Tag: birds

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 24 The Day of the Rhino Part 3!! Or The day of the Klipspringer

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We got up at leisure …I managed to find our house keeper…a young lady with her tight curls dyed blonde answering to the name of “Wossy”….I asked her if she could do our washing she said she could but didn’t look too happy. I said we would of course pay her, she cheered up a bit, I asked if 150 rand would be ok and she beamed from ear to ear, grabbed the washing and skipped away…excellent…you’ll be pleased to know we will both now have clean undies, T-shirts, socks, trousers and hankies to see us through to the end of our holiday🤣…it was beginning to look a bit dodgy! In fact I had been considering calling at Woolies in Malalane the day after tomorrow to buy new pants and socks….now I won’t have to bother👍👍

We set off for our game drive down the tar S110 which leads from the camp to the H3 main route. We wound our way down the S25, S114, S118 …wow where has all the game gone…

John had stated he would see 10 giraffe and I had selected elephant….as it happens we only saw 6 giraffe all day and by the end of the day we had actually seen 15 elephants…sorry John, I’ll select a porcupine tomorrow then you’re bound to win🤣

We did see a steenbok, near some impala.. the contrast in size was quite clear to see.

Young male impala
Steenbok

There was also a large male kudu in the mostly dried up river bed. You can age a Kudu by the turns in its horns. Every turn is 2 years so 3 curves …which tend to be your big dominant bulls means it’s over 6 years old….the young buck which don’t quite have a turn yet are under 2.

6 year+ adult bull kudu

We saw one or two elephant wandering browsing in the bush, but no big herds. We stopped lots of times to ask others what they had seen but apart from impala no one had seen much at all.

We cut back on to the H3 and headed up towards Afsaal picnic spot. A safari vehicle was looking at the rocks so I stopped and asked if they’d seen any thing interesting. The guide asked what I meant by interesting expecting me to say leopard, as they like rocky outcrops,. But I actually replied Klipspringer. He burst out laughing and I explained we had been in the park nearly 3 weeks and still hadn’t managed to see a “Klippy”….

The Klipspringer is a smallish ( 40-60 cm) sturdy antelope with short spiky ringed horns, and a yellowish grey coarse coat. They frequent rocky areas. “Klip” means rock, and “springer” means jumper in Africans which is exactly what these antelope do, they jump from rock to rock. Their thin pointy rubber-like hooves make them look like ballerinas leaping across the rocks. They can often be seen on the top of rocks, the highest lookout point, this is because they have binocular vision…but up until yesterday try as we had we had failed to see one….

The Safari guide was explaining to me where they had seen one…on an outcrop near Skakuza, when one of his clients, who was using binoculars sighted one on the rocks…wow superb….unfortunately by now lots of cars had crowded in on us, as they thought we had seen a leopard, and I was unable to manipulate the car so John had a view. Very frustrating… we said a grateful farewell to our friendly Safari guide and his guests…spending a few more minutes trying to locate where the Klipspringer had moved to…but sadly no success.

After using the toilet at Afsaal we went back down the tar towards Malalane gate.

We came across a largish troop of Chacma baboons .

Slowly we wound our way back to camp….

We went straight to the restaurant for a sandwich lunch. Although they don’t have Internet, our router worked very quickly, probably because it is the highest point in the camp…so we uploaded yesterdays blog, while eating lunch.

We went straight back out again. This time we were more successful. There was a large elephant drinking from a small pool of water at the roadside.

Due to the recent rain there are pools like this all over the place. This means animals don’t need to go to the rivers or to bigger watering holes to drink, this is why spotting has suddenly become one more difficult. It is why I always advise people to Safari between May and September, South Africa winter…because it’s dry after the hot summer and animals have to drink in the rivers and main water holes so they are much easier to find and see.

We headed along a short dirt track then back on to the tar. The South African Parks Board had put out a red weather warning stating there would be thunder, lightening, heavy wind and rain and flash flooding….i wasn’t very keen to move too far from the main road which is tar and has proper bridges , unlike the dirt roads which use pontoon bridges, fords and the roads can become impassable in the rain……not that we saw much rain a few specks on the windscreen was all we got 🤣🤣🤣

Anyway by going up the tar we went past the rocky outcrop again…this time we both got to see a pair of Klipspringers on the top rock and on another outcrop we saw yet another one…a bit like London Buses – you wait forever for one then they all come at once….however we were very joyful…they are difficult to see because of the distance…but well worth the effort.

