvious.











eventually the group could settle down to some serious drinking......

imagine playing spillage with a giraffe...

the poor things will always be downing their drinks....











notice how there is always one in the group that keeps a look-out while they drink.






so back at camp i was to join robert and jordan and robert's v s o for a braai.

that italian sure knows how to braai a steak !!!!!!!!!! and it was great to visit his hospitable campsite again

after supper i offered to help wash up but robert ensured me he had it all under control
even after poor jordan would not leave his side

the reason for this being, that one of the spotted genets had paid us a visit during supper and was seen rummaging around at the entrance to their tent

we tried to convince jordan that the genet was more scared of him that he should be of it....

but he was having none of that ..........

the conditions at sunset dam this morning were the best since my arrival



so i planted myself on the "beach" section close to sunset tree

along with a whole bunch of other lenses of all shapes and sizes

and there were some biggies

the hammerkops were skimming as usual





and there were a few other passer-bye like this white-crowned plover





and also this eagret hovering about lookout for fish



the one fellow that had the most successful catch, however, was this pied kingfisher.







then the master arrived .





he had decided to hunt on the far side of the dam this morning

so i was not as lucky as during my october visit with the images.


















during this time there was quite a bit of arguing amongst the red-billed buffalo weavers...

particularly with these two

as they kept on with their screeching call "lookatit-lookatit- lookatit"

they both looked like males,, so i don't know if it was a territorial squabble.....

can such large gregarious communities have territorial males ????

have you ever asked yourself?

"self..... why are these weavers called buffalo weavers"

i have, but i have no idea ......






then there were these diderick cuckoo who were also making a noisy fuss around the weaver's nest.........

it was as though the male was insisting that his mate go inside and lay the egg there and then so that they can get away and have some time together...

(preamble for this episode: do not despair ,,, only one more day at sunset dam......)


so when breakfast time was over and the fisher-birds had all taken a break

the gyppos started with their domestic squabbles............



there was this kingfisher and gyppo male sitting on a branch

having a peaceful chat about the day's catch

when one of his women friends arrived,






amidst an almighty squawking and quacking, almost landing on the startled kingfisher.




then if that was not enough,,, another noisy woman arrives




and the two of them
start tussling with each other over, what i can only assume to be,
the right to be fertilized by male egyptian goose.








they made so much noise that eventually someone called the geese police........
and the commotion ceased.



however, the morning serenity at sunset dam had now been disturbed
and it resulted in unrest among the hippo population......







so today was the day that i was scheduled to meet richprins at croc bridge and we were going to rendezvous with aat and elly

with that in mind i packed an overnight bag and took the s28 south.
an uneventful journey until i made acquaintances with carol v and her s/o who were on their way to lower sabie (you can read her tr on the spf)



a short while later i encountered these two zebra who seemed to be sparring
in preparation for the mating season......






besides these pretty little flowers,



this spider's web



and this growth on the end of the branch (i have no idea what it is, so if any of you well informed forumites can shed some info we will all be grateful)



just before croc bridge i observed this hyaena mommy having a few harsh words with her teenage offspring



and just outside the shop was this giraffe

that richprins was dying to have a ride on but he had no money left after paying for the chalet that we were to stay in for the night.



the evening with aat and elly was very memorable

and i learnt all sorts of fascinating stuff from him and fellow forumite, scipio who also joined us for the night..........

here is photo taken by richprins' remote controlled camera

i am way on the right of frame, with aat next to me and elly and scipio on his right.....

the guy at the end is a "mr coleman" aka r/p




and here is snap of the starters that r/p was preparing before the chicken braai.....

so at about 04:30 on the morning after the chicken braai at croc bridge,

i hopped into the shower (as there was no water at 01:00 when i went to sleep),



i packed my bag and managed to get away at about 5 am to head back to lower sabie.....

it was a cool overcast morning and there was lots of water all over the place

after a lovely downpour during the night...


did not see much as i had a bit of a headache from the water at croc bridge,

and i was merely focused on getting back to my hut at lower sabie...........

i still had to pack and leave for leteba............

and that morning would be my last morning at sunset dam,

well, at least for a few weeks anyway.....

when i got to lower sabie the clouds had cleared so i went straight to the dam.......

there seemed to be no sign of the gyppos and hamerkops (or is that hamerkoppe ??)

one pied kingfisher.......



and an egret in action as it managed to catch it's breakfast........













and my last good viewing of the majestic fish-eagle .........

so,,,,,,

i headed off to letaba on all the the main roads via satara

and stopped in satara for something to eat...

ordered a take-away toasted bacon and egg sarmie and thought 30-something rand was a bit much to pay for a toasted sarmie,

however,,when i received it i saw why it cost 30-something rand........



a slice of bread,, with 3 slices of bacon,,, then another slice of bread,,, with a fried egg,,,, and another slice of bread,,,,,,,,

with a generous helping of "slap tjips" and an awesome view of the plains' game roaming over the savannah ........

all this for 30-something rand .......



en route

a reedbuck


a klipspringer



a standard kruger issue leopard in a tree



and a dead buffalo..........



the cause of death,,,,,,,,,,,



according to my on the scene observation and conclusion,,,

seemed to have been diarrhoea,,,!!!!!!

as there was just a gaping big hole where his sphincter muscle should have been....






i guess that is what "wrecked him"



after i booked into my "garden hut" overlooking the river




i took a drive to the bridge and was amused to see that someone had modified the road sign at the approach to the bridge....