July and August 2024 - 3 weeks in Kruger

[Jan van Wyk]

Great shots ..and what an memorable experience with the study group........

Thank you for sharing .......

[john n poppy]

Thankyou all...

A few more random shots...



I took this shot at the bottom of the S90, I remember because I was disgusted at the number of bottles and cans around here...later on we picked 10+ up from this area and they were ones that were reachable from the distance of the car. I think we managed to remove 50+ bottles and cans from the park in our trip. We find it helps to keep us driving slow if we look for litter and critter.


Another S90 shot



I wish I had the video of this but we first saw a Secretary bird with a live mamba in its beak walking on the road...as we approached this Tawny came out of nowhere and pinched the snake, the secretary bird tried a mock charge but the Tawny stood its ground and then killed the Mamba.



Our first Leopard sighting of the trip



but after walking off the road and a brief sit down it dropped out of sight into the river bed.



We arrived at this kill in the morning ( after being pushed out of the way by three JJ on the way) and the lionesses were all relaxing in the shade below us with this young male pretending he had done all the work

[umtali1]

Brilliant interaction between the secretary bird and the tawny over the snake. I would have expected the secretary bird to stand its ground.

Beautiful ground hornbill.

at the leopard

Flat cats at a kill.

the lazy litter louts.

[Tessa G]

I'm horrified at the amount of litter that you were able to collect - and only those that could be reached from the car. What are people thinking. Thank you so much john n poppy
Litter and critters

Great Tawny shot with the snake.

Wow, what a great sighting of the leopard.

Those lions would have very full bellies!

[Jan van Wyk]

Superb sightings captured perfectly ..........

Thank you for sharing.....

[Karin Mitton]

people littering.

Super bird photos and a wonderful ion/kill sighting.

[Cape of Storms]

It sounds like your time in Kruger was full of incredible experiences and memorable moments! Your posts really bring the park to life, and the photos you've shared are just stunning. It’s always such a thrill to spot and photograph wildlife, especially when you have close encounters like those with the leopards and cheetahs.

Your luck with the Kingfishers, especially the Half Collared Kingfisher, is particularly impressive—those are such rare and beautiful birds. And the story about the cheetah collaring is fantastic; it must have been an emotional and inspiring moment to witness.

[colbol]

An excellent day of sightings .

Raptors and snake encounter

Young lion posing as if he had done it , brilliant

You two deserve full credit for being natures cleaners
What would possess anyone to throw out so much rubbish especially there

Keep it coming please

[Pumbaa]

WoW John,

you indeed had such an incredible trip so far - Never seen a half collared kingfisher so far - Where did you spot same?

What an emotional cheetah encounter - WoW

Plus leopard and lions as well

Thanks for your stunning shots

[FinMari]

Catching up after three weeks holiday

Those roller photos are just amazing

Leopard staring at you

Superb series of King Fishers

What a cheetah experience

Thank you for picking up bottles and cans Stupid people

Tawny and Secretary Bird fight over the snake

Thank you so much for sharing john n poppy

[Meandering Mouse]

My goodness, you must have been thrilled to be invited to watch the collaring. I am pleased that you were given that opportunity. Your love for wildlife is very apparent.

Nice to meet you both. :flower:

What a day of felines.

I don't have to watch a kill on my wishlist. It is however fascinating to observe animal life once it is over.

about the young male great pretender. I know a few like that.

[john n poppy]

Thankyou all, hope you enjoy just a few of our photographic sightings, apologies I cant share the other 95% of things we saw as we travelled around Kruger but work gets in the way...

MM - Apologies for the selfie ,
FinMari - thankyou and your welcome, its a selfish thing really after I photographed a stunning male lion only to find a beer can sat right in front of him
Pumbaa - The kingfisher was at the start of the S30, where the road crosses over the water, labelled Gabeni on the map....taken as we watched the lions coming up later.
Colbol - Thanks - we also do a litter walk in camps we stay at, again an excuse to look for mini critters.
Cape of storms, Karin, Jan, Tessa, Umtali

[john n poppy]

We saw fewer hyenas this year as of late and disappointingly only a few youngsters.



We were surprised to see some weavers along the croc river still making nests.



If you've ever heard of 'Sods Law' then this is the best example I can come up with.
We left the Cheetah collaring and headed south on the gravel towards lower Sabie giving us enough time to get to the gate....we didn't want to be late..again As we neared the junction to the S129 a car that was also at the cheetah came hurtling past us, whether he was leaving through croc bridge or just didn't know he had more time we don't know but a few minutes later my SO said ' Leopard' .....I slowed ,but realising I was near the junction, decided to carry on and turn around rather than reverse. We pulled up and there close to the road was a leopard in full hunt mode looking at three male impalas not 10 metres away. . As the engine was cut I was conscious that I could still hear a noise a few seconds later arrived toyota hilux pulling three huge tyres...grading the road with no way of him going past us we had to drive off find a pull in and return, only to return and find the cat now absolutely horizontal we decided to leave him as time was tight and we didnt want to completely ruin his chance of a meal. We returned the next morning but no sign of him but up the road were two male impala
This is the only image I have of him and it has virtually no crop.



I can only assume these swallows stay all year around in Kruger, they are so photogenic, not sure I will ever get one in flight though.



Our best lion sighting of the trip happened north of lower sabie but I'm sure you see enough lions on here so I probably wont bother sharing....

[umtali1]

Love the lion cub climbing on mum

Beautiful leopard

Swallows are always good for a picture

[Elsa]

Wow! is all I can say at your sightings and pics!
Just amazing.
Such a special treat to be able to watch the Cheetah collaring, an emotional experience for sure.
for the donation.