We continued along the road and lo and behold we saw two adults rhino and a young one and a short distance further on two more. We sat for ages watching them. There was a huge elephant behind the family of three…he looked like their security guard!

On the way back we saw a twitch of an ear at the side of the road and sure enough there was a hyena den with two pups peaking out…very difficult to see.

Our Klipspringers were still standing to attention on the top of their rock as we passed by and made for the camp gate….a lovely afternoon drive.

Our count for the day was 99+ impala, 2 bushbuck, 8 warthog, 2 squirrel, 2 steenbok, 15 elephants, 1 kudu, 2 vervet monkeys, 1 wildebeest, 10 Chacma baboons, 3 Klipspringer, 2 red billed horn bill, I lilac breasted roller, 2 quail, 1 dwarf mongoose, 2 guinea fowl, 6 giraffe, 5 rhino, 2 hyena, 1 zebra, 2 white headed vultures…our lowest count to date.

We ate at the restaurant again then sat outside our rondavel playing cards…there was no hint of any rain.

South Africa Safari 2025 Day23 Day of the rhino part 2

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We weren’t very sorry to say goodbye to Pretoriuskop……it used to be one of our favourite camps but now the staff seem to treat you just like another punter….the housekeeper only made herself known to us by walking backwards and forwards past our rondavel staring on the day we departed, the reception staff went through the motions without any cheeriness and this time it was the Echo Safari drivers who drove around at high speed, moving their vehicles in front of you when you were spotting, driving right up your tail so you couldn’t suddenly stop and racing past you at 60+ kmph…maniacs…they need their licences taken… We met lots of nice Safari vehicle drivers but there are just a few companies who need reminding that the rules apply to them as well as everyone else….grrr moan over.

Our rondavel had not been the best in that the outside table was set into the wall under a cupboard, so John struggled not to hit his head, there was no bedside tables so I had to use the cool box, there was only one space to put a suitcase which was next to the sink under the towel rail and the kettle lead was so short you had to move the tiny table to put it directly under the plug point ……all these things make such a difference to your comfort and the standard was well below what an international visitor would expect….but hey! We managed.

Having said we weren’t sorry to say goodbye wasn’t entirely true because by leaving it meant we were heading for Berg-en-dal which is where we started and where we were ending our safari….but we still have 3 nights there and another 2 nights at Pestana Hotel so 5 more days of safari.

We filled with petrol and found the member of staff both cheery, funny and efficient. Well done to her…. Off we went…the first 60 km along Vortrekker Road were totally uneventful.

The only thing we saw were a small group of elephants crossing the road.

We got to the H3 at Afsaal picnic spot and headed for Malalane. Still we saw nothing….what an unusual day…the sun was out but the animals were not. In desperation we turned down to Renosterpan.

At last there were three big elephants in a muddy pool. Joining them were three warthogs.

We continued down to the main water and ate our sandwiches. There were absolutely no animals drinking. However we watched a flock of Southern masked weavers flitting in and out of their intrinsically woven hanging nests…they were intriguing to watch.

We also spied a water monitor striding across to the waters edge…it was our first of the trip.

Actually in the water was a terrapin.

On leaving the water and retracing our steps we found a very large elephant blocking the road..it took him 10 minutes to browse his way into the bush.

Back on the H3 we passed a social gathering of WBV’s in a tree.

We stopped to to take a photo of what we call our tree….we had sat under this tree whilst Queen Elizabeth II funeral took place….we had a 2 minute silence and then we had opened the car windows and sang both Jerusalem and the National Anthem at the top of our voices, for all the world to hear….it had been our way of showing our last respects to our Queen….So you see that tree which sits on top of a hill in the middle of the wilderness will always be “Our Tree”.

We rested a few minutes there and laughed as a squawking quinea fowl appeared.

We continued our journey, turning up to Berg-en-dal and still we saw very little. On arrival just before we parked the car we saw two parrots hiding in a tree.

The reception staff greeted us like long lost friends…we were allocated chalet 60. We booked on the sunset drive and went to the chalet to rest. Laid outside our chalet was a bushbuck.

We waited for the sunset drive truck with 7 other adults and 9 children all under 10…..but pleasingly enough they were well behaved in-fact they made no noise at all and their adults weren’t too bad either 🤣

Peter our driver shuffled across the carpark, 10 minutes after the time we’d been told to be there…his persona didn’t bode well…everything about him said he didn’t want to be there and would sooner return to bed or the bar…which ever he’d struggled in from…

He did however do a nice introduction and off we set. We saw absolutely nothing for the 10km tar road from camp to the H3….he did call out “ Pumba “ once but none of us saw a warthog and he didn’t slow.

Turning on to the H3 we soon came across a large rhino, which had obviously had a mud bath. Our photos weren’t brilliant because Peter also had a good camera and he positioned himself, in the cab, in the best spot for photos….whilst we were behind a thorn bush…🤣 but he did move a little before shooting off again.

He continued up the tar for 30 minutes….we had seen nothing an hour or two before and we saw nothing again. We took a couple of poor sunset shots whilst racing along…

As dusk fell we came across a hyena den…the mum was laid outside and out of the culvert came not just one or two pups …but they kept coming…we counted 6 in total….a lovely sight.

Next we saw a huge herd of elephant 40+ in total.

We carried on up towards Afsaal and on the left were 3 more rhinos. This time we had a good view…Peter explained the difference between white rhino and black rhino for those who didn’t know….The white rhino is much bigger and has a big square jaw, grazing on grass. The black rhino is much smaller, has a “V” shaped jaw and browses predominantly on leaves and bushes.

A little further along were another 4 beauties….we rarely see this many rhinos in a full holiday let alone within one drive …what a delight.

Peter turned on to the dirt and within a few minutes someone shouted stop…he did..a hyena was walking towards us and crossed the road behind us…but before we could get decent photos we were off again.

For the rest of the dirt road we were jolted around left right and centre… I braced myself by holding the side and the seat in front.

Twice people shouted stop but the vehicle only slowed and Peter shouted out “hippo” and then “genet” but none of us got to see either.

Back on the tar we did stop when a hippo was on the road edge. Peter explained that they can travel up to 30 km a night whilst grazing.

We returned to camp delighted with our rhino, hyenas and hippo sightings but a little disappointed with the actual drive which was far from comfortable or relaxing.

Our count for the day was 99+ impala, 4 squirrel, 1 hoopoe, 99+ elephant, 1 bateleur eagle, 12 Chacma baboons, 17 zebra, 1 woolly neck stork, 16 WBV, 4 warthog , 1 terrapin, 4 quinea fowl, 1 water monitor lizard, 1 steenbok, 4 kudu, 14 vervet monkeys, 5 giraffe, 3 lilac breasted rollers, 2 bush buck, 1 redbilled horn bill, 1 tawny eagle, 1 hippo, 1 wildebeest, 1 scrub hare, 9 hyena, 8 rhino….. not bad for what had seemed like a slow day.

We went to the restaurant for supper then back to our chalet for cards and bed.

South Africa Safari Day 22 The day of the Elephant

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“Tell me who made all of creation?

Who designed the wonders of nature?

Whose idea was pattern and colour,

Wonderful to see?

Everywhere around me,

I can see the hand of God,

The evidence surrounds me,

In the greatness of His world.”

……This was one of my favourite songs at work …basically because I tried all my working life to get children to understand the beauty around them, it’s so important for a positive mind set…..and when I retired the whole school blasted ( I use the word deliberately because they certainly wouldn’t have won a choir competition 🤣🤣) it out to me…it made me cry….

As I look around us at this moment in time I can’t help but want to sing it…..the natural, nature we have been immersed in for 2.5 weeks is everywhere around us.

For the first time in about a week I had a great nights sleep. It was the first double bed we’d had since leaving Gills in Joburg…and yes you’ve guessed it …it was great to warm my freezing cold feet on my big grizzly bear🤣🤣 And it sure was cold last night…yesterday barely got up to 19 degrees Celsius and the night was more than a tad chilly…in fact it was “flipping freezing”…..the rondavels are designed to stay cool….South Africa is supposed to be a hot country…this coldness is unseasonal.

Today we both woke to the squawking of some persistent Guinea fowl at 7.30 am….John made coffee and we chilled out until 8.00am…the day was warming up and thank heavens, there was a bright blue sky with not a cloud to be seen.

We breakfasted quickly and headed out to game spot. Johns new game led him to select Waterbuck …a bit cheeky as we had seen a herd at the gate yesterday evening and I think they numbered 10+ which is his new rules….so I chose buffalo…we’d seen a few “dagger boys” not too far away……. We left camp and about 600 meters from the gate was…yes you guessed it ….a breeding herd of several hundred buffalo🤣🤣🤣🤣poor John he just can’t win, even when he changes the rules🤣.

We watched them for a while…the bush was literally heaving with them as far as the eye could see….a herd this big is an amazing sight.

We drove through them and continued on the road to numbi gate. The hyenas we’d seen yesterday were nowhere to be seen…but it was a,ready hot so they would have been in their den. At the gate we took the dirt road across towards the Phenbeni gate. We turned back on ourselves taking the road around the dam….which had nothing drinking there, but we did see a large pod of hippos.

After a while we came across a couple of giraffe and then at last some waterbuck!!!

As we continued we passed several small herds of zebra.

A fairly large group of impala were roadside. Two males were rutting…a lovely sound hearing them crash horns in their battle for dominance.

We passed by what we call the balancing rocks.

When we got back to the tar we headed back to camp…the combination of Wimpy food and corrugated roads can play havoc with your inners….after a quick break we headed on a dirt loop and saw some superb elephants drinking out of a pool of water on an elevated rock formation. One looked as if he was “on top of the world looking down on creation”.

Back on thr tar we headed to “ have a shit dam” opps sorry I meant Shitlhaven dam 🤣 naughty me !!! . The dam had numerous hippo and we sat eating lunch watching long lines of elephant come down for a drink…it was by now 33 degrees Celsius….what a contrast from yesterday. Watching the elephants is fascinating…

The park has a supposed capacity for 7500 elephants but the latest count came in at 35000…..way above the parks capacity…you can see this by the devastation they have caused…some areas look as if they belong on the moon…. grey dust and everything grey and dead because the elephants have literally cleared the areas not a tree standing…very sad…but for now we enjoyed watching them drinking and having mud baths….the sounds, smells and sight are fantastic.

For much of the time we were on our own…enjoying these majestic beasts whilst munching our sarnies…we soon found out why…when we got to the top of the dirt road to rejoin the tar there was an array of cars, safari vehicles, trucks etc…..there in the tree opposite the turning laid along the lower branch was a delightful leopard…in a typical leopard pose.

We sat awhile watching this elusive predator in all its glory. Because we had come up from the turning we had a great view and didn’t have to hassle for the best spot.

We moved on and went further up to take the Naphe loop, which was devoid of anything including impala.

Back along the tar was looking directly into the sun ….there were no hyena where we’d seen the yesterday and the leopard had moved on by the time we passed its tree….

Back to camp we went , an ice cream and a rest was the order of the day as it was very hot.

Around 4.00 pm we went out again for a drive. We took the dirt road towards Berg-en-dal. Passed the huge herd of buffalo again and then shake rattled and rolled….this time we found the Fayi loop ( I could have sworn it was the fairy loop🤣) ..it was an interesting loop but completely devoid of any wildlife, but very pretty. It brought us out on the numbi gate road. Because we still had time we turned left towards the gate and in less than 1km we saw the hyenas from yesterday…the mum was laid in the road with a young black pup suckling we also saw 2 more youngsters and another full grown one…what a lovely sight.

Turning back to camp we stopped for a couple of sunset pictures.

Then we headed for the camp gate with 10 minutes to spare…oh no…the buffalo were blocking the road.. thankfully a parks employer drove passed us and cleared enough room for us to follow them through…phew we got to the gate minutes before closing time.

Back to the rondavel for a quick face time with grandchild and family…then off to the wimpy for steak and chips and some high speed wifi to upload the blog.

It was warm enough to sit outside and play cards before going to bed ….

Another magical day in the bush.

South Africa Safari 2025…Day21- The day of the giraffe.

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We packed up our baggage and loaded it into the car…we were away about 8.30 having showered and had yogurt for breakfast. The housekeeper showed her face, the first time we’d seen her in our 4 night stay…but there had been evidence of her…she had made the beds and done the washing up….so her loitering gained her the expected tip.

It was a really cold grey day. In fact most of the day the temperature was only 16 degrees Celsius…the highest it went to was 19 degrees Celsius…and what’s more it rained for most of the day…not a downpour but that annoying drizzle which is too much for intermittent windscreen wipers but not enough for them to be on all the time. We kept our long trousers and fleeces on all day.

John selected zebra and I went with wildebeest as our first spot of the day…..it was in-fact a lovely line of wildebeest…..John has surrendered …I am just to in-tune with the wild….he has admitted defeat…and wants to start a new game tomorrow….so as from tomorrow it’s guess which animal we see 10 of first…ummmm Today it would have been giraffes.

We saw a lovely family group not long after setting off down the H1.

 Giraffes are the tallest of all land animals; males (bulls) may exceed 5.5 metres (18 feet) in height, and the tallest females (cows) are about 4.5 metres.  A newborn giraffe is about 6 feet (1.9 meters) tall at birth and weighs about 150 pounds.

They are quite easy to tell apart…the males horns are thick and bald ( no wise cracks about them representing most of the male species🤣) Where as the females horns are much thinner, with fluffy hair on top they also often curve inwards.

Some giraffes are darker than others due to a combination of factors including genetics, which determine an individual’s base pattern, and age, with males often darkening significantly as they mature to signal their status to other giraffes. Environmental factors like diet and climate may also play a role in coat color variation.  

When there are a group of giraffes together browsing they are known as a “Tower of giraffes”, when they are walking from place to place they are known as a “journey of giraffes”. They are fascinating creatures, I could spend all day watching them….but we had to continue our journey south.

We saw some big herds of buffalo, both breeding herds and smaller groups of dagger boys. Lots of elephants were browsing the trees and bushes all around.

We had been travelling for very nearly an hour before we saw our first impala and then we saw a massive group…and a lot more throughout our trip. Some rather cute wart hogs were munching on the sweet grass at the side of the road.

While a pair of steenbok were hunkered down in the bushes trying to escape the inclement weather.

We felt privileged to follow a line of zebra up the road…so long as I didn’t get too close they were content to just walk along the road in front of us. If I got too close they broke into a trot until I dropped back…. We must have followed them for about a kilometre ….just us and them…we felt like a sheepdog shepherding them along. Then out of the blue they all looked to the right, startled they cantered off to the left…we looked to see if it was a predator but saw nothing….it was a lovely moment in time…no other cars just them and us…

We decided not to stop at Tshokwane as it was so busy. We continued on towards Skakuza…..the main tar road was appalling. In most places totally covered in sand which had been there so long it was corrugated. This is the H1 the main spinal road which runs from one end of the park to the other….how the parks board can have allowed it to get into this shocking state is beyond me…there were some road works taking place…typically 2 men were doing the work, while 20 stood watching them…one side of the road was being worked on but both oncoming and our direction traffic both had the go sign showing with no one working it …so inevitably be both met in the middle..ummmm …one of the workers moved a traffic cone so we could pass…..” piss-up”and “brewery” spring to mind…. Shortly after this we saw the unusual sight of a ground horn bill up a tree.

We also saw a variety of different eagles…tawny and bateleur …in trees.

We drove past quite a few herds of elephants before arriving at Skakuza. A quick loo break and a swift reccy of the shop and we were off again.

Onward towards Prestoriakop. We stopped at Transport Dam for our lunch. The usual hippos were wallowing and 3 big crocodiles were on the opposite banks.

We also saw a sight we’d never witnessed before…. A dead buck on the shoreline with a massive crocodile swallowing it…..presumably it had caught it, killed it and was now demolishing it…quite a sight.

On we travelled and between the Napier loop was a den of hyenas…..a very cute very young black one and two elder pups…

We got to Shitlhaven dam ….or as my son used to call it for years when he was a little boy “have-a-shit dam”. It always makes me laugh…there were just hippos in the water….

We continued on…I have to say I was not impressed with Viva Safari vehicles…they drove fast, overtaking then stopped, blocking the road when they saw zebra or giraffe etc…they showed no regard for other vehicles whatsoever…in-fact yesterday one had put me in a precarious position by blocking the road when a young male elephant was showing me attitude….this company will begetting Safari vehicles a bad name…its not just about their customers it’s about showing everyone respect. Grrrrr…whinge over

We got to camp and booked in….had a rest for an hour before driving towards numbi gate for the last hour…we saw another group of dagger boys and another den of hyenas….a lovely end to a very good spotting day.

Our supper was at the restaurant…if you can call a Wimpy a restaurant…John had a breakfast and I had sausages with hard microwaved mash and gravy which was so thick it wouldn’t come out of the bowl…then it was a game of cards and bed.

South Africa Safari 2025 Day 19 – the day of the lion.

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We had a lovely long lie in followed by yogurt and toast. We got to the petrol station to find loads of vehicles waiting and a rather fraught attendant saying “cash only, internets down”. So we went to the front of the queue and paid cash…how long the people who had already filled and now couldn’t pay, would have to wait heaven only knows…it just reinforced my philosophy that you must carry enough cash to see you through infrastructure hiccups….

Off we went before we got to the gate John selected Zebra as first spot and I said wildebeest…….shucks….before we actually got out of the gate we saw a herd of zebra grazing…in-fact we didn’t see wildebeest until much later, although I hastened to add they out numbered the zebra by the end of the day…anyway they put John on 4 wins so the score is 7-4…. Yikes he’s catching me up 🤣

We quickly saw a few giraffe and a rather handsome kudu, who insisted on being camera shy.

We went down the S100 and saw some wildebeests hiding from the heat of the day under a thorn tree/bush.

We were just commenting that the extreme change of temperature …today it was 33 degrees Celsius, was keeping the mammals hiding away from sight…suddenly we saw 2 WBV on a nest in a tree…a lovely sight.

We turned onto the road which links the S100 to the H6….this road is not for the faint hearted .. most the top soil/sand and gravel has gone….you would think that would be a good thing as it can’t be corrugated….but what it actually means is that you’re picking your way slowly across rock…trying to find the flattest way through, without driving over sharp bits or bits sticking up which could damage your tyres or your sump….it is hard driving…no rest for the driver and absolutely no way of using cruise control……on top of this, the road crosses several fords/ pontoon bridges with water flowing over them…some deeper than others…one in particular you get half way across with the water about a foot/30cm deep and suddenly the car drops down another 10 inches/24 cms…I wouldn’t even try it in a saloon car…it certainly makes you think you’re about to end up in the river…but hey Ho we’ve done it several times and I just hold my breath and pray…. I actually stopped in the middle this time to view the impressive bed of purple water lilies…one has a bee on it ….

…..and a little further across we found a young crocodile hiding in the lilies and reeds.

We got to the H6 without incident….we stopped at the dead giraffe and saw a swish of a tail.. and then it turned over it was a lioness and her cub. Lions sleep 20 hours out of 24 hours so catching them awake is always difficult. Lions usually live in groups of 10 or 15 animals called prides. The females are the hunters, if their pride has any males after the hunt the males eat first then the females. When food is scarce up to 80% of cubs can die of starvation as they are the last to get to eat. An adult male’s roar can be heard up to 8km away.

We watched for a while before driving on…we located the hyena den but could see no sign of them…they were obviously in their den..a culvert under the road. Heading back to camp for an afternoon rest we came across some more elephants and Chacma baboons. We pulled up next to a wonderfully sociable wildebeest and ate our lunch in his presence.

Back at camp we rested until 4.00pm when we went to join the Parks Sunset drive. This time we were with Tiani and her truck was full. She set off down the tar towards Orpen gate and turned onto a parks board only road…it ran parallel to the tar. She had a companion with her and they took it in turns to talk about each animal…zebra, wildebeest, warthog and giraffe. To be quite honest it was a little tedious especially as she seemed focussed on sexing the animal other than looking at the more obvious genitalia. She turned back onto the tar and went to the dam. There was a lovely breeding herd of elephants. They crossed the road in front of the truck and there was a tiny calf, which was between a week and a month old.

Retracing our steps we we saw very little until she turned on to the H6. We stopped for a sunset shot.

She stopped at the hyena den and sure enough they were out next to the culvert.

Further on we saw the same lions just off the road near the giraffe kill. A few kilometres further there was a loin on the tar…like the Chacma baboons they often sleep on the tar to enjoy its warmth.

On our return we saw two more lions near the road,

….a few more hyenas around the den and a marsh owl.

The sightings were superb but they weren’t spotted, they were seen because the animals walked out into the road.

Our sightings count for the day was 99+ impala, 1 hoopoe, 1 yellow-billed hornbill, 99+ zebra, 2 vervet monkeys, 13 giraffe, 1 kudu, 32 waterbuck, 2 WVB, 2 bateleur eagle, 25 elephant, 99+wildebeest, 7 lion, 1 crocodile, 1 steenbok, 3 lilac breasted roller, 18 Chacma baboons, 5 hyena, 2 warthog, 1 marsh owl.

We ended the day at The Cattle Baron, using their Internet…then back to the rondavel for a game of cards.